The Dragon Wakes (The Land of Fire and Ash Book 1) Page 17

  “You must prepare,” Brother Mikkel said. “You will drink the potion and then we will pray to Anios.”

  “So be it,” Stefan replied.

  Luca

  He woke to water pouring over his face, trickling down his nose and into his throat. Luca sat up and coughed, wiping the water from his eyes.

  “Thought you might need to cool off,” Geraldo said. “Get up.”

  There was no need to change. Luca had fallen asleep in his clothes, which stank of stale smoke. He winced as he pushed his weight onto his feet and a searing pain radiated out from his hands. When he regarded the blistered skin on his hands, the events of the night before came flooding back. He had set fire to Tania’s tent and almost set the entire camp alight.

  “That’s right,” Geraldo said. “You are a special kind of idiot. Are you wearing your iron bracelet?”

  Luca glanced down at his left wrist and nodded. He had been such a fool coming back from the hills without putting on his bracelet. He knew how important it was to control his powers, and yet he had completely forgotten about it. Still, had he been wearing the bracelet, the mountain lion would have torn out his throat. Perhaps that would have been for the best, he thought.

  Brother Axil came bustling into the tent as Geraldo was escorting him out. “Let the boy rest, Geraldo. He is hurt and needs time to heal.”

  “And what do you say, Ludo? Are you ready to accept your punishment for being the biggest donkey in the camp?”

  “I am fine, Governor,” Luca said. “I deserve to be punished for what I did.”

  “For protecting yourself and the camp? I think not!”

  Geraldo snorted. “A fine job he did of protecting the camp. He could very well have burned the place to a crisp and us along with it. Step aside, old Brother.”

  Geraldo gave Luca a shove but Axil flew at the man.

  “You will not lay a finger on the—”

  Luca held his breath. Axil could not reveal his true identity. He could not.

  Geraldo’s eyes narrowed. “Go on, old man. I cannot lay a finger on whom?”

  “A boy so young,” Axil finished, licking his lips nervously.

  Geraldo shoved Luca through the opening to the tent and gave him a little kick towards Tania’s burned tent. “I can and I will, if the boy deserves it. Now, Ludo, you’ve got your work cut out, but a few hours should do it. Nico will show you where the supplies are.”

  “Wh-what is it you want me to do?” Luca asked.

  “What do you think, fool? Build your friend Tania here a new home. The better you build it, the more pleasant her home will be. Think you’re up for the task?”

  Luca surveyed the burnt remains of the tent in dismay. The dry grass was blackened, and the mountain lion’s body was little more than a blackened shell of an animal. The smell turned his stomach, bringing to mind the image of his brother’s ashes. But instead of allowing his mind to wander, he steeled himself and thought of making things right with Tania. She did not deserve a home like this. She had done nothing wrong, this was all his doing, and he would rectify it even if he had to work all night to do it.

  “Yes, I can do it.”

  Geraldo slapped him hard on the back, but for once it did not feel like a threat or derision, it felt almost like respect. Luca bent low and began to clear the debris away from the burned tent. He worked methodically, placing any items that he thought Tania might want to keep in one pile, and the completely destroyed items in another pile. He even moved the remains of the mountain lion away from camp and buried it in the ash-filled soil. All the time he moved, his fresh burns stung. The blisters cracked and bled. Eventually, he became accustomed to cradling the hand with the worst of the burns, while moving debris with his good hand. But when it came to rebuilding Tania’s tent, he needed both hands.

  “Let me look at them.” Nico shuffled up to Luca and gestured for Luca to place his hands out in front of him.

  “Your father will not like this,” Luca said, sweating from both the pain of his burns and the hot Xanti sun. “He wants me to suffer.” But the pain was so bad that Luca held out his hands anyway. No amount of punishment could hurt as badly as his blistered hands.

  “Father sent me,” Nico said. “He isn’t a monster, Ludo.”

  Luca thought of that terrible moment in Nico’s tent and shook his head. “Are you sure about that?”

  Luca flinched as Nico wrapped his healing hands over his burns. As the boy’s healing powers flowed into his broken skin, he let out a sigh of relief as the pain dissipated. When it was done, Luca realised that Nico had turned pale.

  “When the war comes I need to be stronger,” Nico said sadly. “There are thousands of them and a hundred of us. I need to be able to heal us all before we die. Father has seen it.”

  Luca turned sharply to the young boy. “He has seen it?”

  Nico dragged his sleeve over his sweaty forehead and exhaled. “I am not supposed to tell anyone.”

  “So Geraldo has seen the future.”

  “A mere glimpse. Why do you think we act as though we are safe here? It’s because Father knows what’s to come. He knows we’re safe in the valleys, but he also knows that war is brewing. No one will attack us here because we have spies in the Golden Bay. If anyone comes to kills us, the spies will warn us or stop them. But when we’re ready, we will face the war that Father has seen, and that is more frightening than any attack on us right now.”

  This was worse than he had imagined. If Geraldo had the sight, and had seen a future of war and death, that would be a huge blow to the Menti. Luca was shocked to realise that he cared deeply for this group of rebels, small and disorganised as they were. He looked around at Tania, Win, and Shia. There were young children laughing and throwing themselves into the ash while older men and women went about their daily tasks. He could not let any of these people die. But then, what could he do? He was awful at using his powers, and his sword and shield technique left something to be desired. He was an adequate fighter and a dangerous Menti who would as likely kill his friends as his foe. What could he offer them?

  “Did I ask you to build a tent or gossip with my son?” Geraldo’s gruff voice sparked Luca into action, but not before he flashed Nico an apologetic smile.

  It turned out that Luca’s tent building skills were as bad as his fire wielding. As he hammered wooden poles into the ground and stretched animal skin over the frame, the tent wobbled and almost collapsed. He eventually managed to stabilise it but the entire structure leaned to the left. Luca regarded it with some disdain before gathering as much rope as he could find to try and pull it further to the right. He had been working on the tent for hours under the hot sun, turning away food with the promise of eating after it was done.

  “I can stand leaning to the left, you know,” Tania said with a grin. “Why not give up, Ludo? You’re clearly not cut out for this work.”

  Luca bit his lip and turned away. He had wanted to fix his error before Tania saw his pathetic efforts. He had also wanted to deliver a heartfelt apology, but now she was here, the words refused to come, and he felt ridiculous for everything that had happened.

  “Did that mountain lion take your tongue in the attack?” Tanis asked, teasing.

  “I do not know what to say. I ruined your home, and then I built you a poor alternative.”

  Tania tilted her head and gazed into his eyes in a way that somehow did not make him feel uncomfortable. But then she was an expert at making people feel at ease. It was her natural affinity to water, so calm and soothing.

  “What were you doing, fire boy?”

  “I was practicing, actually,” Luca admitted. “I went up towards Zean where it was secluded. Only… I forgot to put the iron back on when the mountain lion attacked.”

  Tania laughed. “You know, no one else has been attacked by a mountain lion since we settled here. You have the worst luck, Ludo. I think that’s what I’ll call you from now on, Ludo the unlucky.”

  Luca laughed
, but deep down he longed to tell her who he was and where he was from. He hated to lie, especially to Tania and Nico, who had been nothing but welcoming to him since he arrived.

  “Do not worry, I will not be using fire like that ever again. I think I have learned my lesson now.”

  Tania shook her head. “You are wrong, Ludo the Unlucky. Practicing your fire was the best decision you’ve made since coming here. Be more careful next time. If you’d told me, I could have been there ready to put out your fire.” She pinched him on the chin and smiled broadly when she left.

  It was at least five heart-beats before Luca remembered how to move. He shook his head and touched the place on his chin where Tania had touched him. As he managed to use the rope to pull the leaning tent over to the right, he thought of her smile often. He had not thought of a girl’s smile since Reva. It was agreeable, but at times he lost his breath, and his stomach ached with more than hunger.

  When the tent was done, Luca stepped back and admired his handiwork. It was not perfect, or attractive, or even straight, but it was the best he could do, and he had worked hard all day. And truth be told, Luca enjoyed the hard work. It is not every day that a prince gets to use his hands to create something, and it is not every day that he builds a home for another person. Perhaps he enjoyed being Ludo more than he enjoyed being Prince Luca Sarinthi.

  “That is the ugliest tent I have ever seen,” Geraldo said in his usual growl. “Tired, lad?”

  “Yes,” Luca said, mopping his brow with the sleeve of his tunic. He had shed his jerkin partway through the build. Some of the other rebels walked around bare-chested, but Luca did not feel comfortable removing his tunic, so he suffered in the heat. Geraldo himself was naked to the waist. His olive skin glistened with sweat, and his chest was covered in fine, dark-gold hair.

  Geraldo tossed him a skin of water. “Your day is not over yet, Ludo. Come with me.”

  Luca gulped down the water as he followed Geraldo across the camp. Despite the excitement of the fire, the camp seemed relaxed. Shia’s violet eyes followed him as he moved, changing from Geraldo’s form to Tania’s and then to Luca’s. Geraldo shouted at the boy to stop messing, and he turned back into himself, grinning. Tania had created a ball out of water and was kicking it from her foot to her knee and then letting it roll up and down her arms, leaving glistening water droplets over her skin. She sent a small, playful stream of water in Luca’s direction and giggled behind her cupped hand. Two wolves bounced through the camp. Luca knew one was Win; the other could be Sarya or Hal. Two other rebels practiced sword and shield while Nico built a fire ready to roast a goat for the meal tonight. There were men and women working in the field of crops, children bathing in pails of water, people repairing their homes or performing errands around the camp. Geraldo took him away from all of that. He took him to the trenches dug outside the camp, the place where the rebels came to do the business that all people must do. Luca wrinkled up his nose at the smell.

  “Ripe, is it not?” Geraldo asked. He did not so much as turn his head away. Instead, he reached across to a shovel placed in the ground and tossed it to Luca. “Fill them in. Then dig a new trench five yards out. The place is stinking up the camp. The women will be round soon to burn herbs to cover the smell.”

  Before Luca could open his mouth, Geraldo was gone, his broad back swaying with his powerful gait. Luca shook his head. He should not have thought that his punishment would be as meagre as rebuilding Tania’s home. Of course not. Geraldo was not a man to treat such stupidity lightly. Even though Luca’s muscles ached and he was out of water, he picked up the shovel and began filling in the putrid trenches, trying his best to breathe through his mouth. The job was time-consuming, and by the time Nico started serving up the goat, Luca was filthy from mud and had blisters on his fingers. He stopped to watch the rest of the camp eating their food around the fire. But shortly after, he sighed and continued on with his task. Even as the sun was setting he dug and dug the trenches.

  It was Axil who brought him food and water. Luca had a short section of trench left to dig, and the excrement had now been safely covered. He was dirty, especially his hands, and he had a sick feeling in his stomach that not all of the dirt covering his skin was mud, but even so, he ate everything Axil brought for him, stopping only at sucking the meat juices from his fingers. Instead, he wiped his hands on his breeches.

  “You have worked hard today,” Axil noted. “I am not sorry for it. This kind of work is good for you. It clears the mind and it strengthens the body. It was harsh, but it is fair, and you will be better for it.”

  Luca nodded in agreement. He had barely thought of Matias all day and he did feel better, at peace for once.

  “You did not do anything wrong, Luca,” Axil said. He spoke quietly so that the camp would not hear him call Luca by his real name, but the camp were too far away and too concerned with drinking wine to hear anyway. “It was admirable to want to learn your powers. You are taking steps towards becoming a better man and a better Menti.”

  Axil patted Luca on the shoulder and returned to the camp, leaving Luca wondering if a Menti was still a man, or if a Menti was different. Perhaps it did not matter so much. He was a Menti but he still had the same parts of a man. He had a heart and a stomach and blood inside him. He knew little of his powers or where they came from—some said that man mated with magic in ancient times—but his powers did not seem so evil now. They were not what the Enlightened called evil or cruel; they were not good either. They were tools, and it depended on the man to wield them to either good or evil. The thought comforted him as he completed the last of his trench.

  But instead of walking back to the camp, he turned towards the great volcano and thought of the previous night where he had used the fire from inside his body. He was exhausted tonight, but maybe that would be a good thing. Maybe it would help him learn to control the extensive powers within. He glanced back at the camp below, and for a forlorn moment wondered if any of them would notice if he disappeared. They seemed content with each other. He was on the outside looking in. Of course Axil would search for him. Tania and Nico would, too; Geraldo would probably be pleased. Luca did not seriously contemplate it, but he wondered again what it would be like to slip away into the dark. Instead, he decided to climb the tallest of the foothills to sit and watch the others as they danced and drank the night away.

  It was a stunning night, with stars shining brightly above. The outline of Zean was a large dark triangle shape cutting through the glow of the moon. Luca could see for miles when he reached the top, and he saw all the glittering fires below. Too many fires.

  Luca’s blood ran cold. There were more than camp cookfires spread across the foothills, there were torches moving towards them from the Shadow Valley. He turned left and right, to see more torches heading in all directions. An army, he thought, moving too fast to be an infantry. The king has sent a cavalry unit to kill me.

  He did not think then. He ran. The pleasant breeze slapped him hard in the face as he stumbled down the hill. His lungs ached, he ran so hard. And this time, he did not set a home on fire. Instead, he shouted as loud as he could.

  “Attackers! They mean to attack! A cavalry! An army. They are here. They are here!”

  Reva

  It would not be easy, but she was prepared to work hard. There was a good chance she could fail, but the chance was one she was willing to take. She would need to convince the other women in the prison, but she was confident she could. Apart from one, anyway.

  But first, she needed a confidante. She needed someone on her side, and that person was the only girl she could trust. Karine. The girl sat and listened to her with wide eyes. Then Karine was quiet, contemplating all that Reva had said. They had waited until the others were asleep, and then Reva had whispered all of her ideas into Karine’s ear, so close that her lips brushed the girl’s ear lobe. Reva found herself holding her breath while she waited for Karine to respond. And then it came, the nod, barely visib
le in the dark light of the hall.

  “I’ll help you. I’ll help us.”

  The next day, as they cleaned out the pigsty together, Reva and Karine watched the rest of the prisoners go about their chores for the day. Occasionally, Reva would nod discreetly towards a girl and Karine would offer her opinions: “too grouchy,” “too suspicious,” “too timid.”

  In order for Reva’s plan to work, they needed a girl from the kitchens to help them. Two days before, as Valeria had left her sobbing in the prison hall, Reva had walked up to the great door of their prison and examined every part of it. For once, she was alone in the hall, and she had the opportunity to go unnoticed. With her red, swollen eyes, she saw what it was she was looking for, and then she sat down on the straw and thought about what she needed to do.

  Karine was a start—a good start—but Reva had always known that Karine would help her. She had always been a good judge of character, and Karine struck her as a girl with a good heart. Besides, anyone who prattled out whatever silly thought came into their head was not exactly a closed book. It was the others she was worried about, so she decided to start small. First, they needed a trustworthy girl from the kitchens; then she would test the water with the others. There was a lot that could go wrong and they needed to move quickly, but Reva was determined to tread carefully. Thoroughly.

  “It is no good. We cannot trust any of them.” Reva took her frustration out on the muck, sweeping it away vigorously.

  “I know what to do,” Karine said. Reva leaned towards Karine, while sweeping at the same time. The girls did not look at each other for even a second. They had become adept at whispering secrets while working. “We go to Lottie. She works in the towers and knows the women in the kitchens. She might even be able to go in there herself.”

  Reva nodded. “Very well. Tonight we speak to Lottie.”

  Reva felt a thrill work its way down her back. Parts of her plan were coming together, she could feel it. But still, her arms shook with nerves as she pushed the cart out of the courtyard towards the crop fields that extended out past the prison gates. She eyed the guards standing by the portcullis of the gate. There were two lookout spots on top of the prison wall. On each spot stood a guard watching everything that went on in the courtyard and beyond. Reva’s eyes dropped to her feet.