The Blaze Ignites (4 page)

As terrified as I was, things were beginning
to make sense. My voice telling the Redians “It’s nice to see you
in this world at last.” Even Acalith saying, “You’re too busy
getting in your own way to give me a weapon.” While I still didn’t
understand the “give me a weapon” part, the rest made sense about
my getting in my own way—getting in the White Warrior’s way. The
White Warrior must owe her a weapon.

This was crazy! I was thinking about a part
of me as if it were another person! The last thing my father had
ever given me, my powerful white fire magic, was segregated from me
now. The power of Goodness itself , the power that made me
everything I am wasn’t even a part of me. The Light Gods power in
earthly carnation was no longer mine. The magic I would need to
kill Hathum was beyond me now, in the hands of another person
inside of my head! How? And how could I stop it?

“Okay,” I said in a shaky breath, “now that
we’re clear on my newest abnormality, and clueless as to how it
happened or how to fix it, tell me how you know what the Deralilya
is and I don’t.”

He sighed through his nose and looked away
towards the water. “I was hoping you’d forget to ask me that.”

“Do you know me at all?” I countered.

He shifted his eyes to meet mine and smiled
sadly. “I know you enough to know that you’re not going to take
this well.”

“What is it?”

His face took on a somber look. “I hope you
truly believe that I care deeply for you and that I’m not telling
you this to hurt you. I’m not supposed to be telling you any of
this at all.”

“Then why
are
you?”

“I couldn’t stand to see you suffering with
the questions and doubts about everything happening around you.
Addredoc was guiding me about what to tell you when you started
asking questions, but I saw how deeply not knowing the truth was
cutting you.” He sighed again and looked at me intently. “I want
you to keep your promise to me now. If you have questions, hold
them for
after
I tell you everything. Do you swear?” I
nodded. “Say, ‘I swear.’”

“I . . . swear.”

“Your father didn’t tell you everything about
his past.”

I blinked. It was quiet. I blinked again. Had
I heard him right? No, I couldn’t have heard him right. I blinked
again. I saw the look on Ortheldo’s face; I
had
heard him
right.

I couldn’t catch my breath. Everything I knew
and loved about my father seemed to be in question. If I didn’t
have my father for solid roots of who I was, what did I have?

Ortheldo pulled me to his chest, but I was
too numb to embrace him back. “I’m so sorry, Azrel.”

How could my father keep things from me? His
daughter? His warrior? Why would he do that? He trusted Ortheldo
with these apparent secrets, and Ortheldo wasn’t even his son!

The numbness gave way to the inferno of
anger. I had to go. I had to go
now!

I shoved Ortheldo away from me so hard he
fell and hit the back of his head on the rock. I jumped up and ran.
I needed to get out of here. I needed Beldorn to talk to. I needed
my father to yell at.

“Azrel, wait! Let me explain!”

I just ran. Secrets, lies and madness—that
was
all
that surrounded me! Why me?
Why?!
What did I
do so wrong? Everyone else seemed to be fine. Why was this
happening to me?

I hated Ortheldo right now! He wasn’t even
his flesh and blood, yet my father had loved him more than me! My
mother had told me once that he was disappointed when I turned out
to be a girl. He’d wanted a son . . . and he got one when Ortheldo
came into his life! The son he always wanted, the son he trusted
more than his actual daughter.

I kept running. I didn’t know where I was
going and I didn’t care. I ran so fast that the woods were a blur.
I felt branches and twigs clawing at my face and arms, scratching
me. My anger and pain could have kept me running from here to
Rocksheloc, getting me there in less than a day. If I ran fast
enough, maybe the pain would be left behind. Maybe, just maybe, it
wouldn’t catch up with me. Maybe I could outrun it.

Someone grabbed my shoulders. I spun around
to fight.

“Azrel! You promised me you wouldn’t do
this!” Ortheldo cried, trying to defend himself from my wild
blows.

With each of his attempts to rein me in, I
screamed and fought him off harder. Blinded by my father’s
betrayal, I couldn’t even think straight enough to fight him off in
an organized manner. I just desperately pummelled him so he’d let
me go and I could keep running. I managed to slap him hard in the
face. He grabbed me, crushing his mouth to mine in a rough
kiss.

I paused in my attack, stunned at how his
lips felt and at the fact that he was doing this. Then I started
beating at his head, neck, and face. I didn’t want him
touching
me!

He pulled back and looked at me, hurt and
angry. “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, Azrel! I love you!”

I fought him off harder. “Get away from me!”
I screamed, my mind going wild in every direction imaginable. Still
he tried to hold onto me as I struggled.

“Azrel stop! Listen to me!”

He was a fake. A liar and a traitor! I hated
him right now! My father had loved him more! “Let me go!” I cried.
He fiercely tried to keep hold of me. “Let me go!” I screamed
again.

Suddenly he was ripped away from me by a
powerful pair of hands and thrown a good ten feet. He landed
against a rock with a bone-breaking crunch. He screamed in
pain.

A mammoth man stormed towards him as he lay
crumpled, clutching his ribs. Ortheldo managed to pull out his
sword, but the huge man grabbed his wrist with one hand and the
front of his shirt with the other, picking Ortheldo clear up off
the ground.

The monstrous man glowered at Ortheldo. “‘No’
means ‘no,’” he growled in a deep, powerful voice. “‘Let me go,’
means ‘let me go.’ And when a lady tells you to leave her alone,
you do.”

Though Ortheldo was a tall and well-built man
himself, he looked like a doll in this man’s grip. The giant was
hugely muscular and about six inches taller than Ortheldo. His
nape-length, wavy blonde hair was plastered to his head. It looked
like he’d just stepped out of a lake and had run a comb through it.
He had clear blue eyes and beautiful tanned skin. His face was
youthful, but also aged enough to make it apparent that he was in
his late thirties.

He looked back at me. “Are you…” his eyes
went wide and he dropped Ortheldo to the ground and came towards
me. “You’re bleeding!” His face turned lethal. “He hurt you?”

I looked down and saw he was referring to the
slash and bloodstains from the Legan’dirs’ attack. He turned and
stormed back towards Ortheldo.

“No! Wait!” I cried and ran to block his
path. He looked ready to destroy Ortheldo but stopped when I stood
in front of him. “He didn’t injure me. We had a run in with
Legan’dirs. I was wounded and my brother, who’s a Salynn, healed
me.”

Whoa! I scolded myself. Way too much
information to reveal to a stranger, Azrel!

He studied me and I saw him looking at my
hair. “Aren’t you a Salynn, then?”

“Oh,” I said, breaking his intense gaze and
self-consciously running my hand over my hair that didn’t have any
Sallybreath flowers, “he’s my half-brother, actually.”

The man nodded, then again looked towards
Ortheldo, who was now kneeling on the ground, blood staining his
shirt.

I kneeled next to him. “You’re hurt.”

He shot me a glare and forced himself onto
his feet. “I’m fine. Rabryn will heal me. I’ll leave you two
alone.” He started to hobble away.

“It’s almost an hour away and you’re
bleeding!” I called after him.

He glared back at me. “You wanted me to leave
you alone, so I am. What do you care what condition I’m in?”

“I don’t like seeing you hurt, you pompous
ass!” I yelled after him. “I just wanted time for myself to
think!”

“Well, now you have it. Unless of course your
new bodyguard decides to keep you company.”

I scowled at his back as he walked away,
nearly doubled over in pain.

“I’m sorry,” the man said softly. “I didn’t
know you knew him. I just thought . . . well, you sounded like you
were in trouble.”

I smiled sadly as I looked up at the sky
through the canopy of trees and walked away from him. “I was in
trouble, but he wasn’t the danger. I’m in danger from my whole
past, another person’s past, and my entire life.”

My face went slack when I realized what I’d
just said. Holy Gods! Why did I have such a loose tongue around
this person?
Stop it!
I scolded myself.

I kept on walking as the sting of Ortheldo’s
words came back to me. I looked in the direction in which he’d
limped off, but he was already over a mound of land and out of
sight. I glared after him. I hated him right now.
Hated
him!
How could my father do this to me? Why?

“Wait, Miss,” the blonde man said and came to
walk beside me. “You said Legan’dirs were about. If that’s true,
it’s not safe for you to be wandering alone.”

“I can take care of myself, thank you.”. What
did this man think he could do for me against Legan’dirs
anyway?

“Well, I won’t tag along to protect you then.
Would you mind if I just walked with you to keep you company? You
look like you have a lot on your mind.”

I caught myself before I could answer,
You
bet I do,
and spill out my problems. Why was I so willing to
open up to this stranger? It didn’t feel right.

“I’m a good listener, if you’d care to tell
me what’s wrong.”

“No,” I said again, stopping myself before
blabbing.

“Oh, well I have a wagon a little ways away.
I’m a fabric merchant. Can I give you a ride to somewhere?”

“No,” I replied,
refusing
to speak so
openly again.

He grew quiet for a moment and a bit of
awkward tension built up between us. I glanced at him. He smiled
when he saw me look at him, which broke the tension a little. “I’ll
just walk with you then, and
I’ll
do all the talking.”

I actually managed to smile, “If you’d
like.”

“May I at least ask your name?”

“Azrel.”

“Azrel. What a beautiful name. I’ll give you
mine, but I’m afraid it’s not nearly as pretty as yours.” I managed
to chuckle and felt myself blush a little at his charming manner.
“My name is Jonoic.”

I looked at him still smiling, “Pleased to
meet you, Jonoic.”

He stepped in front of me, bowed down
gentlemanly, and swept my hand up into his and brought it up to his
face. “The pleasure is all mine, my lady.”

As he went to kiss the back of my hand, he
looked up at me with eyes that suddenly became terrifying to me.
They gazed at me hard without glaring. It felt as if he was seeing
through my skin and bones to my very soul. As his lips touched my
skin, the air seemed to hum and vibrate all around us. As the
entire world became thick with warning and foreboding, I was about
to scream and pull away. Then he released my hand and everything
snapped back to normal. We continued walking through the woods. The
birds were singing merrily, a sound I realized had disappeared with
the low hum of the air. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself,
suddenly feeling very cold.

“Oh, how ungentlemanly of me,” he said and
started to take off his cloak.

“That’s not necessary, Jonoic,” I said, and
at the mention of his name I suddenly felt a dry, sour taste in my
mouth, like I’d just sucked a lemon for an hour.

“Of course it is.” He draped the cloak over
my shoulders.

I managed to smile. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure, Miss.”

“Azrel.”

“Sorry?”

“My name is Azrel, not ‘Miss.’”

We looked at each other and he smiled,
showing off two rows of perfect pearl white teeth. I looked away
with a soft smile. We walked in silence for a while and my thoughts
kept drifting to Ortheldo. Would he make it back? Had he really
said that he loved me?

I shook away the thoughts of him. “You were
going to tell me about yourself,” I said to Jonoic.

He looked at me compassionately. “Yes, well,
you seemed like you had other things on your mind.”

“Believe me, anything that will take my mind
off my problems, I’m willing to listen to with undivided
attention.”

He chuckled heartily. It was a warm, soft
sound. “Very well then, Azrel. What would you like me to begin
with?”

“Do you have a family?” I needed to hear
about the wholesome, happy family that this man had the potential
to have. I imagined a wife swooning over those blue eyes and
children running out the front door to greet their daddy with arms
wide open when he came home from a long trip.

Jonoic was quiet for a while. When I finally
looked at him, his smile was gone and he was staring at the ground
with a furrowed brow. The warm light in his eyes was replaced with
sadness.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

He looked at me with a forced smile, then
down again. “I know you didn’t. It’s just…” He sighed and squeezed
his eyes shut a moment. “I have a wife, Nekinda, and a son,
Cairikson.” He swallowed hard. “Cairikson is very ill.”

“Oh Gods,” I said in a breath. “I’m so
sorry.”

I gently placed my hand on his forearm, but I
had to snatch it away immediately because it felt like my palm had
caught on fire. I examined my hand; no harm. My eyes turned back up
to Jonoic. He didn’t seem to notice my quick retraction of
comfort.

“Thank you very much. We’ve taken him to see
so many Herbests, but they don’t even know what’s wrong with him.”
His huge body seemed to deflate under the pressure of exhaustion
and sadness. “He could die any time.”

Before I could say I might be able to help, a
sharp clap of thunder deafened me for an instant. My shoulders
jumped up under my ears and I ducked down as if the sky was falling
on top of my head. Then the rain fell. There had been no hint of
its coming—it just started to pour down in sheets. I was already
soaked as I straightened myself.