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

Chapter 31 - Stone

Stone was being pulled by two opposing sides. One screamed at him for being such a fool, for letting her stay behind, for letting her blind him. He was supposed to protect her, and instead he had been stupid, left her behind. He had let her charm her way past his defenses, and he had been foolish enough to even kiss her. Feel leads to feel pain, a voice screamed at him. But then, there was the other side: a smaller, quiet side. The side of himself that he had shoved down for so long, that he had denied existence. The one he thought had died with Alea. That side was awake, and all it could remember was the taste of her mouth on his. Just once, if only for now as he walked alone among the trees, he would let that side of him win.

Stone wiped the stupid grin from his mouth and got to work. He quickly tore down his small tent and cleared the campsite. Black Bird and Mai were already gone, and had left no trace of their existence. He grabbed all his things and wrapped them into a tight bundle that he carried back to the front of the gates. Pushing past all the shuffling bodies, he found Rheo and Talia. The sun was just peaking over the treetops as he tied the pack to Rheo’s back.

“Blood Wolf!” a deep voice came from on top of the wall. All eyes were drawn to the figure that stood against the sky. Stone stepped forward to see better, and saw his father do the same. A chill ran through him, knowing what was coming.

“Have you come to your senses? Are you going to let us in?” Blood Wolf called back.

“I have come to tell you that we are at the beginning of a great time in history.” Arven called back. “You had the honor of protecting the future of Minaloa.”

“Don’t start your riddles, Arven. What is it you want?” Blood Wolf was openly irritated, agged on by pure exhaustion. Stone watched the exchange with a growing sense of dread.

“What I want is to tell you that we are taking the Napua girl off your hands. You have no responsibility for her anymore.” he said.

The chief’s icy glare fell to Stone. Stone felt it boring into him, yet he kept his eyes on Arven.

“And what would you want with the Napua child?” he called, though his eyes stayed fixed on Stone, who tried not to fidget under his gaze.

“She is… special.” Arven said. 

“The Napua?” Chief Blood Wolf laughed. A collective grumble spread through the Omari people. Several eyes turned to Stone, as if he could confirm or deny it. 

“Yes, she is more powerful than even you. She is the descendant of Khaya.”

Arven waved behind him, and Rabid appeared at his side, looking down at the Omari people. At this, the grumble turned to an uproar. Some laughter, some open scoffs, several angry shouts.

“That is but a children’s story.” Blood Wolf yelled, his irritation turned to livid anger as plain as the coming sunlight. At his voice, the people fell silent, their eyes fixed and watching.

Arven laughed, the sound echoing off below him. There was no joy in it.

“Your lack of belief is why she will be staying with us.” he said.

By this time, Black Bird and Mai had appeared next to Stone. Black Bird elbowed Stone lightly to make him aware of his presence. Mai stared from his other side, watching Stone intently.

“Chief Blood Wolf, please…” Rabid called down but Blood Wolf cut her off.

“How dare you speak to me after this? I am not your chief, Napua! I do not command a tribe of traitors.” he said.

“You’re right.” Rabid replied. “You are not. I am here to ask you to follow me. We can all fight together to rid the land of the Hauks.”

“Follow you?” the chief roared. He grabbed his bow from his stallions back and sent an arrow over the top of the wall. Rabid barely dodged it by ducking beneath the wall. Stone clenched his jaw as he watched the arrow fly, biting down the fury that willed itself to the surface.

“Blood Wolf, think of your people. We can fight together, all of us. We can destroy the Hauks, and end this once and for all. We could bring back the power of Minaloa, to all of our people.” Rabid motioned to the Omari below and Arven at her side.

“I will follow you, Napua. If only to bring back your head.” Blood Wolf spat, throwing his bow against the ground. Arven pushed Rabid behind him and addressed the Omari chieftain again,

“That’s what I thought. Once again, you will find yourself on the wrong side of history.” he said sadly, shaking his head. Without another word, he disappeared behind the grey stones.

“Arven, you cannot take what is not yours!” the chief bellowed, but he got no reply. Blood Wolf threw a clump of mud against the oak doors; the pieces exploded in every direction. He stormed toward Stone with an accusing finger drawn.

“You brought this girl to us, and you can’t even keep your eyes on her?” he spat, his voice harsh. Stone’s words caught in his mouth as he tried to remain calm, he gritted his teeth, holding back his emotions. His father’s eyes stabbed him like daggers.

“This is an insult to us, Stone. They have taken your woman, and you don’t even fight to get her back?” he said coldly, shoving past Stone and knocking him in the shoulder. “We will kill them all for this, including that girl.”

Stone’s body stiffened, but he still had no words to respond. He was caught in a tangle of emotion he had no tools to understand. All his life, he was taught honor. Honor of family, of blood, loyalty to Omarihom and to his father. Protect the innocent. Fight the darkness. Honor your chief. That was the Omari way—the way of the warrior. Now, as he stared after his own father, all he could see was his father’s hands on Rabid’s throat; an idea so horrid and wrong that it made Stone want to kill his own father and turn against everything he had ever known. The feeling was like a knife twisting in his gut.

“What in the… is all this true?” Mai whispered past Black Bird. Stone didn’t respond, it was taking everything in him to stay standing where he was.

“Stone?!” Mai said, shaking his arm.

“Yes.” Stone finally managed to say, gritting his teeth and making himself busy retying Rheo’s harness.

“You knew?” Black Bird whispered, forcing his way in front of Stone’s line of vision. “What do they want with her?”

“She is the prophecied one.” Stone muttered, blinking away the thoughts and shaking his head. He took a deep breath and finally regained his composure. “She is the one Flecha saw in Salma Veth.”

“You really believe that story?” Mai gasped.

“Yes.” Stone muttered. Mai punched Black Bird’s shoulder and grinned, as if she had known all along.

“You didn’t tell us?” Black Bird said incredulously, more shocked that Stone hadn’t shared his deepest secrets than that his wife was destined to be the most powerful person to walk the earth.

“Of course I didn’t tell you.” Stone said quietly. His voice steadily grew louder as he did not even bother to cover his irritation. “I don’t know what to do about it, or how to help her. I don’t even know if she’s actually safe in there, or if someone is going to try and kill her. And if I bring her back, she’s a good as dead!”

Mai swatted his hands that had gotten stuck in a knot he couldn’t untangle, and Stone rested his head against Rheo’s back.

“I can’t protect her in there. I can’t protect her out here.” Stone sighed heavily against Rheo’s mane.

“Hey,” Black Bird clapped him on the shoulder. “She’s going to be okay. She has the powers, Stone, who’s going to come after her?”

Stone straightened and met Black Bird’s forced grin with a glare.

“Last night, she told me that the Reanni believe there are people who will come after her for exactly that reason. Now, apparently, my own father is on the list.”

“That’s all pride and honor, and you know it. He wouldn’t hurt her, really.” Mai said, waving her hand as if to wave away the threat. But her mouth had formed a thin line, showing that she didn’t believe it herself.

“Wow, Stone, I’ve never seen you care.” Black Bird grinned and slapped his back again.

“Yes, well. Now I do.” he said, sighing heavily. “And I can’t seem to shut it off.”

“Good!” Black Bird cackled. “No more Stone-heart. Now you’re a weakling just like the rest of us.”

“Never.” Stone replied, as Black Bird and Mai laughed. Mai began to bounce up and down with excitement. Stone rolled his eyes, trying to let their lightheartedness reassure him, but he couldn’t shake the dread that was steadily taking up residence inside him. He took a deep breath, forcing it down as far as he could. The moment of his weakness was over, and he had to turn his attention to his people. He glanced back over his shoulder one last time, but there were no figures lining the top of the wall. Stone grabbed Rheo by the reins and turned his back to Reannihom and Rabid. 

They rode slowly for the sake of those who were badly injured. Many had lost their horses, or hadn’t had one to begin with, and they plodded along next to those who rode. Stone led Rheo by the harness, allowing a badly injured man named Okeecha ride. Okeecha was barely coherent, slumped and blinking slowly in a daze of blood loss and exhaustion. Stone had to tie him to Rheo’s back to be sure he wouldn’t fall. 

A thick blanket of quiet covered the entire tribe as the trudged through the cold morning. The only communication was the dark stares Stone received from those around him. Many were angry that his woman had so dishonored them, and he could read murderous thoughts behind their glares. He was surprised, though, to see that most looked at him with a mixture of wonder and hope. If Rabid was truly the natuna, they knew that someday soon they would be avenged for their dead. This thought alone bolstered his own spirit as he led his people through the woods.

They moved north until the sun was well over its zenith, pausing often for rest and to eat. Finally, they heard the familiar rushing of the Morro River ahead of them. They stopped in a large clearing, the river still ahead but close enough to wash and drink from. There, they spread out and camped among the trees and in the tall yellowed grasses. They were only a day’s hard ride from Omarihom—too close for Stone’s comfort—but it was temporary before they found a more permanent dwelling.

Constructing their makeshifts campsites, the conversation began to pick up again. Stone pitched his tent quickly and crawled inside, hoping to avoid the sun and the stares, that now grew to quiet whispers. It was a sad dwelling, barely large enough for his head and shoulders, and only long enough for half of his body; but, it would keep the sun from his eyes and the rain from his back when he needed it to. He sighed and closed his eyes, letting the ground beneath him bring some sense of peace back to his body that had been absent all morning. For a moment, his exhaustion overcame him and he briefly fell asleep. Far too soon, he awoke to rustling movement at the center of camp.

Reluctantly, Stone climbed out of his shabby dwelling and met his father in the center of the clearing, where he was tallying their missing dead. As Stone looked out at the dirty and tattered masses, waiting with weary eyes to tell the chief who they loved that was gone, Stone felt a cold grip at his heart. This he could not shove down. While worrying about Rabid, he had almost forgotten the mayhem that was unleashed in Omarihom. The bodies, the screams, the death brought before his own home: it all flooded back as he looked at the people around him.

He looked through the crowd, glancing past face after face, frantically looking for the one that had eluded him since they’d left Omarihom. The harder he looked, the more the cold in his veins grew. She wasn’t there. 

“Is Red Moon here?” Stone asked as his father passed by him, his final shred of hope dangling in the air between them. But as he met his father’s grim look, he felt the hope he had been holding clatter in pieces at his feet. He left the circle quickly, barely making it back to his tent before he felt his strength leave him. Sinking to his knees, a c***k opened within him and pain came flooding out. For the first time in years, everything he had held back came out like a storm that overtook all his other senses. Kneeling on the fallen leaves around him, all he could do was cover his face in his hands and weep.