Rise of the Fire Tamer (The Wordwick Games #1)

by Gow, Kailin

  “Oh very well.” The wizard sighed and waved a hand at his men, who let their three captives go. “Not that it makes much difference. They are still traitors.”

  Gem ignored him, hugging Rio and Jack in turn. When it came to Kat, the other girl gave her a worried look.

  “I didn’t know,” Kat said, biting her lip. “I thought it was just a game. It isn’t, Gem. It’s real. It’s all real.”

  “I know.”

  Gem hugged her too, because she was, despite everything, glad to see Kat back safely. Besides, Kat was right. She hadn’t thought any of it was real. How could Gem blame her when they had thought it was just a game?

  Sparks and Goolrick had obviously found a way.

  “It doesn’t change anything,’ the wizard declared. ‘They went over to Spurious. For all we know, they’re spying for them now.”

  “We are not!” Kat insisted. “And Jack and Rio didn’t do anything. They just got captured because Sebold tricked them by pretending to be me.”

  “That’s what you say,” Sparks shot back. “What do you do to traitors here, anyway?”

  Gem started to suspect that things were getting out of hand. She needed some support if she was going to stop this from going any further, and the longer she procrastinated, the longer she delayed things, the worse they would get. Without hesitating, Gem grabbed Sparks by the arm and more or less dragged him back towards the inn. She just hoped that Goolrick wouldn’t do anything until she got back.

  “What are you doing?” Gem demanded. Sparks looked angrily over at the other three.

  “What am I supposed to do, welcome them back with open arms?”

  “It would be a start. We need to heal this argument. We need a reconciliation here, not you going around being provocative and riling people up.”

  Sparks stood his ground.

  “No one made them leave, Gem. Rio ran off at the first sign of an advantage, and Kat… she’s worse than he is. They shouldn’t just get to come back and be forgiven.”

  Gem noticed the name he had left off the list.

  “What about Jack?” she asked softly. “You probably terrified him, asking what they did to traitors. He knows enough about history to know exactly what they did in the Middle Ages, and it generally wasn’t very nice.”

  Sparks looked down. He obviously hadn’t thought of that.

  “Jack… well, they obviously tricked him.”

  “And Rio,” Gem insisted. “This is just your dislike of him.”

  Sparks shook his head, but didn’t answer. Finally, he nodded.

  “Ok, maybe. But what about Kat? I’m not having her back, Gem. Not after what she did.”

  “She made a mistake, that’s all. You can see just by looking at her how sorry she is. This could even be useful,” Gem continued. “We need to know more about the Spurious tribe if we’re going to solve things. Kat has seen them firsthand.”

  Sparks didn’t speak for a minute. His hands tightened. He obviously didn’t like the idea.

  “That works both ways,” he said at last. “What if Goolrick’s right? What if she is a spy?”

  “You don’t believe that, not really. Anyway,” Gem hesitated as she tried to think of how best to put it, “I don’t know why, but I think we’re going to need her. Whatever is going on here, it will take all of us to sort out. That includes Kat. Please, Sparks.”

  Gem wasn’t sure if it was the final please that did it. Whatever it was, Sparks gave a single, terse nod. Gem smiled.

  “Thank you. Now all we’ve got to do is convince Goolrick.”

  The wizard didn’t seem to have done anything drastic to the others while he was waiting for the two of them, at least. He turned expectantly, fixing Gem with a smile that was probably intended to be benevolent.

  “I know this must be hard,” he said as she got closer. “And I see that there may be some extenuating circumstances here that make the betrayal less awful. That’s why I’m not suggesting that we hurt any of them. I have some compassion. You must see that we can’t trust them though, my dear. I must insist that we send them away.”

  Afterwards, Gem suspected that it was that patronizing little “my dear” that did it. She’d had a tactful, polite approach worked out, given that Goolrick was standing in front of so many of his men, but it suddenly didn’t seem right. Gem suspected that if she tried to be polite, she’d never be more than “my dear” in the eyes of either Goolrick or the Perfidious tribe.

  “No,” she said.

  “I beg your pardon?” Goolrick looked remarkably like he had just swallowed a frog.

  “You should.” Gem forced herself to keep going, because she knew that once she stopped, she probably wouldn’t be able to do it again. “In fact, you should beg the pardon of all three of my friends for daring to try and discredit them with lies about being Spurious spies. I won’t let you dishonor their names like that.”

  “I did not mean to impute…”

  “I know very well what you intended to attribute to them.” Gem forced herself to keep her tone cold and imperious. “As for your idea about sending them away, it isn’t going to happen, Goolrick.”

  The young wizard tried drawing himself up to his full height and puffing out his chest. Gem had half expected it, and in any case, with the ludicrous robes he wore it just made him look like a peacock fanning its tail.

  “I really must insist-“

  “No,” Gem interrupted. “I’m insisting. Rio, Jack and Kat all get to stay.”

  “And if I refuse?” Goolrick asked. Gem decided that smiling was the best option, even if she didn’t particularly mean it.

  “Can you refuse?” she asked. “That would imply that you were in charge. My friends and I are all free to come and go as we please, correct?”

  Goolrick obviously knew when he was beaten. He nodded.

  “Yes. That doesn’t mean I have to offer those three my aid, though.”

  “Then I’ll say this. I go with them. The five of us travel together. If you don’t want the others here, then I’ll leave too. It’s all of us or none of us. You choose, Goolrick.”

  Goolrick looked past her, to Sparks, then nodded.

  “Very well. They stay.”

  That seemed to let all the tension out of the moment. Goolrick’s men stopped crowding around the others, who wandered off into the inn, Kat after hugging Gem again.

  “Thank you,” Kat said. “I promise I won’t do anything that stupid again.”

  “Oh, I bet you’ll think of something,” Gem said, but she said it lightly. Kat looked furious for about a second, but then laughed.

  “Yeah, probably. I generally do.”

  She went with the others, leaving Gem with Goolrick, who seemed to be waiting for her.

  “You’re angry that I pushed you into this,” Gem guessed. To her surprise, Goolrick shook his head.

  “Actually no. If anything, I’m impressed. It was a brazen, bold strategy that worked well. A good move, I thought. A… regal move. Will you do one thing for me, though?”

  “What’s that?” Gem asked it carefully.

  “Will you keep an eye on them? None of us is ever truly certain about others.”

  Gem wanted to snap back that she was, but she suspected that would be the wrong approach. Now was the time for tact.

  “All right,” she agreed. “If you want me to, I’ll make sure that none of the others deserts again.”

  “That’s all I ask.” Goolrick clasped his hands together in what might have been a gesture of gratitude, or might have been some secret wizardly sign. Not knowing any secret wizardly signs, Gem wasn’t sure. “I’ll leave you alone now. There is,” he nodded to the corner of the inn, “at least one more person who wants to talk to you.”

  Rio didn’t reveal himself until Goolrick was out of sight, but somehow Gem had guessed it would be him. The brash, cocky boy from before was gone for the moment, replaced by a surprisingly sheepish looking version.

  “I guess…” he began. �
��I guess that I didn’t do too good a job of showing you this nice guy you think I am, what with running off.”

  “No. I suppose not. Why did you do it?” Gem had the feeling that he needed to tell her. Some things, you had to say.

  “I suppose I just wanted to win. I thought that if I stayed here, I didn’t stand much chance.”

  That obviously wasn’t all of it.

  “What is it, Rio?” Gem asked.

  “Well, maybe I thought that, with you having set your sights on Sparks, there wasn’t much for me here.”

  Gem had to stop herself from laughing when she saw that Rio was serious.

  “Rio, you’re still thinking of me as this silly little rich girl.”

  “No I’m not.”

  “You are,” Gem insisted. “You think that the only reason I’m in this game is to meet boys? Yes, I like Sparks, and I like you too, though I haven’t a clue why right now. Even so, I’m here to win. We all are. The thing is, Rio, there are a lot better ways of doing it than running out on your friends.”

  Rio looked away, but then nodded.

  “Yes. Yes there are.”

  Jack watched the Ephemeral Inn fade, quite literally, behind them as the five of them, along with Goolrick and Goolrick’s men, marched on and wondered what was next for them. Whatever it was, he was glad they would be facing it together…

  Sparks wasn’t quite so glad, but he agreed with Gem. Whatever was coming next was going to need all of them. Looking over at Rio, he just wished it didn’t…

  Kat found herself trying to keep out of the way, which was a new experience for her. Mostly, she wanted to go home, but since Sebold had her way back, that wasn’t going to happen soon…

  Rio found himself strangely glad to be back with the others. Normally, he didn’t trust anyone, but first Kat and Jack had risked themselves to save him, and then Gem had spoken up for them. Maybe he would be better off with them after all…

  For his part, Goolrick watched Gem. Yes, there was definitely something there he could use…

  Chapter 9

  The road wound on, and Gem’s feet started to ache. Sparks had gone to the front of the column, while Kat and Jack lagged behind. Goolrick was nearby, while his men were spread out around the edges of the road. Gem couldn’t make up her mind if they were guarding against threats from the trees or making sure no one ran off. Rio, walking beside Gem, had been quiet for a while, but clearly he’d been thinking.

  “What I don’t get,” he said, “is why we’re going this way. If we’re supposed to be fighting the Spurious tribe, shouldn’t we be marching for their village?”

  Gem had been thinking about it too, and about what Henry Word had said about Anachronia. She turned to Goolrick.

  “We’re heading for the dragon, aren’t we?”

  The wizard seemed startled that she had guessed, but nodded.

  “Yes. I thought that was the best way to proceed. We will need to face it at some point, and I hope… I hope that defeating it might give us the power to deal with Sebold and his tribe.”

  Gem caught the hesitation. Goolrick obviously wasn’t entirely confident about defeating the other tribe. The plan made sense though, even if Gem wished that they had known about it earlier. She didn’t like the fact that Goolrick was keeping things from them. Rio clearly didn’t like it either.

  “Is there anything else we should know about?” he asked. “Giant man-eating flowers, perhaps?”

  “Oh, nothing like that.” Gem was worried about how matter-of-factly Goolrick said that. “Well, not around here, anyway. Of course, there’s the troll, but-“

  “What troll?” Gem demanded. Before Goolrick could answer, the ground shook in a pounding rhythm.

  “That troll, I’m afraid. I suppose we could turn back, but then…”

  But then they wouldn’t be able to deal with the dragon. The only choice was to keep going, and Gem led the way, pressing forward along the road with the others struggling to keep up.

  Another bend in the road revealed the troll, standing in front of an ornate gate of polished brass that in turn stood in a wall that stretched out into the forest. At least, Gem assumed it was the troll. It certainly looked very troll-ish. If the ogres before had been large and ugly, this made them look positively tiny, and positively handsome, by comparison. The troll was only just shorter than the trees, and heavily built with it. Its green skin was more like slime, scaly and warty, with only a pair of long shorts that could have served as a ship’s sail for clothing. Its face featured lank green hair, beady eyes, the longest nose Gem had seen, and a pair of oversized spectacles.

  Hang on. That wasn’t right.

  The ground shook some more as the huge creature stamped its feet.

  “Sorry,” it boomed, in a voice that was probably making librarians a hundred miles away look round for someone to shush. “My legs have gone to sleep, what with waiting for someone to come and try to get past this gate.”

  The others had caught up. From somewhere behind Gem, Sparks stifled a chortle.

  “Don’t you laugh at me, tiny human!” the troll bellowed. “I am the test, and if you cannot pass, I will eat you one by one! Also, don’t try going around, because that wall goes for miles and your legs will get really tired.”

  It didn’t look quite so funny when it was talking about eating them. Gem plucked up her courage as best she could.

  “What sort of test?”

  The troll nodded.

  “That’s more like it. It’s all very straightforward, really. No one can pass through the gate,” the troll nodded to the huge gate blocking the road as though they might not have noticed it, “if they can’t use the ruler words properly. Now, I’ve got a list here somewhere…”

  It fished around in the pockets of its shorts, pulling out a rather battered looking scroll.

  “Just need my glasses now…”

  It patted its pockets. Gem sighed.

  “They’re on your nose.”

  “What? Don’t be silly…oh, so they are. Right then. On this scroll, I have the ruler words. I want to hear five from each of you. If you tell me what they mean and show me that you can use them, then I’ll let you go through. If you fail, I get to eat you. Possibly with mustard.” The troll licked its green lips. It patted its pockets again before frowning slightly. “I don’t suppose any of you have any mustard, do you?”

  There was a general silence that indicated that no one had any, or that, if they had, they didn’t particularly fancy being eaten with it. The troll made a rumbling sound of annoyance, then pointed one long green finger past Gem.

  “Right, laughing boy can go first. Out you come.”

  Gem wanted to push forward and say that she would go first, but there didn’t seem to be much point. They would all have to pass the troll’s test if they wanted to keep going. Sparks strode forward to stand before the creature, who tossed the scroll down to him casually. It nearly knocked the boy off his feet.

  “Whenever you’re ready,” the troll said nastily. “I haven’t eaten human in ages.”

  Gem saw Sparks unroll the scroll on the surface of the road and look it over.

  “Well,” he said after a second, “there’s boisterous. That means loud and enthusiastic.” Sparks said the word, and for a moment it was like the air was filled with deafening trumpets. “There’s renovation, which is making something new or redoing it.” This time he drew his sword, and a few dents in the edges seemed to disappear. “There’s evanescent, which means not lasting long.” A bright light sprang up, but disappeared as fast as it had come. “There’s divergent, which means to move apart or go in different directions.” He picked up a stick, which split down the middle. “And there’s convergence, which is coming together.” Sparks tossed the whole again stick to one side. “Can I go through now?”

  The troll pushed open the gate with bad grace, muttering something about kids today, who spent their time learning words when they could be learning how to make a decent sauce
to be eaten in. With a glance back at Gem, Sparks stepped through.

  Jack hurried forward next, and picked his words out quickly. Asylum, meaning a place of safety, made a bubble spring up around him. Scrutinize, or to look at carefully, gave them all a close up view of the troll’s features that Gem wasn’t sure she wanted. Pretentious, or being self important, made Jack look a lot bigger than he really was, while subtle, meaning shy, small and not showy, achieved the opposite. Finally, Jack chose emulate, or following someone else’s example, which made it look like there were two trolls for a moment. Gem noted that, while he rattled off the definitions quickly, Jack had chosen small, non-damaging things for his words, and had still jumped when he used them.

  Kat seemed to take longer. Maybe it was just that her confidence didn’t seem to be there after everything that had happened. Finally, she picked out foster, meaning to promote or aid, which made her look a little better, enervating, meaning tiring, which made her look a lot worse, aesthetic, meaning pertaining to beauty, which made Kat seem very beautiful, and superficial, meaning shallow or concerned only with surface appearances, which made an image of Kat appear a little way away.

  “One more,” the troll reminded her. Kat looked at the list for inspiration. To Gem, it seemed that she was taking a long time. Finally though Kat grinned.

  “Oh, surreptitious, of course. It means secret,” she added as she faded from view. The troll opened the gate again, grumbling louder than ever. Gem looked to Rio, then stepped forward.

  “My turn,” she said, smiling up at the troll, who didn’t seem very pleased now with his test.

  “Oh, just get on with it.”

  “Well, there’s venerable. That mean’s respectable because of age.”

  “Hey!”

  The troll suddenly sported a long gray beard.

  “Oh, sorry,” Gem said, not particularly meaning it. “Would precocious help? It means gifted beyond your years, doesn’t it, so I suppose it would only apply to someone young.”