Page 25 of Of Blood and Fire
A myriad ofemotions tumbled through me, and I found myself blinking back the stupid sting of tears. He wasn’t dead, as we’d all presumed.
I’m not alone....
But I would be if he—and all the other prisoners—remained in those damn cages for too much longer, given the mages were using them to fuel their fires.
How in Vahree’s name were we going to get them out of here, though? Even if we scribed Esan for help, by the time her forces arrived, a good portion of the men in those cages would have already become fuel for the mages’ fires.
“Oh,” Kele said, her whispered tones filled with horror. “In Vahree’s name, don’t tell me they’re going to use that poor man as a sacrifice.”
“Blood fuels their magic, remember.” I didn’t look at what was happening. I didn’t need to, because I’d seen the gutted remnants of the sacrifice they’d used on Jakarra. The only difference here was the fact that both the victimsandtheir entrails were thrown into the kilns.
A short sharp scream rose but was quickly silenced by magic and death. I swore but kept the viewer locked on the area aroundthe wagons, trying to find a way of getting close to them without being seen.
There was no cover of any type—no buildings, trees, or shrubs. Just open ground. The minute we got within a few dozen yards of those wagons, we’d be attacked.
“Can we kill them all?” Kele growled. “Burn the mages’ asses to Vahree’s realm and take the fucking Mareritt with them?”
Sounds plancame Kaia’s comment.
Not when my cousin is a captive down there, Kaia.
What cousin?
Kin. He’s also the legitimate king of Esan now that my father is dead.
Males should not lead. Queen’s job.
A smile tugged at my lips.In the drakkon world, yes. Not in mine.
Your world strange.
Yeah, sometimes it is.
“Given your attention remains on the far end of the valley, I take it you’ve spotted something?” Kele added.
Obviously, Kaia had not passed on the news about the captives to Yara. “Yeah,” I said, then handed her the viewer.
She fiddled with the focus ring for several seconds, then drew in a sharp breath. “Arleeon captives? Where the hell did they get them from?”
“Jakarra and her islands, I suspect.”
She was silent for a couple of seconds. “One of them looks familiar.”
“Because it’s Garran.”
She yanked the longer viewer away from her eye and stared at me. “As in, your cousin Garran? Heir to Esan’s throne?”
“The very same.”
“Well, Túxn obviously holds him in high regard.” She returned the viewer. “How are we going to get them all out of here?”
“Good question.” I retrieved the viewer and studied the cages again. They didn’t appear to be tied on the carts themselves—I dared say their weight, even without all the men inside, would have kept them in place. What I could see of the frames appeared to be metal, which meant they were probably strong enough to withstand the drakkons carrying them out of here. It would definitely make flight and any sort of speed more difficult, but they were nowhere near the size or weight of the boat Kaia had hauled into Hopetown, so she and Yara should have no trouble lifting them.
Can, Kaia said.But not leave you.
And there lay the crux of the whole situation. For the drakkons to get in, we had to find and destroy at least one of the barrier’s anchoring stones, but in doing so we might well find ourselves stranded in the middle of our enemies without any hope of reaching the cages or our drakkons.
I swept the long viewer slowly along the bottom parts of the barrier on the far side of the valley. After several seconds, I noticed the base wasn’t truly straight, but more a series of long, shallow arcs that briefly met the ground at regular intervals. That had to be where the pins anchoring the magic were. Those arcs hadn’t been present in the barrier that had blocked the blue vein tunnel. It was possible they’d been present in the one they’d used at Hopetown, but I’d never had the chance to examine them because the gilded birds had risen and attacked us. Maybe it was a result of the sheer distance being covered here. I swung the viewer to my left and examined the fog behind us, but it was impossible to see the pattern from this angle.
