Rise of the Erifs (The Fire Song Chronicles Book 1)

Chapter 3

Latainia

TORIN LOWERED HIS SWORD IN SURPRISE AS THE ERIF HE WAS FIGHTING abruptly turned and ran. He burst through the window and was away.

Torin saw the only Erifs left in the room were dead. He turned to Daye who had fought beside him, arriving only moments before and not a second too soon. Torin had nearly been overwhelmed by the odds on his own. As a childhood friend Daye had correctly guessed this was where they would have gone. And that they would probably need her.

The thundering of horses hooves outside reached Torin's ears at the same time he saw Jaydar rush down the stairs.

"Daye!" Jaydar grabbed her arm. "Let me see that."

Daye shook him off. "I'm fine. It was only a graze."

"Luckily." Jaydar examined the wound. "It could have been a lot worse."

Torin coughed and grinned. "I survived too, just letting you know."

Jaydar had been in love with Daye for as long as Torin could remember. Daye was the beautiful daughter of Balsard, King Xenon's head of scientific development. He was a gifted inventor and had invented many ingenious devices that Latainians used every day as well as weapons. So since a small child Daye had found herself in the brothers' company, as her father was working with the king and she had no mother. Her mother had vanished when she was only three. Nobody knew what had happened, not even Balsard. Or so he told everyone.

Jaydar rolled his eyes and decided to ignore that. Before he could say a word Kalani had arrived at the bottom of the stairs.

Torin pulled her to him, holding her tight. A loud crack sounded above them.

"Hurry! Outside!" Jaydar shouted, ushering everyone outside and well away from the burning tower.

Pathguards rushed past them with buckets of water, hoses, pumps and other equipment to put out the fire.

Torin turned his attention from the tower to Kalani.

"What were you doing anyway?!" he shouted.

Kalani's gaze didn't falter. "We couldn't let the Erifs get away! They'd stolen something of ours!"

"How did you get it off them?" Daye asked.

Kalani went on to explain that she had been at the Pathway, learning about the workings of it, when the Erifs had arrived. The Pathguards had tried to stop them, fighting ferociously. During the fight the Erifs dropped the papers. Without hesitation Kalani had grabbed the tube and taken off. Kaynan, a Pathguard in training and her best friend, had followed.

Torin shook his head at a loss for words. What could he say? He could tell her that she had been incredibly stupid. The Erifs easily could have killed her but he knew it would do no good. She wouldn't listen to him.

"So where are these papers now?" he said, instead.

"I threw them in the fire."

All Torin's thoughts of keeping calm flew out the window in that instant. "You what?"

"I threw it in the fire," Kalani repeated. "That way the Erifs will never get their hands on them."

"But now we don't have them either." Torin ran a hand through his golden hair. "Do you know what they were?"

"No."

"Great! Just great! You didn't even know what they were but you burnt them anyway. They could have been some ancient parchment! Some priceless piece of our history!" he shouted.