Shadow Fire

by Wheaton, Kimber Leigh

  "Hey, I remember you, dog!" Taranis says in a low growl, shaking his finger at Loki. "You came to my ship disguised as a cute, innocent doggie, hung around for weeks eating my food and distracting my crew. Then you loped into my room, turned into this humanoid thing and had the gall to call me a pathetic excuse for a pirate!"

  "It was a compliment, Taranis," I say, trying to keep my laughter under control. "Loki had assumed you were corrupting the innocent orphans you take on as crew. He was originally there to gut you and hang your intestines from the crow's nest."

  "As it turns out you're merely a humanitarian playing at pirate," Loki says, flashing his fangs at Taranis. "Those boys were in good hands so I left."

  "Yes, well, I have a reputation to uphold," Taranis says, tossing his long cherry hair. "So keep the altruistic stuff to yourself."

  "Let's move to the campsite and settle down there, shall we?" Zane asks, holding his hand out to me.

  When I place my hand in his, he hauls me to my feet and up against his firm chest. His arms wrap around my body. I snuggle up against him, burying my face in his neck.

  "Come, Love, it isn't far," he murmurs in my ear before he pulls away, taking my hand to lead me down the worn path.

  "If that was for my benefit, Zane, it was completely unnecessary," Loki says, eyeing us with an amused smirk. "Your scent is all over her. Did you forget I have lupine senses?"

  Zane grunts in response and continues to lead me down the trail. The old campsite is less than a quarter mile away, and I collapse to the ground again once we reach it. As the men settle down around me, Shadow returns from his hunt. He races right up to Loki, dropping the largest harrier I've ever seen in the shocked demigod's lap.

  "Thank you, Shadow," Loki says, holding the harrier up by the ears to examine it. "Truly a magnificent specimen isn't it."

  "If you say so," I comment, a bit reviled at the monster.

  "My dear fenrir, it appears you took marvelous care of the little huntress in my absence. I'd like you to have this harrier as a gift," Loki says, tossing the monster back to Shadow. The ebony wolf snatches the harrier in his jaws and settles down to tear into his gift.

  "Well, Shadow has his dinner, and I'm ready for mine," I say, glancing over at Zane. "I'm not in a good mood right now, so when I ask what's for dinner, jerky better not be the answer." Two men stare at me with a mixture of shock and fear, while the demigod chuckles. "And not harrier either!" I add, afraid I'll be forced to ingest the hideous bunny.

  "Well, fresh harrier tastes much better than the dried harrier jerky," Zane says in what appears to be an attempt to mollify me, a failed attempt.

  "No harrier and no jerky." I insist. "There must be something else out here I can hunt." My voice has become whiny, and a dark flush creeps up my neck when I realize I sound like a petulant child. "Sorry," I whisper. "I guess the last two days have just fried my nerves, but that's no reason to take it out on you."

  "Here," Taranis says, tossing a small bag to me. "Have it all. I bet you'll feel better in no time."

  The bag is filled half way up with tiny chocolate drops. Popping one in my mouth, I close my eyes and enjoy the taste as it melts on my tongue.

  "Thanks, Taranis, I feel better already," I say before popping another chocolate in my mouth. "Though, I'm more than willing to share," I add, passing the bag to Zane who takes a couple pieces before tossing it back to the rogue.

  "What about me?" Loki asks, his eyes sullen and his lips in a pout.

  "Chocolate is bad for dogs," Taranis says smirking. "None for you."

  "Insolent rogue," Loki mutters, "you'd do well not to anger a demigod."

  Taranis tosses the bag back to me, and I pour out a few more candies into my hand.

  "C'mon, Ashlyn, just one or two?" Loki pleads.

  The sight of a powerful demigod begging for candy fills me with laughter. His azure eyes sparkle as he gazes at me with his head tipped to the side in a wolfish fashion. Sighing, I dump some chocolate into his hand, and he pours the whole handful into his mouth at once.

  "He's a demigod, can chocolate really harm him?" I say in my defense when Taranis glares at me. While I'm distracted, Zane tries to hand me a wedge of cheese, which I decide to ignore.

  "You can't survive on chocolate alone," Zane says, pushing the cheese closer to my lips.

  "I can try—" I begin, but am unable to finish when Zane stuffs the cheese in my mouth the moment it's open. With a silent glare, I chew the mouthful of cheese. "That was a dirty trick," I mutter at him once I swallow.

  "You were going to tell me how you managed to hook up with Taranis," Loki says after finishing his giant mouthful of candy. "I have a feeling it's an interesting story."

  As I relate the long tale of our escapades and near death in Palma, Loki is silent throughout the account, his blue eyes enrapt.

  "Well this time at least, I think we'll be one step ahead of Delistaire," Loki says when I finish the story with the fight at the Breven Ruins.

  "I wouldn't be too sure of that, wolf," a clear voice rings through the air accompanied by a blinding flash of white light. When my vision clears, an old man is standing before us.

  "Hosea, what are you doing here?" Loki cries, leaping to his feet. "Shouldn't you be guarding the Azzard Ruins?"

  Hosea falls to his knees. I watch in helpless silence as Zane and Loki rush to his side.

  "What happened, Hosea? You're badly wounded," Loki says then his mouth hardens into a thin line. "Delistaire! How did he figure out where the statue was?"

  "His minions were tracking me," Hosea says as he holds himself up on his hands and knees. "It wasn’t a stretch for Delistaire to assume I was at Azzard for a reason."

  Zane eases Hosea to the ground and begins healing his battered body.

  "Will he be all right?" I ask, kneeling behind Zane, while staring at the blue glow enveloping Hosea's entire form.

  Zane nods as the glow fades away, before slumping back against me. Catching him in my arms, I ease his body to the ground.

  "I think I've expended too much magical energy today," Zane murmurs, his fiery eyes starting to glaze over. "I'm exhausted. Just give me a few minutes to recover."

  "Ashlyn, lend him some of your energy," Loki orders from his position at Hosea's side. "I don't know what's going on, and we can't afford to have Zane out of commission right now."

  "How do I do that?" I ask. "Zane never taught me anything about transferring energy. Besides I used a lot of energy earlier fighting Delistaire. Can't Taranis do it?"

  "No!" Zane manages to shout which leads to a fit of coughing. When his coughing dies down, Loki turns around and stares at me.

  "Ashlyn, you have to kiss him and push your healing magic into him," Loki says, biting his lip in an obvious attempt not to laugh. "Just not too much energy, we don't need you passing out."

  "Well, I guess that explains why Taranis can't do it," I mumble as I lean down and brush my lips against Zane's.

  My healing magic flares, and I gently push some of it into him. When his arms wrap around me, pulling me down on top of him, I cut off the flow of magic but not the kiss. His lips part beneath mine as I push my tongue through them. He whimpers while I lazily explore his mouth with my tongue, thrilling in the tortured sounds my actions elicit from the man in my arms.

  His arms tighten around my body, and he rolls, trapping me beneath him. His eyes glint with undisguised mischief as he gazes down at me, his hand cupping my cheek. He runs his thumb over my lips, and my eyes flutter closed, though I manage to hold back the tiny moan threatening to escape. He begins trailing kisses up my jawline until he reaches my ear. When he licks the shell of my ear, my back arches against him, and I moan in pleasure. He chuckles deep in his throat, the vibration making my stomach clench in desire. My arms wind around his neck while he continues to tease my ear, nipping at my earlobe.

  "Oh for the love…" Loki mutters, pulling Zane off of me. I whimper from my position on the ground. "If this is what happens wi
th a simple energy transfer, I'll be doing it from now on."

  Zane moves back to my side, pulling me between his legs so my back is resting against his chest. Loki gives us one final dark glare before turning back to watch over Hosea.

  "Now you see what I have to deal with," Taranis says, smirking at the demigod. "Annoying, aren't they."

  "Oh, my head," Hosea groans as he sits up rubbing at his head, "what happened?"

  "You teleported here from the Azzard Ruins and collapsed. You were seriously injured and Zane healed you. Do you remember?" Loki asks.

  "Delistaire!" Hosea scowls. "Delistaire obtained the Goddess Statue and attacked me. I barely managed to escape with my life."

  My eyes widen in shock. How did the sorcerer manage to find and obtain the statue so quickly?

  "What about your spell?" Loki asks, distress lacing his voice. "I thought only a pure maiden of her own free will could even touch the statue."

  Zane's arms tighten around me when I begin to shake a bit in fear. Will Delistaire be more powerful now that he has the statue?

  "Ashlyn, calm down, all is not lost," Loki says when he notices my trembling.

  "My spell was woven such that a person could only take the statue of their own free will. I never said anything about it having to be a maiden," Hosea says, sighing aloud. "You can blame my deceased sister for planting the seed in Delistaire's mind. She was very vocal about her theories regarding the Shrine Maidens. Don't forget that she was behind the push for boys to be given the opportunity to guard the statue as well as girls. Delistaire must have remembered this. He used a twelve-year-old boy to obtain the statue. It appears that Rosemary was right. One must only be pure to handle it, not female."

  "None of his apprentices are pure enough to touch the Goddess Statue," Zane says snarling. "I'm sure their black hearts would be rejected by the pure aura, whether they're pure of body or not."

  "There was one, Zane," Loki says, his eyes falling to stare at the ground. "Last year Hosea asked me to rescue him, but he'd already escaped."

  "He was my apprentice. Delistaire recognized his rare power and stole him from me when he was eight," Hosea murmurs, shaking his head. "I wasn't strong enough to protect him, and I always regretted it. He was such a sweet boy. Delistaire must've found him again and threatened something awful for Caleb to agree to help him."

  "Hosea, we need the whole story," Zane says, eyes glinting with anger. "Mother's ghost visited us in the Breven Ruins. She was under the assumption you'd placed the statue there."

  "You saw Rosemary?" Hosea asks, his face turning ashen in shock. "How is she?"

  "She's dead, old man, how do you think she is?" Zane snaps. "She was still bound to Delistaire by the pendant and still forced to do his dirty work even in death."

  Turning around to face Zane, I take him in my arms trying to comfort the seething man. Running my fingers though his hair, I coo soft, comforting words until his body sags against mine.

  "I destroyed the pendant and freed her before we left the ruins," he murmurs in a calmer voice.

  "I'm truly sorry, Zane. I wish I could've done more," Hosea whispers. Zane's body tenses up. Once again I soothe him until he relaxes.

  "You were a coward, O Great Archsage Hosea," Loki snaps. "You stood by while Delistaire tortured Zane and Rosemary. You did nothing but submit to his demands."

  "There was nothing I could do!" Hosea cries. "I had no choice but to obey Delistaire."

  "You can continue telling yourself that, but Zane and I don't have to believe it," Loki replies, his eyes on Zane as he speaks. "Now tell them the rest of the story. They need to know. You can start from your departure from Delistaire's lair with the Shrine Maiden."

  "I fled with the Shrine Maiden and the Goddess Statue. We traveled south to Orietta and stayed there while I searched for information regarding the Azzard Ruins. Though daunting, we managed to make it past the sentinels and across the desert. I sealed the Goddess Statue in a chamber deep within the Azzard Ruins. After I took the Shrine Maiden back to Orietta, I went to let Rosemary know of my success."

  His breath hitches and a flash of pain crosses his face, but his voice is steady when he continues his tale.

  "She was already under Delistaire's control through the subjugation spell on the pendant. I knew she'd eventually be forced to reveal the location to him, so I lied and told her it was in the Breven Ruins. She created an elaborate sealing spell, which of course alerted Delistaire to its location immediately. He was, however, unable to penetrate the ruins on his own. Five years later Delistaire tracked me down, confronted me and we came to an agreement. I'd travel to Verdane and weave a tale to the elders, advising them to send a virgin maiden every five years in an effort to retrieve the statue from the Breven Ruins. Delistaire, in return agreed to allow Rosemary to live and continue caring for their newborn son. In those five years since the statue was removed from the Goddess Shrine, Delistaire's power grew exponentially. Only a light mage would be able to defeat him, and I had no idea how to free Rosemary from his spell, even after years of research. I was trapped, so I delivered the message as ordered and waited for a light mage to be born into the world."

  "So you were the monk," I murmur. "You were responsible for sending four innocent girls to their deaths." Turning around, I face the great Archsage Hosea. "You sent them off, knowing they were on a wild goose chase. How can you live with yourself?"

  Zane cradles me in his arms as tremors wrack my body, overwhelming sadness and rage warring within my mind. Closing my eyes, I force myself to maintain control and not give in to the tears threatening to form.

  "I know that saying I'm sorry is woefully inadequate," Hosea murmurs. "The only thing I can do now is try to atone for my sins. I'll do everything in my power to help you defeat Delistaire and restore the Goddess Statue to the shrine in Verdane."

  Everyone is silent, perhaps lost in thought like me. The plains are dark now, the sun having set long ago. Nobody ever bothered to light a fire so the only light bathing our campsite is from the moon and stars. Leaning back into Zane, I tip my head back and stare at the stars in the cloudless sky. Gazing at the stars reminds me of Zane's words when we were just beginning our climb up the Yazard Mountains. As I picture the little boy finding comfort from his father's abuse by stargazing, my resolve returns.

  "What do we do now?" I ask, directing the question to Loki. "Where will we find Delistaire? We have a boy and a statue to rescue."

  "He probably went back to his tower," Loki says, staring off to the west. "We'll rest tonight and head there in the morning. It's located on the west coast of the island, about a half-day away on foot."

  "I don't want to wait until morning," I say, lifting my chin in defiance. "Why give him more time to prepare?"

  "We need to rest, Love," Zane murmurs while stroking my hair. "We're all tired and drained."

  I know he's right, I feel the fatigue wearing at me underneath the adrenaline rush. Besides, all I've eaten tonight is a piece of cheese and a handful of chocolate. Yet even as I begin to acquiesce, I still have a distressing feeling like we need to go tonight.

  "Zane is right, my dear," Hosea says. "I'll teleport to town and pick up some food from the local tavern. After a good meal and a decent rest, we'll be ready to take on the sorcerer."

  His words make sense, and I'm quite hungry, as my noisy stomach will attest. But once again, just as I'm about to tell Hosea to go, the nagging suspicion returns. The logical course of action would be to eat and rest in preparation for battle in the morning, but my instinct seems to reject the logic at every turn.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Endgame

  I try to relax, to lean back against Zane's chest, to find solace in his strong arms. Yet no matter how hard I try, I just become edgier. Rising from his lap, I begin to pace around the campsite, trying to calm my racing mind. Nothing about this entire journey has been logical, so why start listening to logic now?

  "We have to go tonight," I insist. "
I can't explain why. I just know it." Zane opens his mouth, and I cut him off before he can say anything. "Please, trust me."

  "I do trust you, Love," Zane says, rising from the ground. "If you honestly believe we need to act tonight, I won't argue."

  "Thank you, Zane." I sigh in relief, throwing my arms around him. "But I don't have a plan, and I don't know what to do," I murmur into his shoulder.

  "I recommend a full frontal assault," Taranis says, danger sparkling in his blue eyes. "It's not like we can sneak up on him, so let's just head to his tower and lure him out."

  "You people are crazy!" Hosea exclaims. "We can't just walk up to his tower and attack. We need careful planning or he'll just kill us."

  "No one said you needed to come, old man," Taranis says, snorting in irritation. "It seems you were the one inviting yourself along, something about atoning for past sins." Hosea becomes flustered but before he can say anything, Loki intervenes.

  "Taranis is right," Loki says, ending the argument. "If we go tonight, we go in fighting."

  Four pairs of eyes turn to me, waiting for me to make a final decision. Gathering my courage, I pull away from the comfort of Zane's arms and turn to face my allies.

  "We go. Now, before he has a chance to recover any further from his very busy day," I say as I grab my pack and sling it over my shoulders. "How do we get there?"

  "Hosea, Taranis and I will teleport and scout the area," Loki says, pacing in front of us, thinking aloud. "Zane and Ashlyn will ride the griffin; she should be able to get you there quickly."

  "One problem," Taranis interrupts, "I can't teleport."

  "I'm strong enough to take you with me, pirate," Loki says, baring his fangs in a feral grin.

  "Yeah, I don't think so," Taranis replies, backing away from the demigod. "The whole teleport thing is creepy at best."

  "I'm going with you, Loki," Zane says as he adjusts his silver armor. "If anyone can lure Delistaire out, it's me." When I begin to argue, Zane silences me. "I won't use you as bait, Ashlyn. Ride over with Taranis, I trust him to keep you safe. Meditate and prepare to use your light magic. This time my father won't escape."