Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (17 page)

She felt vulnerable and even a little scared. She worried about what Rex must think of her for being in his bed, but also from the secret she was harboring. She suddenly looked up and said, “I remember hearing a voice.”

“When?” he asked.

“Back in my room…just before I fell asleep.”

“What did it say?” he asked as he stood up.

“I don’t know,” she replied, shaking her head. “I couldn’t make out any of the words. It was like a…whisper.”

“Where was it coming from?” Rex asked, concerned, as he quickly eyed all corners of the room.

“That’s the thing,” she said, now clearly uneasy. “It sounded like it was coming from inside my head.”

They both looked at each other in silence as they felt a hauntingly cold chill.

The next morning things were noticeably awkward with DiNiya, not that Rex really blamed her. After all, how was she supposed to feel after climbing into his bed the night before without remembering? Also there was the matter of what he saw. Had that just been part of his dream, if that was even the right word for it anymore? Things had felt very strange between them when she left his room afterwards. She had not even been able to look him in the eye; rather, after their initial discussion, she had just stood up and walked out.

Those eyes
, he thought as he ate breakfast in silence. They were so cold yet they burned in his mind. DiNiya was on the opposite end of the table, just as seemingly lost in thought. Occasionally he would catch her glancing up only to quickly look back down at her plate whenever he tried to meet her gaze.
This is stupid
.
If she stops talking to me, who the hell is going to make anything in this place make sense
?
Her father and brother are always busy, and the only other two people I really know are TarFor and that asshole TyRoas!
Glancing up briefly, he plotted his next move.
I have to try to break the tension, lighten things up a bit
. “Hey, DiNiya,” he suddenly spoke up, grinning sheepishly, startling her slightly. “So, do you normally crawl in bed with all the new guys or was that just special for me?” She stared at him for a moment without saying a word before furrowing her brow and looking back down at her plate.
Damn! Now she’s really angry! ‘Do you crawl in bed with all the new guys’—real smooth, dumbass!
He bravely ventured another glance only to see her eyes look up in turn and meet his with a fiery stare.
Yup, she hates me for sure now
.
I have to do something before she gets angrier. I need to change the subject to something else. What about that person her dad mentioned yesterday? No, no she got really angry over that, too, but then again maybe if I get her angry about someone else she’ll stop being angry with me
. “Hey, so…who is this person your dad was—” He was cut short by a look of pure malice and what he swore was a low growl.
Shit!
he screamed inside his head.
Bad idea! Abort!

            Just stop talking,
came a soft voice on a warm breeze through the window
.

“What?” he blurted out, causing her to look at him strangely. “Did you say…I mean…you know what…never mind,” he stammered before shutting up and staring at his plate.
Great, I’m going crazy now, too
.

As he wallowed in self-pity, a tiny piece of fish sailed through the air with a deliberate trajectory and hit him square on the forehead. Looking up quickly, he saw to his surprise DiNiya covering her mouth, giggling. “What’s so funny?” he asked, unconsciously curling his lips back into a snarl.

“You,” she said, trying very hard to hold back her laughter.

“Me?” he asked, confused. “What did I do?”

DiNiya burst out laughing. “It’s your face!” Rex frowned. “No, I mean, the look on it,” she explained while trying desperately to regain her composure. “You look so serious, like you’re trying so hard.” She burst out laughing again.

Rex, try as he might, felt her levity sinking into him, and soon he was laughing at the absurdity of the whole thing with her. They continued to laugh and joke before forgetting all about what had made them so uncomfortable around each other to begin with. Twenty minutes later, they cleared the table, washed the dishes, and headed out to the fields for a long, hard morning’s work that Rex was actually looking forward to.

DiNiya had been doing her best to put on a strong face for Rex, but the reality was that she had barely slept the night before. She had been so afraid to even close her eyes, and the memory of the voice haunted her. For as long as she could remember, she had felt a presence deep within her, something moving through the back of her mind and watching her from behind her eyes. She had always kept it to herself, fearing to tell even her father, but she had never had such a visceral experience with it like she did last night. For the first time, she heard this mysterious presence rather than just felt it.
What’s happening to me?
she wondered.
Why is it so much stronger now? Is it because…of him?

She continued to wrestle with her anxiety over the matter as the morning turned into afternoon. The two of them worked diligently in the fields, and soon DiNiya found herself playfully competing with Rex to see who could work the fastest.

Rex thought for sure that victory would be his because of his superior size and strength, but he found himself constantly being outpaced by DiNiya. “Pretty impressive for a girl,” he said, panting as sweat ran down his face.

“A girl?” she replied, putting her hands on her hips and giving him a disapproving look. To both her surprise and relief, working alongside Rex had made her forget about her fear of what happened the night before and replaced it with a curious sense of determination. She had met rivals before, but they had always been a source of torment or frustration. This unusual young man, however, was evoking an unprecedented sense of competitive play in her, which she had never before experienced. She was actually having fun, a lot of it, in fact.
I wonder if this is what it feels like to be a normal person
, she wondered.
Still, does he really think he can beat me? Just look at that smug little smile of his
.

Rex, satisfied that he had gotten to her so easily, continued to push her in good fun. “Yeah, a girl. I mean, you can’t expect to be able to get the same kinds of results as a guy.”

“And why is that, pray tell?” she asked with a sly smile, realizing she was being teased.

“Because boys are tougher than girls,” Rex said, flexing his impressive bicep.

“Well, if that’s the case, why are you breathing more heavily than me, big man?”

“Hey, it takes a lot of energy to power all this muscle,” he boasted, giving his bicep a kiss then winking at her.

DiNiya walked over and squeezed his arm, causing him to growl in pain and drop to one knee. Feeling satisfied with herself, she released Rex, to his great relief.

“What the hell was that?” he asked, surprised, rubbing his arm where she had grabbed it.

“If you can’t get through someone’s might, then go around it,” explained DiNiya. “Even the strongest warriors have weaknesses.”

“Who taught you that?” he asked, standing back up.

“VayRonx. He has been a wonderful teacher to all of us. My father trained directly beneath him, as are my brother and I now.”

“I’ll have to ask him for some pointers then,” Rex said, rotating his arm.

DiNiya smiled. She found her initial curiosity of him turning into more of a fascination. She even wondered if they were…friends. While she had always gotten along with everyone, with the exception of a particular individual, she had never been able to open fully to others; rather, she always felt that in the end she was watching everyone else from the outside. Rex, however, was something different altogether. She watched him standing stoically in the morning sun, making his silver fur

[] almost shine, while his red eyes drank in the sun’s light, emitting a gentle glow. What she found herself most drawn to was how he carried himself. He was confident in a way she desperately wished she could be, but he was also reserved like her, as if he did not trust anyone enough to let them completely in. Whatever it was, she was happy to just stand next to him.

“Are you still with me?” Rex suddenly asked, snapping her out of her trance.

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” she said, blinking quickly. “I was just…thinking.”

“About what?” he asked, leaning in a little closer.

“No, Rex, it is bad manners for a man to pry into a woman’s inner thoughts if she does not invite you in,” she replied stoically, turning her back to him.

“Yeah, but you’re just a girl, so the rule doesn’t count,” he said, flaunting his youthful ignorance.

DiNiya turned around quickly, eyebrows raised. “Well, this ‘girl’ had you begging for mercy only moments ago.”

“I did not beg!”

DiNiya laughed, pleased she had managed to get to him in return. “Besides, it’s only proper for you to respect a woman’s secrecy. You don’t see me trying to get into your head.”

A montage of perverse images flashed through his mind. “You don’t want go in there, trust me,” he said awkwardly, looking away.

“This is true,” she said somberly, immediately sensing what she would find in a fifteen-year-old male’s mind, and looking away as well.

“Hey, are you two done already?” came a voice from behind them.

They both turned and saw EeNox walking through the field with a large sack slung over his shoulder. DiNiya waved to him, while Rex groaned.

“Now be nice,” she said warningly.

“Hey, I’m not the one who picks a fight every time,” Rex said, crossing his arms.

DiNiya sighed. “Just don’t hit him, please.”

“No promises.”

“Hello, EeNox,” DiNiya said happily when her brother reached them. “Wow, is that this morning’s haul?”

“Yeah, and you will not believe what we caught,” EeNox said as he opened what was now clearly visible as some sort of sack made of plant fiber.

Rex and DiNiya peered in and saw it was filled with a half a meter long dark brown fish with silver stripes and armored scales.

“What kind of fish is that?” Rex asked curiously as he leaned in a little closer.

“KlonTok,” EeNox replied. “They’re most people’s favorite around here because they’re hard to find, so I guess it was good fortune that we found so many in the streams.”

“You guess?”

“KlonTok is a coastal fish,” he explained. “They inhabit the areas where salt and fresh water meet, only venturing upstream once a year to spawn.”

“I’m guessing this isn’t that time of year?”

“No, it’s far too early for that. Something must have driven them from the shoreline, but I have no idea what. I mean, I’ve never seen them behave like this before.”

“We’ll have to tell father and VayRonx when they get back from the market,” said DiNiya as she played with one of her auburn locks.

“I was actually going to do that now,” EeNox said, retying the sack and slinging it back over his shoulder. “Father is busy all day with traders from Bloodstone, so he asked me to pick up spices for dinner.”

“Well, tell him we said hello and that we’ll see him tonight at the tavern.”

EeNox glanced over at Rex, whose eyes in turn emitted a faint red glow as they stared back unwavering. “Sure thing,” he said, giving his sister a quick smile and Rex a nod before quickly proceeding up the bluff.

“Wow, that must have been hard for him,” Rex commented as he watched EeNox ascend the hill.

“Oh, stop it,” DiNiya replied, punching him lightly in the shoulder.

“What? I’m just saying I’m impressed is all. I thought at any moment he was going to take that sack of fish and try to beat me over the head with it.”

DiNiya laughed. “Oh, come now, I thought he made a sincere attempt to be kind to you.”

“Kind might be pushing it a bit.”

“Then what would you call it?” she asked, crossing her arms and smiling at him as if expecting an answer that was deeply profound.

“I don’t know…passive aggressive.”

DiNiya just rolled her eyes as she loaded the last of the morning’s harvest into the cart. “You know, despite what you may think, I know my brother, and believe me when I say he feels bad about the little misunderstanding between the two of you.”

“What misunderstanding? He doesn’t like me, and I’m considering no longer exercising self-restraint.”

“Well, if you take on that attitude, how do you expect to make any friends?”

“Wasn’t aware I was trying to.”

DiNiya stopped suddenly and looked at him. Immediately sensing his mistake, Rex sighed deeply and rubbed the back of his head. “I’m sorry,” he said, feeling foolish. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No, I’m sorry,” she replied, forcing a smile. “I shouldn’t have assumed…”

“Assumed what?”

“Well…that we were…I mean…friends.” She turned away, afraid of what she believed would be a look of disapproval.

Rex looked at her thoughtfully, giving her words serious thought. Then, as if having been calibrated in his head and given meaning specific to him, he shrugged and said, “I suppose we are.”

So simple was his response that it took DiNiya by surprise as to how happy it made her feel. Smiling, she tossed her fur over her shoulder and gave a gentle push with her fist against his arm. “You see? You managed not to scare me away. I knew you weren’t so unlovable.”

“Famous last words.”

They finished working in the fields and took their cart back up to the barns to unload, then helped with the others. Rex felt muscles he never knew he had aching from all the strenuous labor. Still, he derived a certain sense of satisfaction from it. He enjoyed the feeling of spending his days accomplishing something. From what he recalled, his old routine was to get up, go to school, learn nothing, get into a fight, go back home, go to sleep, then do it all over again the next day. Here, though, he actually felt part of a community, even if it was one he never thought could exist.

After unloading the last of the carts, he and DiNiya spent the rest of the afternoon working in the shop, cleaning up the backroom and tending to traders, which DiNiya always kindly introduced to Rex. Their eyes would always immediately focus on his before they smiled and pressed their forearms against his in the usual greeting.

“Why do they keep staring at my eyes?” he finally asked. “I mean, yours are red, too, and all the people here have known you for years.”

DiNiya looked slightly unnerved by his question, something that he had come to notice was uncharacteristic of her. She was wondering when this question might come up and still was not sure how to answer it.

“It’s because they have never seen anyone else with red eyes,” she said somberly, realizing it was a weak answer. “No one other than me, that is.”

“So it’s rare?”

DiNiya stared at him for a moment. “It’s unheard of.”