“Wake, Essa.”
A firm hand squeezed her shoulder and she moaned into her pillow. Her lids too heavy to lift, her mind clung to the fog of sleep. Of dreams, and Nazrin.
The remembrance of her body melting was enough to pry open her eyes. A dim slash of moonlight permeated the darkness of the cabin. It wasn’t morning.
Nazrin stood in the corner, dressed, in his arms a handful of her garments.
She knit her brows together and rose onto her elbows. “What’s wrong?”
He handed her the clothing. “Reports of a fire in the human village outside of Halcyon. We must go.”
Essa bobbed her head, her semi-conscious mind still full of sleep. Nazrin quit the room while she dressed, and she met him at the door. The leader replaced the male who’d loved her body so well but a few hours ago. Hiding her disappointment, she bit her tongue against the dozens of questions she yearned to ask.
She followed Nazrin out the door toward a group of men. Males dressed for war. Nazrin wore a black leather cuirass over his chest. Similar armor lined his forearms and calves. He carried a large shield and a double-edged sword. Crouching, he drew some quick lines in the sand with a stick. “Our destination is a human village some twenty miles away. I’ve had reports of a fire creature setting fields ablaze. Its progression has been eastward, with attacks on these three farms.” He pointed to three stones representing the farms. “We’ll fly in, drop Lady Essa and Arvin west of the wreckage, should we encounter the beast in progress.” He met her gaze. “Lady Essa, your task is to contain the fires. Even one destroyed farm is devastating for these people.” With a stiff nod, he addressed the others. “We’ll attack and eliminate the creature.”
Everyone murmured understanding. Excitement mixed with apprehension pumped through her veins and extinguished the remnants of sleep fog. This was the type of aid she’d been trained to provide. The kind of task that would prove her worth as the new Pythia. She squeezed her fingers at her sides. So long as I don’t fail.
“One more thing. This is my mission. You’ll fight under my command, which means I require access to each of your minds tonight.”
Essa shook her head at the Water Borne male, Arvin, who lurched forward to protest. She didn’t like the intrusion any more than he apparently did, but Nazrin’s tense stance allowed for no opposition. She rechecked the locks on her secrets to ensure they remained hidden in the depths of her consciousness.
The probe of Nazrin’s mind nudged against hers, and she accepted his presence, permitting him to maintain a shallow connection. Praying he neither attempted to access her secrets, nor her turbulent ponderings about their intimacy.
“Celso, Ermir, take the myrman. Essa, you’re with me.” Nazrin extended his hand for her to accept. Her perusal traced those firm fingers, along that sturdy arm and across his chest. He wore armor, carried weapons. As did the others.
Other than her dagger, she had no weapon. She frowned and opened her mouth to suggest she carry a bow.
“You won’t be fighting.”
She closed her mouth and glared at him. The sooner this was over and he was out of her mind, the better.
“I need your help quenching the flames. A fire destroys not only vegetation, but also the people who rely on those crops for their survival. You have the ability to right some of this wrong. It’s no small thing. Come, we must go before the fire has taken too much.” He waved his hand at her once more.
She accepted and stepped into the security of his arms. Nazrin opened his snow-white wings and leapt into the air.
No. Her heart pounded so hard against her ribs it left no room for her lungs to draw air. Latching on to him, she struggled against the panic flying induced. With her eyes squeezed shut, her mind absorbed the gusting of the wind, the flap of Nazrin’s wings, and…the vibrations in his chest?
Damn him. The jerky convulsions of his chest told her he found her trepidation amusing. Ire replaced the fear in her veins. He might love flying, but she was much happier in the water. Or on land. Certainly not in the air.
“Ach, Essa, easy. Your nails are going to draw blood, and I can’t breathe with you choking me. Relax, I promise not to drop you.” One by one, he peeled her clinging fingers off his neck.
She resisted, not because she wished to be attached to him, but because the sensation of her body not connected to anything terrified her.
“You’re missing quite the comedy.” His warm chuckle fell against her ear, sending shivers along her spine. “The myrman likes flying even less than you do.”
The promise of someone else sharing a similar torture was reason enough for her to open her eyes. At the sight of Arvin, humped dejectedly, a winged male on either side of him, she snickered into Nazrin’s shoulder.
“Sirena, trust me.”
The steady depth in his tone relaxed her muscles and she relented. She loosened her grip, but pressed her face into his shoulder, eyes shuttered.
“Don’t close your eyes,” Nazrin whispered. He glided through the air, keeping them steady until she gained the confidence to open them.
She lifted first one eye, then the other. A few stars shone, interspersed with random clouds. Though the moon provided some light, she discerned mostly shadows.
They flew above a forest, and then fields stretched below them. Suddenly, the clouds around them altered. No longer cottony wisps, they were dense patches of acrid fumes.
When Nazrin declared the fields were burned, she assumed it wasn’t such a tragedy. It was still summer; perhaps they might replant.
But this, it sickened her stomach. Several fires raged on, across the horizon, and the stench of smoke and ash wafted to them. No plants would grow in these fields. Would the humans starve? Essa’s heart tugged at the plight of these poor people. Why had this fire creature attacked them? If Nazrin knew, he wasn’t sharing. Well, at least I can help.
They passed over a hill. Where blackness should have dominated, a reddish hue lit the rocks and trees below them. The ground radiated red and orange, illuminating the fields and houses. A menacing omen. Was there to be bloodshed?
No, they’re not all on fire, Nazrin spoke in her mind. The luminescence originated from one source—the beast.
Nazrin dropped her off at the west end, where the creature had begun to wreak its havoc. He and the other two warriors headed off toward the center of the heat.
Once on the ground, Essa surveyed her surroundings. Nazrin had instructed her to save as much as possible. Squinting, she assessed the burning field. Flames flickered a hundred feet away. If they didn’t contain the fire, the barn behind her and the home beside it would be lost. They must find water—their most precious weapon against this terrible evil. “Search for water,” she called to Arvin.
“Here. I found a well,” the myrman shouted from her left.
She joined him. “Perfect, help me draw the water out.” They had no need of the human bucket and pulley system. Working together, they coaxed the water so that it hovered in a mid-air, waist-high stream, flowing out of the well. They sent it toward the blazing ground and the water fell as a heavy rain. The stream continued onward while the fire beneath it extinguished.
Across the village, the shrieks of the beast shattered the air and sent a ripple of ice beneath her skin. A thunderous crackling, followed by an agonizing hiss like a wet log placed on a hot fire, screeched across the field. Essa shuddered and blocked out the screams, continuing her task.
They’d reclaimed most of the field. A trail of smoke drifted through the air, its swirling tendrils wafting upward.
Suddenly, a howl wailed across the field from her. She tensed and veered in the direction of the noise. Gleaming golden orbs stalked her from out of the darkness. Against the black of the night sky, she discerned the glowing outline of the creature before her. It was as large as a barn, its shape familiar. A dragon?
Its black claws dug into the earth while its spike-tipped tail flicked on the ground. Rich ochre scales glinted in the firelight like burnished armor. The beast’s nostrils flared and snorted fire, its leathery wings flapping.
Death and destruction were in its raging eyes, and Essa was in its path.
Where’s Nazrin? Why isn’t he fighting the beast? Oh gods, is he hurt? Denial pulsed through her even as she gaped at the firedrake, petrified by her fear. She should flee. No, don’t run. Fight?
She prayed the beast hadn’t noticed her, but rather was enraged at something behind her.
That it would pass her by.
But the dragon pawed the earth, screeching in anticipation of the kill, and charged toward her.
She struggled to recall everything Nazrin had taught her about fighting, her hands grasping for her dagger. Doubtless, that paltry blade wouldn’t pierce the firedrake’s armored hide. Instead, she fisted her hands, coaxing water to their flame-blue tips.
The ground trembled beneath her feet. The fiery dragon was almost upon her.
Advancing on her, the beast let out a high-pitched shriek, so close its heat scorched her skin.
She raised her fist, a watery orb hovering in her grasp, and aimed it at the creature. The liquid thwacked against the beast’s hide, causing it to squeal in agony.
A menacing snarl echoed through the field and Nazrin crashed into the monster, knocking it onto its side. He leapt on top of the firedrake, the heat of the creature engulfing him in a blurry haze. Black wings ablaze, he braced his sword above his head, raised to deliver the killing blow.
No, Essa tried to shout, but her throat was so parched she made no audible sound. No one would be able to survive the heat of that monster.
If she didn’t do something to save Nazrin, he would surely die.