Echoes (16 page)

The circle isn’t even! You can’t be doing this half-way!
Brin definitely sounded upset.

“We’re doing our best, Brin,” Dearra said, trying to soothe the anxious dragon.

They hadn’t been able to try the spell the next day as planned, or the day after that either. Jacob had become suddenly ill, and Dearra thought it best to try to keep him alive for the time being. Maybe they could use him in some way. She wouldn’t mind seeing him dead. As a matter of fact, she had given the idea more than a little thought, but then her father’s voice echoed in her mind, reminding her to think of her people first. If there was any chance that Jacob could prove useful…well then, she’d have to put aside her own wishes for the time being, and wait to see what the future would bring.

She had no idea what ailed the man, and Darius and Brin were no help—all they told her to was to leave him be. She’d tried every remedy she could think of, but they all had no effect. Even the tiniest sip of water would send him to the corner of the cell where he would vomit bile followed by nothing at all, as his body continued to twist and spasm. When, after three days, he finally quit vomiting, they had to move him to a new cell—his stank to high heaven, and no amount of soap and water seemed to clear away the stench.

“Instead of screaming at us, Brin, you might offer some suggestions,” Darius said, tossing aside the piece of twine they had been using to draw the circle. “It’s not my fault it stretches and makes the circle uneven.”

If you wouldn’t yank on it so hard, it wouldn’t stretch!

“Can I help it if I’m strong?” Darius said, feigning innocence.

Strong? When I get out of this sword, I’ll show you strong, you overgrown, muscle-bound, pain in the—

“Enough! I’ve had enough from both of you!” Dearra shouted.

Dearra stormed from the room, and Darius tossed himself down on one of the chairs. “See? Now you’ve upset her,” Darius complained peevishly.

I’ve
upset her? You’re the one who keeps messing up the circle trying to show off what a big manly man you are.

Dearra was back. Carly trailed behind her.

“Here. Right here,” Dearra said, indicating the bare floor in the center of her room. “Brin says it needs to be perfectly round. Can you help?”

“I’m sure I can,” Carly said smiling. “Here, Darius, hold Holly for me.”

Carly deposited the infant into Darius’s arms before he had time to object.

Holly looked up at the man above her, waved her fists in the air, and cooed a happy baby gurgle.

Darius, meanwhile, was holding himself stiff. He was terrified he might drop the baby if he dared move an inch. She was so small and perfect…Darius was transfixed as he looked into the baby’s eyes.

Carly giggled. “She isn’t made of glass, Darius,” she said. “Cradle her in your arm, and hold her near to your chest. She likes the warmth.”

He adjusted his awkward hold on the little girl and pulled her closer. The baby stuck one of her hands in her mouth and began to suck noisily.

“She’s hungry again.” Carly sighed. “She’s her father’s daughter,” she said, shaking her head.

“Okay, Dearra. Is this the spot?” Carly asked, positioning herself as close as she could to where Dearra had pointed.

“Yes, yes. That’s it.”

Carly closed her eyes, and her feet left the floor. She hovered a few inches in the air. Her hands came out at her sides, and she began to turn. The air in the room grew warm and then hot. Flames danced on the floor beneath her outstretched palms. She completed a full circle two times before the flames disappeared, and she drifted gently back down to her feet. Where the fire had touched, a perfect circle of black char remained.

Now that’s a circle!

“
Brin says you did great, Carly.”

“Thanks, Brin!

“Here, Darius, I’ll take her now.” Carly reached out her arms for the squirming baby. She noticed how he hesitated before releasing Holly back to her.

You look good with a baby in your arms,
Brin mused.

Darius glanced up at Dearra and saw a faraway look on her face.

“Do you want me to stay?” Carly asked.

“No. I think it would be safer if you weren’t here, just in case.” Dearra was busy gathering candles and spacing them evenly around the circle. She set a large earthenware pot in the middle.

“Darius?” Carly said, turning toward him.

“She’s right, Carly. We have no idea what to expect.

“Are you sure you’ve really thought this through? I want Brin released too, but it all seems so hasty.” Carly moved Holly to her shoulder and rubbed her palm on the baby’s back in an effort to soothe the active infant who was starting to make little squeaking noises.

Darius ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “I think we’ve gone over everything. It isn’t really a hasty decision, Carly. Now seems like as good a time as any.”

Holly bawled out a hearty cry, getting everyone’s attention.

“Go, Carly. If she’s anything like Daniel, she’ll scream the castle walls down if you don’t feed her soon.” Dearra brushed her hands off on her pants and eyed the placement of sticks and incense in the makeshift fire pit.

“I’ll be close by if you need me.” Carly gave Dearra a quick hug. “Good luck!” she said, before whisking Holly from the room to a safer distance.

Dearra took a few steadying breaths.

“Are you ready,” Darius asked her.

“No, but let’s get to it anyway.”

Darius ran the back of his hand down her soft cheek and gently tugged her braid, teasingly.

“Wait! Wait!” Aesri’s voice called out from behind the closed door a moment before she and Niada burst into the room looking frazzled and windblown. “You were going to start without us?”

In Tolah’s name! Dearra, send them away. I’m nervous enough without an audience.

“Please, Brin’du Drak’Tir, do not send us away. We have waited so very long for this moment.” Niada’s voice was pleading, which seemed odd, coming from the normally confident woman.

Aesri gripped Niada’s arm and held her breath, waiting for the dragon’s decision.

“Brin, they’ve done so much for us. You can’t ask me to send them away now,” Dearra said.

Fine, but they better stay out of the way. I won’t be responsible if they’re hurt.

Aesri and Niada beamed and moved hastily to the corner of the room, gripping each other’s hand tightly.

Dearra, start the fire. Then, take the parchment and recite the spell. When you’re done, use my blade to cut your palm and Darius’s. Mingle the blood. You’ll need to set the sword away from yourselves to give me room. Then, and only then, let the blood drip from your hand into the flames.

Aesri was whispering to Niada in the corner, and Dearra frowned at her. “Aesri? Is something wrong?”

“I am sorry, Dearra. I do not mean to interrupt. It is just that I do not understand how the spell is going to be duplicated. An Evanesco is only useable once, and it is usually tied to the parchment it is written on. The words you have written are powerful, but the paper is just ordinary paper, is it not?”

Dearra crinkled her brow and turned towards Brin. She did remember him saying something about that once.

The fairy is correct, but we are not trying to imprison anyone. We are reversing a spell, or attempting to. The parchment shouldn’t matter in the least, only the words and the blood.

Aesri’s eyes lit with understanding. She nodded and whispered to Niada once more before her own look of confusion was replaced with one of understanding.

Now, if we are done with today’s lesson in rudimentary magic, can we proceed?

Dearra’s hands shook as she tried to strike the flint, but only meager sparks made it to the kindling where they smoldered and died. Darius put his hand on hers, took the flint and striker from her, and tossed them into the corner of the room.

His mouth lifted in a half-smile as he said, “Breken, remember?” Darius passed his hand slowly over the wood and it burst into flame.

Dearra took the paper. Her voice trembled slightly as she began to speak.

Blood of my enemy,

From across the sea.

Pure of body,

No taint can there be.

Blood of the warrior,

Wild, brave, and free.

Blood of the dragon,

Imprisoned by me.

Trapped in a cage,

By the blood of all three.

Locked in steel,

Bound without key.

Dearra lifted the sword and cupped her hand under the blade.

Darius moved his hand near hers, preparing to do the same. “Don’t burn me, Brin,” he warned, in case Brin didn’t have himself completely under control and had forgotten to turn off that particular defense.

They grasped the sword together, and slowly slid their hands along its keen edge. Dearra held one hand under the other, to prevent the blood from escaping to the fire waiting below.

Darius positioned his hand over hers, let his blood join with what was already pooling in her palm, took the sword from her, and moved it to a spot well away from them before nodding.

Dearra tipped her hand and watched as the blood seemed to fall in slow motion toward the fire below.

There was a blinding flash of light. To Dearra, it felt like all of the air had been sucked from her lungs, and then she was flying backward. She slammed into the stone walls. There was a terrible ringing in her ears. She held her hand up to her face, but could see nothing except for stark white. She tasted blood in her mouth and realized she must have bitten her tongue. The metallic taste was, at least, proof she wasn’t dead. She shook her head, trying to stop the ringing. Spots of color swam before her eyes, as the white diminished. She thought she heard someone calling her name, but it sounded so far away.

Darius had crawled to Dearra’s side. He couldn’t see anything, and his ears wouldn’t work properly, but he felt her leg and could tell that she was sitting upright against the wall. He called out to her, but his own voice sounded tinny and far away. The white was beginning to clear from his vision, but he still couldn’t see more than her general outline.

Dearra was beginning to see Darius by her side, and she reached out to him. “Darius? Are you hurt?” The words didn’t have their normal rich sound, but at least, it no longer sounded as though she were hearing herself through a wall.

“I don’t think so. Dearra! You’re bleeding!” The site of the blood at her mouth terrified him. If she were injured internally, there wouldn’t be much that could be done for her.

She rested her hand on his face. “I just bit my tongue,” she said offering him a small smile.

Darius’s breath burst forth in relief. His mouth crushed hers as he vented his pent up anxiety the only way he could think to, then, recalling her injury, he softened the kiss.

“Brin!” Dearra shouted, remembering her friend.

I’m here.

The sword lay smoldering exactly where Darius had placed it. The two Etrafarians knelt beside it, both of them weeping quietly.

“Oh, no! Brin!” Dearra crawled towards the sword, not trusting her legs to hold her yet.

It’s okay, Dearra. I’m actually a little relieved
.

“Relieved! What do you mean, ‘relieved’?”

Well, I was thinking. Just as you were cutting your hand, it occurred to me that if we were successful, we were going to have a serious problem.

“I don’t understand, Brin.”

Think about it, Dearra. How in Tolah’s name were we ever going to get me out of here? I wouldn’t exactly fit through the window.

Dearra looked slowly around the room. While it was a sizeable space as far as bed chambers went, it would have been pretty cramped with a full grown dragon in there. She didn’t know where they came from, but Dearra was suddenly overwhelmed by a fit of giggles that would not stop. She tried to cover her mouth to stifle the inappropriate laughter, but it only seemed to make things worse, and she found herself laughing full-out.

Aesri and Niada smiled and soon joined her in laughter.

Darius could only shake his head. Some things were beyond him, and this laughter was one of them. He wondered if he was ever going to completely understand these people. Probably not, he decided, but he didn’t think he minded. Compared to the Breken, what was a little inappropriate laughter?

Dearra sobered and picked Brin up, returning him to the scabbard at her side. “We’ll try again. We just have to figure out what we’re missing, and next time we’ll choose a better location.”

“Of course we’ll try again. Don’t give up, Brin. We
will
free you,” Darius said vehemently.

I don’t know. Maybe it’s too dangerous. Maybe we should leave well enough alone and…

“Brin? What is it?” Dearra asked when his voice stopped suddenly.

The spell will have to wait. The Breken have come to Mirin Tor.