by Bec McMaster
I scrambled forward, as he drove the spear down—
Into a writhing mess of flame and red cloak, as Galina suddenly appeared and threw herself between them. The spear drove straight through her chest, the sharp metal tip narrowly missing Cas. A wash of pure fire burst up over Hussar, incinerating the spear and catching hold in his cloak. Hussar screamed as his entire body was engulfed in flames and I staggered back from the heat, one hand thrown over my face to protect it.
Hussar went down, rolling and screaming in the snow, but this was one fire that would not be put out.
A whirlwind of flame swept in front of me, and I couldn’t see any sign of Galina or Cas.
"Cas!" I yelled, trying to avoid the burning sparks.
"The moment of your choice is here," Galina whispered. "Without you, the world will darken. Without you, the forest—and all who live in its shadows—will be lost."
One spark bit my skin, and the pain was indescribable. I caught sight of Cas on the ground beneath the tree, groaning as he tried to crawl onto his hands and knees. His wolfish aspect was subsiding, leaving just the man, clad only in his trousers. Burn marks scored his back, but he was alive. Whole.
Another spark seared my arm as I slid to my knees beside him. Light lit up beneath my skin, golden fire streaking through my veins. The bonfire behind me blistered the air, and I could barely look at him.
"Are you all right?"
A flash of yellow eyes. "Get… out of here."
"You carried me out of a forest fire," I snapped. "I’m hardly about to leave you to the same fate."
Somehow I got an arm under his shoulder. Dark bruising mottled his ribs, and he groaned. "Evaron?"
"The prince is still alive." I didn’t add "barely".
There was no sign of Galina. Two of the prince’s men poked about the flames where her body had been. All that remained was the charred haft of the spear, and Hussar, who groaned and lifted his charred head, his eyes pure black as the flames in his clothes subsided, and then died.
I didn’t know how he’d survived that, but I didn’t have any time to worry about it. And the two soldiers stood guard over him, looking horrified.
"Make your choice, Neva. Will you be my heir?"
And give up everything? I staggered under Cas's weight. She'd saved him. For me. And what about my family?
"How?" I growled out. "How do I make my choice?"
"Accept the sparks...."
Another spark hit my skin as we reached Evaron. I held my shaking hand out. I'd never wanted this, but I'd seen what the darkness had done with Hussar. I had to protect my family—my world.
"Done," I whispered, and curled my fist around another floating spark. "Where are you?"
"Within you now."
The heat inside me felt like it was reaching blistering level. I swayed as Cas sank to his knees, his nostrils flaring as he peeled back the bloodied shirt. Evaron breathed hoarsely, crying out as some of the shirt stuck to the wound.
For a second there was two of the prince lying before me, outlined in a faint golden light. Cas’s aura seemed a darker, earthier red, but no less vibrant.
I blinked.
"We need to get the arrow out," Cas growled. "Meldor, where are the medical supplies?"
"Gone, sir," replied the red-haired soldier at his side. "We lost the pack in the forest fire."
"Why? Why would Hussar do this?" asked Jor, the one soldier who’d bothered to introduce himself to me.
Because the Darkness had him.
But no, that was not the only answer. The king had wanted his eldest son dead, if he failed to return with the firebird’s heart. And he'd sent along a man to make sure his will was carried out.
Evaron’s breath came in a bloody wheeze, but he captured Cas’s wrist. "If… I die… Then you must flee."
"No." Cas returned the clasp, his face settling into that mutinous expression I knew so well.
"You know…" Evaron coughed, and blood sprayed. "He’ll need someone to blame."
"Then I’ll blame Hussar," Cas snarled. He turned to the two men by the flames. "We need to heal the prince. We need the firebird."
"Sir, there’s no sign of her…."
Nothing but the glittering whirl of white flame, and the sparks that soared into the night sky.
Another burned my skin. Then another. It felt like my bones were trying to melt within me. I moaned, and Cas shot me a hard look, but I waved him away. "I’m fine."
He ordered the men about, sending two of them to try and find any sign of Galina, whose blood could heal the prince. Cas and Jor propped Evaron up, and Cas ground his teeth together as he broke the arrow shaft carefully.
I could barely hear Evaron’s screams.
My ears were throbbing, pounding with the force of the blood through my veins.
My skin felt like it was going to peel open from within, blistered and burning. Unnoticed by everyone else, I slumped against an oak as another spark hit my skin. One by one they were swirling over me, a rain of hot coals that vanished the second they met my flesh, as if… as if I was absorbing the heat.
Vashta save me. I shoved away from the oak, leaving little more than a charred handprint on the bark.
With every spark I absorbed, the pyre in the center of the clearing died down a little more. I needed cold. Water. The snow melted as soon as I scooped it up, and in the light of the flames, I fancied there was a red tinge to my brown skin.
Galina suddenly stood on the edge of the clearing. Hazy and insubstantial, she beckoned me toward her.
Toward the pool.
When they kill the firebird, you must come here. Promise me....
"You're not real." I reeled away, staggering blindly through the trees. Everything hurt. Water. Water, please….
"What you mean is, I'm not alive. Only you can hear me now. Only you can see me."
"What’s happening to me?"
"I’m so sorry, child. This will hurt. You proved your heart is true. The forest must have a guardian. And I have served my time. The duty is yours now."
Duty? I stumbled into a fir tree, and the sharp bristles of the leaves began to smolder. Sweet Vashta. What had she done to me? Another spark sizzled as it hit my face. They were following me like little glowing fireflies that hissed and sizzled as they met my skin, in a way that was reminiscent of hot coals landing in water.
"This way," Galina whispered, appearing ahead of me.
Fainter now. Like a wisp of mist under moonlight.
"Drink the waters, Neva. Or you'll die here. It's your choice."
What sort of choice was that?
I could feel the flame within me now, my mouth raw and dry. I hit the edge of a small ravine and fell to my knees as a spasm of pain racked me. The fall threw me forward, and then the world was spinning recklessly around me, my body tumbling end over end, and slamming onto the stone cobbles that surrounded the Well of Tears. The layer of moss lied. It barely broke my fall, and was no kinder than the stone.
And it too began to smolder and smoke.
"Come, Neva."
Galina sat on the rim of the pool, stirring her hand through the waters. Not a single ripple stirred.
"Are you real?" I whispered hoarsely.
"I am burning within you," Galina said. "Do I not feel real?"
"What have you done to me?" The truth was starting to penetrate. I crawled for the water, fearing this was only the beginning.
Galina's smile was sad. "Sacrifice and rebirth, Neva. Rebirth does not always mean the same body, the same soul. You are my heir. The firebird will live on. The Old Blood that flows through your veins sustains the spark of my magic. It's not enough to counter it, however. If you don't drink from the pool, then you will die. And it will be agonizing."
I sobbed, dragging myself onto the stone lip of the pool. Everything was on fire. I’d never been so relieved to see water in my life.
"The waters will help you accept the change, and heal your body as the flame takes over. I ca
nnot leave the woods unprotected. If I die without a replacement, then the Darkness shall be free to destroy the world again."
"What about Hussar?"
"He is not yet dead, and the Darkness within him burned to a mere wisp. It will regain its strength, if you don’t stop it," Galina said, stirring her hand through the waters. "The firebird's tears can heal anything. Mixed with the unicorn's blood, the waters from this pool could restore a man with one foot in the grave to exuberant life—but there is a cost. Only the pure of heart can taste it. A final test for those who seek immortality. We could not have these petty kings and their princes seeking forever on their gilded thrones, could we? Only a man or woman with the purest intentions can drink from this pool." Galina's smile sharpened. "Are you pure of heart, Neva?"
I didn't know. I couldn't think. The hot coal inside me was throbbing as though someone slowly drove a red-hot poker inside my chest.
No hesitation now. It didn’t matter if Galina’s previous warnings had been dire. Pure heart or not, I couldn’t resist plunging headfirst into the pool, my hips hanging over the edge of the fountain.
Instant relief.
The waters of Vashta’s Tears welcomed me, though it felt thick and strangely fluid, like molten quicksilver. I sucked in a mouthful and swallowed, trying to cool the flaming embers deep in my chest and stomach. It wasn’t enough. I went under completely, and the blessed cold sank through my fevered body, my ears popping with pressure.
The mouthful of water I’d swallowed sat heavy in my stomach, the leaden weight of it slowly sinking through every inch of my body, and bringing with it a coolness that invigorated.
Power rushed through me. Heat.
But it was no longer burning me to cinders.
Now I was the flame.
Steam rose off the pool as I surfaced in a ball of pure flame; one that spread its wings and speared into the sky. Energy crackled through me. I saw the woods sprawled below me, and the air of the night sky rushed past me.
Everything melted away. Pain, sorrow, hunger, fear. I emerged raw and new, and filled with pure exultation.
Banking in the sky, I circled the clearing where Cas and the rest of the men looked up, crying out and pointing up at me.
And suddenly it dawned on me.
Despite this rush of exhilaration, this glorious change, it also meant the end of any hopes I might have held toward him.
The king needed a firebird’s heart.
And now the prince and his men knew a firebird could be consumed in order to heal, I would never stop being hunted.
And I had a duty now.
Everything changed. The sudden lightness of being I’d felt sank into a hot ball of lead in my chest. I plunged through the skies, my enormous wings lashing out just enough to stop my fall. I hit the ground, and the heat ran through me, a spill of energy that left me shuddering in human form on the melted patch of brown dirt I knelt in. Naked.
Yells echoed through the forest. My head jerked up. Cas! And the others.
"You passed the third test. You are truly my heir now. But my old foe is gathering strength. Take my cloak." Galina swirled it around my naked shoulders. "It is crafted of magic, and shall not burn."
Somehow I wobbled to my feet.
"You have little time to lose," she whispered, clasping my cheek in her cool, ethereal hand. "Go, Neva. The Darkness has found its mantle. The man it rides will kill the entire company if you do not stop him—and none of the others can. He will spread this infection through your kingdom—through your world of men—until the Darkness finally has a foothold in another land. And this time, there are no guardians left. Only you can stop it."
Casimir. Evaron. The soldiers who rode with them. It would not stop there. Densby was the closest village on the way out of the Woods. My father was ill. My sisters...
Reaching for the fallen spear that marked Vashta's grave, I turned toward the clearing where the firebird's ashes still burned.
"Vashta watch over me," I whispered, making the sign of the trident upon my forehead with my finger.
When I gained the top of the hill, I glanced back one more time.
Galina was gone.
And another scream tore through the night.
11
Of course, it had been Hussar the Darkness took.
Where else could it find hate to twist? Who else would be arrogant enough to defy their prince—to lift a sword against him?
Who else hungered—in a way no man should hunger—for blood and glory, and to rise above his station?
Pausing at the top of the hill revealed the bloodied battle below me in the snow. The firebird's pyre roared into the sky, casting an eerie orange glow across the scene. Four men guarded the fallen prince, and Cas was tending to him desperately, trying to staunch the blood flow.
Hussar had gained his feet, his skin cracked and charred from Galina’s defiant last stand—though red light gleamed through the cracks, as if something healed him from within. He wielded his sword, cutting through two of the guards. Despite the flames, his face seemed a mask of shadows, and he moved with the strength of twenty men. One of the guards scored a lucky strike, the tip of his sword slashing across Hussar's cheek.
Black blood dripped down the hollow beneath his cheekbone, but as fast as it fell, the wound sealed. Hussar bellowed in rage, and kicked the soldier in the chest, sending him staggering back into the arms of his comrades. They crashed in a steely rasp, and he turned and slashed the throat of Gemel, the stable hand.
I sprinted through the woods, the trees flashing past me. Faster than I'd ever run before, the wind whistling past my ears until it felt like I was flying. I'd never felt so alive, so attuned to the woods. It was as if another's spirit moved within me.
And maybe one did.
There was Old Blood in my veins. Vashta's blood.
Her spear in my hand.
The firebird's spark in my chest.
Gravenwold needed a guardian, and I no longer felt fear. It was extraordinary.
A pile of tumbled saddlebags loomed in front of me, and I leapt over them, landing in the clearing on the other side of the pyre to the prince and his men.
"Hussar!" I called, crouching low. When I was ten I'd climbed through the trees and followed as my father and Densby's menfolk went hunting for wild boar in the trees. The heavy spears they used were nothing like Vashta's.
I knew little of spear work, and yet my fingers gripped the ash haft expertly, and it moved as though that other spirit within me wielded it.
"You are not alone," Galina whispered.
"Let me fight this battle for you," whispered another voice in my mind, one I instinctively knew was Vashta.
And so I let her spirit take control.
The same cool feeling that had enveloped me in the Well of Tears slid over my skin.
Hussar drove his blade toward me, the flash of silver gleaming in the firelight. I swung and met it, and the ash blade resisted the steel. Sound vibrated off it, and somehow I sensed the trees around us wake.
Hussar was forced back, and his eyes darted around us as the trees seemed to loom closer. The trees! The Darkness feared both them and my fire.
It was no longer Hussar I faced. Rage filled his eyes, obliterating the iris and leaving nothing but pupil. It felt like he was growing. Those light filled cracks in his skin began to glow like molten lava through its crust.
Whatever was left of Hussar had been consumed by the entity within him. "Cast down your spear, child," it said in a deep growl that sounded nothing like its former owner. "And I might permit you to live."
"It lies," Galina whispered. "It allows nothing to live, and you are the only thing it fears. Don’t believe it."
"I wasn’t planning to," I snarled, and spun the spear around me as I feinted forward.
Our weapons clashed again and again. The spear whined as I twirled it around my ears, seeking openings in Hussar's defense. A thundering blow reverberated through the spear and up my arms. I
ground my teeth, ducking beneath the swing of his sword.
No matter how fast I moved, he met every attack.
And despite my newfound strength and skill, he was slowly beating me back step by step.
Galina couldn’t kill it.
Doubt cleaved through my focus. The hiss of steel slashed into my shoulder, spattering blood across the snow. I stumbled aside as he swung madly, leaping on top of a boulder and flipping back over the next wild swing.
It gained me a few steps but as he turned, smiling a little, I knew I couldn’t last forever.
Just as he knew it.
And the Darkness inside him.
"You are Fire," Galina whispered. "You are pure of heart. It cannot touch you, Neva. Not unless you allow it."
How could I defeat it? Me? Village born and bred? Especially when she could not?
"My flames were burning low," she whispered. "I was old and tired. You are a fresh flame. Believe in yourself. Let the firebird burn free."
Believe in yourself.
Words my father had raised me with.
This time, when Hussar attacked, I did not dance away.
I stepped inside his swing, and plunged the spear inside Hussar’s chest, feeling the fire ignite through my veins as the firebird awoke. The ash spear burst into white flames, and Hussar screamed as his heart smoldered within him. Smoke poured from his open mouth as he went to his knees, but his mortal body seemed to be withstanding the heat. Something held it together. I could not kill this entity. Not even with the firebird’s flames.
"Your blood will bind it to its prison again," Galina whispered.
I tore my knife free and cut the palm of my hand, holding it over Hussar's body. Spatters of bright red hit his face, and hissed as they sizzled. Only one more sign I was no longer entirely human.
A drop of blood pattered into the dirt beside him. I felt the forest wake, my world suddenly so much more than the feel of the body that held me. Thick, twisted roots tracked through loamy soil, locking together in a cage to hold this Darkness at bay beneath my feet. I could feel every tree root, every branch, and every tree that had been planted to guard against this evil. They felt like an extension of my arm.
