Blood in the Fire (Timelaws Trilogy) Read online

  However, it wasn’t long before the wizards’ warm feelings toward their benefactors began to shift. The planet-dwellers saw how much more powerful the Ori were and some of their leaders asked to be trained in attack spells and weapons technology. The Ori refused. This quickly led to tension between the Ori and the wizards and even divided wizard-kind. Many powerless citizens saw the Ori as protectors and tended to side with them. Women, who were often less powerful than their male counterparts, felt the same. Meanwhile, powerful wizard leaders spread fear of the Ori and their allies. Civil war ensued.

  At first, the Ori refused to get embroiled in the war, but their allies were nearly wiped out and eventually the Ori stepped in. By then it was too late. The enemy’s numbers were too great for even the Ori. The war was decided and the wizard leaders who came into power took it upon themselves to punish those that had stood against them. They spread fear of the Ori and distrust of powerless and female wizards. Doing so gave them reason to maintain strong armies. Xenophobic propaganda went rampant.

  “She is devastated,” Ketya heard Brovkyl say to the gathered crowd. His words pulled her out of her trance. “I understand that you must follow the law,” he continued, “but the law makes room for some compassion. Give her a few days to process the news.” He sounded authoritative. If it were not for his lack of powers, he would have been a leader of this town and possibly even of the whole region.

  “How do we know she won’t run?” Rothin asked.

  For a couple seconds, Brovkyl didn’t respond. Ketya imagined him regarding Rothin with cold eyes. Finally, his steady reply came. “If she was going to run, don’t you think she would have already?” he asked. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve always trusted Ketya to be a person of integrity.” She smiled. It was just like Brovkyl to use her integrity to sell her deception.

  “We don’t know she hasn’t run already,” a woman replied. “Bring her here so we can see her.”

  “And once you see her, you will go?” Brovkyl asked.

  There was another moment of silence. “Yes,” Rothin replied, sounding defeated. Ketya’s heart swelled with relief. She wanted to thank Rothin, but she didn’t know what she would say. She was furious with him for his betrayal earlier that day. He had hurt her more deeply than she could have imagined him capable of. But a part of her still cared for him. It would be hard to forget the years of friendship and trust that had grown between them. Given time, he would come to regret his actions today.

  Naimi, who had woken from her slumber by the fireplace, came into the bedroom and hopped onto the bed. Ketya reached back and gave her a heartfelt scratch behind the ear. Naimi made a little gurgling noise to show her pleasure, then coiled up on Brovkyl’s pillow.

  Not long after, the front door opened and the sounds of multiple footsteps carried through the house. Ketya pulled the blanket up over herself and curled up. So far, their plan was working. She didn’t move when Brovkyl and the others crowded into her bedroom. It was not large enough for everyone, and many people remained in their living room and on their porch. Naimi flared her red scales and huffed little puffs of smoke at the unexpected guests. At Brovkyl’s command, she retreated under the bed.

  Brovkyl moved to the edge of the mattress and gently removed the blanket from Ketya. He stroked her hair away from her face so the people could see it was her. She looked up at him, but ignored the rest. He didn’t smile. One of the wizards finished a spell and the room was drowned in a white light. I guess our lantern wasn’t bright enough, Ketya speculated. Naimi made some more huffing noise from below the bed.

  After regarding Ketya for another moment, Brovkyl dropped his hand from her hair and turned to face Rothin. The crowd understood and began to leave. The ordeal was over.

  “We’ll give her a few days,” Rothin told Brovkyl before he left the room. It wasn’t a threat. It seemed he was offering to keep the people at bay until Ketya could escape. Suddenly she wondered if his display of theatrics had always been intended to win over the townspeople. It put him in a position to control them. She would never know for sure. Naimi rejoined Ketya on the bed and Ketya comforted the small creature with a belly rub.

  Brovkyl turned back toward them and smiled at the sight of his pet practically melting from bliss under Ketya’s hand. “You were always her favorite,” he said.

  “That’s true,” Ketya confirmed, although she knew full well that Naimi was Brovkyl’s pet from when she was just a few weeks old. The creature regarded him with unsurpassed affection.

  “Time to get you guys packed up,” Brovkyl said, his voice turned gruff. He kept his face turned away from Ketya so that she wouldn’t see the grief in his eyes. “You’ll leave in a few hours.”

  With his statement, Ketya’s body turned numb. She reached out for Brovkyl’s hand, but he stepped away at her touch. “Brovkyl,” she whispered. The agony in her voice forced him to turn and at the sight of her broken face, he closed the distance between them and kneeled by her bed. His large hands gathered up her small ones and he pressed them to his forehead.

  “I’ll miss you,” he said.

  ***

  When they had finished packing, Brovkyl suggested they return to bed and continue reading. She couldn’t leave until it was certain that all the townsfolk would be asleep. The book was supposed to be a distraction. It hadn’t worked, but her body and mind were so exhausted from the day’s emotions that she did fall asleep to the sound of Brovkyl’s deep, rhythmic voice.

  It seemed Ketya had only been dreaming a few moments when an orange glow danced behind her eyelids and forced her to wake. Groggy at first, the rancid sent of burning crop brought her to full alert. She bolted out of bed and darted to the window.

  “Brovkyl, wake up,” she yelled. “Our field is on fire.”

  “Not just our field,” he said, running in from the living room. She hadn’t noticed him leave their bed. “The whole town. I went to the road and saw it. The wizard’s army is burning down Centream.”

  At that moment as if to emphasize his point, a large ball of fire shot through the sky and landed in the distance. Another cloud of black smoke mushroomed from the site and grew to merge with its towering counterpart.

  “Why?” she yelled. Brovkyl looked at her, but didn’t reply.

  “How did they find out?” she asked.

  “You have to start moving,” he said, picking up an agitated Naimi who was jumping at his feet. He handed her to Ketya. “Perhaps Rothin told them,” he suggested. Ketya refused to believe that. “Or his father did. It doesn’t matter,” Brovkyl continued. He closed the distance to their closet and grabbed the pack they had prepared for her.

  “Would the army really destroy Centream just for giving me a few days?” she asked.

  Brovkyl shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “It would seem so. You have to go. Now.”

  “Come with…”

  Ketya never finished her sentence. A ball of fire soared passed their roof and landed in the field outside their home. Accompanied by a deafening sound, the force from the impact tore through the ori material and stone composing the walls of their house. Still clinging to Naimi, Ketya was lifted off her feet and thrown into some furniture. She felt her body pound against the hard surface as she was propelled through the crumbling wall that had separated their bedroom and dining area. Burning air singed her skin and left her mouth immediately parched. Finally, she landed on the floor in a cloud of smoldering ash, ori debris and mattress fragments. The nauseating scent of burnt material and crop overwhelmed her nose. Despite the stinging heat, she blinked her dry eyes open and observed the torn up bed that she had slammed into. If not for the mattress serving as a soft shield, she would be dead.

  “Brovkyl,” she screamed. The smoldering ash seared her throat, but she screamed again and scrambled to her feet, clasping Naimi close with one arm. “Brovkyl!”

  No sound returned to her, save the crackling of the fire eating her home. She scrambled through the debris and m
ade her way to the gaping wall. It led to the heap where their bedroom had been. Fragments of metal and ori material scrapped at her legs as she pushed her way through. The ceiling in the room was partially collapsed, leaving only a narrow opening close to the wall. She squeezed in and searched the rubble for signs of a body. The smoke here was too heavy to breathe. Her mind began to fog. But if Brovkyl were here, this was her only chance to find him.

  Naimi might bolt if I set her down. Ketya needed both her arms. She lowered Naimi to the floor. The dragon-creature made a loud squeaky sound that resembled crying. “Stay here,” Ketya instructed softly, although she was sure Naimi didn’t hear her over the roar of the growing fire. Then she placed her hands on the collapsed roof. The hot surface pricked her palms as though it were a bed of searing needles. Still she summoned all her sinew and pushed with every ounce she had into the fallen barrier. The debris beneath her feet gave way, and she nearly slipped, but the roof didn’t move an inch. Darkness was closing in on her. She needed air.

  Ketya wanted to scream for Brovkyl again, but all she could do was cough and gasp. Instead, she scooped up Naimi and slipped through the gap back into her dining room. She thought the escape from there to the back door would be easier, but the fire had spread too fast. Blazing chunks of roof rained down from above and littered the path to the kitchen where the back door remained firm. Ketya heard a loud crack and looked up in time to see her modest chandelier come crashing down into the dining table, sending glass and thin metal flying. She turned her back to it and huddled over Naimi. Hot fragments pelted her back. When she turned, she saw a mushroom of ori dust expanding from where her dining table once was.

  Peering through the dust, Ketya could only see a couple feet ahead. However, the newly formed powder had quelled some of the fire. She stumbled forward, clinging to Naimi and not paying heed to the debris that scraped her skin as she fought to find a way out. I need air.

  Finally making it to the back door, Ketya pulled on the hot handle only to realize that it was stuck shut. She lowered Naimi and yanked again to no avail. Could she get some water to cool it down? She looked over to the far end of the kitchen where she’d stored a single bucket of water. It wouldn’t work.

  Giving up, Ketya collapsed to the ground and pulled Naimi protectively to her heart. “I’m sorry, love,” she whispered, not sure herself if she were speaking to Naimi or Brovkyl. Her vision was nearly black, and, with the certainty of her death, came a strange sense of peace. She pictured Brovkyl’s smile and started to let go.

  Suddenly, the back door gave way to a strong gust. The wind shoved her back and pushed a revivifying breath of air into her lungs. Her eyes popped open and at the sight of her escape path, panic and hope returned. She could not let Naimi and her child die like this. Clinging to the fabric of her dress, the creature peered at her with sad, terrified eyes. “I’ll get you out,” Ketya reassured as she scooped her up and burst out the door into cool, ash-filled air.

  She had to run. The wizard army had destroyed her town as punishment for not killing her child right away. They would be here soon. So she forced the burning muscles in her legs to propel her forward, and she forced her mind to steer clear of the one thought that would stop her in her tracks: Brovkyl might still be alive.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Flu

  Earth – June 1981

  Elizabeth

  With the way our house worked, there was no way to know if we had some friends bumming on our front steps. My second choice, an empty lot about a block away, was too close to some roadwork being done today. Instead, we settled on appearing inside the cargo area of an abandoned semitrailer Mark told us about. It took a second to get oriented to the darkness inside the box. After blinking a few times to adjust our eyes, Tamer figured out where the sliding door was and rolled it open. We piled out into the sunlight, happy to leave the rusty smell behind.

  First thing my eyes landed on was a trashcan by some backdoor stairs. I limped over, lifted the lid and ralphed.

  “You okay?” Luke asked.

  “Fine,” I replied. “Sometimes teleports make people a little nauseous. Changes in gravity can do that, too.”

  Anton frowned at me from next to the truck, but Luke and Mark didn’t notice. They were probably feeling a little queasy themselves. I looked down at my dress and then back up at Anton and Tamer.

  “Seriously guys? You two teleport yourselves in wearing your street clothes, but you leave me in this?” Both of them were now wearing black jeans and dark tee shirts.

  “I don’t know how to conjure women’s clothes,” Tamer replied. Anton shrugged in agreement. I glared at them. Both could have managed a pair of jeans if they’d wanted too. They just enjoyed seeing me squirm and I was too low on power to transform out of the uniform myself.

  Everyone turned and started heading down the long driveway. Mark came over and pulled my arm around his shoulder so he could help support my weight.

  “If anyone I know sees me in this, I’ll never hear the end of it,” I complained as Anton paused to walk in step with Mark and me. We weren’t going very fast, given my ankle.

  You haven’t been nauseous after a teleport since your first off-Earth mission, he accused telepathically.

  I think I have wizard flu, I explained. The guard said something right before I jumped. He may have infected me. Anton frowned again. Wizard flu was the term we used to describe any disease we contracted from wizards. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, we usually cured ourselves with a spell or had a medical expert do it. The nearest medical expert I knew of was several galaxies away.

  Tamer, Elizabeth might have wizard flu, Anton communicated so that only Tamer and I could hear. Do you have any power left for a heal?

  Tamer had been walking ahead with Luke, but he instinctively stopped and turned to look back at us when he replied. No, but I might be able to scan her and find out what kind of bug she has. No promises though. He furrowed his brow. When do you think you got it? It was a little fast for me to be showing symptoms.

  The wizard cast it on me with a spell, I told him. Tamer’s eyes darted to meet with Anton’s, seeking confirmation. I reached out to pick up Anton’s hand, hoping I might interrupt the exchange of concerned glances. My gesture only succeeded in redirecting his worried eyes back toward me. He squeezed my hand in return: an attempt to reassure me. They were making way too big a deal out of this.

  “They’re having a conversation in their heads aren’t they?” Luke asked Mark.

  “Yeah,” Mark replied, sounding only a little annoyed. “You get used to it.”

  I guess Anton and I conversed telepathically in front of him more often than I’d noticed. Until now, it had never occurred to me how obvious it must look.

  Tamer used the last of his available power to scan me. As he worked, the strain became evident on his paling face. He closed his eyes to concentrate.

  “You okay, buddy?” Mark asked.

  After a moment, Tamer looked at Mark and nodded. He was winded, and he bent over to catch his breath. It’s viral and it’s been accelerated, Tamer informed me and Anton. I couldn’t get any more information. Luke patted him on the back as a show of concern. Tamer straightened up in response and then looked at me. I imagine the earliest we’d have enough power to tackle it would be tomorrow evening. Can you reach anyone with powers? Both Anton and I shook our heads. All Darks in our timeline were still low on power from the Timelaws spell and most of them were hiding away on far off space stations. Moreover, Anton and I had already regenerated and used up more power than most of them normally possessed.

  Mark and Luke had been observing Tamer with some concern while they waited for us to finish our conversation.

  “Why don’t you guys head back to the house with us?” Luke suggested. “We’ll drive you both home from there.”

  Anton and Tamer glanced at each other, then shrugged. “Sure, thanks,” Anton acknowledged. Luke and Tamer turned to head home, and the rest o
f us followed.

  I guess you’ll have to tough it out till tomorrow night, Anton said to me privately. Think you’ll be okay that long?

  I nodded tiredly. Walking on my sore ankle required some concentration. I’m a lot tougher than that wizard calculated, I reassured both Tamer and Anton. With that said, I felt drained and a headache was creeping on. Admittedly, the gash on my head might have been the cause.

  There wasn’t much conversation for most of our walk home. My breathing became a little heavy by the time we were about half a mile from our house. I’m not sure if it was that or the fact that Luke got impatient with our slow pace, but he picked me up and carried me the remainder of the way. I protested a little, but then I laid my head on his shoulder and rested my eyes.

  ***

  “Holy crap! What the hell is she wearing?” It was Brian’s voice. I guess he’d never seen me in a dress. My heavy eyelids lifted. It was hard to believe that sleep had overtaken me so quickly. I looked up and noticed that we were headed up the sidewalk to our front door. Our friends, Brian and Jack had probably just arrived and might have been about to leave if we hadn’t shown up. I wished we’d walked a little slower.