The Fire Sisters (Brilliant Darkness 3) (3 page)

“The feather Calli found," I say.

His fingers brush mine. “This? If this is what’s making them so suspicious, then it’s easily solved.” There’s a tearing sound, as if he rips out the strands of hair the feather was tied to. I wince. “Done.”

I cup his freshly shaved cheek and smile. “I wish it were so simple. I just hope we can find them. I can’t stand the thought of the children being in the hands of those women. What do they do with them?”

“The Sisters were something else, Fenn. All painted white. Armed to the teeth. And that scream… Thrush went white as a stone.”

I won’t forget the Sisters’ battle cry any time soon. “Why didn’t the children cry or shout? Why couldn’t I hear them at all?”

He lets out a long breath. “I don’t know. They weren’t gagged or anything. But they looked odd. Kind of… slack-faced.”

I shiver, and he rubs my arms.

“It reminded me of a story Kadee told me once," he says, "about a man who came to a village and, at the request of the people, played his pipes to lead all the rats that had been bothering them away. But once the rats were gone, the people wouldn’t give the piper what they promised him in return. So the next night, he came back, played his pipes, and took all their children away. Only three children remained behind to tell the villagers what had happened. One was lame, and so couldn’t follow the other children. One was deaf, and so couldn’t hear the music. And one was blind and couldn’t find her way.”

I make a face at that. “What did the people do?”

“They begged and pleaded with the piper to give their children back, but he was angry, and he wouldn’t.”

I sigh. “Peree, I wish Kadee would teach you some new stories. Ones with happy endings.” I start to move away. “We should get ready.”

“Wait.” He draws me back into his arms. “The timing could be better, but… I don’t know when I’ll have you to myself again.”

He kisses me.

We’ve shared a lot of kisses now—sweet, soft, tender, steamy, seductive, intense. I never knew there were so many kinds. This one starts slow and builds, like a fire catching. My legs go weak, and my insides turn to liquid.

I press myself against him, wanting no distance between us. His back is muscled under my hands, and his slim hips fit well against my own. His sweet honeysuckle scent makes me dizzy. If only we could lose ourselves in each other, forget everything and everyone else… let it all slip away in the heat of our passion. For a moment, I let myself pretend we can.

But far too soon, we’re pulling apart again. He holds my face in his hands and kisses each of my eyes, a habit he’s picked up, like he hopes to kiss away the long-forgotten pain of my being blinded by my own people for no good reason.

It’s a bittersweet gesture. I feel loved—and reminded I was once unloved—all at the same time. But I know how
Peree
means it, and that makes all the difference.

“We’ll get through this,” he murmurs, “and before long, we’ll be back here, right here, kissing again.”

I wish
I
felt so confident.

My frantic pulse finally slows, and I cock my head to the side, listening.

“What?” he asks.

“People are gathering. We better hurry.” Nerang told the search party to meet at the
allawah,
the meeting place in the center of Koolkuna.

After I change into old clothes, I fold Yindi’s lovely dress and lay it carefully on a chair. I wonder if I’ll have the chance to wear it again.

My worn, trusty pack gets stuffed with a warm bedroll, Peree’s knife, the little scrap of fabric I stitched a badly formed bear on years ago for Bear, the rabbit’s foot he gave me for luck when I first walked among the Scourge, and an old dress Calli lent me once and I forgot to give back. The bits and pieces of the people I love most.

Except for Eland and Aloe. I have nothing of them. Only memories.

I tuck the sack back into my pack, pull the straps over my shoulders, and grope for the door. “Ready?”

Peree’s fingers skim across the skin of my neck as he touches the bird he carved for me, telling me without words that he loves me. I find his mouth and press my lips to his. We’ve fought hard against the forces and people who tried to keep us apart. We’ve earned some peace and happiness.

But there’s no way we can have them yet. We have to do this first. We have to find the children.

I hear Derain. There’s no hint of grief in his voice now, like there was earlier; he sounds as focused as the point of a knife. The voice of the man he’s talking to is low, urgent, and filled with barely contained sorrow.

“This
is
the
lorinyas’
doing, Derain. You must see that!”

I freeze, my stomach clenching, and pull Peree to a stop.

“What?” Peree whispers. He didn't hear it.

We’re doing all we can to bring the children back!
I want to say, but I hesitate, knowing the man must be distraught. What good does it do to argue with him?

“Fenn?” Peree asks again.

“Mirii and Myall are here,” Derain says, as if in warning. He uses the names the
anuna
gave us. Mine means
star
, and Peree’s means
wild,
thanks to his long hair and feathers. It usually makes me snigger when someone calls him that. Not today.

“The search party has gathered.” Nerang raises his voice to be heard, and the crowd quiets. “The
anuna
are grateful to you all: Derain, Amarina, Moray, Cuda, Conda, Mirii, Myall, Bear, and Kaiya. The hopes and blessings of the
anuna
go with you. Bring our
guru
back to us.”

Derain’s children were taken. Moray and his brothers want Frost and her baby back. I’m not sure about Amarina. And Bear? Why is he going?

Whatever the reason, I’m elated my old friend will be with us. I know I can trust him, unlike the brothers or Kai, who almost shot me with a stray arrow a few days ago. Honestly, I’m a little surprised she’s so community-minded as to volunteer for this.

Peree and I shuffle back outside with the crowd. I’m handed a bag of food and two bags of water that we’ll need to refill often, given the small sizes. I shove them in my pack. Bear comes over to stand beside me; I’d know his woodsy scent anywhere. I nudge him.

“You’re coming?”

He’s quiet for a moment. “I want to help.”

My hearts warms.
Bear
. I squeeze his hand.

“Say your goodbyes,” Derain says to us. “We’ll set a fast pace. We must catch up to the Sisters as quickly as possible.”

Kadee embraces me, and we hold each other for a long time. I have to clear my throat to speak.

“How’s Wirrim?” I ask. The ancient Memory Keeper has been seriously ill.

“Not well,” she says. “Nerang doesn’t expect him to survive the week.”

More bad news. Wirrim is as much a part of Koolkuna as the massive greenheart trees surrounding the village or the waterfall in the Myuna. “I’m very sorry. He’ll be missed.”

“So will you, my daughter. Come home, Fennel, you and Peree. Find the
guru
and bring yourselves back to me.”

I kiss her cheek, and then Moon pulls me away. She crushes me to her, squashing Yani between us. Peree’s cousin is crying, her words spilling as quickly as her tears.

“What you and Peree are doing for Thrush and the other children… I won’t ever forget it. I know how selfish I’m being, Fennel!”

I pat her. “Selfish? How?”

“I feel terrible, but I can’t let Petrel go. What if he doesn’t come back? He’ll leave Yani fatherless!” She lowers her voice. “And you know he wouldn’t be much help. I love him dearly, but Petrel’s a carpenter, not a hunter like Peree.”

It didn’t occur to me Petrel might go, even though Thrush is his brother-in-law. I hear Petrel now, speaking to Peree in a hushed voice.

Peree told me they were inseparable when they were younger, living in the trees as Lofty boys. Then Petrel married and became a father, and Peree met me. Their lives and loyalties are shifting and changing, blown about grains of sand, some coming together, others pushing apart.

“That’s not selfishness, Moon. You love Petrel, and you don’t want to lose him. Of course you want Yani to have a father. I don’t blame you a bit.” I hold her, breathing in the floral scent of her hair, mindful of the baby. “We’ll bring your brother home, I promise.”

It’s all I can do not to break down myself as I listen to her cry. I find and nuzzle Yani’s fuzzy head before I turn away.

Arika kisses my hands, thanking me in a voice hollowed out with tears. Nerang thanks me, too, with sincerity. Petrel, Konol, and a few others touch my arm and wish me luck.

Peree takes my hand, keeping me close, as we start down the path from the village, heading toward the water hole and the uncertainty beyond. My body tenses at the thought of the vast, unknown forest ahead. The river… Restless, did Kai call it? And the Cloister. Will I really be able to help with the search? Or will my Sightlessness only hold the group up?

“Fennel.”

Moray
. Warily, I turn to him.

“I picked this up. Before.”

Not Moray, Conda. His voice is quieter and a lot less smug than his brother’s. He places something very familiar in my hand. It’s a long, slim stick, smooth and highly polished, with well-worn leather strips wrapped tightly around the top.

Aloe’s cane.

“Your brother dropped it when he… Anyway, I was going to give it to you as a gift at your partnering ceremony. I thought you’d want it back.”

I run my hands up and down the cane, too stunned to speak. Eland took it from our shelter before we left for Koolkuna, and I’d assumed it had stayed where it lay when he died.

My shoulders fall back into place, and the tears that were threatening to choke me from all the goodbyes dry up. To have this tangible piece of my mother again fills me with a true sense of peace and purpose I haven’t felt since before Eland was killed. Aloe would have gone to rescue the children. She would have done whatever she had to—proudly and without a fuss—no matter what the personal cost. I will try to follow her example.

I offer Conda a shaky smile. “Thank you. It… it means more than you know to have this.”

“You’re welcome.” He sounds pleased.

Aloe’s cane in hand, I fall into step between Peree and Conda. I pray it holds something of my mother still, some essence of her mental and physical strength, because without a doubt, I’m going to need it to find the Fire Sisters and bring the children home.

“Who’s really in charge of this little expedition?” Moray asks. “So I know who to blame when it all goes to hell?”

I grit my teeth, determined not to get into it with him so soon after setting off. Surprisingly, Conda lets out an exasperated mutter.

Derain answers. “Kaiya has agreed to guide us, as she is the only one who has been to the Cloister. Amarina and I will make decisions for the group. Is that a problem?”

In my experience, Derain is a sweet and friendly man, more likely to hug than fight. He must know Moray, though, because he sounds cautious.

Moray snorts. “No, no problem. A girl, a one-handed man, and a tiny, little woman are in charge. No problem at all.”

One-handed man? I suddenly remember Kora told me, the night we arrived in Koolkuna, that Derain had cut his hand making a toy for Darel while we were gone.

“How is it?” I ask Peree in an undertone. “Derain’s hand?”

“Not good. He cut a few fingers to the bone. Can't seem to do much with it.”

I frown. I didn’t realize the injury was so severe.

“This whole mission is like one of those stories the elders used to tell us,” Cuda says. “Remember, Moray? The ones where everyone dies at the end.”

I’ve rarely heard Cuda speak, but every time I do, I wish I hadn’t. He sounds like a younger, stupider version of Moray. I don’t say anything, though. Sparring with Moray and his brothers is like pushing the loaded sled up the hill from the water hole with the sick ones groaning in my ears—an exasperating experience under the best of circumstances. I’m not up to it so soon in our journey.

Derain ignores them. “I don’t expect any trouble this close to Koolkuna, but it’s best to keep your weapons close.”

I pat the pocket where I stowed the knife that Peree gave me and Bear showed me how to use. I’m not sure I'll be any kind of help in a fight, but at least I won't be totally helpless.

“So what’s our plan?” Bear asks.

“We will travel in the direction we last saw the Sisters moving,” Derain says, “staying on this path as far as it goes. Then there is a hunting trail through the forest to the Restless. The
guru
must be at least a few hours ahead of us, but if we move quickly, we might catch them before they reach the river.”

“And if we don’t?” Conda asks. “What then? You said they were hard to track.”

“The Sister who… who took me, used a path along the Restless,” Kai says. “Sometimes, we were up in the trees and other times, on the ground, but I think I can find it again.”

“Great. She
thinks
she can find it,” Moray mutters.

“If you
think
you can do better when we get there, be my guest,” Kai shoots back.

“Shut up, Moray. We’re all doing the best we can in a bad situation,” Bear says.

We need to work together now more than ever, but sometimes, Moray makes that impossible.

“If we do catch up with the Sisters,” Kai says, “don’t let them get close. They can… control people.”