by B. T. Narro
“Why did you learn to manipulate pyforial energy?” Quince asked.
“I just wanted to build houses and help people. I was a carpenter in Lanhine.” Now that Swenn had claimed he’d known nothing of Eizle and me practicing with py when we were younger, I could go along with that lie. “I used the energy in secret. I fixed doors, covered roofs, and repaired windows, sometimes for no profit if the family was too poor to pay.”
I felt my emotions becoming unhinged as my next thoughts came. That I considered myself a failure, that only recently did I actually start to make up for the trouble I’d caused, and that I had much further to go before I was even close to repaying my debt for my ill deeds.
But Swenn’s debt was worse than mine, and I knew he never would repay it. I looked straight at him and prepared myself for possibly the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.
“I did know Swenn when I was younger…and he was a good man. He watched over me and Eizle as we played while our parents were busy working. He was always earning money for his family, helping out however he could. He inspired me to want to help people. I know why he’s troubled by me being here, and it’s because I haven’t had an honorable past like him. But I’ve changed, and I’m willing to prove it.”
I wanted to vomit. Good thing there was nothing left in my stomach.
The king was waiting for Swenn to reply. All the liar could do was stare back at me with a gaping mouth.
I swallowed bile and said one last thing. “Please let me stay, Swenn. I don’t want to go to Ovira. I want to fight.”
He gritted his teeth, forced a smile, and then nodded.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
“Did you dream yet?” Shara whispered, shutting the door.
I sat up in bed, wondering how long I’d been asleep. “No.”
“Good. I wanted to be here before you did. Move over.”
I shifted to the middle of the enormous bed while Shara slid under the covers. I put my arm over her and pulled her close. Her familiar scent was a balm to my tormented mind, like a massage to aching muscles. After the last incident with Swenn, King Quince had servants show us to vacant rooms so we could rest. In the morning, we’d get our dalions and find out what the rest of our lives entailed. I’d be nervous if I wasn’t so tired.
I’d expected Swenn to show up in my room and make more threats. But I’d fallen asleep the instant I’d gotten into bed, so if he had come, I didn’t see him.
“Why did you want to be here before I dreamed?”
“Once we start dreaming, the world we know disappears. I’m going to lose you during our dreams, as you will me. But this way we’ll have each other before and after. I couldn’t think of a better way to prepare for the nightmares that await.”
I gently pressed her against my body, appreciating how differently her mind worked than mine.
“That was some lying, Neeko,” Shara whispered. “I’m impressed.”
“I surprised myself. I’ve never been a good liar.”
“I had no idea he was Swenn. And now that I do, I especially—”
“Don’t think it’s safe here,” I finished her sentence. “I know. You want me to leave for Ovira.”
“We both could go. Effie was telling me about this academy where they teach people like us to use bastial energy. I could be a mage.”
“You’re already a mage.”
“I could be a better mage. Or I could be a chemist, maybe even a psychic. You could teach them how to use pyforial energy. It would be a good life, Neeko. A safe life.”
I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the reason I couldn’t leave. “Maybe we will.”
“That wasn’t nearly as convincing as your earlier lies.”
“Eventually,” I added.
“After you find out about your aunt, you’ll consider it again?”
“I will.” If Swenn is dead by then.
“Do you mind if I rhyme?” Shara asked. “There’s a lot on my mind, and it will help me organize it.”
“You can rhyme around me any time you wish.”
She put her hand on mine over her stomach and cleared her throat. “King Marteph did not heed, before he dreamed, the pain of people and their need. He believes destruction will come one day, and anything he does to keep it at bay, is worth the gore of this war, this I doubt he’ll ever deplore. For it’s his dream to save us all, and interfere not—big or small.”
She paused to think, stroking my arm. “But before he dreamed, he should’ve thought, stuck in Sumar we’re water in a pot. We jump and dance with no way out, steaming hotter with every bout. Until we’re all boiling, and even then, we’ll still be stuck in this pen. We’ll fight and burn and die in turn. We’ll conquer and fall and reconquer and fall, but eventually one king will stand tall. We then will simmer and celebrate with glee, but I can’t say what the outcome will be. Will Marteph accept that his dream was destruction, the first great war’s induction? Or will his wrath incite reversion, to the path of old: sacrifices, conversion. Or will the drought return and kill, until we abide by our gods’ will? And what will Swenn do with Neeko a threat? There’s still time left to run yet.”
She squeezed my hand. We were silent for a long while.
“I can’t run, Shara. I’m going to kill him.”
“I know.”
Again we fell silent.
“When did you know?” I asked.
“Right after he slew Eizle, when I looked into your eyes.”
Silence.
“You can’t rhyme conquer with reconquer,” I said.
“But I did.”
“Even worse, you rhymed fall with fall in the same line.”
“Oh no, Neeko. Now you must take me to the poem peacekeepers, for I have broken the precious rules of rhyming.” She threw the back of her hand against her forehead with great melodrama. “They will chastise my technique and call me a fool. They will stomp and shriek for breaking a rule! They will scream and shout while I whimper and pout, until I agree that never again, will I rhyme conquer and reconquer, and only then, will they let me go to rhyme another day, in which I’ll return to you and always obey…” She paused. “The rules of rhyming.”
I shook her with mock anger. “You can’t end it without a rhyme!”
She laughed and grabbed my arm. “I didn’t know where it was headed, and I’m too exhausted to care right now.”
As I thought of Swenn’s threats, I realized the same could’ve been said about what I’d gotten myself into.
END OF BOOK ONE
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FIRE GAMES
Copyright 2014 by B.T. Narro
Cover art and map by Ricky Gunawan
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is coincidental.
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written permission of the copyright holder.
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