Broken Forest: Book One of the Daath Chronicles (31 page)

“Get out now!” I yelled.

Jezy snarled at Raven and released her.

“We need to get out of here before the whole place burns,” I yelled while dragging Raven out.

When the rest of the women were down the stairs, Raven and I followed. The fire spread fast and by the time we made it to the second floor, the third floor ignited.

The frenzied mob of women in front of us continued to run.

“Move!” I yelled, pulling Raven along.

One woman fell to the floor. No one noticed her, and she cried out when another girl scrambled across her back. I left Raven, rushed to the fallen women and helped her to her feet. She thanked me and hurried down the next flight of stairs.

A loud crash sounded behind me. Raven screamed.

Oh, no.
I turned to see Raven lying on her stomach, leg pinned by a wooden beam.

I ran over. “Are you okay? Can you move?”

She grunted. “I think it’s broken.”

“Hold on. I’ll get you out.” I grabbed the beam, but it wouldn’t budge. It was heavier than I expected. “Come on!” I tried again.

“Go, Avikar. It’s too heavy. Leave me.”

I squatted by her face. “I’m not leaving you. Either we both go or we both stay.”

Her eyes glistened. She grabbed my shirt and kissed me. “Go,” she ordered

“Not without you.”

I held the solid wood in between both hands. Using my legs, I lifted, but it barely moved.
No, no, don’t do this to me again, don’t! I can’t lose her!

Heat from the fire singed the back of my neck. Smoke clouded the air, stinging my eyes and throat. I tried again. It was too heavy.
It’s my fault she’s here. It’s always my fault.
I didn’t know what to do. I’d never felt so desperate in my life. I needed a miracle.

I don’t know if you’re there, but please, if you need to take someone, take me, not her. Creator give me the strength to save her. I’ll do anything, anything you ask, I’ll do it.

I can’t let her die.

I breathed in deep, exhaled.

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this!

I focused all my strength, all my anger, all my frustration into one single action—moving that beam. I gripped the wood, moved my legs to a better position and with every muscle strained, lifted.

“Ahh!” I screamed as the beam inched higher.

When she could, Raven slid her leg out. I dropped the beam, panting. Raven looked at me, her eyes sparkling. I leaned down, scooped her into my arms, tossed her over my shoulder and ran.

I guzzled a mug of water and slammed it on the table.

Derrick poured himself a drink. “What happened in there?”

We were sitting at the table. Jericho had brought Raven into her room, where he was inspecting her leg.

“Raven got into a fight,” I said, “with one of the women. When I tried to break it up, we knocked over a table and set the whole place on fire.”

“Are you serious?”

I leaned back in the seat, wiping my sweaty head. “Thank The Creator we made it out alive.”

“Since when did you start believing in The Creator?”

I shrugged. I didn’t want to explain my groveling. He would go on to say how happy he was that I’d returned to the faith. I didn’t have the energy for that conversation.

Jericho walked in and we both stood.

“How is she?” I said.

“I gave her some tonic for the pain. She’ll need to be off her feet for a while, but she’ll live.” Jericho crossed his arms and his tone changed. “I can’t blame you completely. I shouldn’t have let her go in at all and I certainly shouldn’t have let you sneak in after her.”

“Jericho, I … ”

He raised his hand, cutting me off. “Both of you could have died. Even though I know you’re both skilled, you’re still children.”

I opened my mouth to protest.

“I swore I would help and I intend to keep that promise. You’re not the only who wants Lucino gone. I have men I can trust and it’s time we took a stand.”

“We should go see this temple and plan an attack,” Derrick said. “We know she’ll be there in two days.”

“Agreed,” Jericho replied. Then he looked at me. “You can see her if you want.”

Derrick followed me upstairs.

We bumped into Anna who was walking out of Raven’s room. “She’s getting sleepy, hurry and say hello.”

Raven lay in bed, propped against a few pillows. She smiled when we entered.

“Hi,” she said softly.

“How are you feeling?” Derrick asked.

“It hurts, but I’ve had worse.”

“Good.” Derrick glanced back at me.

I couldn’t seem to move from the doorway.

“Get well soon,” Derrick said and left the room, patting my shoulder as he past.

I stared at her, and she waved me closer. I knelt beside the bed and stared at the floor.

“What’s wrong? You’re a hero. Because of you, I’m alive.”

“Because of me you almost died,” I replied.

She reached for my hand and I gave it to her. She squeezed it. “It wasn’t your fault. What are the chances we’d cause a fire?”

“My chances are always high when it comes to disasters.”

“If it were anyone else in there tonight, I’d be dead. What you did was amazing and I will always be grateful you saved me.”

Her words crushed any barrier I tried to hold. Tears filled my eyes and I clasped both my hands around hers, holding them to my face. “I don’t know how I did it. I thought we were both dead.” My voice cracked and a tear slipped down my face. “I wouldn’t have been able to leave you.” I buried my face in her hand.

“I wouldn’t have allowed you to stay.”

I glanced at her. “Allowed? I don’t think you were in a position to do anything.”

Her lip quivered and she bit it. “About last night.”

“Shh, forget about it.”

She shook her head.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said.

“I’m sorry for the way I acted,” she sobbed.

I kissed her hand. “I’m the one who should be sorry.”

“Avikar.”

I smiled, loving the way she said my name. “Let’s start over.”

“I’d like that. Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?”

“Of course.” I moved closer, touching her arm.

She smiled and rested her head back on the pillow, closing her eyes. I stroked her hand and gently placed it on her chest. Standing, I pulled the blanket around her, tucking her in. Her chest rose and sunk as she drifted into sleep.

The night breeze blew in from the open window. I walked over, went to close the shutters, and stopped, staring at the moon instead.

So much has happened since I left the farm. I feel different.

I blamed The Creator and myself for Jimri’s death. I thought The Creator had abandoned me and back then maybe he had, but not tonight.

“I won’t forget about my promise,” I whispered to the air.

I closed the shutters and locked them. As I left the room, I took one last glance at Raven, burning into memory the image of her peaceful slumber. If I never saw her again, I wanted to remember the sweet serenity on her face.

I sat in the study, examining Tarrtainya’s literature. This world had strange writings, most of them useless. These humans wrote stories of imaginary places and people who did not exist. We had no such books in Mirth. They served no purpose. Our race wrote about subjects that mattered: history, formulas, spells, research, philosophies and math. What use is a fictional book?

I flipped through a book of poetry. I found these writings were different from the rest. They were pleasing to read. Words were carefully chosen and I deciphered messages within them. It seemed poets were more intelligent than the others. I’d have to see if Romulus had any dead poets lying around. It would be interesting to see if their mind was molded different.

A knock at the door.

Never a moments rest
.

“Enter.” I continued flipping through the pages. “I’m sure you have a very good reason for disturbing me at this hour.”

“Yes, my lord. There was a fire at the dollhouse,” my second lieutenant said.

“And?”

“The entire house burnt, my lord.”

I sighed and closed the book. “Any survivors?”

“Yes. They are in the guest wing. We’re awaiting your orders.”

I rubbed my chin. “Do we know what caused the fire?”

“Not yet, my lord. We’re looking into it.”

“I want a new place built for them. In the meantime, find somewhere in Daath to house them.”

Lucy appeared in the doorway wearing a wicked grin.

“You are dismissed.” I waved the lieutenant away.

He gave a salute before leaving.

“And why are you so amused, my dear sister?”

Lucy glided into the study and sat on one of the leather chairs. “You should know how disaster excites me. A good woman loves chaos.”

“Then we should have fires more often.”

Lucy grinned. “Ahh, but then where would we house your precious dolls?”

“Indeed.”

Lucy folded her hands on her lap. I sensed she had news I would not be pleased with. “What is it?”

“I’ve received word that The Council is deciding on who will be your steward in Daath when you return home.”

“I assumed it would be you.”

“It is not. Dago.”

I jumped from my seat and slammed the desk with my fist, cracking the wood. Dago, my enemy since birth. His family wanted the ruling power and would stop at nothing to achieve it. “The Council thinks to replace me with him! This is an outrage!”

“He will take your wife in your absence.”

“He will
not
have her.”

Lucy met my hard gaze. “You will have little choice. You cannot bring her to Mirth.”

“Argh!” I flipped the desk over. Lucy jumped out of the way before it hit her.

“Calm yourself. She is nothing but a human.”

A human unlike any I’ve ever met.

I stood and straightened my coat. “Go see Romulus. Tell him to poison the ceremonial wine.”

“Why not just drain her aura completely?”

“Because then she would die during the ceremony and The Council might find it odd that I killed her. You know how they feel about keeping these human pretenses. The nobles will think Jeslyn is ruling while I’m away and Dago will be her trusted advisor.”

Dago was the crudest of our race. Even though Jeslyn was a human, I wouldn’t abandon her to Dago and his treacherous ways.