Of Fire and Fury (Book 1: Light-Born Series)

Chapter 35 - Rabid

Though she had been diligently waiting for news, Rabid was startled from her thoughts as Meri burst through the bedroom door. Her grin was wild, and her golden eyes were shining.

“Two messengers returned this morning!” she said, out of breath as though she had sprinted the entire way to their room. Rabid bolted upright, excitement flooding her body, as her eyes met Kizi’s. The book Kizi was reading slid closed beside her as she stood.

It had been eight days that had felt like several moons. Eight days since Rabid had heard a word of Stone. Eight sunrises watched through the tiny window above the stairs, after her mind had refused to let her sleep at night. She was on her feet in a moment, following Meri down the narrow hallway and down the stairs. She didn’t even bother to slip on her shoes, and instead padded barefoot across the cold ground, hardly noticing the goosebumps that lined her flesh.

The three of them practically fell through the door to the great hall, a loud clang ringing out as they swung open the door and met several shocked faces. Arven was there, with a raised eyebrow and half a grin, as the trio stopped short in the open doorway. Rabid glanced around at the candle lit room, examining the newcomers as they, in turn, examined her.

The first was the tallest of the group, a dark skinned Ohave with one golden eye and one white eye. He studied her without a hint of surprise at her tumbling entrance, and Rabid found herself standing slightly taller under his scrutiny. His long hair was knotted into what looked like thick ropes, and they were wrapped into a circle on his head. Beside him stood an Ohave woman who was Rabid’s height and shared Meri’s beautiful features; except that her hair was tied into several long braids that fell past her waist. The third Ohave man was only slightly taller than the woman, but at least twice her thickness. He was heavily muscled and bald, and the intensity in his red-brown eyes proved that whatever he may lack in stature, he made up for with something else. Each of these wore white cloth that clung to their body shapes, tied at their waist with a thin gold cord.

Beside the dark skinned Ohave were two men with the exact opposite features. Their hair was pale and golden, skin paler than even Rabid’s, with eyes blue like ice. Rabid had never seen the Amarin before, only heard stories that had not done their beauty justice. They looked remarkably similar, except one stood a half head taller than the other, and flashed Rabid a smile that held perfectly straight white teeth. The other did not look so delighted at her entrance.

“Ah.” Arven said, standing slightly behind the group and waving for Rabid to enter. “We were just speaking of you, Rabid.”

Rabid tried to stand tall under their stares, hoping she had not looked like a complete fool, or a child running through the halls.

“I’m glad you’re as excited to see us as we are you. My name is Karver.” the taller of the Amarin said, flashing her another smile that was almost as beautiful as Stone’s—almost.

“Roan.” the shorter man said, nodding once. Rabid smiled back at him, returning his nod. Then she turned to the Ohave.

“I am Allyen.” the tallest man said, his voice slow with intention, bowing slightly at the waist. He motioned to the two at his side.

“Mashet, and Baroke.”

“Thank you all for coming.” Rabid said, glancing over each of the strange faces while trying to sound diplomatic.

Arven gestured for them to sit. Rabid was grateful when Meri and Kizi sat on either side of her, across from the newcomers. 

“Rabid, everyone here is in agreement in our desires.” Arven started. “But, there is some troubling news the Ohave have brought to my attention. Somewhat of a, uh… insurgency that we had thought long gone seems to have been living under our noses.”

“Insurgency?” Rabid said, looking around nervously as all eyes turned her way.

“Ah, yes. I often forget how little you know of your history.” Arven said. To her dismay, Rabid’s cheeks flushed. His eyes widened slightly and he hastily corrected himself. “Oh, my dear, I know the Napua traditions do not speak of dark things. I didn’t mean any offense.”

Arven sighed heavily and rubbed his palms against his temples, obviously annoyed that Rabid’s upbringing had failed her so dearly, but intent on not making her feel ashamed of it. She studied her hands to avoid meeting any other eyes until he spoke again.

“Not everyone knows the group as more than an old fable, but… they are very real. The Amarin have kept a careful watch on them since they were discovered several hundred years ago.” he motioned to Karver to continue the story.

“We think they were formed a few year before the invasion that killed Ademanu. That is the first time we had ever heard of them, anyway. Then, when the magic left the land after Khaya’s death, all that was left was Katshi’s blood magic…”

“Hold on, Katshi still has magic?” Kizi interrupted softly, her voice trembling slightly.

“We suspect that he does, yes.” Karver said, grimacing slightly. “It isn’t like the powers that we had, so unless every magical being lost power, then he would have retained his.”

“I thought he was trapped without magic, like we are. That’s… that’s what we were always taught.” Kizi said, swallowing audibly. 

“That’s the problem with treachery, wars, and several hundred years. We can’t really know for certain.” Arven sighed. Rabid glanced at Kizi, the fear in Kizi’s eyes made her uncomfortable, but Karver scoffed.

“We can know. We may have lost our ancestral memories, but we didn’t lose all of our history.” he said with deep Amarin pride. Roan nodded, smug agreement plastered on his face.

“Anyway.” Karver said, waving a hand to end the questions. “We think that they must have been working together. There was an assassination attempt on Khaya before Katshi turned skinwalker. We assume that he did so with the help of this group.”

“So… he’s alive, and probably wants me dead like Khaya.” Rabid said, quietly.

“There have been whispers that Katshi is still alive and well, yes.” Arven continued. “If this group has survived this long, we can only assume it is under the servitude of a powerful master. At best, it is simply a cult following a false god. At worst…” he trailed off, so Karver finished the thought for him.

“At worst, they are with Katshi, hiding, biding their time, and will stop at nothing to stop the return of each tribes’ powers. Including killing the natuna.” he said, matter-of-factly, with an apologetic grin.

Kizi and Meri stared at him in horror. Rabid shifted uncomfortably in her seat as the other eyes returned to her. Arven sighed in irritation and said,

“Our immediate problem is these traitors. So, as I was asking before you got here, Rabid. Other than the Ohave, has anyone found evidence of such a group living in their homeland?”

“We know they have infiltrated the Omari.” Karver said. Kizi flashed him a dark look.

“We also know that Amarin is safe.” Roan interjected.

“How can you be so sure?” Kizi interjected again. This time, the fear in her eyes was replaced with a hard and angry stare.

“My father hunted down the last of the traitors before he died, years ago.” Karver waved a hand without even looking at her, as if it perfectly dismissed the matter. Kizi clenched her jaw and stared with hooded eyes at him as he continued,

“Which only leaves the Reanni.”

“I’m sorry, can we back up please? How do we even know this group is still around?” Rabid said suddenly confused by the shared history she seemed to know so little about. Arven sighed, looking first to the Ohave and then to the historians, who should know the stories better than any of them.

“We’ve heard whispers.” Karver said, his voice dropping low as thought the walls had ears. “We’ve been hearing things from Numia for years. Strange things, killings without motive that impact the politics of other countries, small time mercenaries appearing to wreak havoc without forseeable cause. None of which, by themselves, would have alerted us at all. But then, the Ohave found a cave, with writings about the movements of a group that sounds a lot like the one Khaya learned about before she died.”

“They operate in secret, hiding in plain sight, serving some ulterior motive we can’t know or see. It’s like they know every possible outcome and make decisions on what will benefit them the most.” Arven said.

“If they are operating so secretly, how can you be sure that this group isn’t among one of you? Or all of you?” Kizi asked.

“My father personally destroyed this group’s hold inside of Amarin.” Karver said proudly, as though repeating his father’s glory was enough for them to believe. 

“None of us can be sure, really.” Allyen conceded. “But the cave we found has not been in use for a long time, and I know many Ohave who have dreamed of the powers returning and the reuniting of the clans. If there are traitors among us, they will be greatly outnumbered.”

“It only takes one.” Kizi said, her eyes piercing him. Allyen nodded in concession.

“I am sure no treachery lives inside these walls. Not even one.” Arven said.

“How can you be sure?” Allyen echoed Kizi’s question.

“Because, we have seen that they are intent on destroying the power of Minaloa.” Arven said, holding up a hand as green light flickered across his fingers, like the moon rippling across the water. “If they were here, I’m sure someone would have come for us by now.”

The five strangers each inhaled in shock, eyes fixed on the green light as it danced around Arven’s hand. When he set his hand down, they each blinked several times.

“Before you want to behead me, know that I had my reasons for keeping this secret. At first we thought it would come back for everyone, so we simply waited. But, as years went by, when we saw we were alone in this miracle, we weren’t sure who we could trust.” Arven said.

“Well. Times are surely changing.” Baroke breathed, a grin spreading across his mouth.

“What about the Napua?” Machet’s thickly accented voice changed the subject. She glanced uneasily from Arven’s hand to Rabid, who suddenly felt nauseated.

“The Napua are gone.” Rabid said. She was surprised to find her voice came out perfectly smooth.

“One has lived.” Machet said, looking at her apologetically. For a moment, Rabid thought Machet referred to herself, but then she remembered Broad Oak. 

“I don’t know if he’s even alive.” Rabid said, honestly. She shook her head, trying to avoid the knot that wanted to form at the thought of being the last Napua alive. She feared that if it formed, it would stop her breathing. “I haven’t seen him since he first got to Omarihom. I… I couldn’t bare to.”

“Well, then.” Karver said, his large hand gripped Rabid’s forearm. “He isn’t a threat.”

When he thought she wasn’t looking, Roan flashed Karver a look. Karver shook his head, slightly, as if to silence him. Despite the possibility of treachery, Rabid knew the truth. Broad Oak held the Napua way closer than her own father: he wouldn’t even harm the ants that crawled across his bare feet.

“You’re right.” Rabid said, meeting Roan’s eyes instead of Karver’s. “Alive or dead, he is no threat.”

Roan stared back at her levelly, but said nothing. Arven cleared his throat to draw their attention back to him.

“Here’s the biggest problem. We are no longer fighting a one-sided war against the Hauks. The first thing we need to do is drum up enough support among the clans that when this group finds out about Rabid, there’s nothing they can do about it, not without an army.”

“You have all of Amarin.” Karver said, bowing slightly in his seat. Arven nodded in response.

“And is Amarin ready to fight?” Rabid asked him. “Do they have warriors?”

Karver c****d his head slightly and studied her, his pale blue eyes flickering over her features slowly, before he finally said,

“We’ll be ready, natuna. You don’t have to worry about us.”

“Who do you trust among the Ohave?” Arven asked Allyen.

Allyen squinted slightly as he thought.

“Dovid and his family.” he said, smiling at Meri. “And many others.”

“Start with the ones you know you can trust.” Arven said. “Then, as we gain traction, we’ll have to take the risk and tell everyone. The most important thing is that we protect Rabid above all else.”

“I’m sorry, but shouldn’t she be protecting us? Isn’t that kind of… her whole point?” Karver said, shrugging apologetically at Rabid.

“I do believe so.” Roan said, quietly. Arven shook his head and responded,

“No, unfortunately. The power of Khaya has yet to make an appearance.”

“Actually,” Rabid said slowly. Her heart pounded. She had kept this particular truth about herself hidden, unsure of who to trust, or even how to explain it. All eyes slid to her. Though she knew they wouldn’t harm her, she couldn’t help but feel as though she were standing before ravenous wolves.

“I’ve already awoken the Ravener.” Rabid said. All the eyes on her widened slightly, but she couldn’t tell if it was awe or jealousy. Instead of meeting them, she kept her eyes locked on Kizi.

“How?” Karver said, his mouth stayed slightly open to reveal his perfect teeth. Rabid ignored him and looked apologetically at Arven.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lie to you before. I didn’t remember it, but I used the Ravener power in Omarihom the night before I came to you.”

“How did this happen?” Kizi asked, her voice trembling.

“The Omari sacred site.” Rabid said. Kizi’s hand flew to her mouth as it broke into a grin. “When I was there, I touched the wall. I had a vision of Khaya, and from then on I felt the power. Stone and I think…”

“That Omari zäbad knows what you are?” Roan spat, cutting her off, his blue eyes seemed to grow deep and dark with hatred. Though Rabid didn’t recognize the word, she could feel it like poison. Her skin bristled at his malice. Karver grabbed Roan’s shoulder and growled something in his ear in the same language she couldn’t understand.

“We might as well kill her now if the Omari know.” Roan whispered back.

“I hope you meant my Omari husband.” Rabid spat back, and was surprised to find herself standing, her fist clenched. “Stone is the only one who knows of my power in Omarihom. His father has no idea. And besides, I doubt he would believe I was worth anything at all, even if he saw it for himself.”

“My apologies.” Karver said, his knuckles white as he gripped Roan’s shoulder. A smile was plastered to his face, but he was seething underneath. At herself or Roan, Rabid couldn’t tell. His voice was tight and formal as he continued, “We had heard of those… festivities. Congratulations.”

Rabid looked back to Kizi, who was still frozen with a wide eyed grin and her hand over her mouth. Meri, who had been silent and observant suddenly giggled from discomfort. She coughed and cleared her throat, glancing around. But she had broken the tension, and the room seemed to relax at her laughter. Rabid sighed, smiling slightly at her friend, and turned back to Arven.

“Stone said that the sacred sites are like concentrations of the spirits power, and we think that I can awaken the powers from each sacred site. Maybe, we can even awaken them for others, as well, just like the power of the Reanni.”

Arven stroked his chin for a long moment, staring straight ahead. Rabid fidgeted and waited, finally sitting down as her agitation faded. She remembered to release her clenched fist, and looked down to find tiny moons of blood from where her fingernails and broken her skin.

“I’m sorry, but are we really trusting this girl?” Mashet chimed in, looking around at the group. “She has no battle training. She is not a warrior queen, like Khaya was.”

“Not yet.” Kizi said defensively. Mashet sighed at looked to Rabid.

“I mean no offense, I only think of how a war would look with you at the helm. How old are you, child?”

“Seventeen winters.” Rabid responded.

“Exactly.” Mashet said, looking around as if the rest of them would see reason.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Arven began to chuckle. His laughed filled the silence around them as tears sprung to his eyes.

“She is exactly who we should be trusting.”

“Why?” Mashet challenged. 

“I didn’t realize before, but… it makes perfect sense. The Reanni got our powers back when she were born.” Arven said, looking at Rabid with awe.

“And she has been trained.” Kizi said. Rabid’s heart warmed from her friend’s defensiveness. “She’s been training with the Omari.”

“She is light born, Mashet.” Meri said, chiding. All sense of her youth and giggles gone in an instant as she looked at her tribesman as a princess of Ohavehom. “Do not doubt her.”

“Yes, my lady.” Mashet nodded apologetically to Rabid and said nothing more.

“Are you alright?” Rabid asked, turning to Arven as his eyes filled once more with tears. A thrill ran through her when he looked at her like that—excitement and dread all tangled up together.

“Ah, yes, forgive this old man.” Arven said, waving a hand and blinking the tears away. “I have been waiting to right this wrong for so long, child. You cannot understand what this chance means to me. I finally get to right the wrongs of my ancestors.”

The rest of the table shifted slightly, glancing around at the exchange.

“So, it’s settled, then.” Rabid filled the silence. “We’ll go to the sacred sites.”

“I think it would be best that the rest of us can go before you, and drum up support from our people. By the time you get there, they will be excited to see you coming.” Allyen said, looking to his tribesmen.

“We will go to Amarinhom tomorrow as well, and let the Eight know of the news.” Karver said, standing.

“No.” Arven stopped him. “We’ll need someone here, to go with Rabid once we awaken her Healer abilities.”

“Roan and I can escort her to Amarinhom, then, and we can speak to the Eight know when we get there.” Karver said, nodding.

“The Eight?” Rabid questioned.

“Our leadership is a council, rather than a single person.” Karver explained. Roan rolled his eyes as he stood and left the room. 

“Don’t mind my brother, doesn’t have a polite bone in his body.” Karver said, grinning widely at Rabid. “We will wait for you, just let us know when it’s time.” 

Then, he bowed his head, before following his brother out of the room.

Arven waved at a young girl, who was sitting on the far side of the room. When she approached he said,

“Get our guests from Ohavehom situated, they’ll need to rest tonight before making the journey back tomorrow.” 

The girl nodded her silver head, then smiled sweetly as the led them away from the hall.

“Since you’re here, let’s start with our sacred site.” Arven said, turning back to Rabid with a twinkle in his eye. He motioned for her to follow, and started heading toward one of the tunnels.

“Right now?” Rabid said, obeying and following him away from the table.

“We have no time to waste!” the old man said, practically jogging into the dark corridor that left the great hall.