Page 48 of Burn Bright
Doubt cleaved through my focus. The hiss of steel slashed into my shoulder, spattering blood across the snow. I stumbled aside as he swung madly, leaping on top of a boulder and flipping back over the next wildswing.
It gained me a few steps but as he turned, smiling a little, I knew I couldn’t lastforever.
Just as he knewit.
And the Darkness insidehim.
"You are Fire,"Galina whispered."You are pure of heart. It cannot touch you, Neva. Not unless you allowit."
How could I defeat it? Me? Village born and bred? Especially when she couldnot?
"My flames were burning low,"she whispered."I was old and tired. You are a fresh flame. Believe in yourself. Let the firebird burnfree."
Believe inyourself.
Words my father had raised mewith.
This time, when Hussar attacked, I did not danceaway.
I stepped inside his swing, and plunged the spear inside Hussar’s chest, feeling the fire ignite through my veins as the firebird awoke. The ash spear burst into white flames, and Hussar screamed as his heart smoldered within him. Smoke poured from his open mouth as he went to his knees, but his mortal body seemed to be withstanding the heat. Something held it together. I could not kill this entity. Not even with the firebird’sflames.
"Your blood will bind it to its prison again,"Galinawhispered.
I tore my knife free and cut the palm of my hand, holding it over Hussar's body. Spatters of bright red hit his face, and hissed as they sizzled. Only one more sign I was no longer entirelyhuman.
A drop of blood pattered into the dirt beside him. I felt the forest wake, my world suddenly so much more than the feel of the body that held me. Thick, twisted roots tracked through loamy soil, locking together in a cage to hold this Darkness at bay beneath my feet. I could feel every tree root, every branch, and every tree that had been planted to guard against this evil. They felt like an extension of myarm.
Clenching my fist, I raised it to the sky, and thick roots burst from the earth, wrapping around Hussar's chest like steel bands. He screamed, those smoldering flames still eating the heart in his chest. Black eyes met mine,"No!"
And it was not Hussar that yelled the denial, but something else. Something that tainted the very air with the sound of its hollow voice coming from his mortalthroat.
I drew my fist in sharply to my chest, and the roots withdrew into the ground, taking their vile prize with them. The second I released my fist, the earth closed back over him, leaving nothing but the scar of raw dirt in the forestfloor.
The strength drained out of me, and all of my flames died down, leaving the faint crackle of smoldering heat in the dry leaves beneath myfeet.
It was then I realized I hadwitnesses.
Only the crackle of the fire broke the silence, as I turned to survey the four men who remained alive. Casimir, Evaron, and two others whom I'd marked with the trident when we first entered the woods. Hussar must have killed the others before I returned, for their bodies lay broken and bloodied aroundus.
"What was that?" Evaron rasped, and I could see the wildness in all theireyes.
EvenCasimir's.
The strength that had flooded through me at the well suddenly faded, as if I'd been running on borrowed energy throughout the fight. My knees hit the ground, and I gasped. "The Old Ways. Useful for more than just hunting." I said, trying to summon a smile. "I asked for the firebird’s protection and she granted it. You should tryit."
Evaron tried to sit up, and Cas caught him as the prince fellback.
"Your highness? Ev?" Cas shook him as Evaron's eyes rolled back in his head. Then he looked at me. "Help me.Please."
* * *
Only the pureof heart could survive the Well ofTears.
We were about to find out just how pure our prince trulywas.
"Put him down here," I said, gesturing to the cobbles beside the circularwell.
Cas carried Evaron in his arms, barely struggling beneath the weight. No, the strain showed in his tight expression, and at the thought of losing hisfriend.
