Dawn of Magic: Sea of Flames Read online

  She had almost reached the settlement, could even hear voices, when a shiver went down her spine. Sensing her sudden distress, Loinnir halted. Finn looked over her shoulder, observing a hunched, hooded form. She didn’t have to see his face to know who he was.

  “What do you want, Arawn?”

  Arawn pulled back his hood, revealing his shadowed face. He was in his younger form, looking more masculine than his older one. She knew his voice could sound like a thousand different voices all at once, or just like one. His true voice.

  His smile was barely visible in the darkness. “Just wanted to see what the dragon girl was doing in this realm.”

  “Dragon girl?” she questioned.

  “Yes, a tree girl no more. You know as a dragon, you are no longer off limits to Belenus. You are little more than an animal. He can kill you with barely a thought.”

  “So why hasn’t he?” she growled.

  Arawn lifted his hands. “I see your dragon blood has brought out your temper.” He tsked. “You’ll need to rein that in, lest you become too . . . beastly.”

  “What do you mean?” All she could think about in that moment was that Arawn had been the one to curse Iseult, and he’d tried to trick her into sacrificing herself to save him. She had not seen him since the day she faced Belenus at his castle.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Arawn laughed. “The blood of a dragon changes you. You must feel it?”

  Her dreams of fire flashed through her mind. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “You do, I can read it in your eyes. Now tell me, how do you intend to defeat the dragons now that you’re one of them? Will you slay your own kind?”

  A gust of icy wind lifted tendrils of her long hair. She slid from Loinnir’s back, her boots sinking into the snow, then approached Arawn.

  His deep-set eyes widened, just a touch. Did he really think she’d still be afraid? That she’d run instead of coming toward him?

  She stopped walking. Why wasn’t she afraid of him? He was a god. What was wrong with her?

  He seemed to read her thoughts. “I think you not long for this world, dragon girl. And once you are gone, your mages will perish.”

  She took another step toward him. “I will not just lie down and die for you. Belenus and I had a deal.”

  “You call naming your terms and jumping off a ledge to escape striking a deal?”

  She just watched him. Belenus might have tried to stop her from leaving, but they all knew her plan was the only option they all had, as long as she was around.

  “Fine,” Arawn huffed. “Try to enact your plan if you please. The faie will no longer heed you in this form. Perhaps they will kill you and save us the trouble.”

  That gave her pause. Could he be lying? She hadn’t seen one of the faie—besides Kai and the Aos Sí—in quite some time. Not even a pixie.

  “You hadn’t realized it?” he taunted. “Oh that is rich—” There was the thumping of wings above. He turned at a flurry of snow as Naoki touched down only a few paces away from him.

  Finn didn’t so much as flinch at the sudden intrusion. Naoki’s energy was more familiar to her than almost any other.

  Arawn straightened, moving his glare from Naoki to Finn. “You could have warned me.”

  Naoki stretched out her long neck, lowering her sharply-pointed maw toward the snow, catching faint hints of starlight on her four ivory horns. Her lilac eyes watched Arawn like he might be good to eat.

  Arawn stepped back. “I suppose this means you’ll be leaving. Your ride is here, after all.”

  He was right. She needed to get back. Given the place from which she departed, she was likely far from Kai’s family—if that was how traveling between realms worked. Plus if she really had been caught up in a reality shift, she needed to make sure everyone she’d left behind was alright. “Tell Belenus to stay away from Garenoch. Any armies he sends will be swiftly put down.”

  Arawn edged backward through the snow, farther from Naoki. “Do not fear, Belenus will let the dragons wear down the mages before he comes in for the kill. The beasts are cautious for now, but their hunger will not remain at bay forever. They must be fed, or they will fade.”

  Had she feathers like Naoki, they would have prickled, or had she a pelt, it would have raised. The sudden predatory instinct was entirely new to her. She walked toward Arawn, who now watched her warily, sensing something had changed.

  “You’ve gone on about me being a dragon girl,” she mused, a sudden revelation coming to her. “At first I was a bit offended, but now I’m beginning to wonder just what that means. Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t dragons eat gods?”

  “Only the most powerful of dragons,” Arawn countered. “Not some half-breed.” His words showed no fear, but she didn’t miss his step back.

  She closed the space between them again. “Care to test that theory?” She wasn’t quite sure what she was doing, except following her instincts. Instincts quite new to her.

  He took three more steps back, lifting his hands, palms out. “Not particularly, no. And if you are wise, you’ll leave me be. You may need my help in the future. For now, I simply came to see why you are here.”

  Help? What on earth was he talking about? She still didn’t know why she was here, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. “That settlement,” she said, gesturing behind her. “Are they from my realm? A village caught up in a reality shift?”

  He nodded. “If that’s what you want to call it, yes.”

  “So all those lost. They are still alive?”

  “Look around you,” he sneered. “This is a barren landscape. They may have survived thus far on supplies brought along, and a bit of wood and plant matter foraged here and there, but they will not last indefinitely.”

  A pang sliced through her heart. Kai’s family. They’d been transported with only their home and the belongings within, not an entire village. Their supplies would not last them for long.

  Arawn had continued backing away, and was now nearly encapsulated in darkness.

  She reached out to stop him. “One last thing!”

  He stopped. “Yes?”

  “Tell Belenus I want to meet with him. It can be at a time and place of his choosing.”

  Arawn seemed caught completely off guard. After a moment of thought, he nodded. “Very well. I shall relay your message, but I can guarantee no such meeting.” With that, the darkness surrounded him entirely, and he was gone.

  She turned to Naoki, still watching the space where Arawn had been. With him gone, Finn felt more herself again. She wasn’t entirely sure what had come over her, but she didn’t like it. And just what had he meant by help?

  She reached out to stroke Naoki’s smooth feathered neck. She debated going to the settlement and speaking to those there, but knew it would do little good. Naoki could bring her to other realms because they both shared dragon’s blood. They couldn’t bring anyone back with them—not even Loinnir—just as they could bring no one else here.

  Loinnir nudged her shoulder as she stared off into the darkness, deep in thought. She reached back and stroked Loinnir’s forehead. “I wish you could tell me why I ended up here, and how to bring you back.”

  Loinnir pressed her muzzle against Finn’s back, as if to say go.

  She would go, she knew she had to, but she silently vowed she would be back. Not just for Loinnir, but for all those trapped here. None of whom had much time left.

  Finn woke up in her bed, though she wasn’t sure how she’d gotten there. Candlelight dimly lit her room, necessary with the pitch darkness beyond the window. A familiar scent was nearby, but that wasn’t right. She shouldn’t have been able to smell her friends. She wasn’t a wolf.

  Assuming her mind was playing tricks on her, she lifted her head. Her nose had been right. Kai sat on the edge of her bed, hunched over a book held close to a candle on the bedside table. She’d never noticed his scent before, soil and soap, but underneath that a hint of the sea,
all swimming with faie magic.

  He turned to her, catching her staring. “About time you woke. Iseult and the others are pulling their hair out trying to figure out what happened at the inn.”

  She pushed away a tangled lock of hair, still damp from melted snow, as thoughts of scents fled from her mind. “Where did you find me?”

  He set his book on the bed and turned further toward her. “When you just disappeared like that, we figured Naoki would be the only one who could find you. We returned to the courtyard and woke her from her nap.” He visibly shivered. “You’ll never wake a sleeping dragon if you know what’s good for you. She was crankier than a newborn babe with colic.”

  Ah, so that was why Naoki had taken so long to find her.

  “She brought you back,” Kai continued, “but you were unconscious. And none of us speak dragon, so we’ve been waiting to hear what happened to you. It was like another reality shift, but only you were affected. The inn is still standing.”

  A tension in her shoulders eased. The inn was alright. Everyone else was alright. “I’m not sure what happened. I was feeling terribly overwhelmed. My emotions got the better of me. I lost control.”

  He lifted a brow. “So you brought yourself there? We thought for sure it was Belenus, which set Iseult to plotting like a madman with the others.”

  She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t Belenus, though I did see Arawn there.” She scooted toward him across the bed, then sat on her knees. “Kai, there was a village there. A whole village swept away to that other realm. I think if I can go there again better prepared, then maybe I can find your family.” She hesitated. “I’m not sure how to bring them back . . . but I could at least deliver supplies.”

  She’d thought her words would bring him hope, but his shoulders remained hunched, like the weight of living was slowly crushing him. “We’ve no way of knowing if they even live, or how to find them. And what about Belenus? You said you saw Arawn?”

  She chewed her lip, wondering how much to tell him. “He said because I gave up my magic, my immortal blood, to save Naoki, that the faie will no longer follow me. Without them—”

  “That can’t be true!” he blurted. He gently grabbed her arm. “Without the faie . . . ”

  She nodded. “I know. If I cannot contain faie magic, Belenus will kill the mages. He’ll let the dragons pick us off one by one, then an army from Sormyr will finish the rest.”

  He shook his head, just as stunned as she at the realization. “What are we going to do?”

  “I don’t know. Even without Belenus’ threat, something has to change. The land is too unstable.”

  He dropped his hand from her arm, seeming to calm himself. “What about Niklas? He orchestrated the barrier breaking. He had to have foreseen the consequences.”

  She shrugged. “If you come across him, ask him for me, won’t you?”

  He scowled. “You’re filled with dragon blood now. Don’t dragons track magic?”

  Her lips parted, but no words came out. She hadn’t thought of that. “It’s a possibility, I suppose, though I wouldn’t even know where to start. Perhaps with Naoki’s help . . . ”

  “Is your loss of magic the reason we haven’t seen any pixies?”

  She sighed. She had hoped it was just the presence of so many mages. “Yes. They would have been a lot more useful in finding Niklas than I’ll be.”

  He gripped her arm again, this time offering a comforting squeeze. “I’m sure you’ll manage. Should we be expecting an attack from Belenus in the meantime?”

  She appreciated his faith in her, however misguided. “Not according to Arawn. He claimed they’d wait for the dragons to attack us again, but I think it might be something else.”

  He went still, watching her carefully, the flickering candles the only movement in the room. “Go on.”

  She thought back to her meeting with Arawn. It was only a feeling, she could be totally wrong, but . . . “I think, now that I am . . . what I am, he may be a bit frightened of me.”

  “You were far scarier before.”

  She shoved his shoulder. “I’m being serious. The one thing the gods seem to fear is dragons, because dragons can eat their magic. I’m wondering—” she paused, finding the idea a bit absurd.

  He seemed to follow her thinking. “You’re wondering now that you’re part dragon, if you can eat magic too?”

  The idea made her shiver. “It’s possible, don’t you think? I can travel to that other realm because of the dragon blood. Only gods and dragons can travel back and forth freely. Would it not stand to reason that I would inherit other dragon traits as well?”

  “Is there a way to test this theory?”

  She frowned. “Maybe, but I wouldn’t want to risk hurting anyone.”

  “Try with me. I have some magic in me, don’t I?”

  “That’s beside the point! Have you gone mad?”

  He moved closer to her. A lock of chestnut hair fell across his eyes, doing little to dampen their sudden intensity. “I’m a willing victim. Just try it.”

  She wrapped her fists around her bedding, her entire body suddenly singing with tension. “No.”

  He crawled further onto the bed, mirroring her position, sitting on bent knees. “Do it.”

  Her cheeks flushed with annoyance. “Why are you so intent on this?”

  He leaned closer, looking deep into her eyes. “If you can harness your new magic, you may be able to defeat Belenus. You may even be able to eat faie magic, restoring balance, whether they want you to or not. You may be able to travel to other realms and bring my family back alive. But you have to try. I know you’re scared, but—”

  “I’m not scared,” she hissed. “I’ll try it, but not on you.”

  He pulled away, sitting more casually. The surrounding candlelight swayed across the stone walls with his movement. “Fine by me, as long as you try.”

  She dropped her wadded up bedding and crossed her arms. “You’re infuriating.”

  He smirked. “You’re welcome.”

  She sighed. He really did know her too well. He knew she’d be scared of embracing this new magic, but he’d instantly seen a possibility she hadn’t. A possibility to restore balance and protect the mages. It was worth the risk.

  “The Dearg Due,” she decided.

  Kai lifted a brow. “What about them?”

  “If I must try to eat faie magic, I would try it on them. They would kill me and steal you away if they could. I will feel little guilt over their demise.”

  Kai watched her for a long moment. “You want to hunt down the Dearg Due and eat their magic?”

  Suddenly she felt like an idiot for even thinking it, but, what other choice was there? She would not risk harming Kai. She forced herself to meet his gaze. “You think it a foolish plan?”

  He let out a slow breath. “Yes, but I also cannot argue it. The only point I can argue, is that I’ll be going with you.”

  “Who says I would argue such a point?”

  He stared at her, and she quickly gave in to the obvious. She would have argued, just like she would argue when Iseult insisted on coming. There would be a formal discussion of this new plan later, she was sure, but for now, she at least had something to focus on.

  Unfortunately, that something would entail becoming more like a dragon. First hunting her prey, then devouring it.

  Resigned to her fate, she tossed herself back against her pillows. “Thank you,” she grumbled. “I would have struggled to come to this realization otherwise.” She stared at the flickering candlelight on the ceiling for a long moment, then propped herself up on her elbows. “Is Àed really dying?”

  Kai’s smug expression fell. “I think so.”

  Her body seemed to melt into her covers. There was so much more to face than testing out dragon magic.

  The bed shifted, then Kai stood over her. He offered her his hand. “You’ll regret it if you don’t see him before it’s too late. Hear what he has to say, and what he n
eeds from you.”

  She stared at his hand for a moment, then took it, allowing him to pull her to her feet.

  They stood for a moment hand in hand. She stared at the closed door, then sighed. “I’m not going to thank you for this one.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of asking.”

  She held tight to his hand as they walked toward the door, opened it, then went out into the hall. She felt absolute fear, terror really. Far more so than she’d experienced when facing Arawn, Belenus, or anyone else.

  The door creaked open at Finn’s touch. First she saw Iseult, waiting just within, back straight, right hand hovering near his sword. Seeing her, his stance relaxed. His normally impassive expression held so many things he wanted to ask to her, revealing just a hint of softness guarded by his warrior exterior.

  She nodded subtly. There would be time later. “Kai can explain.”

  Iseult clenched his fists, but nodded, then walked past her out the door, pausing only to give her arm a reassuring squeeze. She could sense Kai’s eyes on her back through the doorway, but she couldn’t turn to look. If she did, she was bound to run away.

  As Iseult and Kai left her, she finally turned her gaze to Àed, sitting on one of three small wood-framed beds in a bare-bones room meant for newly arrived mages.

  Àed, hunched and appearing about a million years old in his tattered gray cloak, looked not at her, but at the now closed door. “Ye’ve managed to bring out the heart in that lad.”

  She almost smiled at Iseult being referred to as a lad. “Probably because my behavior is so maddening to him. He had to break eventually.”

  He laughed at her joke, and the feeling of dread within her eased. He might be ill, but he could still laugh. He wasn’t dead yet, and that meant he could still be saved. Without thinking, she walked across the room and sat beside him on the bed.

  “What happened? Tell me everything.”

  He huffed, puffing out his hollow cheeks. “I think yer the one who should be regalin’ me of your experiences.”

  She eyed him sternly.

  His shoulders slumped, trailing limp silver hair forward to obscure his face. “Alright, lass. Alright.” He blew the hair from his cheek with a scowl. “It was one of them dragons. I could sense it huntin’ me for some time. I did me best to evade it, but when it finally found me, there wasnae much I could do. It didn’t eat me, like I’d expected. Instead it seemed to suck the life from me. It drank me magic like a dram of the finest whiskey. Would have finished the job too, if that foolhardy Bedelia hadn’t attacked it like a goddess of war. We were fortunate the beast was young, she was able to scare it off. I imagine its size was the only reason it didnae attack me within the port.”