The Greatfire
Gardens District, New Sarresant
Llanara held his eyes, creeping rage replacing the love that had been there moments before.
“You’ve betrayed me,” Llanara said.
Fear bloomed beneath his skin, fear of a sort he had not known since the day the valak’ar attacked the village. Llanara’s eyes remained fixed on him, pools of brown falling away into depths that had not been there when she had shared his bed. An abyss. Madness, in the core of her soul.
A ripple passed through the crowd. Gasps, shuffling steps, as though Llanara had done something to keep them all at bay, and now they wavered as she did, staring at him with hate.
A cracking sound came from behind. Spears of ice flew toward her, shattering on a shield of white that sprang up at the last moment, scattering fragments around the steps.
The crowd roared.
Llanara moved, faster than should have been possible, equal to the blinding speed of lakiri’in, and he drew on the reptile’s gift to match her, springing to his feet to interpose himself between her and Corenna. Men and women screamed as he struck, kicking at her, and met the white shield again. The impact blew them both apart, Llanara staggering back as he was sent to the ground.
“You’ve betrayed me, Arak’Jur,” she cried out again, raw pain in her voice. “We could have had more than any pair in the history of our tribe. We could have been—”
Another salvo of ice flew at her, a blast of cold wind rushing through the square as Corenna advanced.
“Madwoman!” Corenna screamed, her ice impacting on webs of white springing up around Llanara’s body.
The crowd surged away, widening a gap around the steps at the center of the square. Some broke and ran; others stared, and some few descended into fighting among each other, the same frothing madness they had seen before, when the Ganherat warriors attacked Marie.
“Is she your woman now?” Llanara asked.
Arak’Jur sprang to his feet, still bolstered by lakiri’in. But he froze as an aura of black enveloped Llanara, and in a heartbeat her eyes frosted over, the same misty blue Corenna showed when she channeled the gift of ice.
Impossible. Llanara had never made the journey north.
“Corenna!” he cried. Too late. Llanara loosed a spear of ice, streaking toward Corenna in a flash, taking her in the hip and sending her crumpling to the ground in a howl of pain.
The film of frost dissipated from Llanara’s eyes as she turned back to him. “You see, my love? You see what you have given up?”
He roared, calling upon mareh’et.
White flared around Llanara again as he struck, the spirit-claws of the Great Cat slicing against her shield, a force great enough to shear through bone, to heave her across the square. Instead she held her ground without flinching from his attacks, looking up at him with pity in her eyes.
She reached a hand to grasp his throat. Fast. Faster than lakiri’in, and stronger than una’re. She forced him to his knees.
“Did you not love me, Arak’Jur? Did you forget me on your travels?”
He gasped for air, and the crowd around them broke as she stared, rage burning in her eyes. Her anger seemed to bleed through the square, howls and shouts descending into pockets of violence. White flared around her as he struck her forearms, channeling una’re’s gift to send shocks through her as he tried to pry loose her grip.
“Please …” he managed. “Llanara … our people …”
“Our people are on the cusp of greatness!” she shouted at him. “How could you?” Tears streaked from her eyes, a sudden rush of hate in her voice. “How could you do this to me?”
A torrent of wind whipped against them both, and Llanara’s shield of white flickered for an instant, dashing them to the ground. The crowd screamed but kept their distance, as though some force repelled them from the center of the square.
He called upon ipek’a to give himself the strength to stand, watching Llanara rise as Corenna pressed forward, hobbled with blood streaking down her leg.
“Monster!” Corenna yelled, a raging whirlwind pouring out from her hands, breaking against the renewed strength of Llanara’s shield. “Spirit-cursed madwoman.”
Llanara’s eyes narrowed, and once more a black aura surrounded her.
This time he was ready. He drew upon the gift of the Mountain, the fire held deep within its heart.
Fire bellowed from his hands as Corenna maintained her onslaught of wind, and Llanara howled, turning toward the pillars of flame he channeled into where she stood. No sooner had her gaze settled on him than he felt Llanara’s cloud of blackness closing in, ethereal claws seeming to reach inside him, tearing the Mountain’s gift from his grasp. His flame sputtered out as Llanara’s white shield flickered again, letting Corenna knock her to the ground.
With a wordless snarl, Llanara’s eyes went red and she turned the gift of fire toward Corenna, meeting a barrier of earth conjured from nothing as Corenna’s eyes hardened to wield the power of stone. Llanara maintained her attack, a stream of fire threatening to break through Corenna’s defense as it melted stone into liquid, licking around the edges in a roar of primal energy.
Corenna fell back a step as Llanara crawled to her knees. Hatred creased Llanara’s face as she rose, surrounded by the gift of his stolen fire. He saw another flicker, a guttering light as the white shield around her diminished.
He leapt.
He remembered the triumphant roar, the pride of the ipek’a female trumpeting her kill to all who could hear, the thrill of the hunt, the terror inspired by every blood-red feather. And he remembered the fury of the protector enraged, fearless before the enemies of her pack.
He crashed through the earthen shield, through the billowing flame, feeling his skin crack and blister as it scorched his body. The pain seared conscious thought from his mind, leaving only instinct. Hunger. Rage.
He came down with the full force of ipek’a’s scything claws, shearing through the remnants of Llanara’s shield as he snapped her spine in a sickening crunch.
They tumbled onto the ground before the greatfire, entwined together in a mockery of everything they once had shared.
The madness across the square guttered out in an instant.
Llanara met his eyes with a look of fear, lying beside him on the cold stone. Ragged breath escaped her lungs.
“No …” she whispered. “Vekis … said … ascension.”
Hatred simmered, just beneath a boil. She’d done this to his people. Dead men and women lay broken in the snow, victims of each other’s hand as much as the fair-skins’, brought on by her madness. The woman he once had loved.
“Now … nothing to stop him,” Llanara said. “Our people …”
Light seemed to go out of her eyes. She died, and in an instant, all the fury that had passed through the crowd returned in a surging mass of hate and screams.