Enflamed (Book 2) (27 page)

Nester’s bright smile faded
slightly. “By the way, Your Majesty, can I ask for a little favor?”

“You need not ask for favors,
Nester. Just ask.”

Nester blinked, surprised at
her response. “Well, in
that
case ...” He rubbed his chin. “I’d like to
be a great merchant like my Uncle Nickle someday, but ... well ... I can’t seem
to get my big break, y’know what I mean? Maybe you can ’elp? You can make
somethin’ extraordinary with all that fiddlin’ you did before, aye? I mean,
with a Dragon on my side, I can’t lose!”

Kyniythyria
beared her fangs.
“That is your
way of saying you want
one of my priceless, shiny trinkets
from me? There is nothing more precious to a Dragon than its hoard.”

Nester’s eyes lit up at the
mention of a treasure hoard. “Uh ... O
–
of course not,
Your
Majesty!
I wouldn’t even
think
of askin’ you for a beautiful ... sparklin’ ...
shiny ...” Kaijin was certain he saw a stream of drool ooze from the side of
Nester’s mouth as he began talking in slurred speech.

Kyniythyria’s tail twitched.
“Good.
Because I had no intentions of giving you any of my
treasures, anyway.”

Nester deflated a little.

“There is one trait I find
most admirable amongst brownies,” she continued.
“Their
strong sense of determination.
Why
be
as good
as your uncle? Why not be better than him? Become a great explorer, instead.
You will not only be rewarded with useless trinkets, but you will also gain
fame and notoriety. Encounter new and exciting places around the world and make
the most unlikely of friends as you’ve begun to do.” She gestured to Kaijin,
Aidan, Zarya, and Omari, who paused from packing his bag and looked up
guiltily. “Surpass your uncle, the merchant, and become Nester, the great
explorer.”

“‘Nester
th
’
Great Explorer’ ...” He thought for a moment, and then his eyes lit up with
delight.
“’Ey!
I like th’ sound of that! Thank you,
Your Majesty!” He happily bounced over to Omari. “Did you ’ear that, mate? I
got a new title, I did! Straight from th’ Dragon’s mouth!
Nester
th’ Great Explorer!”

Omari cringed at the brownie’s
boisterious speech and brushed past him, heading toward the entrance. “Is that
synonymous to ‘Nester the Thief’? ‘Nester the Confounded Brownie that Does Not
Know When to Be Quiet’?”

Nester frowned.
“’Ey, now!”

Kyniythyria narrowed her eyes,
which crackled with electric sparks, and she exhaled a small bolt of lightning
toward the cave’s high ceiling. A large rock fell from the shadows. Nester
leapt out of the way just in time as it crashed on the back hem of Omari’s
robes and pinned him in place. Percival squeaked and skittered away from the
danger.

Omari yelped and tried to free
himself. He pressed his back against the stone and looked behind him fearfully.
“What in the—?!”

“I did
not
dismiss you
yet, Omari Batsuyou!” Kyniythyria growled.

Omari made no further attempts
to leave. Percival poked his head out from behind the sacks of footstuffs.
Convinced that the danger had passed, he returned to Omari.

When the tension in the air died
down, Aidan implored Kyniythyria, “Mistress, Aidan has small question.”

“You want to know where to
find your ancestors,” Kyniythyria said, as though reading his mind, “I cannot
tell you where to begin your search—if any still live, that is.”

Aidan pursed his lips. Rage
filled his eyes for a moment, as if the Dragon had said something offensive.
But he stayed his tongue.

“I understand your
frustration, Aidan,” Kyniythyria continued, “but what happened was in the
past—long before you were even a spark in your father’s eye. You cannot change
what has happened. However, you can work toward forging a new future and
restoring honor to your clan. If any of your kin are still alive, then they are
most likely disguised and living amongst society. Use your senses—learn to
study people—and you will find what you are seeking.”

Aidan bowed his head in
thanks. He backtracked to the cave wall, slid down, and drew his knees to his
chest. He rested his forehead on his knees.

Zarya looked from Aidan to
Kyniythyria, confused.

Kaijin considered his own
situation. The last time he’d encountered the Dragon, she’d seemed too
flustered to give him a straight answer. He wanted to know who he was—
what
he was.

He knew he was no ordinary man
who just happened to have an affinity for fire. He was
different.
Aidan’s situation reminded Kaijin of his own family. Regret wrenched his heart.

“... And last, the Firebrand.”
Kyniythyria said caustically, breaking Kaijin’s concentration.

Kaijin met her gaze.
What
great things am I really destined for?
He made a sour face.
I’m a
murderer—a
monster.

“Oh! Ask ’er about th’ orb,
Kaijin! Th’
orb
!” Nester exclaimed.

“Yes, about the orb ...”
Kyniythyria began. “I’ve sensed its presence ever since you first arrived with
it, Kaijin.”

The orb.
Yes, that’s all I really have of importance, isn’t
it?
He looked at the Dragon
curiously. “You knew I had the orb here? And you didn’t touch it?”

Kyniythyria chuckled darkly.
“After witnessing what happened to Omari when he tried to touch it? Dear boy,
even
I
am aware of the painful consequences of attempting to handle
something that a deity has reserved exclusively for someone else.”

Surprised, he glanced at
Omari, who tried to hide a frown. Kaijin recalled the last nightmare he had.
The
necklace protected me ... from Omari?
That didn’t make sense.
“Omari?
Did you try to steal the orb from me while I was
unconscious?”

After a few moments’ silence,
Omari said, “I was not trying to ‘steal’ it. I simply wanted to study it.”

“An’ it burned ’im pretty bad,
it did.” Nester added. “Took Zarya almost an ’
our to
patch ’im up again.”

“Well, tell him my whole life
story while you’re at it, Nester!” Omari snapped.

“That’s what you get for
thinkin’ you’re a better prigger than me!”

“Why, you—”

Zarya stepped forward.
“Enough. Omari has already learned his lesson, and we have already talked about
this and moved on. Let’s not dwell on past issues.” She glanced at Kyniythyria.
“Forgive us, Great Mistress.”

Kyniythyria waved her claw
dismissively. “I found it very amusing, actually.” She focused on Kaijin again.
“Show me what you have there.”

Kaijin slowly retrieved the
orb from his haversack and held it up to her. He clutched it tightly.

Kyniythyria’s gaze was glued
to the swirling flames. She hissed irritably and made no move to grab it. She
sidled closer to the nest, blocking the path to her sleeping child with her
body. She tensed; her eyes narrowed. “Where did you get that?”

Kaijin, sensing the Dragon’s
displeasure, pulled the orb close to his chest. It felt warm and soothing, much
like his necklace’s continuous pulsating heat. “Nester and I found it amongst
some druids’ ruins in Houndstooth Marsh.”

“I knew I could count on you,
mate, for givin’ me credit!” Nester beamed.

Kaijin gave him an odd look,
then
asked the Dragon, “Do you ... know what it is, Great
Mistress?”

She growled and dug her claws
into the cave floor, creating deep gashes in the stone. “That is a
bruane
in Druidic: a fire orb. Druids craft items like those to contain essences of
the elements, for use in rituals. The fact that you happened to find one still
intact is quite ... shocking.”

“Aye?”
Nester blurted out, standing beside
Kaijin and focused on the orb.
“So what’s it worth?”

Kyniythyria chuckled. “It’s as
useless as a ball of lint to someone who is not a druid. It is, quite
literally, fire trapped inside a glass ball. Even a novice mage can emulate
such a trick.”

Kaijin ran his hands over the
orb’s smooth, glassy surface, mulling over his thoughts. “How can something so
beautiful—so powerful—be worthless? I don’t understand.”

“Sometimes true beauty does
not have a price.”

Kaijin chewed on his bottom
lip. “What about the afriti? It lives in the orb.”

Kyniythyria’s gaze hardened.
“An afriti ... interesting.
You saw it? Spoke to it?”

Kaijin nodded. “It spoke to
me, rather. It consumed Gaston’s camp with fire and killed almost everyone. Why
would an afriti live inside this druidic item?”

“Because it
is a being of fire.
It can ‘live’
anywhere it wishes, whenever it wishes, so long as there is fire for it to
consume. It could live in your necklace, if it so chose. But it seems more
content being inside the orb as opposed to its home plane, the Realm of Fire.
Do not question the creature’s motives. You cannot stop it from doing whatever
it does.”

“What?” Zarya blinked. “What
do you mean, Great Mistress? We cannot prevent it from killing innocent
people?”

“Afriti are not chaotic
beings.” Kyniythyria touted a claw at them. “They do not kill for the sake of
killing. They
do
have a sense of order among themselves, as they
always
serve a master.”

A master ...
Kaijin felt his heart pound. The orb grew hotter in
his hands for a moment, before cooling back to its normal comforting
temperature.
Perhaps the afriti is growing irritable.

“Ignis ...” Zarya mumbled. “It
makes sense. Afriti are fire beings. Of course, they would serve the Firelord,
right, Kaijin?” She looked to him for comfirmation.

“I would think so, yes.”
Kaijin nodded to Zarya,
then
his gaze swiveled back to
Kyniythyria. “Despite this orb’s ...
strangeness,
I am rather fond of
it.”

“As you
should be.”
The Dragon nodded.
“For anyone who reveres the Firelord, that orb is worth more than diamonds.”

Kaijin’s jaw dropped.
“Really?”

“
Really
?!”
Nester repeated more enthusiastically, inching closer
to him. “’Ey now, mate, we might ’ave somethin’ ’ere!”

Kaijin glared at the brownie.
“What are you talking about?”

“Think about it! We go to th’
Pyre an’ sell that to
th
’ weird fiery blokes there,
an’ we’ll be rich in no time!”

Kaijin felt his left eye
twitch.
Blasphemy.
“No, I will not do that.” He
licked his lips, tasting bitterness in his words.

Nester opened his mouth to
argue but frowned and shook his head, then dragged himself over to where Aidan
sat.

Kaijin returned the orb back
to the haversack and acknowledged Kyniythyria. “What else do you know about me,
Great Mistress?” he asked. “What other advice can you offer?”

Kyniythyria hissed. “I know
that you enjoy fire. And I know that despite your unlikely power as a
Firebrand, you regret something that happened in the past.” She eyed him
sternly.

Kaijin cringed. Regret wasn’t
the right word to describe how he felt. He crossed his arms and rubbed his
biceps, dwelling on his thoughts. He could feel the gaze of his companions
bearing down on him. As it stood, they all admitted to his difference from
them; would his admitting to his crimes only make things worse?

Who cares at this point? It
seems I’ve nothing more to live for.
He looked at Kyniythyria, eye-to-eye. “I regret everything I’ve done and more.
No one had to die, Great Mistress.”

He didn’t care who listened.
He could see Zarya out of the corner of his eye. Omari stared at him,
intrigued. Aidan remained sitting but seemed to intently listen to the conversation.
Nester stood next to Aidan, bearing a look of uncertainty on his face.

Kyniythyria tilted her head to
the side. “
Who
died?”

Kaijin swallowed.
“Everyone, including my parents and younger brother.
My
whole family is dead, Great Mistress. So many innocents are dead because of
me.” He lowered his head. His eyes burned with tears. “I ... I did it. I killed
them all....”

Zarya looked shocked.

Kyniythyria tilted her head
back. She stared at him coolly.

“I wish I could have controlled
it,” Kaijin continued. “But I am a dangerous threat to society. I am a
monster—I am a mage.”

Omari scowled.

“You rescued my child,”
Kyniythyria replied. “You are hardly a monster.”

Kaijin frowned bitterly. “My
former master said that I was different—that he’d never seen magic quite like
mine. He said my magic was ‘tainted’ in some way. And I still don’t know how.
I’m an abomination, Great Mistress. I should be dead! I hear voices. I ... I
feel things that are beyond my power. I—”