Chapter 3 #3
“Not tell them about the captain she must,” the leonthor interrupted her, and Lory wondered if she might hit his head if she picked up the rock beside her knee and aimlessly threw it into the shadows.
Shaking her head, she started again. “I only recently found out I have fire magic. Controlling it has been a challenge.” At the leonthor, she thought, “There, happy? Nothing about the captain. Nothing about the Ward. Nothing about anything, really.”
Much to her surprise, keeping Khayrivven a secret did feel better than expected, and to prevent them from asking any more questions, she amended, “How did you find out you had fire magic?”
Enya shook her head. “There will be time for those questions later. What are you doing in the mountains? How did the creature find you?”
With a shrug, Lory sat up a little straighter, wondering if she needed to be afraid of the people who were supposed to be her allies after all.
“I was sent into the mountains as prey for a hunt.” It was the closest to the truth she could get without giving away a word about Khayrivven, Ashthorn, or the real reason she’d been sent into the mountains—to test her loyalty.
A loyalty that wouldn’t be welcomed with praise and enthusiasm by the people in this cave.
It was Olive who measured her with disbelief this time. “Because you’re a Flame?” The woman was incredible at keeping her emotions off her face, but the expression in her dark eyes told Lory she wasn’t as surprised to hear this as she let on. “Who hunted you?”
“People loyal to Ulder.” Again, a half-truth, but the leonthor hummed his approval of her words into her mind, and when she glanced into the corner, the gilded outline of the mythical beast appeared where fingers of sunlight invaded the darkness seaming the cave.
“Why is it so important they don’t know about Khayrivven and Ashthorn?” It was more a thought at herself, but the leonthor answered anyway.
“Only themselves they trust. Ashthorn Ward never heard about they have, and best it is, perhaps, they never will. But the captain, heard about they have.”
“Nothing good, I suppose,” Lory shot back at him, while she endured the gaze of pity spreading on Enya’s features.
“We’d seen signs of magic a few nights ago. Lighting on a non-thunderstorm night, flares of gold and orange glowing above the forest, but we didn’t know they were doing a hunt.”
“The last time they hunted magic wielders out here, the leonthor came back empty-handed,” Olive commented with a glance at the creature in the corner, who cracked a lilac eye, shifting his head on his front paws.
“This has happened before?” The question was out before Lory could stop herself.
It was Hadrick who spoke this time, his face grave.
“We see signs of magic every other week out here. Usually, the leonthor becomes restless, and sometimes he disappears for hours. This is not the first time he’s brought anyone back to our sanctuary.
It’s the first time someone has called it a hunt, though. ”
Lory eyed the man head to toe: the plain clothes, the suspicion in his gaze as he refused to look away. “What do people call it?”
“Attacks.” With one hand, Olive lowered her plate into her lap, wiping a crumb from the corner of her mouth with her sleeve.
Silence ruled the space around the crackling fire for a long minute while Lory measured the three Flame-born with narrowed eyes. They knew more than they let on for sure, or they wouldn’t be exchanging glances, but did that mean they weren’t trustworthy?
“The best shot at survival they are,” the leonthor hummed into her mind, lifting to his paws and padding out of sight once more as from the pitch tunnels leading from and to the cave, unfamiliar noises sounded.
“What’s that?” Lory prompted, bread dropping from her fingers as she reached to her hips to draw weapons that weren’t there.
Both Hadrick and Enya shook their heads.
Before Lory could get to her feet, the flames rolled out of the stone circle enclosing them, finding their way across the floor toward her. Like a sledgehammer, her heart pounded against her ribs as the three Flame-born rose to their feet.
“What have you done?” Hadrick demanded, and from the look in his eyes, Lory knew he was the one who commanded the fire to flare in a tight mesh around her—not close enough to burn her, but definitely close enough to show he wouldn’t think twice before frying her if he had to.
In the tunnels, the noises grew louder. Lory didn’t dare turn away from the three magic wielders who seemed under the impression that whatever mayhem was being wreaked in other parts of the cave was her doing.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have no idea what’s going on out there.”
Enya stepped forward, drawing a forearm-length knife from her sleeve and directing it at Lory. “Don’t lie to us. There is someone in this cave. Someone who isn’t part of our community.”
How Enya knew was beyond Lory, but the insistent pounding in her chest told her that something was seriously wrong. All her senses were on high alert, and the screams adding to the thumping and slashing happening in the darkness confirmed that something was coming for them.