Born of Embers

by R A Lewis

“You aren’t that large, Kalina.”

  He gave her his half smile, his eyes sparkling. She noticed in the fading golden light that his grey eyes had a small ring of gold in the center, so faint you could only see it in a certain light. His gaze made her shiver slightly. He frowned.

  “Are you cold? I can go get you a blanket.”

  She straightened, embarrassed that he’d noticed her reaction.

  “Just the wind.”

  It wasn’t really a lie. Fall was settling over the Wastes and the wind that whistled around the mountain was cold. Leif left a few minutes later to get dinner and meet with Rangvald a few minutes later to discuss moving the herds into the mountain. Kalina went over and sat down against Maska’s warm scales, running her hands over their smooth surface. It surprised her that they hadn’t thought to use the scales as armor. Some scales, like those along Maska’s sides and underside were almost as large as her hand, but those along his tail, legs, neck, and face were smaller, ranging in size down to the size of her smallest fingernail.

  “How often do you shed?” she asked Maska, suddenly curious.

  “We shed our scales every few months. We never have the same scales for long. But if scales are damaged, they shed faster.”

  Her eyebrows rose at this revelation. She had no idea that Maska shed his scales that often, but then again, she’d never had a reason to pay attention. She relaxed back once again.

  As night closed in, she began to doze, content in the warmth radiating from Maska’s side after hours sunbathing. The stress of the last few days melted away as she enjoyed the cold breeze on her face and his warmth behind her. Maska rumbled a purr.

  Light blazed through her closed eyes and she felt Maska shifting beneath her as the sound of running feet reached her. She opened her eyes groggily, a bit annoyed at being disturbed. She’d been having a lovely dream about flying on Maska through a star flecked sky.

  “Kalina!” Kari’s voice was breathless, her torch held high, its flickering light casting long shadows.

  “What is it, Kari?” she said, standing slowly, stretching stiff muscles. Her side pulled sharply and she winced, letting out her breath in a whoosh.

  “Come quickly. We’ve found something.”

  Chapter 23

  Kalina frowned but followed her cousin out of the entrance cave, glancing back at Maska who stood as well. He watched her go and she shrugged, not for the first time sad that he couldn’t join her in the smaller caverns and hallways of the mountain.

  Kari led her down the halls until they were before the door to her rooms. She paused, putting a hand out to stop Kalina from entering. Kalina frowned, confused.

  “Kalina. The patrols we sent out to make sure the King hadn’t sent anymore forces found someone wandering the Wastes.” Kalina opened her mouth to speak but Kari held up a hand, her normally smirking face serious. “It was your mother, the queen.”

  Kalina’s stomach felt like the floor had dropped out from beneath her. She shoved past Kari and threw aside the door covering. The room was brightly lit, and a group of people stood over her bed. She strode forward, ignoring the hands of Leif and Eira attempting to stop her, to slow her down. She pushed aside her council members until she stood over the figure lying on her bed.

  Her mother Cherise’s blonde hair was dark with dirt and grime, twigs and leaves stuck throughout it. Her beautiful face was drawn and thin, too thin, for beneath her torn and dirty dress, her pregnant belly stretched. Her eyes were closed and she breathed heavily and deeply, clearly in a fitful sleep. Kalina sank to her knees, taking her mother’s frail hand.

  Her council stood behind her, the silence in the room heavy with unsaid words. Finally, Leif murmured and they all left, leaving her alone with her mother and Eira, who sat on the other side of the bed. Kalina’s eyes pricked with tears, her audience finally gone. She felt like her chest was going to cave in at the sight of her mother, but another, smaller part of her was ecstatic that her mother was here, with her.

  “What happened to her?” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

  “When the King found out she was pregnant with his child, he locked her away. My contact in the castle wasn’t sure if it was to keep the baby alive for fear she would kill it, or if it was just another effort to control her.”

  Kalina nodded. It almost didn’t matter what the reason. Her mother had suffered enough at the hands of that man and now she was finally free.

  “Did you know about this?” She gestured to Cherise’s prone body, the state it was in. Eira shook her head sadly.

  “Alexil didn’t know what had happened to her until it was too late.”

  Kalina’s eyes shot to her aunt.

  “Alexil? The scholar?”

  Eira nodded solemnly.

  “He was my friend once upon a time. And he was a particular friend of your mother’s.” Her tone was soft.

  Kalina looked back at her mother’s face. She barely knew this woman, and the foreign feeling made her stand and drop her mother’s hand.

  “I knew him,” she said as she began to pace the room, thoughts racing through her mind.

  “Yes,” Eira agreed. “And he knew who you were the moment he met you.”

  Kalina looked quizzically at Eira.

  “Did he tell you?”

  Eira shook her head.

  “He didn’t want to give me false hope. He told me later, once you’d left to find the dragons.”

  “What did he do to her?” Kalina’s voice was barely a whisper as her eyes roamed over her mother’s face.

  “He is not a nice man. He abused her for years, always trying to undermine her authority in council. Alexil wrote to me of how often she came to him for council. He advised she leave, or even, have him killed, but she refused. I don’t know the reasons why exactly.”

  Kalina was confused and torn. She didn’t know how she was supposed to feel with her mother, the Queen of Ethea, now here in her mountain and the king all alone on the throne of Ethea. She had suspicions that the king was conniving, and manipulative. Why had her mother run? Was he more abusive than Kalina had originally thought? Why hadn’t her mother fought back? Disgust ran through her.

  “Tell me when she wakes.”

  And then she turned, leaving her mother in the capable hands of her aunt. Nervous energy ran through her and she wasn’t quite sure what exactly she wanted but she needed some sort of release. Perhaps flying on Maska would get rid of the itch that seemed to crawl beneath her skin.

  Leif was in the dragon caves, spending time with Arikara and updating her and Maska on the situation. Kalina almost walked right past him, ignoring him altogether but he snagged her arm, pulling her up short. She almost wrenched her arm from his hold, anger boiling up within her. She wasn’t even sure why she was angry. Angry at the king for his mistreatment of her mother. Angry at the world for her losses. She wanted to lash out but his calm eyes and cool touch stopped her in her tracks.

  “Kalina.”

  Hearing him say her name caused goosebumps to raise on her arm. Suddenly, the months of tension that had been building beneath her skin turned to electricity and she looked up into his storm grey eyes. He seemed to feel it too, because he turned and pulled her close, their bodies touching and their breaths intertwining. Kalina’s heart began to race, and the pull she’d felt towards him since the moment she’d met him became overpowering. She reached one hand up and slid it behind his head, cupping the back of his neck.

  His breaths began to come faster as she touched him and his hands tightened on her waist. She took a sharp breath in before standing on her tiptoes and pressing her lips to his. At first the kiss was soft, sweet, but soon, the electricity crackling between them, it became deep and passionate. She opened her mouth for him and suddenly she couldn’t get enough of him. She wanted every piece of this man who had supported her since the beginning, who had been unwavering even when she had doubted everything about herself.

  It was several minutes before they broke
apart, shaky and laughing softly. Kalina’s heart was slowly calming down, the anxious energy finally dissipated. She touched her lips softly, surprised at their swollen feel. She wanted more from him, so much more, but knew it would be a mistake to ask for it tonight. She still had too much to deal with, too much before her to complicate it further.

  She stepped away from him, smiling softly, his grey eyes following her as she went to Maska and climbed onto his back without a saddle. He climbed onto Arikara and together they flew from the cave into the cold night air, their only warmth the memory of their kiss and the dragons beneath them.

  Chapter 24

  Cherise woke the next day. Kalina was in the training chamber practicing her archery when Kari came to fetch her. Kalina took her time putting her bow away, dread filling her at the prospect of speaking to her mother. She didn’t entirely know why. This was her mother, a woman she was supposed to love and care about but all Kalina could see was a coward. She stopped at the kitchen and took a tray of food with her when she went back to her own rooms.

  Cherise was sitting in bed, her face and hair freshly washed and combed out, a shining halo around her head in the early morning sunlight that filtered in through the window. Kalina forced a small smile when she entered and set the food on the bed beside her mother. Cherise held out a hand and Kalina took it hesitantly, sitting down beside her.

  “Kalina. So good to see you again.” She squeezed Kalina’s hand and some slight warmth spread through Kalina.

  “As it is to see you, Mother.” She hesitated on the last word, almost not saying it. Cherise noticed and winced slightly.

  “Ahh, yes. That. I am your mother, Kalina. And I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you before.”

  Kalina looked down at their entwined hands.

  “But you have to understand, I was trapped between a rock and a hard place.”

  Kalina shook her head, frowning.

  “Why didn’t you leave him? Why didn’t you have him killed? Anything?” she asked desperately, finally looking up into her mother’s blue-green eyes. Cherise’s face turned sad, and she smiled sadly at her daughter.

  “When it all began, I thought he was nice enough. It wasn’t until he had sunk his claws in that I began to realize he wasn’t the Prince I’d married. And when he began to control me, he’d already paid off all my guards and maids and I wasn’t allowed any close friends.” She reached up and stroked a few of Kalina’s stray silver hairs. “And then you don’t know how to get your own power back. You feel useless and alone. I didn’t think I had the strength to defy him.”

  “But you could have had your father do something when he was alive.” Kalina was grasping for something, anything to put the blame on her mother but the anger within her was slowly unraveling.

  “My father was many things, but he was not assertive with my husband.” Cherise sighed. “He had a country depending on him, and he couldn’t risk angering Askor to the north. He was stuck as well.” She smiled again and squeezed Kalina’s hand. “I wish I had been strong enough to insist I marry your father, or that I had had the guts to leave with him when he asked. But I was young and scared and didn’t want to leave the life I had always known.” She went quiet and Kalina studied her mother’s face, a new sort of understanding growing inside her.

  “Then why are you here now?”

  “Because of you, my girl. My husband, King Terric, locked me in my rooms, insistent on my never leaving my bed once he found out I was pregnant. He stationed guards outside my door all day and night. But I knew about the back exit and a secret passage between our rooms. I would pace it at night and listen to his conversations with his council members. I heard him and Sir Gregan in conference one night discussing the war with you and your people.”

  Kalina shivered at the mention of Sir Gregan’s name. She remembered all too well him chasing her across the kingdom and how many times he had almost caught her.

  “I heard him say he was planning to attack your villages and then attack your mountain while you were distracted, killing all your people. His entire goal has been to wear you down, thin you out until you and your people are too weak to attack him. So, I left. Hopeful I could make it here in time to warn you.” She shrugged helplessly. “But it seems I was too late.” A tear leaked out and slid down her cheek as her voice cracked. Kalina leaned forward to wipe it away.

  “But you made it here, and now you are out of his clutches. We plan to act quickly and take him down. Soon you will be back on the throne, without him to govern you.”

  Her own heart leapt at the realization that with her mother here, with her, she could easily set her up as queen once again after she’d taken the crown. She realized with horror that she’d never really considered her mother’s feelings or life in any of her plans. She vowed to do so in the future. But her mother was shaking her beautiful head, her eyes sadder than ever.

  “And as soon as I have given birth I will take over as Queen.”

  Kalina looked down at her mother’s swollen belly.

  “How long?”

  “A few weeks, if that.” Cherise smoothed a hand over her belly, a gesture Kalina knew all too well. She remembered Calla, the woman who’d taken her in in Ravenhelm, sitting by the fire, her feet up on a chair, smoothing her hand over her belly. She smiled softly at the fond memory. Cherise smiled back at her.

  “There is plenty to talk about. Perhaps after I’ve eaten and taken a nap we can talk with your council?”

  Kalina nodded and patted her mother’s hand.

  “Of course.” She stood, about to leave her mother alone.

  “Later, I’d like to hear about you.”

  Kalina smiled and left the room. Her heart was calmer than before. At least she understood why her mother had never left, even if she didn’t agree with it. And having her mother here, after her father’s loss, was a balm she hadn’t known she needed. The anger at King Terric had grown, however, and all she could think about was riding into Ravenhelm and settling her axes into his spine.

  Thinking about her axes made her travel to the armory, searching for new ones. She hadn’t replaced the ones she’d lost in Amberharbor. The armory was a large room off the training cavern that held all manner of weapons and was run by a man named Skaldrik. He had huge arms, and he told her that when they lived in the mountains, he’d had a forge that burned day and night, and allowed him to make the most beautiful weapons. Now, he was stuck repairing old ones. With no regular fuel to burn besides pitch for torches and what little wood they had going to the kitchens, new weapons were a luxury the Valdir couldn’t afford.

  Kalina entered, her hands behind her back as she wandered the walls, searching for a new pair of axes to swing. Skaldrik stood from his place by the door and followed her around, his gruff demeanor something she found oddly comforting. That was when she caught sight of a familiar face sitting at a table in the corner polishing a short sword.

  “I didn’t know you worked here, Hilde,” Kalina said as she approached the woman.

  Hilde gave her a tight smile and gestured to Skaldrik.

  “Skaldrik is my husband.”

  Kalina looked to the huge gruff man and noticed the softening of his eyes as he looked at his wife. Kalina had to hide her smile.

  “Glad to know you are in such good hands, Skaldrik.” Kalina patted the huge man on the upper arm, which was as high as she could reach, before turning back to perusing the walls of weapons.

  “How about these?” She pointed to two smaller axes hanging crossed on the wall. He grunted and took them down, handing them over to her.

  “They aren’t what I’d make for you, but they’ll do in a pinch,” he grumbled.

  She raised an eyebrow at him while she swung the blades, feeling their balance and weight.

  “Oh? And what would you make me?”

  He grunted again and stalked across the room to a wooden crate. He had a small stack of papers there, as well as a quill and a bottle of precious ink. Kalina followed him
curiously, still swinging the axes through the air slowly.

  “I’d make you such blades that anything else you ever wielded would feel like a child’s toy.” He handed her a rough sketch drawing of twin axes, their blades shaped differently than any she’d seen except in ancient drawings of Valdir weaponry. They were double sided, their blades long and wide and covered in Runark, like the tattoos that covered her face and the faces of most adult Valdir. They were perfect. Kalina grinned at him over the sketch.

  “They’re perfect. What do you need to make them?” She handed the page back.

  Skaldrik took then drawing and tucked it away, his face a permanent scowl.

  “A proper forge. Nothing we have here.”

  Kalina nodded and looked at the other twin axes. She held them up.

  “These are good enough. Thank you, Skaldrik.”

  “My pleasure, your Majesty.”

  The big man bowed to her, making her feel strange. Among the Valdir, bowing was not common. Her subjects rarely bowed, except to show the deepest respect. It touched her that he felt that way about her. She smiled at him awkwardly and took her axes from the cavern.

  Chapter 25

  Kalina had slept that first night on her couch but tonight she knew she couldn’t stay there. Tonight, she’d go spend the night with Maska down in the dragon cavern. Having her mother here was great, but she had grown used to having her own space, her quiet time and now suddenly she had someone who wanted to talk with her every moment. She needed some quiet time with Maska, who never asked her to talk unless she wanted to.

  Kalina’s council met in a smaller chamber, since her mother was still recuperating in her own rooms. She smiled to herself while her council members spoke around her. They’d been going around and round for an hour about the best way to attack the capital. Kalina and Leif had agreed on a plan, but Jormungand and Kari disagreed. Jormungand and her cousin had looked at each other with wary respect when they realized this fact and Kalina had to hide her smile. Perhaps the two of them were well matched and could be friends.