Risen (The Firebird Trilogy Book 2)

by Stephanie Harbon

  “Acheron,” she said loudly. “Do not pretend you are in power. You know what happens to those who elect themselves as superior in the court.” She tilted her head at him and smiled, “They are dismissed.”

  “Oh, so it’s your choice as to what happens to the girl?” retorted Acheron.

  She shook her head, pursed her full curved lips, and then spoke calmly. “I never said that.” She claimed. “Though, as you are all aware, it is time for the Council to change again. Three Elders have gone and therefore need to be replaced by the younger Council members. This leaves space for a new selection of Phoenix to be elected. I believe that, until we have a full Council again, we should dismiss this trial.”

  Unfortunately this idea also caused a riot of disgruntled rejections.

  The Council was in turmoil; I realised regretfully.

  Still Garnha persevered, “Well, at least we should not butcher Ruby. We cannot do such a terrible act before even granting her a mind check, which,” she smiled at Kieran knowingly, “as my son rightly pointed out, is the Law.”

  “But she could be influencing you right now-“ began Acheron bitterly.

  “I think you’ll find,” said the curly redhead. “That the girl hasn’t spoken in a long time.”

  “Do you want me or not?” asked Alvira; still far too close for comfort.

  “No, thank you.” Garnha answered before anyone else could protest.

  Alvira shrugged and awkwardly swept out of the room again.

  Eventually, once my pulse slowed, I managed to say. “If you’re worried about me using my voice, I’ll Change.”

  “Where are those Phoenix snares?” demanded Acheron irritably. “I ordered them ages ago.”

  Two guards stepped forwards, both hauling a massive silver hoop engraved with ancient entrapment symbols, like on the cuffs around my wrists only twice as large. One guard instantly began looping them around my ankle then attached the chains to the ring on the floor.

  “Get on with it then,” snapped a younger Firebird of around forty –who also must have somehow been related to me. I stared at him blankly, then comprehension hit when he elaborated, “Change girl!”

  “She can’t,” Kieran announced, as if he’d only just remembered.

  Acheron turned on him. “And why not?” he snarled.

  Kieran glanced at the guards surrounding him and gestured cockily with his fingers for them to back off. Once they did slightly, he came forwards and pointed to my shoulder. “Ruby dislocated her shoulder only last night. If she Changes, it could mess up her bone structure when she returns to her human form.”

  “Then a healer will just have to re-break her shoulder after,” snapped Acheron. “This is none-disputable; she needs to become a bird to assure us she is not using her gift.”

  Even though I’m pretty sure I can use it in bird form too, I thought, though of course I didn’t admit this aloud.

  “You can’t do that!” Jayson cried. “It could damage her permanently.”

  I shuddered, but then thought of the consequences if I didn’t do as I was told…

  “I’ll take the risk,” I announced grudgingly. “I’ll just have to go to the Infirmary once I’m released.” Because Kieran won’t bloody fix me, I thought irritably.

  I closed my eyes and thought of fire.

  Letting the hot, familiar energy trickle down my spine, I felt my cells expand and multiply. The pain drifted from my body as it transformed into Phoenix form. Within seconds I was a bird, still chained to the floor. I wrapped my wings around myself protectively, feeling vulnerable.

  “I think we should wait for our psychic to return, before we continue the trial,” Garnha said.

  A murmur of agreement echoed around the room, which I took to be a very good omen. But then Acheron spoke again, “Fine, we shall wait,” he agreed reluctantly. “But until then she needs to be contained in a safe place where we can watch her.”

  Unfortunately the Council also agreed to this.

  “Put her in the cell until the psychic arrives.“ Acheron ordered the guards. “We will continue discussing this until she returns,” he told the rest of the Council. “I’m sure there is more to be heard from Ruby’s… friends.”

  “I’ll take Ruby to the cell,” offered Katrina, joining the guards as they unlocked the chain that attached me to the floor and pushed me forwards.

  As we approached the opposite end of the room she spoke to me with her mindvoice; addressing me alone. You better not be lying dear, she warned. Because the psychic will find out.

  I’m not lying, I promised her.

  Good, she said as she navigated me out of the door and down a corridor.

  What’s he like? I wondered anxiously. The psychic I mean.

  She, Katrina corrected, is a total hag.

  I stared at the old woman, trying to decipher her expression. Are you being serious?

  Katrina nodded. Unfortunately. She’s Acheron’s daughter.

  As I trailed behind her I wondered nervously: Will I be alone with her?

  Yes. Katrina answered curtly; without turning my way.

  What will she do? I asked nervously. It seemed silly that I’d never truly found the answer to that important question.

  Her confident stride never faltered. You’ll feel a wave of presence disrupt your thoughts and then you pretty much have no control over what memories she rifles through.

  My eyes widened in dawning horror. Really?

  Katrina shrugged her narrow shoulders. Technically she can, she explained informatively, though she probably shouldn’t. And if you put blocks in your mind she’ll get curious and invade your mind more brutally. It’s better off if you stay relaxed and open.

  How could I stay relaxed when somebody was probing through my mind? My memories… Holy crap, what if she saw my recollections of Kieran? What would happen if she found out? That would be it; the end; done.

  Katrina gestured at a specific door and instantly the guards shoved me straight through; into a little side room.

  A curved wall on one side of the room, fabricated from dark sapphire, cast a cold, mysterious ambiance in the room. There was nothing in the room at all. It was probably about the size of a tiny garage just big enough to fit a car in. I swallowed apprehensively, concentrating my sensitive hearing for sounds in the main room; only a few feet away through a thin wall. I could hear talking, but it was too quiet to translate.

  Just wait here Ruby, Katrina said. And I’ll personally try to find another psychic before Acheron’s daughter arrives. I can’t promise anything though.

  Okay, I answered worriedly. Thank you.

  I waited for what felt like hours.

  Nerves kept me on my feet, habitually stretching my wings and cleaning the feathers. I wondered who it would be, the psychic. Was there a chance they would miss certain memories? It’s not like they’d be looking for anything other than what happened in those caves; would they?

  Eventually I stayed still; huddled under my own wings because it was freezing in the room. I could feel the cold creeping through the gaps between my feathers, raking through the crimson down like an ice comb; trying to penetrate to the vulnerable skin underneath. I was shivering, my whole body swaying back and forth relentlessly.

  The thing was, I wasn’t sure if I was shaking from cold or fear. There were so many horrible thoughts swirling around my mind that I was freaking myself out. Was I being paranoid? Why were they taking so long?

  Suddenly I could hear loud, assured footsteps coming in my direction.

  The door rattled, the handle twisted and the door swung open so fast that it slammed into the wall noisily. In stepped a girl barely older than me.

  She was like an ice sculpture. Her eyes were wide and grey, turning unfathomably black at the rim of her iris; they seemed to reflect the light like crystal. Crystal was actually a good description of her; her skin was luminously pale and her face hard. Her hair was like strips of glass bent by heat into random twisted directions
; like translucent dreadlocks.

  Her wide eyes narrowed with loathing recognition.

  Suddenly a new fear arose in my chest. I recognised her too.

  She was the psychic I almost killed a month ago when we had first tried to enter the city. I’d been dying and Kieran was trying to get me through the city gates. I’d nearly lost control when I’d used Chyun’ju on her –trying to protect Kieran- and unfortunately it looked like she remembered me.

  A nasty smile crept onto her face.

  “Payback time,” she grinned.

  Chapter Twelve

  She looked at me vindictively, her grey eyes as hard and cutting as steel. She folded her arms, delicately tapping her fingers on her forearm with a sadistic smile. I had no hope; that’s what her expression told me.

  You don’t, by any chance- I began hopefully.

  “Remember you?” snarled the ice woman. “Oh yes, I remember you. I know who you are. You nearly killed me because I tried to kill that Ashaik.”

  I nodded, but didn’t dare say anything that might provoke her. I was already in deep trouble.

  “I would have done it too.” She said, staring at me hard.

  Exactly why I stopped you, I answered cautiously.

  “Enough talking,” she snapped. Then a steady, calculating smile twisted her thin lips. “Let’s see what I can dig up.”

  I shuddered as a rush of presence washed into my head. It wasn’t a gentle entrance; it was rough and careless and damaging. I could feel her invading my mind the way maggots would gnaw through dead meat; devouring every fleshy cavity and cell. I could feel myself tense in agony and fear, but that just made her force her way in more fiercely.

  On the back of my closed eyelids I began to see images projected. At first they were just flashes of random things from England –my old house, a river, my friends at Sixth Form- but then the pictures became more recent memories. Memories of my journey to Kariak; of flying on Nik’s back, of meeting Garnha and finally of me dying in Kieran’s arms.

  She seemed to be curious about the latter and my heart clenched apprehensively. She penetrated deeper, her assault as malicious and cold as an arctic blizzard. I was defenceless. She was unstoppable.

  She dug deeper, struggling her way into my more precious memories. I saw the image of the night I’d been attacked in Temardra; soaring above the clouds as rippling lightning clashed beneath me. Next came the feeling of Changing under a starry night’s sky and then the picture of the moment Kieran left my room; when he nearly kissed me.

  Sweat coated my skin, but I couldn’t stop her as she fought harder to see more. I tried to block her out but nothing was working.

  And then that fatal memory flooded unwillingly into my head.

  No! I screamed mentally, but it was too late.

  It was night, the stars glittered in their millions above me, and Kieran was rushing towards me with a fierce intent in his brilliant green eyes. He was wrapping his arms around me, his lips were crushing mine ferociously, and the most amazing sensations were unfurling deep in my tissues.

  She then skipped to me being carried to Ephizon, my time spent there and in caves; and what happened after I escaped…

  I heard a laugh, a mean cackle that wasn’t in the memory I saw; it was in real life. Suddenly that horrible presence dispersed and I drooped forwards, my body sagging weakly. That was it; she knew. I was going to be cursed. Kieran was going to become human. Or worse, they would kill us both.

  “So, you’ve been messing with an Ashaik?” The woman wondered; a cruel spark in her steely eyes.

  There was no point denying it; she could read my mind.

  What do you want from me? I pleaded.

  “Do you have any idea what you did to me?” She demanded. “Not only did you nearly kill me, but you ruined my reputation. Everybody thought that I, Silva Carbeck, was weak. I had to go and live in Ciza for weeks before I could even return here.” Her judicious eyes narrowed into tightly glaring slits. “And it was entirely your fault. All I want from you is justice.”

  And from Kieran? I snapped suddenly. You’ll really let somebody be cursed just because of a petty grudge against me?

  “Kierakai Ashaik is not innocent,” she snarled. “In fact; his record can’t get any dirtier. With this on top of all of his other crimes, I doubt he’d just get cursed; I bet he’d be executed.”

  You can’t kill someone for a kiss! I shouted mentally.

  She turned on me then, standing straighter so she towered over me. I was positioned on the floor in chains; she already had the upper hand.

  “You think that’s what this is?” she growled. “This is betrayal, treason and treachery.” She stalked closer to me, “You are betraying your Tribe. And not only that, you are a Swartette and he’s an Ashaik. It’s royal treason.”

  I shook my head. That’s not true- I began.

  “Are you stupid?” she screamed, and then her face crumpled into a jubilant smile and she burst out into hysterical laughter. “You are stupid,” She realised. “You are both stupid. That’s why you’re going to die!”

  My words jammed in my throat like paper in a printer.

  I managed to stutter, my long neck pointed earthwards in reluctant surrender. What’s it going to take for you to keep this quiet?

  She grinned, flashing sparkling white teeth which were slightly pointed. “Now you’re thinking like a politician. And as a matter of fact there is something I want; not that you’ll be able to get it.”

  “What is it?” I asked soberly.

  She seemed to consider my question momentarily, deliberating whether or not to tell me. Then she spoke with a clear voice, “I want to be on the Council.”

  My hopes sank and I lowered my head again. There was no way I could get someone on the Council; you had to be nominated by a member.

  “Well, it seems that you are screwed then,” stated Silva. “And even though I can tell you’re telling the truth about that lovely father of yours, and your journey to Ephizon; there is nothing you can offer that would convince me not to tell the Council.”

  I thought it through very quickly.

  There were gaps in the Council at the moment because Lynk had murdered one of the Elders; and of course he and Kieran’s father had left.

  I knew what happened in the Council when an Elder dies or moves on unexpectedly; the remaining Elder becomes sort of a precious Elder –ranking way above the rest of the Council- and the younger two members of the same element then become Elders. This leaves room for the next generation to be chosen from the royal families.

  Unfortunately the Air tribe was the only element not to have this happen, because Acheron, Silva’s father, was not in need of replacing.

  However my father needed replacing.

  I glanced up at the icy woman; a vague plan formulating in my head. What if I become a Council member?

  She was in the middle of opening the door, I assumed so I could be taken to the Council, but she stilled. “What if you become one?” she asked, turning her sharp shoulders to glower at me sceptically; shutting the door.

  If I become a Council member then that gives me the right to nominate you. I stated.

  “What makes you think you will be able to become a Council member?” she inquired malevolently, but her lashes concealed a slight interest.

  Well, I began, the cogs in my mind spinning rapidly. I am the daughter of the last Fire Elder, the only daughter, so technically the right is mine.

  “It’s not as simple as that,” she said, though I could hear the eagerness saturating her cool voice. “You’d have to petition first, then get your remaining Elder to nominate you, and then of course if there’s another person wanting your place you’ll need to go through the Garatourii.”

  I don’t care what it takes, I’ll become a member if it stops me and Kieran from being cursed, I swore honestly. I could feel the desperation matting my crimson down like a sticky sweat. I needed to protect Kieran.

  She stared a
t me for an extremely long moment, her icy brows furrowed, and then she spoke with a softness that still managed to sound threatening. “I can read you’re telling the truth. So I’ll give three weeks to get my nomination submitted. Until then you are in my debt.”

  Three weeks! I repeated, horrified.

  “Three weeks,” she stated viciously. “And of course you’ll have to get rid of my father.”

  I gaped at her incredulously, What?

  She rolled her eyes, “He needs replacing anyway and it’s the only way I can become a member now. I don’t care how you do it. Just make sure it’s done after you’re elected.”

  I stared at her; she really wanted me to kill her own father?

  She seemed to understand the question in my eyes. “He’s never done anything for me,” she snarled. “All he cares about is being in power; it’ll serve him right for neglecting his child.”

  I’m not sure I can kill him, I said earnestly.

  She shrugged, “Then don’t, order someone else to do it. Or even,” she raised her translucent eyebrows, “make somebody else do it.”

  I glared at her, knowing her meaning. I don’t use my gift like that.

  She just shrugged again heartlessly. “You can’t announce you want to be a Council applicant just now either; you need to wait at least a week.”

  And you still want me to do this in three weeks? I demanded.

  This was impossible. She expected me to get clearance from the Council now, then convince them to let me become a member, and then ‘get rid of’ her father and nominate her; all in under twenty one days?

  “You’re a Swartette, aren’t you?” she accused. “You’re supposed to be tough and always get what you want. That’s what spoilt little princesses in their palaces do, don’t they?”

  And you know that from personal experience, do you? I burst unthinkingly.

  She grinned maliciously, “You got it. Now let’s go. I’ll do my part and tell the Council you’re innocent, but if you don’t give me what I want within the deadline I will out you -and that Ashaik- in front of everyone.”