Season of Fire

by Lisa Tawn Bergren

  Just the thought of all the sun made me thirsty. To my left was a crystal decanter, full of amber liquid, and glasses. To my right was a matching pitcher, full of water so cool it was sweating on the outside, sending droplets sliding down its smooth face. I eagerly poured a goblet full, drank it down, and then another.

  I looked outside to where Keallach was talking to Sethos. Keallach had his hands on his hips, head down, listening as Sethos continued to talk, gesturing with one hand, palm half up. So he wasn’t demanding something of Keallach, he was asking. Interesting …

  Keallach turned to look at me, then back to Sethos. I sank down in my seat, feeling embarrassed that he’d caught me watching. It made me feel childish. A moment later he came over, opened the door and peered in. “Listen, I have to go away for a few days. I know it’s poor timing, but there are some things that only I can resolve. You’ll be taken to my palace and shown to your guest quarters. Every need will be met. Rest. Eat. I’ll join you as soon as I can.”

  “No, Keallach!” I cried, but he was already shutting the door. A Sheolite leaned down and talked through an open window to my driver and glanced back at me, a small smile tugging at his lips. Cold fear rippled through me.

  The car pulled out, with another behind it. Guards? I couldn’t see anyone but the driver, but I doubted they’d send a Remnant to Keallach’s palace without a good number of guards.

  Keallach moved toward the third vehicle, but he watched as we drove away.

  Sethos was no longer in view.

  And I realized that if I’d ever felt alone before, I’d been mistaken.

  CHAPTER

  17

  ANDRIANA

  I exited the car, ignoring the driver’s offered hand, and glanced around. We were in a clean courtyard with a luxurious building rising eight stories all around me. Everything was pristine, white marble and lush, flowering vines … oddly screaming life while my armband was tolling death.

  I turned to face the sorcerer. “So you managed to separate me from Keallach. Do you think you can do that forever?”

  His full lips curved up in pleasure. “Ah, there is the fight in you I so enjoy. We shall have such a lovely few days together before the emperor returns to us.” He reached out as if to caress my cheek, and without thinking, I bit him. But I didn’t just bite down and release him; I bit down and held until I tasted blood in my mouth, choking on it, but refusing to let go as he shrieked. I pummeled him with my fists, going for his kidneys.

  He bashed at me with his left hand in a frenzy, striking my jaw, my eye, the edge of my nose, but still I stubbornly held on.

  And then someone rammed me on the back of the head.

  My vision swam. My jaw grew slack. Then … nothing.

  I awakened in a bedroom. To my relief, I could tell that for once I’d been left in the clothes in which I’d arrived.

  I sat up, looking around, straining my good eye in the dark to see where I was, who was with me. “H-hello?” I called out. But no one responded. I heard nothing but the feel of yawning, cold space all around me. No other person breathing. After months in the constant company of others — ​and always with Ronan — ​the silence unnerved me as nothing else might. I pushed back and back until I leaned against the headboard, comforted by the knowledge that at least no one was behind me.

  My head ached. It throbbed in back from where I’d been struck and from the front where Sethos had beaten me. My left eye was swollen, and I realized it hurt too. I let my head lean backward until it pressed against carved wood and reached up to gently probe my face.

  A split at my lip and the edge of my eye, wounds that would likely leave scars if left untreated. I wished Tressa was here, tending to me. She’d have foxglove in her basket of herbs for my aches and others to mix with healing oils she’d lather on the cuts once they were cleaned. I sighed and rubbed my arms, trying to get my mind off my pains and this desperate turn of events.

  For as high as I had felt a couple days ago — in the midst of the Aravanders, seeing the Maker’s power flow through me and the other Ailith and into Kapriel — I felt just as low today.

  From found … to lost. From invincible … to weak.

  I knew he approached before I heard a sound. The chill in my cuff grew until it hurt almost as much as any other pain in my body. Then I heard the metallic scrape and click of a key in a lock, the creak of a massive, thick wooden door opening and closing. I refused to look at him. The warm light of a lamp held by the man filled the room, and I could see I was in a luxurious chamber indeed: the walls covered in elaborate paper and crowned with thick moldings, the marble floors covered by thick, finely woven rugs.

  “Go away, Sethos,” I muttered wearily, not looking at him. Even his presence seemed to make me hurt more.

  He turned and placed the lamp on a table beside him. “Do you not wish to have some food? Some tea? A healer to tend your wounds?”

  “I want nothing from you.”

  “Come now. This can be so simple. All I ask is a bit of information.”

  My eyes slipped down to his hand and I didn’t bother to hide my smile. The bandage that covered his palm felt like a medal on my chest for at least trying to fight my capture.

  His dark eyes followed mine and then narrowed. “Take pride where you can, Remnant. It will be the last time you harm me.”

  “Oh, I hope not,” I said sweetly.

  He sat down on the edge of the sprawling bed and leaned closer. I had to fight the urge to push away. “Perhaps you need another day here, alone, before we have this conversation.”

  “Perhaps,” I returned.

  We stared at each other for a long moment. “Very well,” he said, rising. “I’ll return tomorrow.” He moved toward the door, taking his lamp with him.

  “Wait,” I said, before I could stop myself.

  He turned partially back toward me and lifted a brow.

  “When does Keallach return?”

  “I fear his business will keep him away longer than he first thought,” he said, a tiny smile lifting the corners of his lips.

  I refused to react or say more. Doing so only made me more vulnerable.

  Sethos still stared at me. “I can allow you out of here. Give you time to walk the emperor’s gardens. See his library. Bathe in his amazing baths. Just tell me where the rest of the Ailith and Aravanders went.”

  I ignored his request. “I’m here for Keallach. Not you.”

  His gaze hardened. “There is some preparation that needs to be done before you and the emperor are … reunited.”

  I frowned but clamped my lips shut. I didn’t like the unspoken menace in those words, in particular, preparation and reunited. What did they plan to do to me? And surely they didn’t think I had any romantic intent …

  “You must be in far better order before you see the emperor,” he said. He sniffed and wrinkled his nose, as if he found the odors in the room offensive. “Bathe. Dress in proper Pacifican dress. Eat. Allow a healer to attend you. And then we’ll talk about you seeing his highness.”

  “I’d rather be thrown into the dungeon,” I ground out.

  “That can be arranged,” he said, then turned in a swirl of crimson fabric to leave, his boots making a distinct clipped step as he turned to go.

  “Wait,” I said, hating the pathetic edge to my tone as I pushed back the covers and eased off the bed. He was ten paces away and paused, but did not turn. Ignoring the ache in my head, I concentrated on casting emotion toward him. Mercy. Care. Love.

  He turned partially back to me, so that I could see the straight line of his nose, the curve of his chin in profile. And then I heard his soft, mocking laugh. “Your gift is of no use in this palace, against me, Remnant.” He lifted his hands. “It is a Sheolite outpost. So try all you might, little girl. But it will be for naught.”

  With that, he left the room, closing the heavy door firmly behind him. I rushed toward it, my hand on the knob, when I heard the thick bolt slide shut outside. I tried
to ignore the idea, but the door felt like a lid of a coffin, slamming closed.

  Then I leaned my forehead against the wood and closed my eyes, feeling every beat of my racing heart in my temples, injured eye, and base of my head. “I’m a fool,” I muttered. Pride and anger had kept me from what Sethos would have likely offered — ​water and food, at the very least. Even if I hadn’t told him what he wanted to know.

  I turned and moved to where I’d glimpsed what I thought might be a window, behind long, thick drapes. My groping hands found the far wall, and moving left, then the fabric. I pulled it aside, my heart thudding heavily with hope.

  But my hope was short – lived. Thick glass covered the window — ​which appeared to not open — ​and outside, heavy wooden shutters and metal bars eradicated any dream I had of escape. I leaned my cheek against the glass and watched the dancing flame of the single candle in my cavernous room dance in its reflection. I wondered how this — ​me being here, injured and in the court of the enemy — ​could at all be a part of the Maker’s plan.

  RONAN

  Niero and I joined Tressa and Killian and made our way to the rendezvous point in what I came to find out was northeast Pacifica, halfway between Chaza’el’s village and Wadi Qelt. Five Aravander men and one woman joined us, pledging their lives — ​and their bows and arrows — ​to protect us and help us see through our mission. “I don’t know if I feel relieved or more vulnerable with them with us,” I muttered to Niero.

  “Dri would be able to tell you,” he said, casting me a mournful look.

  I frowned. I didn’t need any additional reminders of Andriana. She was on my mind all day. I even dreamed of her at night.

  Niero moved back to the Aravanders. “Get used to extra company. It’s just the beginning. These people will be an aid to us.”

  We moved at a fairly slow pace the first day to accommodate Killian — ​remarkably healed and yet not feeling completely whole — ​which was fine by me. Every one of my injuries, bruises, and strained muscles seemed to be shouting at me to slow down. It was as if my entire body echoed a complaint my heart cried first. But we fought our way forward, climbing a shorter mountain pass. The second day we moved much faster and sensed we were drawing closer to our fellow Ailith. “We’ll find them by nightfall,” Niero said, clasping my shoulder.

  The Aravanders had gladly positioned themselves as our scouts — ​three in front, three in back. And twice they’d sounded an alarm just in time for us to take cover and avoid Pacifican drones. After the second one circled and moved off, we watched it. The bird-like contraption circled in what seemed like a mile-long pattern, edging forward slowly. “We think they record what they see,” one of the Aravander men noted, shifting his bow strap higher on his shoulder. “We shot one down once. They are mechanical, filled with glass and metal and cameras like some of old.”

  I didn’t like it, this advantage the Pacificans had over the Trading Union. What else did our enemies have access to? What would happen if it came down to battling them outright?

  When we reached the next valley floor, surrounded by rocky soil and towering trees but no ground cover, Niero led us to a small game trail and we followed it toward the next mountain pass. We curved in and out of rock fields and gradually among boulders, which gave me comfort in case the drones showed up again. Onward we climbed. Soon our water bags and canteens were dry, but we’d yet to encounter a stream or spring. We kept moving, hoping that the higher we rose, the greater the chance we’d find water. But for hours, we found none.

  We’d paused, panting, letting the last drips of our containers drop into our open mouths, when Niero sent all six Aravanders out farther ahead to see if they could locate water, half a bit to the west and half a bit to the east. As they set off, we sank gratefully into the recesses of the boulders about us, squeezing down and under the curves of the great rocks, eager to soak up the break from the relentless sun. How many times in the Valley had I prayed for a full day of sun? Now it seemed like a curse.

  The Aravanders eased away, and I was again impressed with their stealth. Our trainer would’ve been proud. I didn’t even hear the swish of leather sole on rock or the movement of pebbles as they padded away.

  “Try and grab a bit of sleep,” Niero said to me and Killian. “We might have to hike into the evening, depending on what they find — ​and you two are still on the mend. Tressa, you look weary enough to fall asleep on your feet.”

  He didn’t have to encourage us twice. I closed my eyes and immediately gave in to the pull of slumber, hoping I’d encounter Dri in my dreamscape again, the closest I could get to her.

  I awakened to a tiny pebble hitting my forehead. I frowned, rubbed where it had hit and squinted out into the fading light to see where it had come from. My hand moved to the hilt of my dagger. Did we have company?

  I eased out from beneath my rock and slowly rose, just high enough to peer over and around my sheltering boulder. I turned slowly, not wanting to draw attention to my movements, and saw Niero rising and doing the same. He put two fingers to his eyes and then made a circular movement, silently asking me to help him spot whoever was with us. Friend or foe?

  Niero edged toward where Tressa and Killian laid, obviously angling to awaken them, in case we were about to — ​

  I saw the pebble this time. It sprang from a rock above us and struck the back of Niero’s head. He whipped around, knife in hand — ​and narrowly kept himself from releasing it.

  I heard her laughter, then, along with the low laughter of a man. Saw Niero’s face break into a rare grin as he shook his head and sheathed his dagger.

  They emerged: Azarel and Asher.

  Azarel raced down the trail and sprang into Niero’s arms for a hug, then reached for Killian and Tressa. I joined them, clasping Asher’s arm and accepting Azarel’s embrace. I waited, my smile fading as I saw her look for Dri and then search my eyes. “Your Remnant … Andriana is gone?”

  “Away. Not gone,” I said.

  “Keallach has her,” Niero said, accepting a canteen from Asher, drinking deeply, and then passing it to me.

  “Or Dri has him,” Tressa put in, taking a water skin from Azarel. “She thinks she can turn Keallach. Bring him back to us,” Tressa said.

  Azarel and Asher shared a long, sober look, all trace of humor leaving their faces. “I fear that is a long shot,” Azarel said to Niero.

  “I fear it is a long shot in the dark,” Niero returned. “But we had no choice. They captured her. To try and rescue her would have meant that we four would all have been lost.” His black eyes remained on me; I knew he hoped his words would reinforce my constantly crumbling wall of resolve.

  “I can’t tell you how happy we are to see you again,” Tressa said to them both.

  “And we, you,” Asher said, eyes gleaming again. “Come. We have your Aravander friends back at our campsite. We told them we wanted to be the ones to come and fetch you.”

  He turned and led the way up the trail. With a bit of rest and water in my belly, I could force my way forward. But I prayed that we weren’t far from their camp. Stopping had almost made my weariness worse. Or was it the talk of Andriana?

  We climbed up the trail, pausing when we thought we heard a drone, then moving onward. “What brought you into Pacifica?” Niero asked. “I thought you didn’t dare any farther than Castle Vega.”

  “Castle Vega is the worst place for us,” Azarel said. “But we found friends to the north of the castle and gradually heard rumors of what might be happening to our Ailith friends in Pacifica. Eventually, we felt the Maker’s pull to head toward you, in case you needed help. But here you are! Safe and sound.”

  “Well, most of us,” Killian said.

  I closed my eyes, hearing his words as condemnation.

  It took me a while to realize my armband was growing warmer, since I was sweating so much with our climb. The heat wasn’t fading when night came on as I’d expect it to. Was that because we were so close to the
Great Expanse? But then I felt them, their presence, and noted the other Ailith grinning from ear to ear. They’d recognized what I hadn’t because I was so preoccupied with thoughts of Dri. But they were here.

  We turned the corner, entering a cave crevasse that forced us to suspend ourselves between the two walls, shimmying down twenty feet to a dirt path that led deeper into a cave. We could hear the chatter and laughter ahead, then the gasps and shouts of hope as they sensed our arrival too. It wasn’t long before we were surrounded by Bellona and Vidar, Chaza’el and Kapriel, as well as our Aravander scouts and about twenty more of their tribe, including Latonia and Jezre and their baby.

  And for the first time in days, I experienced joy and hope again. The Maker had seen to our reunion.

  Surely somehow, some way, he could bring Dri back to us too.

  CHAPTER

  18

  ANDRIANA

  I had no sense of time. Had it been days since Sethos had come to visit me or mere hours? I drifted in and out of sleep, curled up on my side, teeth chattering as fiercely as the night Ronan and I spent in the cave. No maid had come with food, no healer with balms. The fireplace in the corner remained cold, and the room was so frigid that even the thick blanket could not ward off the chill. Or perhaps I ran a fever …

  By the time that Lord Maximillian Jala came to see me, I knew I had no choice but to capitulate — ​if only for show — ​in order to survive. I would not do the Remnants any good if I died of thirst. The least I could do was die with a sword in my hand.