Page 78 of A Kiss of Hammer and Flame

‘The Prince is not with the Captain,’ Thelaema said quietly, reading her thoughts as the others arrived.

‘Good.’ Cahra updated Raiden’s trio as Thelaema made for the house, Wyldaern by her side, the Seers speaking frantically.

‘We must aid the Captain,’ Piet argued. The stern look on Siarl’s face said she agreed, while Queran withdrew two arrows from his quiver. ‘We cannot leave him at the mercy of Kolyath and Ozumbre’s armed forces.’

‘I wouldn’t expect you to.’ Cahra watched Thelaema from outside the glass sphere of the Oracle’s round room, a speck of motion in the distance. What was she doing?

‘Then we must go,’ Piet insisted, broad shoulders turning with purpose.

‘Piet, wait,’ Cahra said, as the group looked to leave. ‘Wait for Thelaema to get back. If Raiden’s been ambushed, we need to know how, and how many there are, as well as where in the caves Raiden and his guards are fighting.’

‘She’s right,’ Siarl said. ‘The tunnels were pitch black. An ambush would be easy, not to mention traps. We need to avoid whatever waylaid the Captain.’ Her dark brows furrowed.

‘Agreed,’ Queran told them. ‘But therein lies the problem. If we move with a torch, they’ll sight us from a league away. Unless they’re in the midst of combat, which might help.’

Cahra looked up at the invisible moon again, still able to mark its location in the sky. ‘I may have a solution for that,’ she said, as Thelaema and Wyldaern rejoined them.

‘Where is the Captain?’ Piet immediately asked the Oracle.

‘Too far from the entrance to flee, too close for us to feel overtly comfortable.’ Thelaema glanced to Wyldaern. ‘I cannot be discovered.’

‘I will not let that happen,’ Wyldaern vowed, mouth set in a firm line.

Siarl interjected. ‘The sooner we reach the Captain, the less you have to worry. How many enemies? How did they ambush him? Do traps await?’

‘They breached a collapsed tunnel.’ Thelaema leaned heavily against her apprentice. ‘Your Captain’s men are outnumbered three to one.’

‘Traps?’ Queran pressed, red eyebrows taut. The Oracle shook her head, looking as if she was standing by sheer force of stubbornness alone.

‘We shall lead them from here,’ Piet told the Seers. He looked to Cahra.

She felt fastened to the ground.I thought I’d have more time—

‘I know,’ Thelaema murmured to her.

‘Go,’ Cahra told Piet. ‘I won’t be long.’ She couldn’t stymie her nerves as she waved Thierre’s detail away. Piet nodded, the group leaving to descend on the caves.

When they’d gone, she turned to Thelaema. ‘You know what I’m going to ask you.’

‘Yes,’ the Oracle said quietly. Wyldaern retreated, giving them privacy.

Cahra couldn’t breathe as she strained to speak the words:

‘How… how did they die?’

Thelaema didn’t answer right away.

‘Your mother and father knew the risks; their responsibility, once you were born and named Kolyath’s heir. By then, your kin had been in hiding for centuries.’ The Oracle paused to clear her throat. ‘And yet there were always threats, tragedies. Death. No matter where Brulian and Inana’s descendants went, it was as though someone, somewhere, always knew. Your family became nomads, ever on the move to stay beyond the reach of their enemies.’

Thelaema’s eyes fell, the slightest tremor in her voice as she carried on.

‘With the union of your parents, however, and after so long without incident, they decided that it was time to settle with those they trusted – to establish a real life, with you.’ The woman wavered. ‘But Ozumbre found you, and struck one final time.’

In that moment, standing in the dark of night, the thought pierced her like an arrow: Cahra didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to touch, didn’t want to mar, any inkling she’d ever had about her parents. The fantasy, that maybe they’d been happy.

That maybe things hadn’t ended with their blood.

But there was no time to turn back now. Hands trembling at her sides, Cahra asked, ‘What happened?’