Kindling Ashes: Firesouls Book I (13 page)

Gerard shrugged with another sigh. “We could never stay secret forever. This was bound to happen. We’ll have to get back to the mountains as fast as we can.”

“We can’t leave her!” Sarra cried out, raising her head. Her eyes were wide and wild and there was desperation in her face. “We need Baltair! And she’s just a child!”

“I know Sarra, but–”

“I shouldn’t have let her get caught! I should have made her run, I should have warned her this might happen and–”

“Sarra.” Gerard stepped in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders and somewhat blocking the others out of the conversation. “It’s not your fault. It was bad luck.”

“We can’t leave her!”

“We’re not going to leave any of them. Giselle or Tess or Garth or Walter.”

“Not Walter,” Corran murmured. Gerard turned to frown at him and he gestured with a sigh to their right, where the man still lay.

“No!” Maria ran over to him, but stopped when the flies buzzed up around her and she saw the pooling of blood. She sank to the ground, thin shoulders shaking.

Henry hurried over and knelt down next to her, placing his arm around her. He and Maria had always talked a lot – he’d mentioned before that she reminded him of his mother. He comforted her in whispers and Corran turned back to Gerard, Sarra and Eian.

“Where did they go? Do we have any idea?” Corran asked.

“They seemed to go west,” Gerard said.

“Then we should go that way too – spread out, scout, find where they are.”

All three in their little circle looked surprised at his words. He was surprised, too – he’d never had the opportunity to take charge before, not with Huw and Floyd kicking their way straight through any plans of his.

But this time Sarra nodded, a degree of hope shining through. “That makes sense.”

“We should go in pairs, though,” Gerard said. It disappointed Corran a little – he’d been hoping to get some time to himself. “And someone should stay here, with the horse and cart.”

“Let Henry and Maria stay.”

Just like that, the plans were made. Corran was astonished at how easy it was. He was used to constant arguing before agreeing on what to do in a group.

“Eian, you go with Sarra. I’ll go with Corran. They can’t have got far.”

Corran’s heart sank even lower at the thought of a whole day with just Gerard. He could only hope that with Giselle and the others missing, he wouldn’t try and get Corran talking to Frang.

The dragon was still silent, but stirred at the mention of his name. He reached out, as if peering to see what was
happening,
then retreated back inside himself.
One less thing to worry.

*

Scouting with Gerard wasn’t quite as bad as he’d been expecting. They didn’t stay side by side; Gerard delved out to their left to cover more area, always staying within shouting distance. The trees were denser now so he was mostly out of sight and only checked in occasionally.

But so far there was nothing to call out about. They had not found the raiders anywhere. They had been walking for hours, combing through the forest and finding occasional signs to lead them in the right direction – recent footprints in the ground, a dropped cloth stained with blood – but so far it felt like they were no closer to the captured Firesouls than they had been this morning. Every few hours they met with Sarra and Eian but they had no news either. A light rain had started, making it harder to see
their
way and even more miserable to walk in. It reminded him of the Moss Woods, but the trees here were thinner and a darker green that hadn’t been affected by winter at all.

“Corran!” someone hissed.

He spun, lifting his sword and hunting for the source of the voice. He thought it had been somewhere behind him, but the wind and drizzle muffled the sound enough that he wasn’t sure.

A tall figure stepped out from behind a tree and Corran dropped his sword, mouth falling open in shock.

“Glyn?”

Glyn, lean and powerful as ever, stared back with suspicion in his eyes and one hand on his sword hilt. He was dressed in one of the green high–necked jackets sporting the Dunslade crest that Corran had worn so often to hide the scar on his neck. Now he knew what that scar meant he wanted to hide it even more, but the collar on this shirt was loose and had stopped covering it weeks ago. He resisted clapping a hand up over his neck.

“Why are you here?” Corran whispered, hurrying over. He glanced in the direction that Gerard had left in about ten minutes ago but couldn’t see him anywhere.

“Why are you?” Glyn retorted, crossing his arms and frowning down at him. “Why are you with these people?”

/Sorry, my fault
./

Corran flinched, heat rising in his cheeks.

Go away! What if he notices?

/He won’t. But why don’t you reply
?/

What would Glyn say if he knew that his brother was currently in conversation with a dragon?

“I’m getting information, like I said I would. I told you I was going to look for Firesouls. Well I convinced these people I was on their side. They were stupid enough to think a Dunslade would ever be in line with dragons, so I’m finding out all I can.”

“They know you’re a Dunslade – but they haven’t killed you.”

Corran waved a hand dismissively. He had to make this as plausible as he could if Glyn was going to believe it. “I spouted some nonsense about how I’m not the same as my father, how it wasn’t fair to judge me on what he’d done. They lapped it all up. Turns out they are as moronic as they they look,” he added with a grin. “But how are you here? How did you find me?”

His heart beat heavier than normal against his chest. Was he happy to see Glyn or terrified his brother would find out his secret?

“Father sent us.”

So Huw and Floyd were nearby too. That made all of this far more dangerous. What if they found out he had a dragon in him? What if they got to Giselle first, what if they got the credit for killing Baltair? No, that wouldn’t happen. They didn’t even know who she was; he still had the advantage.

“So did you organise that attack? Those raiders, are they your allies?”

Glyn shook his head in disgust. “They’re in the way. Idiots, looking for money.”

“But they didn’t take any money, they just took some of the Firesouls.”

“There’s a bounty on the head of any Firesoul brought to King Rhian alive. The rumours are out of control, he wants to know exactly who they are and what they want. But finding out where they’re heading would be far more useful than capturing a couple just for the gold.”

“They’re going to the mountains.” Frang groaned in his head. “But you should wait! Don’t try and catch any of them yet. If the others know you’re near they might get suspicious of me again. I can find out more if I have time, more than the King would ever be able to.”

Glyn frowned again and Corran realised he hadn’t smiled once in this conversation. He pushed damp hair away from his eyes. Could he tell Glyn after all? They’d always been close. Huw had been bossy and Floyd had pushed them both around. Glyn taught him how to ride a pony. Glyn introduced him to Tilda. If anyone understood it would be him.

“I’ll have to persuade Huw. He wants to charge in and wipe out all of them. Can’t say I blame him. They’re dangerous, Corran. You don’t want to be caught up with them.”

“I know.” It was hard to think of people like Henry as dangerous, but he was trying to return dragons to Auland. He couldn’t forget that.

“You have to come to us as soon as you know enough. Find out how we can round them all up. Find out how to wipe them out for real this time.”

“I know what I’m doing, Glyn,” Corran replied, swallowing the lump that had risen in his throat at the last sentence. “I–”

“Corran! Where are you?”

Corran shoved Glyn as hard as he could away from him. “Go!” he hissed. “Before they see you!”

“Don’t take too long, I can’t hold Huw off forever,” Glyn warned in a steely tone before disappearing into the thick trees. Gerard appeared a second later.

“What are you doing? Sarra’s found them, hurry up,” Gerard told him, pulling at his arm. It was the most forceful he’d ever been – well, apart from dragging him out of Dunslade Town that first night. Corran jogged after him in the direction of his prey, invigorated and terrified from seeing Glyn. He could never let himself forget why he was there. He was a Dunslade. Not a Firesoul.

CHAPTER
13

B
altair’s rage at being caught made it hard to plan. The pounding headache didn’t help either, nor the bruises she could feel
rising
to add to those she’d got in Orvale. He tried to contain himself but the frustration within him kept rising up until Giselle found that she was furious as well – at being tied up, at being surrounded by people who meant her harm, at letting herself get knocked out. The man she had stabbed was examining his bandaged leg on the other side of the fire. Every so often he’d look up and give her such an angry scowl she wanted to shrivel up and disappear into the ground.

Around her were the others who’d been caught – Garth and Tess. Garth looked even paler than normal and except for his occasional coughs all of them were quiet. They daren’t risk talking in case they gave something away to these raiders. She had no idea what had happened to Sarra but she could only pray on the stars that she had managed to get away.

Anger hissed from Baltair and she turned her attention on him.

/I’m sorry! I can’t stand this
!/

I’m sorry,
she thought back at him, glad more than ever that she could communicate with him silently. She’d tried to get away, she really had. She’d stabbed a man. But it hadn’t been
enough. She hadn’t been strong enough. Almost two weeks of being fed every day had brought up her strength, but it was nothing like any of these men. She was no match for them. She was starting to realise she would never be a match for anyone in a fight apart from other street kids.

/I’m not angry
at
you. I know you tried. You did what you could – you did wonderfully
./

We’re still trapped.

/And I can’t stand being helpless, waiting for them to hurt you. If I was in my own body I could terrify these men away in seconds. I remember doing that
./

She didn’t remember it. He showed her the new memory of helping some humans escape by simply rearing up with a roar and sending a burst of flame at a tree.

/I remember they started calling me the Humanslayer after the Battle of Orvale Mine. I always tried not to kill them if I didn’t have to. It’s just... that day was different
./

She nodded in understanding and stopped the moment one of the raiders started frowning at her. She had lived that night. She had watched his flock die and felt his helplessness and she understood, even if the acrid smell of burning flesh turned her stomach. She could feel that same helplessness now. She was captured and he could do nothing.

Well help me find a way out of here. We’ve got out of worse situations than this before. Remember when we ended up in the middle of the Ryk Gang’s territory and they caught us? The Ryk Gang is way scarier than these guys.

She tried to convince herself as she said the words. So far these raiders hadn’t done much to harm them. They’d given them food and water at the same time as they’d eaten it, and even bandaged a long cut on Tess’ arm. The Ryk Gang would
pull out your teeth and cut off your fingers without a second thought – but the not knowing was the terrifying part here. It seemed obvious they had been captured because they were Firesouls; she had even heard some of the men referring to them as such. But she had no idea why, or where they would be going after this. They had said they were only stopping to tend to injuries for today before continuing back – but back where?

She searched around her for something they might be able to use to get free. The knife had of course been taken away from her. The raiders still wore their swords so there was no way to get to those. The rope tying her wrists behind her back was tight and when she tried to pull her hands apart it just rubbed against the rope burn she already had.