House of Winter

Chapter 10, Part 1

L U M I

Their training was rigorous. They were up early every morning for drills, which included combat fighting and sword fighting, and then they spent hours in classrooms, studying history and military strategy. Sanna was completely out of her depth in the classroom, and sat mutely beside Lumi, while Tai was the star student of every teacher, who doted on him.

Lumi had always been so jealous of her brother's charisma, but now instead of jealous she felt bitter, and she felt pity for their fellow students who were so easily tricked by Tai's charm. He would hurt them, as he hurt everyone in his life.

They days were exhausting, but Lumi still found it difficult to sleep in a dormitory room with other girls. Many nights she would sneak out of the dormitory to look up at the sky, although in Singtsu it was impossible to see the stars. The nights were never dark enough and it was always too cloudy. She missed the long nights of the Lombardian autumn and wind seasons, when she'd been able to see the stars.

On one such night Lumi crept out of the dormitory and into the field beyond the training grounds. She sat in the shadow of her father's statue, where she was hidden from view in case someone in the palace woke up and looked out, and she stared up at the cloudy night over the forest.

Over the forest, the suns were rising already.

Lumi blinked and frowned. She'd checked the clock in the hall before she'd snuck out, and it was nowhere near time for the suns to be rising. Lumi rubbed her eyes. And then she realised that the suns were rising in the wrong place. The suns always rose in the Loth.

She blinked, confused. She was facing the Dorthern sky. This must be a dream. A terrible dream, and she would wake up in her bed in the House of Fire in Lombardia to find out that Raphael was alive and Jinni was safe.

She imagined, briefly, that the whole world had been turned upside down.

The familiar shape of the peaks of the volcano rose up on either side of her. There were the two peaks on either side of the valley, which were the edges of the crater of the dead volcano in which they resided. There were the steps leading up to the palace, and the forest where the monkeys slept high in the trees, out of reach of hungry tigers.

And there was sunlight, shining above the forest.

But of course it was not the light of the two suns, which still hadn't risen. Instead, Lumi realised, it was unmistakably the light of a light starrling, shining a beam of light to reach her, and her alone.

Lumi swallowed.

A light starrling, in the Fire Lands?

Magic other than Fire was forbidden in the Fire Lands, and had been for hundreds of years. One was as unlikely to find a light starrling here as they were to find a dragon.

A light starrling in the Fire Lands would have either had to come over the treacherous volcanic mountains that divided Alamadi from Kakaio, spitting fire at those who dared cross, or they would have had to come from Lombardia by ship. Neither option seemed particularly likely. She couldn't imagine why any light starrling would be here.

Were they the Lombardian King's Garde? For a moment she imagined King Matthias had sent an envoy to her to ask her to give evidence in a royal court. Maybe she could turn the tide of the war by convincing Matthias Stone that his son had not been killed by Vastiens. Maybe she could stop the war.

But if the King's Garde were here, surely they would have announced themselves with an envoy.

Which meant that whoever was here wasn't here on the orders of King Matthias.

But as Lumi stared at the beam of light, deciding that it must be someone who had been sent here to kill her, she saw a dark shape emerge from the trees and burst into the light.

It was a tiger, visible only for a brief second before descending again into the trees.

Lumi inhaled sharply.

Jinni.

Lumi stood up and ran towards the forest. The light disappeared, but Lumi knew her way through these forest grounds intimately.

She reached the edge of the trees, and paused for a moment to catch her breath. She felt a trickle of fear at the back of her neck - maybe this was a trick. Maybe it wasn't Jinni. But she could have sworn she recognised him.

"Jinni?" she called out, in a voice only a little louder than a whisper.

Lumi glanced back behind her, to the empty training grounds. If someone was here to attack her, she had no defense.

But her gut was telling her that Jinni was here. He'd found a way to come back to her.

"Jinni!" she hissed out

And then Lumi saw the fire.

"JINNI!" she cried out, and rushed through the forest towards the tiger. Her heart was beating fast as she approached the beautiful beast. He let out a bellowing roar, and fire glowed hot in his mouth.

And instantly Lumi realised it was not Jinni. It couldn't be Jinni. He had all four legs.

"Azinni?" Lumi asked.

The tiger lowered its head to her, and Lumi knew for certain it was her grandmother's tiger.

"What are you doing here?"

She stepped up to Azinni and stroked him along his nose. His wings were in bad shape, and his fur looked messy. Usually Azinni spent lazy days draped in front of the fireplace in the palace, but it looked like Azinni had been flying for days.

"Where have you been?" Lumi murmured. "What happened to you?"

She was so concerned with Azinni's wellbeing, checking his body for scratches or any sign that he'd been attacked, that she didn't hear the sound of the others approaching until it was too late.

By the time she heard movement behind her, Lumi spun around, with a ball of fire in her hand. "Stay back!" she cried out, holding the flame above her head to try to scare off her attackers.

"I've no interest in being turned into a roasted marshmallow tonight, if you don't mind."

Lumi lowered her flame, and the first thing she noticed was the terrifying dark shadow of a black wolf. And beside the wolf was his kinnling owner.

"Tom?" Lumi cried.

"Evening, Lumi," Tomas Wilder said with a grin. "You know, I've always wanted to see Kakaio, and I'm grateful for the warm welcome, but maybe the fire is a little too warm."

Lumi dropped the flame so it was just a flicker in her hand, enough to see by.

Tomas Wilder was standing in front of her. She could barely believe her eyes.

Thank you for reading! Don't forget to vote on this chapter by hitting the star button!

TOM IS BACK!!

Who is excited to see Lumi and Tom together again?

elle xx