The Blaze Ignites

by Nichelle Rae

  “Dear Light Gods,” Ortheldo breathed as he looked around the empty woods in awe. Then he looked around frantically. “Cairikson?”

  “I’m here,” was the response from above. All of us looked up just as a white sparkling magic developed on a tree branch and the little Salynn came into view, tears in his eyes.

  Ortheldo immediately went to the tree and pulled himself up the trunk and onto the branch Cairikson sat on. “It’s okay. It’s over.”

  Though the boy was crying, he had a hard look on his face as he watched Ortheldo approach. He sniffed. “I need a weapon, Ortheldo. I could have helped.”

  “Oh Cairikson,” Ortheldo said sympathetically, “I admire your bravery, but that battle was just too big for you.”

  “No it wasn’t!” The boy shot back. “I could have shot arrows from up here! I could have saved her!”

  All our brows dropped as we realized what he’d said. I began to look around frantically—all the Redians were gone. Before I could panic, I heard sobbing coming from the woods outside the barrier of where Addredoc’s protective dome shield had been.

  Ortheldo scooped Cairikson up in one arm and jumped down to the ground. All of us ran towards the sound. The first thing we saw was Addredoc and Thrawyn kneeling on the ground, which made me run faster. As I realized what was in front of them, I stopped in my tracks and had to throw a fist over my mouth so I wouldn’t throw up.

  Meddyn lay there in nearly two complete pieces, her body so torn I couldn’t even recognize her. Bile burned at the base of my throat, threatening to come up. Thrawyn was sobbing with his head on the ground, completely gasping for air. Reese dropped to his knees trying to comfort him. Addredoc just stared in utter horror at his mother. Azrel sunk down at Addredoc’s side and put her arm around him.

  Meddyn, sweet gentle Meddyn, was dead.

  “My first casualty,” Acalith said so softly I barely even heard her. “The Second Shadow is coming.”

  I felt uneasy for an instant, like I was being watched. I turned my head and did a double take when I saw from the corner of my eye a brown mass sitting in the trees behind me. There the leader of the Welptacks, Imbrul, cowered.

  He yelped as soon as I looked at him and took off towards the clearing. I was after him, but I was soon passed by Azrel who ran with speed I didn’t think possible. She looked like a gazelle as she limberly leapt over roots and fallen trees on the forest floor. Any second I expected her to trip on something, but then she was in the clearing and was gaining on Imbrul! She was out running a wolf! And a giant one at that.

  She jumped, clearing ten whole feet, and tackled the massive beast to the ground. They rolled over each other a couple times with Azrel landing on top. Her Salynn blade was at his throat so fast I didn’t even see her reach for it.

  Ortheldo and I caught up to her, both of us panting.

  “Please don’t kill me!” Imbrul was begging her. “Please!”

  “You let your pack kill someone very dear to me,” Azrel said through clenched teeth, looking down at him dangerously. “But I won’t kill you for it yet, because I have a message I want you to bring to your Wolf Lord.” Azrel shifted her blade so the point was pointed directly up into his chin. “You tell Karksar that I’m coming to get him and the rest of his pack for the murder of my Redian friend.” She applied more pressure to the point. “You tell him I’m going to wipe the entire race of Welptacks from the face of the earth.” Then she put on a fake sweet smile. “I do hope you can recall my message through the pain.”

  Imbrul’s eyes widened. “Pain?”

  Azrel gritted her teeth and slashed her blade upwards over his good eye. Imbrul yelped in pain and struggled under Azrel for a moment but somehow she kept hold of him. “That pain!” She put the point of her bloody blade under his chin again. “Don’t forget my message, Imbrul.”

  Azrel got off of him. As he rolled to his side, she grabbed a fistful of his fur at the back of his neck and his lower back, and with impossible strength she picked him up off the ground and threw him eight feet. “Now get out of my sight!”

  Imbrul looked over his shoulder pathetically for an instant, then galloped away.

  Both Ortheldo and I looked at Azrel with wide eyes. She was trembling like a leaf in a breeze as she watched Imbrul go. When he was out of sight, she turned to start back to where Meddyn lay but stumbled in exhaustion nearly falling on her face. Ortheldo caught her around her stomach before she fell.

  “I’m alright. I’m alright. I have to…”

  “You have to eat and sleep,” Ortheldo said gently but firmly as he helped her steady herself on her feet.

  Azrel looked at him over her shoulder. “Not before we bury Meddyn and Thrawyn.”

  My brows dropped. “Thrawyn? He’s fine.”

  Ortheldo and Azrel looked at me with sad expressions. “Come on,” my sister said and we headed back towards the trees.

  When we got there, Meddyn was covered with a blanket and Thrawyn was gone. Addredoc sat against a tree with his knees up, staring off at nothing, with a horrified look in his eyes. Azrel pressed her lips together and got on her knees beside him. She put her arm around him and pulled him against her shoulder. He didn’t resist, he didn’t even blink.

  “Where’s Thrawyn?” I asked.

  “Off into the woods to will himself to die,” the tall, black masked stranger said flatly. I flinched. “He went to what?”

  “You bastard!” Addredoc suddenly screamed and he was on his feet heading towards the newcomer. Azrel jumped up to hold him back, while the stranger lit a ball of yellow wizard fire in his palm.

  “Stop it! Addredoc stop!” Azrel yelled, pushing on Addredoc’s shoulders. “We’re all on the same side!” Addredoc stopped struggling against her but kept his wide eyes on the stranger. Azrel spun to face him. “Look Lisswilla, I really like you, but you’re going to have to learn when to shut up!”

  My temper threatened to boil over. “What’s happening with Thrawyn?” I yelled.

  Azrel looked at me sympathetically but stayed in front of Addredoc, least he lunge at the masked man again. “Thrawyn went into the woods to will himself to die. Ortheldo and I knew he would.”

  I couldn’t even grasp the thought. For a moment I couldn’t even think of anything rational to say. “But…how…he can’t…people can’t…people can’t really do that can they?”

  “My father did when my mother died,” Ortheldo said.

  “But…how? I don’t…how could he do that?”

  Azrel shrugged sadly. “You just end your desire to live. It’s really easy after you lose someone you love.”

  They weren’t understanding me. I really didn’t care to know how someone willingly ended their life! “No!” I cried. “What I mean is how could he do that? He still has a son! Addredoc is alive! Isn’t that reason enough to want to live?”

  Understanding washed over Azrel’s face and she shook her head. “When you’ve spent thousands of years with a spouse, a child you’ve known for only a few hundred years is not enough to live for. Most Salynns feel that way.”

  I shook my head in disgust, then I passed Azrel and embraced Addredoc tightly. He began to cry heavily into my shoulder as he returned my embrace. “I am so sorry, my friend.” I found myself holding back tears of my own. “I am so sorry.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Ortheldo

  When we found Thrawyn’s body his red Sallybreath flowers were grey and shriveled, with some scattered on the ground. Rabryn looked in horror at what Thrawyn had done. Azrel tried to comfort him, but he just didn’t understand. He was young.

  My arms and shoulders were cut up pretty badly from the endless teeth and claws of the Welptacks, but no magic user was in any shape to heal right now. My cuts weren’t bleeding too badly, so I ignored them, as well as the exhaustion from the battle as we buried Thrawyn and Meddyn. All I had to do was look at Azrel and Reese helping out, even though they were in much worse shape than I was, and I plugged on.

&nbs
p; We put Thrawyn and Meddyn together under a large juniper tree and Addredoc cast powerful magic over the graves so they would never be disturbed by any person or animal. All of us said a prayer to the Light Gods to accept their spirits wholly among them in the Sky, where all good spirits rested after death.

  When we dispersed, the powerful need to apologize to Azrel came over me full force. I couldn’t get the last thing I said to her at Rocksheloc out of my mind. The Deralilya’s warning though, made me pause. Looking at Azrel now, I longed to know if she hated me for what I’d said, yet a big part of me didn’t want to know. I don’t think I could stand knowing she hated me. I breathed deeply and turned away from her. I walked to the fallen tree that Cairikson sat on and took a seat beside him.

  I patted his hair. “Hey buddy, are you okay?”

  “No!” He surprised me by yelling. “I couldn’t help! I didn’t have a weapon and my magic wasn’t big enough to kill more than twelve of those things! If I had a weapon I could have done more!” Tears filled his big blue-green eyes. “Meddyn wouldn’t have had to die! Thrawyn wouldn’t have had to k…kill himself!” Finally big tears rolled down his cheeks. “Addredoc wouldn’t have had to lose his mama like I did…or his daddy. I could have done more.” He started to openly cry. I picked him up and put him in my lap, hugging him close. “I could have done more!” He sobbed into my shoulder.

  My boy. Tears filled my eyes too as I stood up, holding him against me. It was official; I wanted a son. “I know you could have. But you know what?” I leaned away from him so I could look in his eyes. “I am very proud of you.” He wiped his arms over his cheeks, drying his tears. “You were really, really brave.”

  “I was?”

  “You sure were. You killed twelve giant wolves! That’s not something to sneer at.” He smiled. I kissed his forehead, and then his cheek two or three times. “Tell you what,” I said cheerfully, “how about I make you a bow and some arrows today?” His face brightened. “It will be a birthday present from me. The arrows won’t have metal tips because, well, we’re in the middle of the woods and there’s no smithy around here.” He gave a small giggle, still wiping his eyes. “But I’ll sharpen the arrow shafts to a point. Think you can work with that?” He nodded. “And as soon as we get into a town I’ll buy you some real arrows, okay?”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “You know what, Ortheldo?”

  “What’s that?”

  He looked at me with his enormous eyes full of sincerity. “I wish you could be my daddy.”

  A broad smile spread across my face and I turned a little red. I kissed his cheek one more time then looked in his eyes. “I do, too.”

  “I’ll help you,” Rabryn said stepping forward with a soft smile. “I can use my magic and get you a weapon quickly if that’s alright with you both.”

  Cairikson looked at me for approval, which made me smile. “A Salynn bow would be much better than one I could make, and you’ll actually have it on your birthday.”

  “Okay but”—he looked at Rabryn—“is it alright if Ortheldo makes me a quiver fit for me on his own? I don’t need that right away and I’d like a gift from him as well.”

  Rabryn nodded. “Of course. We might as well go make it now. Azrel has Forfirith going after the other horses, and there’s no telling how far they bolted when the Welptacks came. It might be a while.”

  I nodded, then bounced Cairikson once in my arms, “Let’s go get you a weapon.”

  He smiled, “Okay.” I put him on the ground and took his small hand.

  Rabryn went over to Acalith and told her where we were going. She nodded and said something, but I was already heading up the short hill on the side of the road into the woods. Rabryn was quickly behind me.

  We walked for about ten minutes before Rabryn found a beautiful cluster of yew trees. I expected him to whip out his sword and start hacking away at the branches, but he didn’t. He looked at the tree in front of him for a few moments with a slightly troubled expression. The woods were nearly silent.

  Rabryn stood there for so long that I took in a breath to say something to him, but before I could, the blankest look came over his face. His expression was so lifeless I thought he might faint. He tilted his head—the only sign of life in him. He then slowly brought his hand up to the tree trunk, his fingers wide apart.

  Cairikson gave my sleeve a little tug. “What’s he doing?”

  I shook my head, “I don’t know.”

  A soft gold light formed around Rabryn’s hand and he smiled. I watched in amazement as he pushed his hand through the tree trunk up to his elbow! He moved it up and down and side to side as if he was searching for something inside the tree.

  “Diolalle obelega,” Rabryn whispered, startling me. It meant, thank you, oh mighty one in the Ancient Salynn speech! He was speaking Ancient Salynnian! I didn’t think Addredoc was teaching Rabryn that!

  Rabryn started to pull his arm out. I watched in disbelief as the brown wood of the trunk seemed to liquefy and stretch a bit with the pull of his hand. When his hand emerged, in his grip was a shapely bow that looked like it was being pulled directly out of the wood, yet there was no hole left in its place! It lacked a string, but the small bow was stunningly beautiful. It was a rich brown color with carvings of vines and fruits along the length of it, as if it had been crafted by hand.

  I looked at him in disbelief. “What…how did you…what did you just do?”

  Rabryn chuckled as he came up to us. “Well first, I asked the tree permission to make a bow from her wood. When she gave me leave for that, I asked her to help me shape it to be fit for a young Salynn of Galad Kas, since I don’t know how Galad Kas makes their weapons. She knew though, and thus”—he held up the bow—“I have this.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly. I didn’t know Salynns could do…could…talk to trees with their magic! I still couldn’t believe it. What puzzled me even more was how Rabryn had gotten so highly skilled in his magic craft to be able to do such a thing. Addredoc had hardly been teaching him that long.

  “Of course after her help and her allowing me to take a piece of her away, I had to thank her.” Rabryn smiled teasingly. “Trees don’t know the common speech, but we Salynns are older than you young bucks, so I took a shot at her knowing the Ancient Salynn tongue. Addredoc has taught me a few basic phrases and words.”

  I nodded, “So, you can talk to trees…”

  Rabryn laughed as he got to one knee. He rested one end of the bow on the ground and pinched the other end between his thumb and index fingers. He dragged both fingers down, extending a thread of gold light from top to bottom. When he pinched the other end, the gold light disappeared and a bow string was left in its place. He stood, taking the bow up with him. He drew the string to his cheek, and pulled it a few times to test the tension and line of sight.

  “Very nice,” he said at last, then handed the bow down to the wide-eyed birthday boy. “Try it out.”

  Cairikson glanced up a Rabryn before taking the gift gingerly. He took aim in a daze of disbelief and drew the string to his cheek a few times. His bright eyes went back to Rabryn. “It’s wonderful,” he said in a breath. “Thank you.”

  Rabryn smiled. “Well, it won’t be of much use without arrows, now will it?”

  Cairikson giggled softly, “No.”

  Rabryn smiled at him and then turned and reached into the tree again with his glowing hand. I had to shake my head in disbelief again as it looked like he was reaching into a brown, vertical pond. Liquid bark rippled along the trunk as he pushed his hand into it. When his hand emerged again he held a big hand full of small arrow shafts.

  “Diolalle au,” he said, which meant thank you again. He turned towards us.

  I couldn’t help smiling at him. “Yeah, these will be really useful in battle.”

  He glared at me playfully and shoved the bundle into my chest, making me hold them. “I’m not done yet.” He turned and I followed him
to a large nearby rock embedded in the forest floor. He got to one knee and rested his gold glowing hand on it.

  My brows dropped. “Why are you asking the permission of a rock? They aren’t alive.”

  “Salynns don’t like taking anything from nature without its permission. The rock may not be able to answer me, but the earth can.”

  It made sense, sort of. Suddenly Rabryn’s hand seeped into the rock. He held out his other hand to me and frantically wiggled his fingers, keeping his eyes on the grey liquid mass. I began to hand him the bundle of arrows shafts. “One at a time.”

  I took the bundle back and handed him a single rod. He put the end of the shaft into the liquid stone and held it there a moment. When he pulled it out, a wickedly sharp stone arrow tip was attached. I stared in wide-eyed wonder when he handed it back to me.

  “It’s not metal, but it may as well be,” Rabryn said.

  “No kidding,” I mumbled. “I’ve never seen such sharp edges made of stone before. Not even from the greatest Salynn stone artisan.”

  “Hand me another one, Ortheldo.”

  I placed another wooden rod in his hand and, one by one, they all received stone tips. Rabryn then thanked the rock and held his hands out to me. I gave him the bundle of arrows. He tucked them under his left arm with arrow heads pointing out behind him. He held his right hand over the bare ends and his hand began to glow gold again. I watched as the gold sparkling light dripped off of his skin and stuck to the wood, making it glow and sparkle. There was a small flash of gold light, and when I looked back at him I couldn’t help being stunned yet again. The arrows now had white feathers on the ends.

  Smiling down at Cairikson, he handed the arrows over. “Happy Birthday, kiddo. They’re all yours.”

  Cairikson smiled and took them. “Thank you, My Goldian. I’ll treasure them forever.” He placed his fingertips on his forehead and bowed low at the waist, the Salynn sign of respect to a Salynn of higher rank. Rabryn returned the bow, then ruffled the boy’s hair. “Go show Azrel your present.”