Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (91 page)

“You flatter me. However, I would much prefer if you simply just answered our questions.”

“Fair enough,” he replied, bowing his head. “But I don’t know how much help I will truly be to you. I already told you everything I know.”

“They didn’t say anything else?” asked VoRenna, stepping forward.

“There was something.” He paused for a beat, gathering his thoughts before proceeding. “They said your tribe was attacked by DraGons and that they were on their way to the tower to save one of their own. Is this true? Are there really DraGons alive in this day and age?”

“I’m afraid so,” VayRonx replied solemnly.

“But how? I mean, that is to say…where have they been hiding all this time?”

“Closer than we would like to think,” VayRonx replied as he thought of the man DayKar had once been.
KyGahl, were you truly only an illusion?

“So what then? They manage to stir up the alpha of a KarVora herd and one Ridgeback, then simply walk away?” VyKia said in disbelief.

“You sound disappointed,” her brother said, giving her a sideways look.

“I was thinking the same thing,” the bull said. “Would you rather we had just done them in?”

“Had you, we would not be having this conversation right now,” VayRonx said as flame rose from his eyes.

“As I surmised, and yes, that’s pretty much exactly what happened. To be honest, we were both so taken aback by what we saw that we decided we really didn’t know what we’d be up against if we tried anything. Then again…” He recalled, seeing the way the Ridgeback had looked at the children, almost as if she suddenly recognized them, or at least their significance. Still, his kind and hers were not exactly on a basis where they would freely exchange information on such a personable level. Thus, he had left things as they were, with the two deciding to call it a stalemate for the day.

“Yes?” VayRonx pressed.

“Well…the Ridgeback, she seemed happy, no,
relieved
to see them. It was like she somehow understood what she saw. Left me in the dark, she did, though, so don’t bother asking me anything more on the subject.”

“Any chance we could speak with her?”

“You can try, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up. She’s not exactly what you would call forthcoming.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, my friend,” TarFor mused, pointing to the two DyVorians and OroGon in their party. “These three here can be most persuasive, as you’ve already discovered for yourself.”

“Yes,” the bull replied, eyeing VayRonx warily. “Still, strong as you three may be, she is not to be taken lightly by any means. She has almost killed me at least six times, and while I always managed to make the effort not worth her while, I would still rather avoid her altogether if given the choice.”

“Is she really that dangerous?” BaRone asked.

“Deadliest thing on two legs from here to the coast, except for maybe TorMarr the Barbarian, and well, now I guess you,” he added, looking directly at VayRonx.

“What is her name, and where can we find her?” VayRonx asked calmly, trying to ease the nervous tension he sensed from the bull. “Also, we never asked what your name was.”

“Oh,” the bull replied sheepishly before standing tall and declaring himself. “I am Alpha MorToff.”

“It is an honor, Alpha MorToff,” VayRonx replied, bowing his head.

“The honor is mine, Alpha VayRonx,” he replied, bowing his in turn. “As for the Ridgeback, her name is VyMora, and you can probably find her roaming the edge of the foothills at this time of day, but no guarantees.”

“Thank you,” VayRonx said, turning and motioning for the others to follow. “Spread the word to as many as you can. DraGons have returned and once again threaten EeNara.” With that, he turned and proceeded west with the others, leaving MorToff to watch them disappear over the rolling hills.

“DraGons,” he muttered. “What’s this world coming to?”

“Hey, VayRonx?” NyRo called up. “How should we proceed from here, given how close we are to MoraDay?”

“With courtesy, of course,” VayRonx replied.

NyRo rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. That brute has been trying to coax another fight out of you ever since you defeated him in the alpha trials all those years ago. Do you really think he’ll just let you pass through his territory without at least trying to confront you should he learn of your presence here?”

“I was actually counting on him remaining ignorant to the fact.”

“Scared?”

VayRonx flashed him a fiery glare before returning his attention to the path ahead. “No, but knowing him, he’ll rush out to confront me with the hope of instigating some ridiculous fracas.”

“But he could help with the fight against the DraGons,” TarFor said. “He is an alpha, after all, which means he commands enough numbers that when added to our tribe could tip the balance of power.”

“Very true, and I intend for him to find out once word has spread across the continent. However, right now we can’t risk being delayed in any way, especially not because of some overzealous instigator who can’t leave the past well enough alone.”

“Very well,” he said, falling back. Worried that they may be in over their heads, he began to wonder who they could quickly turn to for help should things grow dire. Like all who were on this journey with him, he had known the alpha his entire life. Already a father of three by the time he was learning to walk, VayRonx had always exuded a fatherly role to him and the rest of those who accompanied him now.

NyRo was not the only amongst the group reminiscing of days gone by. VyKia, like so many others, had come to see the alpha as a father figure, having been an ever-present force of strength and courage in their lives for literally as far back as they could remember. She, her brother, and BaRone, while having grown up with loving parents in equally loving homes, had been taken under his wing and guided in their training to adulthood—something she felt he greatly succeeded at. Now she worried that they had all been presented with a threat that nothing he had taught them could have prepared them for. Even he seemed to be slightly off-kilter since the attack.
Of course he would never admit that to anyone, perhaps not even to himself
. She watched him march onward, every step one of poise and determination.
Just remember you still have us, old flame
.

The day stretched on before they saw foothills rise in the distance with rocky outcroppings sprouting out of the ground.

“So…how exactly are we supposed to find this Ridgeback?” TarFor asked, scanning their surroundings. “This piece of territory stretches for dozens of kilometers in every direction. She could literally be anywhere.”

“Including ‘nowhere around here’,” BaRone said, whipping his ponytail back behind him.

“My thoughts exactly,” VoRenna said. “I’m not picking up any scent of a large predator in the area. Just flowers…lots of flowers.”

“So you noticed too?” VayRonx asked.

“Noticed what?” NyRo asked, sniffing the air. “I don’t smell anything.”

“Ah, but you do. The flowers, remember?”

“Right you are, but what’s the significance of that?”

“Do you see any?”

Everyone looked around in every direction and realized that he was right. There were indeed no flowers in sight, something that would not raise any suspicions for anyone inexperienced, but a dead giveaway to predator and prey who had spent their fair share of time in the wilds. “A cover,” NyRo said at last.

“Indeed,” replied VayRonx. “Someone is trying to mask their scent and doing a very good job of it.”

“Only problem is they picked a scent that is not conducive to their surroundings, which makes it almost as conspicuous as walking out in the open.”

“So what do we do?” asked VyKia.

“Follow it, of course,” VayRonx replied, taking off to his right with VoRenna and NyRo running close behind. They soon came upon a patch of ground different from the rest. It was much softer under foot and seemed to have recently settled in place. With a nod in her direction, VayRonx stepped aside as VoRenna sent a ripple of flame into the patch, causing all the plants to reach into the ground and attack something unseen beneath. Seconds later, an enormous AcaroVora erupted from the ground, roaring furiously and biting at the plants covering it.

“Got you!” VoRenna boasted.

“And you’ll wish you hadn’t!” the Ridgeback said, baring her teeth and igniting her flame.

VoRenna expanded hers and prepared to fight, but VayRonx stepped between them, startling the Ridgeback. “Calm down. We mean you no harm.”

“What do you call what she just did?” the Ridgeback demanded, nipping at the last few plants still clinging to her.

“You were hiding,” VoRenna said nonchalantly, not feeling particularly guilty.

“And you should have left me as such!”

“We needed to speak with you, so—”

“So you turn the patch of plants I was sleeping under into an onslaught of sawing teeth?”

“Woke you up, didn’t it?”

“So would have saying ‘hello, is anyone under there’!”

“Enough, VoRenna,” VayRonx said, giving her a look suggesting he knew what she was doing. It was no secret that VyoNyvora were far from social with other large DyVorian predators that filled a similar biological niche. As it was, they were the only DyVorians on ClyVen, something that many now be considered the primary reason they had evolved such antisocial behavior with other DyVorians. However, unlike the rest of her species, VoRenna had been exposed to other predators from across the world since she was young, thus allowing her to grow accustomed to being around certain key individuals like himself. Still, when confronted with a stranger like the Ridgeback, it was clear that she was still a VyoNyvora at her core.

“We apologize for having disturbed you,” he said in a tone that he hoped would ease the tension between the two females. “We have traveled from the east. I am Alpha VayRonx of KaNar, and we are in search of several members of our tribe that we know have passed through here recently.”

“And this means what to me?” the Ridgeback said indignantly, still angry by how she had been roused from her slumber.

“You are VyMora, are you not?”

She held her gaze on him for a moment before shifting to the others, finally replying, “I am. What of it?”

“Please,” said BaRone in a tone that showed no hint of disparagement. “We know you saw them along with the KarVora named MorToff!”

“Ahh, the old bull,” she said in a snide tone. “I’ve been meaning to silence him in the way of breakfast, lunch, or dinner for some time now.”

“He said you and he witnessed five SaVarians transform into DyVorians early yesterday,” VayRonx said.

VyMora gave him a look of sudden surprise before returning to her normal wary glare.

“You saw them…didn’t you? I saw it in your eyes just now. You witnessed something you cannot explain, something that defies reason and logic. Believe me, I know how you feel.”

“You know nothing about how I felt when I saw those children, Alpha VayRonx,” she shot back, causing VayRonx to rear back and cock his head to the side. “Their flames were so…beautiful. Elegant in the way it coursed through them and savage in the way it flowed from them. Flame in its raw form before it gets diluted by being imprisoned in the flesh.” She paused for a moment as if catching her breath, the memory of the feeling she felt rushing through her as potent as it was on the day. “It was the very same sensation one feels on the threshold of death, when one’s flame is at its strongest and most unrestrained. Those children were the most beautiful things I have ever seen.”

“You speak as one who knows death well.”

“Only one who has come to know it as intimately as I have,” she said, turning her head to the right and exposing two deep puncture wounds in her neck, “can truly know what such power feels like.”

“Ouch,” NyRo said, cringing.

“You should have seen it on the day,” VyMora replied. “My point is when I was lying there, dying, I felt for the first and only time the true power of my flame. It was a feeling unlike any other, and one I have never felt since. That is, until I met your fellow tribesmen the other morning.”

Everyone looked at each other, unsure how to respond. Indeed, the six children carried within them flames that burned brighter than all others. Their existence in this time brought with them a legacy from an age of war and heroes. Still, none of them realized then just how touched by pain and love their lives would be the moment those six beautiful flames were reborn anew, flames that would find shelter within the wombs of five special women who would be the mothers of the future. It would be those very same women who would stand before hatred that would descend from the skies and come to claim what they loved more than anything. The six lives they were willing to lay down their own for, and that some already had. Their sacrifice had not been in vain, however. Now five of those wayward flames were together again, and heading straight for the very thing that almost killed them when they returned to this world to save the sixth. Still, perhaps they would not have to face this menace alone, for seemingly all who encountered them along the way were in some way drawn in or enamored by them. Such a power could one day be used to rally the masses together and unite them should EeNara face insurmountable odds, just as it had long ago. Such a possibility could be seen here and now in this single Ridgeback who had chosen a life of solitude, but found herself connected with those brave five on a quest to save one of their own.

“Do you know where they went?” BaRone asked at last.

VyMora turned to him and regarded him for a moment. “The boy with the green flame, he’s your son, isn’t he?”

BaRone gave a look of surprise. “Yes,” he replied, blinking feebly. “But how did you know?”

“I sense your flame in his,” she said, stepping closer to him as VoRenna gave her a cautionary glare. “Old as it may be, you are still his parent, just as the woman who carried him to term.”

“How did you know what he was…?”

VyMora turned away before he could finish. “I assume many of the others’ parents did not make it. Aside from the female SaVarian, I don’t see any of them here.”