Lory would have never admitted it, but a part of her was curious how he’d gotten those scars. If he had once featured wings and soared through the skies above the three Brestolyan provinces. But she was too much of a coward to find out what would happen if he disapproved of such a question.
Before she could spiral into theifsandwhensof the creature’s existence, whispers echoed through the sun-lit space, summoning her attention.
“He brought her here last night,” someone said to the hushed sounds of concurrence of more voices.
“What do you think he wants with her? He’s never brought anyone else into the cave.” Another pointed out.
“He’s also never spoken to us before he brought her here.”
Lory closed her eyes, listening so hard she felt her heart hammering in her throat.
“She’s obviously a Flame like us.”
“There are no Flames left,” someone said with conviction as if they’d personally tested the entire Brestolyan population.
Another one objected, “How do you explain our numbers, then? It used to be only five of us before?—”
A low growl cut into the voices, making Lory’s eyes pop open, and this time, a pair of lilac eyes were waiting for her.
“Good morning?” Lory offered, ignoring the voices behind her, unable to look away from the ethereal, unnatural, shimmering discs staring down at her.
“A new day this is. Her people she must see.”Without another word, the leonthor heaved himself to his paws, power and elegance given form, and slunk into a dark corner as if the sun offended it, leaving Lory under the scrutiny of three pairs of eyes.
“She speaks,” the man said with a hint of a glare shooting from his dark eyes under bushy eyebrows as Lory turned around at last, carefully sitting up. He was barely taller than the middle-aged woman elbowing him in the ribs, the sleeveof her beige linen dress slipping down her tanned forearm. Her black hair was bound in a bun at the top of her head, and a rope with carved figures hung around her neck.
“Never mind Hadrick,” the woman said with a tentative smile. “He’s never known manners.”
The other woman, much younger, studied Lory with obvious suspicion, her dark eyes flashing in the shadows as she shifted from foot to foot. A long braid slid over her shoulder as she tilted her head.
“Oh, where aremymanners…” The older woman took a few long strides toward Lory, holding out her hand. “I’m Enya, and these”—she glanced over her shoulder at the other two, who were still standing rooted to the spot, eyeing Lory as if she presented more danger than the leonthor—“are Hadrick and Olive.”
Reluctantly, Lory took the woman’s hand.
Enya gave her a broad smile, her golden skin wrinkling around the eyes. “Do you have a name, dear?” The lilting accent reminded Lory of the merchants from the south.
What seemed like lifetimes ago, the leonthor had introduced her asElory, the Flame.Lory wasn’t even sure the three Flame-born had been among the group by the fire when that happened, so she gave them a tentative smile. “Lory.”
From the corner, a growl rolled across the cave floor like a carpet-shaped warning.
“You wanted me to make friends with them,”Lory snapped at him in her mind.“Don’t get upset when I tell them the preferred version of my name.”
“It’s a pleasure, Lory.” Enya gestured at the tunnel behind her. “We just had breakfast and got some bread left if you’re hungry.”
As if on cue, Lory’s stomach grumbled. She’d eaten berries and even snared a rabbit with a trap built from a rope of slender twigs and grass blades, dependent on hunting after all her belongings had gone up in flames when her fire had taken over. Her clothes seemed to be the only thing that had survived, and those were hanging in tatters in places.
“Never said we have, that the Flame shall not introduce herself,”the leonthor commented, reappearing from his hiding spot in the shadows and coming to stand by her side.
The other three Flame-born all lowered their heads in what looked a lot like a bow to the creature of myths staring them down with those eerie lilac eyes. For a moment, he stood motionless, then, with a yawn, he turned on the spot and disappeared into the shadows once more.
“Learn the Flame must,”his voice echoed through Lory’s mind, fading the same way his outline did in the darkness of the cave where the morning sun couldn’t reach.
“Learn what?” Lory muttered to herself. The leonthor wouldn’t give her a proper answer—the same as he hadn’t given her a proper answer to anything else.
A part of Lory wanted to sneak to the edge of the opening, turning her back on the antlered monster and the three fire-gifted, but the direction the sun was creeping into the sky was wrong. This exit wouldn’t expel her on the northern side of the mountain summits. From here, she would never find her way back to the outpost. Better to spend her timefamiliarizing herself with the layout of this place if she was to be trapped here for a while.
With a sigh, Lory inclined her head at Enya, pulling up her best smile. “Breakfast sounds wonderful, actually.” Even if she wouldn’t be able to enjoy even a bite with her worries for Khayrivven running high.
The woman ushered her forward with a calloused hand, motioning for Hadrick and Olive to lead the way.
