Embracing the Flames (32 page)

We arrived deep inside the swamp. “It figures he would hide here,” I said snidely as I pulled my hands from the muck and shuddered.

We were thrust back into freezing temperatures. The moisture from the muck only made it worse. Zane stood and helped pull me to my feet. He looked at me and I shook my head in response. “I don’t feel him,” I confirmed. “Maybe he ports here and then ports somewhere else?” My stomach bottomed out.
What if we handed him that Stella, putting him one step closer to destroying everything?

“We have to think positive,” Zane said as he glanced around. “Besides, where else would he go?” Just then, an arrow pierced through his arm. “What the —” he yelled, as we both dropped back into the muck. “Break it off,” he gritted out as he reached for one of the many tree roots. He squeezed the root with both of his hands to brace himself.

“Where did that come from?” I stammered, internally counting to three and then splitting the arrow in half. It was quick. He only flinched a little.

“I don’t know. There’s no telling out here. But judging by the arrow, I’d say it’s a Looter and if I’m right, we’re in deep trouble because they don’t travel alone.”

Footsteps came closer. “Can we take them?” I asked. He glanced down at his arm. “Right,” I agreed. He was of no use injured. With the arrowhead lodged in, his wound wouldn’t heal.

I wove a portal back to our safe house. It sickened me to think that I might be leaving Fenn behind. “You first,” I said, trying to tune out the rowdy voices that hooted and hollered as they neared us.

He eyed me suspiciously. “We can go together,” he said warily.

“We are. Just hurry up! They are almost here.” He didn’t fight me. Instead he grabbed my hand. As soon as he stood, I knew we were in shooting distance. He jumped through, pulling me behind him, but his grip was weak compared to the force of whoever had caught my other arm. I was yanked hard and fell face first into the muck, breaking the connection of my energy that held the portal open. When I pulled my head up, men’s laughter swarmed around me.

“What ‘ave we ‘ere?” a thick accent teased. I desperately tried to remove the muck that covered my eyes so I could see, but it was too sticky.

“Looks like a Harpy or somethin’,” another man said. The muck must have covered my scales.

“Put ‘er in the cage,” the first voice instructed. I felt hands pull me up and then toss me. I landed with a thud and quickly pulled into myself, deciding to leave the muck where it was. For now, it was best to keep my identity hidden.

Chapter 27

Stolen and Sold

I SAT CURLED INTO A ball for hours, trying to keep warm as the cage was pulled through the bumpy swamp. I thought of Fenn and called out to him in my head once again, hoping that he would hear me. I needed him as much as he needed me. My eyes shot open when I felt his presence in my mind, trying to soothe my growing fear.
He heard me
. I blinked back tears that threatened to spill with relief.

A few others had been thrown in with me—a female who sat next to me crying, a real Harpy who cursed and snapped the whole way, and one other who didn’t make a sound. He didn’t even shiver. The men had called him a “fine young man” as they threw him in. It was hard to tell who or what he was between the muck that still covered my eyes and the muck that covered him.

He stared at me the whole ride. Even though I couldn’t see him, I felt drawn to him. I direly wanted to scoot closer, but couldn’t because of the Harpy in between us.

When we stopped, my heart raced with fear. I hadn’t even thought of a plan. My mind was tired from shivering and stressing.
What was I going to do?
I did my best to look around but couldn’t make out much through the muck. We were at some sort of camp nestled in between the swamp trees. I smelled fire and some meat stewing. My mouth watered. It felt like forever since I had a good meal.

“Aight, listen,” one of the men instructed, “y’all gonna come out nicely, or we’ll kill ya on the spot, understand?” He paused, giving his words a moment to sink in. “Good. Now come on.”

The door swung open, and one by one we got out and stood in a line. From what I could make out, his right eye was covered by a patch and his leathered face had a harsh five o’clock shadow.

He herded us towards a pool of dingy water as some of the other familiar voices walked off, bottles clinking together amidst their songs about money and alcohol.

I slowly let my dragon fade away, hoping that no one would notice my change underneath the dried up mud. The man from the cage was first to step up to the foul-smelling pool. It looked like it was manmade and almost as murky as the mud we had just came from. How many others had washed off in here?

The man who guarded the pool was fat and dirty, his hair dreadlocked from lack of washing. I cringed at his toothless smile as he kicked the “fine young man” in the back, sending him into the dirty water. I braced myself.

But the man who fell in never turned in anger. After a moment in the pool, feathery-light hair emerged, followed by a pair of sky-blue eyes that were fixed on me.
Fenn!
I almost yelled out in happiness but was thankfully hushed by the Harpy who lashed out at the guy guarding the pool.

“DIIIEEEE,” she screeched as she swung her talons at him. Three arrows pierced through her chest before she had a chance to poison him, and her body fell, lifeless. The guy spat on her and then shoved me towards the pool. I tripped over the Harpy but regained enough balance to fall into the pool rather than on the edge.

For the brief second that I was under, I pushed off in Fenn’s direction, making sure that I faced him as I came up. His eyes widened when he saw me emerge. “Oooh, looky ‘ere,” said the guard, smacking his lips, “we gots us a pretty one.” He leaned down and ran his fingers through my hair.

I slightly shook my head, hoping Fenn would take the hint and refrain from trying anything. His jaw was tight, and his eyes burned into mine. “I might have to bargain with the Master for ya.”

The guard tugged my hair, pulling my face back so he could see it better. “Eyes of a snake,” he commented. The anger inside of me was making my eyes red. He leaned forward and sniffed at my hair then shoved my head forward and walked away. I let out a sigh of relief and quietly moved over to Fenn.

The woman who had bawled the whole way was shoved in next, her fearful cry piercing my resolve. I wanted so bad to fight back, to kill each and every one of these men, but Fenn linked a finger through mine beneath the water, stopping me. There were too many for us to take on without any help.

“Out now!” the man shouted as he slapped at the ground with a wooden stick. We crawled out of the muddy water and lined up on the other side of the pool, waiting for what was next. Now that the muck was cleaned off, I could get a good look at our surroundings. Tiny huts built out of scrap wood were tucked in between the trees that surrounded us. The largest hut stood closest to us and had trails of smoke billowing out of the windows and the straw roof.

I stood in between the woman and Fenn. She was shoved forward, and we started walking towards the main hut. A crowd of grungy men gathered around the front door. Most were missing teeth. All of them smelled awful and wore mischievous smiles. The three of us squeezed together as we approached the rather small door.

I felt Fenn’s head just behind mine, his breath radiating around my neck. “No matter what, we must not be separated. If I say so, I want you to shift and fly us both out of here,” he whispered.

I nodded and ducked down to enter the hut. The smell of meat came from a hog roasting in the far corner of the room. It didn’t seem like a smart idea to roast a hog inside a hut made of straw, but these men didn’t strike me as being incredibly intelligent.

“Fresh meat,” said a man’s toad-like voice. He sat in front of the fire in a chair carved out of a tree stump. He was fat and green and his eyes bulged out. His tongue flicked in and out, like a frog. “Come forward,” he belched out.

The woman began to shake and cry, and she resisted walking forward. Two men on either side of her practically lifted her off the ground by her arms and then threw her at the toad man’s feet. “Please,” she begged.

“Please what?” the toad man asked. “Do you know who I am?”

She kept her face to the ground as she said, “Lord of the Undermarket.” Her voice was barely audible.

“Then you should know why you’re here. To be bought and sold. I am not going to hurt you,” he assured, reaching out his slimy hand to caress her face. Her body tensed on contact. As soft as his caress was, his malice was just as sharp. He threw her to the side, dust forming a black cloud around her, making her cough in the midst of her cries. I went to reach out, but Fenn grabbed onto me, preventing me from doing something stupid.

We couldn’t bring attention to ourselves.

“Get her out of here,” the Lord said with disgust. “Who’s next?”

I stepped forward, swallowing hard. “I am,” I said, keeping my face to the floor. My feet shuffled awkwardly through the soot as I approached him.

He shifted forward in his seat.

“Come closer,” he said curiously. I did as he said. “Your hair,” he began, reaching out towards it, “it’s the color of rubies. Let me see your face.” I slowly lifted my head, biting my lower lip with worry. “Your eyes...wait a minute...I know who you are. You’re the Progeny!” he shouted, standing from his chair. My eyes grew with horror as I turned back to Fenn. He was seething, struggling against the two men that held him.

“Aurora, run!” he shouted, followed by a grunt as one of the men punched him in his stomach. I instantly shifted and shoved the Lord onto the roasting hog, ignoring his painful screams as the heated meat and flames burned his body. Fenn was only two steps away. I kicked one of the men back while he shoved the other. I let flames out on the both, grabbing Fenn and jumping as hard as I could towards the sky.

We broke through the straw roof easily and aimed for the tree line. If I could make it out of sight then we would be in the clear. But the men in the camp were smarter than I thought. A flock of arrows appeared around us.

I screamed out in pain as two hit their intended target — my wing and my side.

“Fenn, I can’t,” I said through a blur of pain as we plummeted towards the earth. I tried with all my might to keep my wings going, but it was of no use. There was too much damage and pain.

“I’m going to open a portal,” he said, but he wasn’t quick enough. Fenn spun just enough so that I would land on top of him as we hit the ground with a hard thud. Men with spears surrounded us. I tried not to moan from the searing pain in my side. I was dizzy and on the verge of throwing up. I barely made out the Lord as he stepped from his hut, his skin still smoking.

“Lock her up. Put her in the pit. She can’t use her magic in there,” he said spitefully, spitting on me as he walked by. “I know a few clients that would love to have her delivered to them.”

“What about him?” the man with the patched eye asked.

“Keep him for now. We may need him to keep her under control.” The Lord laughed menacingly. A second later I was dragged by my hair across the root-filled ground. I screamed out as every bump magnified the pain in my side, shoving the arrow further and further into my flesh. Then I was pushed over an edge, freefalling for a moment until the bottom of the pit caught me, knocking the breath out of my lungs.

“FENN!” I shouted as loud as I could. Before I could stop them, tears rushed out. Bones and the smell of rotting flesh surrounded me. There was no escaping so I quickly pushed as much as I could to the other side and turned my back to it.

The blood from the wound on my side was leaking through my armor and dripping down my leg. I lightly touched it, feeling around for the arrowhead. It was really wedged in there, and I had no experience with removing arrows. The one in my wing was easier to remove since my wings were made of tough but thin hide. I flexed it out and then winced as I carefully broke the arrow in half, pulling it out nice and easy.

I curled into a ball and continued to cry until I fell asleep. But sleep wasn’t easy. Men kept pacing around the pit, taunting me and kicking dirt onto me. I worried about Fenn and where he was. I worried about Gwen and about Zane and about my parents. What would happen if I didn’t make it out?

The cool night air filled my tiny hole in the earth. The loss of blood had thinned me out; I shivered uncontrollably and rocked my body hard. I did the only thing I could think of to get warm. I dug my hands into the blood-stained earth and began to dig out a small hole. After an hour of slowly moving dirt aside, I got in and began to pull the dirt back on top of me, trying to ignore the smell.

No matter what, I had to survive.

The sun set and rose twice, turning my hole into hell. The wound in my side had stopped bleeding, but the arrow was still in there, torturing me whenever I moved. I passed out more times than I could count. My throat felt scratchy and dry. My lips were cracked and bleeding. I called out for food and water, only to be laughed at and spat on. I dropped to my knees in desperation, dry-heaving from a lack of food.

Fenn was in and out of my mind, sending waves of reassurance and love. It’s what kept me clinging on to reality. Death was becoming a high probability. The temperature vacillated between scorching and freezing. It was the only time in my life that I ever cringed from the heat.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I was hauled out of the pit and tied to a tree.

“Clients on their way now for ya,” said the man with the eye patch. My eyes were heavy and my head hung down. He started laughing as he walked away. Dehydration and exhaustion left me with no tears and no words.

“Rory,” someone whispered. I tried to pick my head up to see who it was, but it was so heavy. “Rory, can you hear me?”

“Hmmm?” I moaned.

“It’s me, Fenn. I’m right beside you,” he said quietly. “Don’t say anything. We’re going to get out of here, okay?” I lolled my head a bit to let him know that I heard him. “All I need you to do is be ready and trust who grabs you.”

I had no idea what he was talking about, but I nodded again and felt myself drifting away...away to Zordon. I used all my might to pick my head up to keep myself here. I couldn’t afford to cross over right now. “Rory? Is it happening?” he whispered, worry edging his voice.

“Fenn,” I moaned, “please…help me.” Darkness seeped into my vision, threatening to consume me. The need to see what Zordon was up to pushed at my resolve.

“Hang on to my voice, Rory,” he begged. “Our escape will be here any second now.”

“What?” I asked.

“Stop talking!” One of the men shouted at us as he walked by. He came back seconds later with foul smelling water and poured it over both of us. I couldn’t help but open my mouth to try and take some of the droplets in.

More footsteps approached. “Here she is, as promised,” a voice said. Whoever he was talking to stood in front of me, wearing a black cloak that covered a nice pair of shiny black boots. I picked my head up, praying that it wasn’t one of the “clients.”

“You’re coming with me,” said a deep, familiar voice. “Him too,” the voice commanded. The man went around the tree and untied me. I fell into the arms of the cloaked man. He was ever so gentle, helping me limp over to Fenn. “Load him into my cart,” the man said. I had no idea who was taking us, but it didn’t matter. My strength was completely depleted.

“Her too?” the man asked.

“No,” he replied possessively, “I will carry her myself. Can’t have her in too bad of a condition when I take her to him.”
Great
, I thought,
whoever this man is, he is taking me to Zordon.

He cradled me as he walked us towards the exit of the camp. He smelled familiar. Really familiar. Like Zane familiar. My heart skipped a beat, and I stirred. “Calm down or you’ll give us away,” he said under his breath.