Starrlings 1: House of Fire

chapter 90

LUMI

The caves were eerily quiet, but Lumi could feel the pulsing of power somewhere deeper into the cliffs. But now she stopped everyone, with a hand out in front of Ari, as she heard movement up ahead.

There were pieces of thick canvas strung up to divide this cavern into sections. Lumi pointed silently to a curtain that was shifting slightly.

Ari, ever so swift and silent, crept along the length of one such curtain, and nudged at the fabric with her toe. There was a growl. But Ari pulled the fabric back, to reveal Kobuk the wolf.

Lumi and the others followed Ari, around the curtain and into the sectioned off hospital area, where they found Tom lying on a stretcher, with only his wolf for company.

Kobuk touched noses with Helvig and Sigrún in greeting, and then allowed the others to pass him, to reach Tom.

His shirt was off, revealing his chest, which was unscarred. But the canvas stretcher beneath him was covered in blood.

"Goodness, are you okay?" Katja asked, stepping forward and touching Tom's shoulder. Lumi stepped back out of her way, and glanced back at Raphael, who looked concerned.

"I'm fine, really," Tom insisted, and he tried to sit up, but he clenched his teeth in pain as he did. "It's just a surface wound."

But Lumi caught a glance of the surface wound as he sat up - a huge graze across the entirety of his back, bloody and gaping.

"Where are the nurses?" Raphael asked. "Why isn't anyone treating you?"

"They all just ran off," Tom said, perplexed. "What's going on? Has there been another attack? I could hear screaming." Tom's gaze travelled to Ari. "You're here."

Lumi knew what Tom's expression meant. "He's down here, somewhere," she murmured.

"This place is like a maze," Katja whispered. "How do we find him?"

"I know the layout," Tom said, wincing in pain again as he swung his legs off the stretcher. "And Ari has that map."

They helped Tom to his feet, but it was clear immediately that Tom was in no position to fight, or perhaps even walk. He limped to his wolf's side and pulled himself up onto Kobuk's back. Lumi could see the graze along his back, a shallow gash that had taken off a lot of skin.

Now they were six.

Lumi led the way, a fire in her palm as she directed the group deeper into the cave. She could feel her power growing stronger as she found her way towards her brother. Behind her, Tom rode his wolf. Ari, Sanna and Katja walked alongside him, with Helvig and Sigrún following. And taking up the rear was Raphael, leading Kala deeper into the intricate network of caves that reached into the cliffs.

Lumi could see natural light ahead. Sunlight glanced off the spindly fingers of stalactites on the roof of the tunnel above them. They emerged into a bigger cavern, which was open to the ocean. She could see the crashing waves beyond. Water lapped at the edge of the cave, crashing against the rocks of the mouth of the cave. The icy wind caught in the mouth of the cave and made strange echoing noises.

"Tai's here," Lumi murmured. She felt her power returning to her, growing stronger. Her brother's presence called to her.

It was Ari who let out the gasp. At the very end of the cavern, in the darkest of the shadows, was a writhing shape.

"What is that?" Lumi murmured.

Lumi held up the fire in her hand, feeding it more with her power so that it grew stronger and lit up the cavern. It came so easily to her now.

The fire exposed the writhing mass for what it was. A dragon, chained to the ground, struggling against its bindings. Lumi could see bleeding wounds where the chains were digging into its scales.

Ari slipped past Lumi and ran forward.

"No!" Lumi called out, but Ari stopped when the cavern lit up, to reveal at least ten men, each holding burning flames, standing at intervals around the cave. They'd been waiting for them.

Tai stood with them, his flame burning brightest of all. His tiger stood behind him, and there were more fire tigers around the cavern.

Lumi felt for her power within her, and attempted what Doctor Hart had been teaching her. The quell. She could push down against the fire around her, snuff it out like a candle.

As Lumi quelled, the flames in the hands of the men seemed to suffocate, dying in their palm.

But then Tai stepped forward. His face was lit up by the fire in his palms, making sharp shadows that slashed across his cheeks and left his eyes in darkness. And as he moved forwards, the fires in the men's hands burned brighter again.

Lumi gasped, staring down at her hands, which were charred black with the effort.

"So you are the queller," Tai said with a smile.

Lumi glanced behind her, to see the others were huddling in close to one another as Tai's men advanced. She realised with a jolt that the tunnel through which they'd entered was now blocked by two men and a tiger. They were trapped, with only the gaping mouth of the cave as an escape, leading out towards nothing but sky, and the roiling sea below.

"Did you figure it out, dear sister?" he asked. "Did you understand the twin fire signs? The Jinni and the Yainni? Did you see what we are?"

"The Jinni and Yainni?" Lumi asked, staring at her brother. They were the names of the twin fire stars, chosen as names for Lumi and Tai's kinnlings. She didn't understand what that had to do with anything.

"They are the push and pull of the universe, dear sister," Tai said. "And we, the fire twins, embody that. We are the ebb and flow; the surge and the quell."

As he spoke, Lumi felt a surge of power within her. Her brother's power, which flowed to her as if he had turned on a tap and unleashed it into her. She felt invincibly strong, as the fire in her palm grew brighter and brighter, and crackled with the pleasure of power. Even Jinni had never delivered as much power as she had now, flowing through her. She felt as if she could burn the world.

It was Tai's power, his magic, that strengthened hers. Even without Jinni by her side, her fire had always been strong. Because she had her brother by her side. He had always made her stronger.

Lumi realised that Tai was not only surging her own power, but the magic of his men around them. The ring of men held fires aloft that burned harsher than sunlight. The power of fire in the cavern was so strong, so cleansing. Every dark crevice was lit up. Everything was heat and power.

"You need me, sister," Tai said. "You need my power. It is my purpose to stand behind you, and give you all the power of the universe. Take it, now."

please vote x