Temple of Fyre (Island of Fyre) (13 page)

“Do you think they left anyone behind?” Ria asked. “When Malera ordered me to find the hamlet, I saw the people. There weren’t more than a hundred adults. Though we didn’t count them, there seemed to be that many among the ones being led away.”

“You said there were some elderly among the people.”

Ria nodded. “Three aged men, and one or two women.”

“They weren’t with the prisoners. I would have noticed. What could have happened to them?”

Ria leaned against his side. “I fear they’re dead.”

Ari nodded. “Since we’ve come this far, we must continue and see if anyone lives.”

“And help them if we can.”

He wrinkled his nose. “What do I smell?”

“There have been fires.”

“Yesterday?”

She inhaled a deep breath. “Several layers are present. Some are old. There has been some recent destruction, but ‘twas days ago. Maybe at the time of the solstice. I sense a small trace from yesterday. The priestesses may have used the flames to drive people from their homes.”

Ari yanked on the burro’s lead rope. “If there are no answers to be found here, I may have to return to Rosti and question Bil again.”

“That’s not wise.”

“Wise or not, I have to consider that scenario.”

As they continued toward the hamlet, the acrid odor grew stronger. The burros brayed and balked. With prodding, they continued. By mid-morning, they reached the field surrounding Gydon. Fire eaten trees and burned stubble faced them. The burros refused to move forward. Finally, Ari turned and trudged with them past the field and up a hill above the scorched area.

He halted. “We’ll leave them here.”

Ria nodded. “Should we unload them and make camp?”

He shook his head. “’Tis not yet midday. We’ll investigate the hamlet and pray there is someone who still lives and can answer my questions. Then we’ll move on.” He started down the hill. Would they find anyone alive? The only way to answer that question was to enter and search. He and Ria linked arms and half ran down the hill. They passed through a field where the charred corpses of animals lay. He shuddered. Why had Malera done this?

Ria halted at the wall. She looked at Ari. “If anyone remains alive, can we help them? Can we take them with us?”

“If they can travel. We haven’t a way to carry someone who is sorely wounded.” He brushed past her and walked to the shattered gates where he paused to examine the wanton destruction. Many of the shops and houses bore signs of old fires. Ari wondered if the fires had burned during the battle between the two circles had caused the damage. What was Malera’s true reason for removing the people? Did she fear some of the children of the rebels were among the hamlet dwellers? Was he one of them?

Ria clasped Ari’s hand. “What we’re seeing here is old. At least twenty years.”

He nodded. “Around the time I was found in the grove. Maybe the answer to my past is here, if anyone lives to tell me.”

They entered the hamlet. “I pray we’ll learn what you need to know.”

Ari peered into the houses along the street. Broken doors and shattered windows allowed a view of the interiors. Smashed furniture, torn fabrics and broken pottery were common sights and told the tale of recent events. People had been forced from their homes. Had the guards looted? Then, he saw three bodies in the middle of the hamlet’s square.

He released Ria’s hand and staggered toward the corpses. Despair filled him. He would never know who he was or why he’d been left in the grove. He sank to the ground and covered his face with his hands. Anger roiled in his gut. The scarlet fyrestone heated against his skin and he wished he could call the flames with the strength of Ria’s summoning.

* * *

Ria stared at the bodies. She moved closer and saw the burned flesh. She clenched her fists. Why had the priestesses killed them? A cruel act, or was it? These three couldn’t have made the trek to Rosti. Was that the reason? She felt edgy. Three men. Where were the elderly women she’d seen when she’d viewed Gydon in the flames? She had thought there were two, but maybe she’d been mistaken.

She turned to Ari. His posture spoke of defeat and loss. The urge to comfort him was strong, but words of pity wouldn’t give him what he sought. She turned a slow circle and spotted a building unlike the others. The low round structure reminded her of the temple’s inner chamber.

With quick steps, she crossed the square and paused in the doorway. A faint mewling sound startled her. “Hello.” The cry came again. Ria stepped inside and saw the circle of light illuminating a series of tiers. Her brow wrinkled. Had the rebel priestesses prepared this circle for a blue fyrestone? Four levels must mean they had known about the fabled crystal.

She edged around the circle and saw a body sprawled against the far wall. Ria darted forward and knelt beside the woman. The sight and stench of burned flesh made Ria swallow the acid that rose in her throat. With burns so extensive, how had the woman survived? Ria held the water flask to the unburned lips. Could this woman know the things Ari ached to hear? Could they help her?

Ria ran to the door. “Ari, you must come at once. I’ve found someone who lives. A woman. She’s been flame-lashed like the old men, but not as badly.”

Ari dashed across the square. “Did she tell you what happened here years ago?”

“She’s too deep in shock to speak.”

“What can we do?”

“Perhaps no more than relieve her pain.” She shuddered. “How can the priestesses do such evil things?”

“I don’t know.” He touched her hand. “You lived with them. Didn’t you see signs of their true natures?”

She frowned. Had she? Other than during lessons, she hadn’t been much in the company of the priestesses. “I know Malera had a temper, and sometimes, inflicted cruel punishments. She always explained why and I believed she was justified. She never hurt me. She was kind and gave me linen, gems, fine wool caftans, and other treats.”

He nodded. “She lulled you to keep you from watching her closely. Is there a way to help this woman?”

She nodded. “With your stone.”

She saw his distrust and knew his feelings were justified. “We can use the crystal together. Place the stone on her forehead and cover it with your hands, one atop the other. I’ll place my hands over yours. ‘Twas how Malera taught me. This woman may be your last chance to learn about your past.”

“Then we’ll try.” He followed her around the circle. “What is this place?”

“’Tis like the inner circle of the temple. From what I’ve read in the scrolls, at one time, every hamlet had a circle. I also heard there was one here until Malera’s predecessor destroyed it.” She knelt beside the woman.

“Now what?” Ari asked.

“Kneel on the other side and place the stone the way I told you.” When he was in place, Ria put her hands over his. “Instead of calling fire, we’ll draw heat from her body. If we had a full circle, we could restore her. At least that’s what I read in a scroll.” She closed her eyes and began the process.

As she joined her power to his, she caught a stray thought that stunned her. Though he hadn’t said a word, he had bonded his heart to hers. She faltered. After taking a deep breath, she returned to the process they had begun. There would be time later to ponder what she would do. Until the words were spoken, she had no need to find an answer. She continued to draw until the stone could hold no more.

Her eyes widened. The yellow stone the woman wore turned from near black to gray.

The elderly woman opened her eyes and stared at Ari. “Rav, did you rise from the dead?”

Ari leaned forward. “Do you know who I am? Some twenty years ago, I was found in the grove by a pair of stone seekers. I was five or six years of age.”

The woman tried to smile. Her hand pressed against the yellow stone. “Son of Jini and Rav. Fled the temple. Settled near here. Helped the people. Had three children.”

Ari gasped. He shook his head, but didn’t speak.

“And what is this place?” Ria asked.

“Hamlet circle.”

Ari cleared his throat. “Why was I left in the grove?”

“’Twas feared the priestesses would kill you. Looked like your father. Sibs younger. Given to a family. Didn’t help. Slavers got them.”

Ari leaned forward. “Tell me more about these children.”

“Brother, two years. Sister, five months. Father took you. Returned without the scarlet. All died in the battle.”

“Was it Malera?” Ria asked.

“One before her. Was weak. Malera challenged. Won.”

“How many died here?”

“All, but me.” The aged woman raised the yellow. “I called fire. A time of peace. Flames showed trouble. I fled to the hills. They fought. Took the men. Took Jini’s and Ravi’s other children. Some men with flocks escaped. Gydon fell on hard times.” She drew a deep breath.

Ria touched the old woman’s hand. “Is there more we can do to help you?”

The woman closed her eyes. “I’m done and will remain.”

“We could make a litter.”

“No, look in the wall. Hidden scrolls. Take. Go.” As she spoke, the yellow stone darkened. “I go to my friends.” She expelled a breath and took no more.

Ria touched the woman’s stone. Only a cinder remained. “She’s dead.”

“Should we bury her?”

Ria shook her head. “We have no tools here. She went to the wall and tapped the tiles. Ari joined her. One of the tiles moved. From a small space, Ria took three scroll containers. Ari put his hand on her shoulder. She felt heat pulse from his stone. She looked at him. “We must leave. There is a strangeness in the air.”

* * *

When the flames brought the news from the priestesses, Malera had sent to Gydon arrived, she laughed. The long delayed punishment would soon be completed. For all those years, she had studied the scrolls and finally unraveled the secret of creating a waste. The priestesses had carried the lopesta eggs the slavers had provided. In the fires soon to rage, the creatures would hatch. She hugged herself. The captives were on their way to Rosti. After the choices for the temple were made, the rest would be sold to the slavers.

She sent an acolyte to invite the strongest of the priestesses who called flames to join her in the inner chamber. Six yellow and four orange for a double circle on the lower tiers. Once the women took their places, she climbed the tiers to the third level. Though the sun was past midday, its position had no effect on the ritual. By moonrise, the destruction would be complete. If the priestesses exhausted their crystals in the doing, there were others to replace any that were spent.

“Yellow. Orange. Call the flames.” Her voice rang with the command.

As the fires flowed from the stones in the cup and the ones the women held, Malera drew fire from both scarlet crystals. She united the colors of flame into a sheet and brought forth an image of the deserted hamlet of Gydon. After taking a deep breath, she coalesced the flames into a giant spear and sent it to burn the houses and shops. She extended the blaze into the fields and orchards. Before long, all would be as sterile as the wastes on either side of the grove. Once begun, the fires would continue until all the land claimed by Gydon was consumed.

Malera released the circle. What her predecessor had begun would soon be ended and nothing but lopestas would dwell where Gydon had been. “Well done,” she said. “Go to your rest.”

After she left the inner chamber, she strolled to the scriptorium to record her action in the scroll detailing the events of this year. Once she’d written her account, she rose and browsed the shelves. A frown furrowed her brow. Among the older scrolls where there had been three empty cubicles, now there were four.

Years ago before her arrival in the temple, three scrolls had been stolen. Who had removed this one and where was it hidden?

She examined the titles on either side of the latest theft. She knew which one had been taken. Just before her final test, she’d opened the forbidden one and had read the first few paragraphs. The contents had shocked her. She’d taken the scroll to her mentor. By questioning the validity of the scroll, Malera had passed a test. Her hands fisted. The ideas Ria had spouted had come from that scroll.

Malera left the scriptorium and went to Ria’s chamber. The scroll was hidden beneath the bed. Malera lit candles and sought the place where Ria had been reading. Malera snorted. How could Ria believe this nonsense? She read to the end of the passage. Blue fyrestones. An ancient temple. Malera had never heard of blue crystals, but that color was found in the white stones. She slid the scroll into the cylinder. She had to search the records for mention of blue fyrestones. If one existed and held the power mentioned in the scroll, she wanted one.

Malera returned to the scriptorium and found the master list. She searched for any mention of blue crystals. Most of the references were to the missing records or scrolls no longer in existence. Had the rebel priestesses taken the missing ones? Those had been chaotic times and the traitors had nearly won. When the party returned from Gydon, she would ask if they’d found any records.

Her thoughts turned to Ria and the stone seeker. They must be found and punished. Once she dealt with the survivors of Gydon, she would search the flames.

Chapter Seven

The hint of panic in Ria’s voice brought Ari to her side. He pressed his hand against the scarlet fyrestone. The erratic pulsation signaled danger. Years before, the same beating had kept him from being crushed beneath a rockslide. As he dashed into the square, the air crackled with energy. He grabbed Ria’s hand and half-dragged her across the open area. They ran down the lane past the damaged houses. When they bolted through the shattered gates, Ari pulled her into the field.

She stumbled. “Need to rest.”

“No time.” With strength born of desperation, he slung her over his shoulder and raced across the field. When they reached the bottom of the hill they had to climb to reach the burros, he set her on her feet. “Come on.”

“I’m with you.” Ria moved with him up the hill.

When they reached the panicked burden beasts, Ria sank to the ground and rested her forehead against her bent knees. Ari’s chest burned and his legs ached. He gulped deep breaths. When he turned, he saw threads of smoke rising from the hamlet.

“Ria, on your feet. Fire comes. We need to get over the crest.”

“And we’ll be safe?”

“The stone. The pulse is slower now. In Gydon, ‘twas rapid.”

She pushed to her feet and tucked the metal scroll holders into one of the baskets. With Bera’s lead in her hand, she strode forward. “Tell me when the pulses stop.”

They made haste to the crest and dashed down the hill. Ari halted on the far side of a broad stream. “The crystal is quiet. Halfway down the hill, the pulses stopped. “Twas best to be sure we’re beyond danger.”

She nodded. “Then we’ll rest.”

Ari staked the burros near a clump of sweet grass and sank to the ground beside Ria. He watched smoke, and then flames rise above the hill and inch down. The wind carried the aroma of burning wood and vegetation and the stench of animals. The sharp sound of stone cracking made him flinch.

Ria pressed against his side. “’Tis Malera. She has created a new waste. Why doesn’t she understand her actions are wrong?” She released a long sigh. “I must grow strong enough to defeat her.”

Ari draped an arm over her shoulders and drew her close. How could he persuade her to forget the temple and her hatred of the chief priestess? Once they found fyrestones and sold enough for a good stake, they could question the slavers and perhaps locate his lost siblings. The things the old woman had said had triggered memories of his parents and of the younger brother and infant sister. Where could they be? Only money could buy information.

“We have escaped,” he said. “For that, I thank the fates. We should think about finding a refuge.”

“And the stones?” she asked. “What of your promise?”

“I’ll keep it.” He had to. He’d seen what the lack of a fyrestone had done to her.

“Where will we go?”

“North and west toward the mountains.”

She smiled. “Once I have a crystal, I’ll practice. When my control is strong, I’ll challenge Malera and end her rulership of the temple.” She rose. “Let us find a better place for our camp.” She pointed to the blackened part of the slope. “One where we don’t have to see that.”

Ari followed with Ber. Ria seemed to have few thoughts for anything but revenge. If he offered his heart, would she change her focus? Would she reject him or offer hers in return? Before they reached the area where crystals were found, he would have to make a decision.

For a ten-day, they hunted and gathered foodstuffs, all the while heading toward the foothills of the mountain range people said marked the end of the land. When Ari had asked Jorg what lay on the other side, the old man hadn’t answered, but Ari had seen a deep sadness in Jorg’s eyes.

The slow pace of the journey gave him time to show Ria how to live off the land. She learned how to set traps and snares for game and birds. He pointed to trees they could tap in the spring for sweet syrup and ones where nuts and cones could be gathered in the fall. Ria delighted in each new thing she learned.

Ari yearned for her. Since he’d realized he was bonded in body and heart, they hadn’t joined their bodies. Would she ever feel the need to bind her heart to him? He knew the time approached when he had to declare himself.

That evening when they made camp, he felt edgy. They worked in unison to erect the tent and prepare a meal. Once they finished eating, Ria unrolled one of the scrolls she’d found in Gydon. For a time, she read. She looked up.

“What does it say?” Ari asked.

“The scroll speaks of a time when there was one temple and many circles.”

He frowned. “There is but one temple and that is in Rosti.”

“When this was written, Rosti was just a circle. Every hamlet had one. Those who called fire served the people. Some of them were men.”

“But men are forbidden to use any crystal but the white. Jorg and Bil reminded me constantly to keep mine hidden and to let no one know I could use it.”

Ria looked at him. “No man is the rule of the priestesses in Rosti.” She unrolled the scroll further. “They are wrong. Listen to these words.”

The Temple of Fyre lies in the hills where granite cliffs rise to join the Barren Mountains. Alas, the temple lies in ruins. During our last days there, the ground grumbled and the earth danced. Taking that as a sign, the priests and priestesses prepared to abandon the temple. They left to join the circles in the hamlets. There were those among them, a group of women who yearned for a temple where the people would bring gifts. They united and used the stones to challenge the other circles. Alas, none of the triple bonded pairs or blue crystals survived the quakes.

Ari stared at the fire. “Must have been rewarding to be a stone seeker in those days.”

Ria shook her head. “The scroll speaks of the seekers.”

Because the vast store of crystals had vanished, when new stones were needed, those born to the priests and priestesses were sent out to search. Before long, the only ones able to find the fyrestones were men. The edict forbidding priestesses to bear children further reduced the power of the circles to resist the women from Rosti.

Ari straightened. He was the son of a priestess and a man who had called fire. Were the other stone seekers also descendants of such pairs? What about Jorg and Bil?

* * *

After Ari went to his blankets, Ria rolled the first scroll and opened the second. This one contained drawings of circles. One was much larger than the one in the inner chamber of the Rosti temple and the one she’d seen in Gydon. All the stones, including the whites and fabled blue had a place in the circle. The scroll contained ways to test anyone who sought to use the fyrestones and methods for training men and women in the use of each color.

Another difference in the structure of the circle surprised her. Unlike the one in Rosti, the drawing showed places for two to stand on the top level.

How odd, she thought. Since the top tier showed places for two, did that mean those standing there had to be triple bonded. She drifted in thought. She dropped the scroll and woke with a start. After returning it to the metal cylinder, she went to her blanket roll. In the morning, she would tell Ari of her discovery.

She lay on the far side of the fire circle from him. Since her attempt to steal the stone and what she had glimpsed in his emotions, she had avoided touching him. Did he regret rescuing her and bonding body to body? She was afraid to ask, and she feared touching him would make him think she intended to steal his stone.

The next morning when he joined her at the fire, she showed him the second scroll. “All the stones were used. That means more than thirty priestesses were needed. The temple must have been huge and there had to have been many who called fire from the crystals. After a priestess functions in the circle, she needs a day of rest.”

“How many priestesses serve in Rosti?”

“Not counting the acolytes and the ones too old to stand in the circle, about eighteen.” She studied the scroll. “Have you ever seen a blue fyrestone?”

His brow furrowed. “I’ve seen blue gems, but none were crystals.”

She dished a bowl of leftover stew. “Why did you become a stone seeker?”

He filled his bowl. “Since that was what the men who raised me were, finding fyrestones is what I know.”

“Do you think we could find the ancient temple?”

“Why would you want to? If there were earthquakes, ‘twas probably destroyed.”

She looked up. “I have to try. There might be scrolls to help me learn how to defeat Malera.”

“Is vengeance all you think about?” He finished the stew and placed the bowl on the ground.

She tapped her fingers on her thigh. “Not vengeance, I seek justice for all those Malera has harmed.”

“And yours is the right to decide what justice to mete?”

Ria felt like crying. “Malera is evil. If she didn’t rule the temple, the priestesses could do good instead of ill. Her use of the fyrestones to punish and control must end.”

“Is that possible?”

“Maybe not, but I’ll still seek knowledge, and I will try.”

“Even if it means your death?”

“Just so.”

He rose and began to load the burros. “We’ll soon be near the area where the crystals are found. Perhaps when you have your own stone, you’ll see a different future.”

* * *

The rotunda was crammed with weeping women and screaming children. Malera walked through the clusters of people appraising the recent arrivals from Gydon. She chose several boys who showed the promise of becoming handsome men. They were taken to the harras. Three of the oldest boys were given to the guards. The rest were herded into a corner. They were for the slavers.

Next, she separated all the women with infants and small children into a second group. None of these were suited for the temple. She instructed the maidservants to prepare them for the slavers. Malera tapped the handle of a flail against her palm. Now for the girls to become acolytes and the women for maidservants.

She removed the fyrestone from the sleeve pocket of her caftan and walked among the cowering girls. “You, you, you.” When she finished, five girls were sent with a priestess to the dormitory. Four women were selected to become servants.

Malera signaled the guards. “Have the rest bathed and made ready to be presented to the slavers.”