Risen (The Firebird Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  I took a deep breath, ignoring her and stepping into the moonlight. Making my way towards the beautiful tower I couldn’t help but wonder what my friends would have done now. Would they have just made a run for it?

  No, Kieran would have fought it out with them in the alley.

  But I wasn’t a warrior.

  And Nik would have negotiated his way out of it.

  But I wasn’t a politician.

  And Chara wouldn’t have gotten into this mess in the first place.

  Ah, well, we can’t all be perfect.

  So I anxiously paced towards the entrance, realising it was blocked by two giant redheaded guards. Both were on the upper side of six foot, with copper eyes framed by thick golden lashes. But despite their pretty eyes, I was absolutely terrified of them; well, more significantly of the weapons clenched in their fists. As I approached, they stared with a bored indifference.

  “No visitors today,” one of them said.

  “I would like you to let me in,” I said authoritatively. “Please,” I added.

  “No visitors today,” repeated the guy apathetically.

  I stepped closer, reluctantly standing on my tiptoes to whisper into the man’s ear. “You are going to stay here and wait for me,” I uttered, then turned to the other guard, using the same specific tone. “And you will not tell anyone I passed through here. You will not allow anyone of fire to enter the building.” It’s a good job the others are all of different Tribes.

  When I sank back down to my original height, I looked into the guards eyes; seeing a shimmer of silver flickering in their pupils; like a sliver of soul. Once my voice gets a firm grip on a mind, their body is as good as mine.

  The two guards parted out of my way immediately.

  The entrance room was dominated by a huge spiral staircase that wound up through the ceiling; presumably continuing up each floor. But the staircase wasn’t the problem: it was the six Ephizon Elders and their High Protectors who were my problem. Apparently I’d interrupted their meeting.

  Before I gave them time to recognise me –unfortunately, being Firebird royalty and all, some of them probably would- I unleashed my voice in an explosion of powerful sound energy. I didn’t want to hurt anyone so I instantly adapted the sound into a softer, less intrusive melody. My mother’s lullaby was turning out to be very useful these days.

  To my astonishment no noise escaped them -no screaming, no fear- as they instantly relaxed and drifted off into a deep slumber. Disgust welled up inside me as I realised how effortless it was for me to sedate people. My chest ached as I stopped singing; the bubbling energy painfully ebbing away.

  You’re saving their lives, I reminded myself, determined not to look at their incoherent faces.

  I unravelled the cylinder from the folds of material and carefully made my way over to the gemstone wall; pressing the incandescent object against it. From the other side I knew scarlet fragments of light would dance on the concrete pavement, reflecting off the thousands of crystal strands in the stone. Within twenty seconds the front door swung open.

  “Good girl, Ruby,” Briseis said after entering the building; prodding one of the unconscious Elders with the tip of her boot. “There’s hope for you yet.”

  I think I actually hated her. “Can we just get on with it?”

  Zac stalked over with a skilful and professional glide. Yanking my shoulders, he set to work hauling me up the spiral staircase, explaining: “You have to go first so you can stop any unwanted visitors.”

  We ran up three flights of stairs until we encountered our first ‘visitor’. He was a short man with a cropped beard. He quickly fell face-first into the files on his desk under the influence of my hypnotic voice. The next flight held nine men, who went down silently with my mother’s lullaby.

  The last floor held a single woman in a completely empty room. The room was spherical with one window that looped around the entire wall so I could suddenly see just how high up I was. The woman, I realised, had cascading waves of fiery red hair. Her hands, hanging at her hips, were soft but wrinkled; the fingers on them long and slender. Covering those hands was pale ashen skin. I stared closer in confusion when she turned. A dawning horror erupted over me with force.

  “Mum?” I asked in astonishment.

  Chapter Two

  My mother didn’t move at first; she stared at me with a blank, vacant expression. Her long delicate eyelashes brushed her narrow eyebrows and her high freckled cheekbones; just like they always had. I looked so much like her, we shared identical crimson hair, curvy figures and almost fragile-looking facial features; birdlike bones under pale skin.

  I didn’t know how to feel. Adrenalin was pounding in my arteries; visibly upraised with energy. My heart was working double time.

  I turned to the others, confusion blurring my vision. Were they still here? Suddenly I couldn’t remember who I was looking for. Indistinctive figures seemed to be swaying beside me; like I was gazing into the dark reflection of an ocean. I couldn’t distinguish any particular faces; except my mothers. Hers shined as if a halo encircled it.

  I was fascinated by the light, by her light; she was so beautiful. The more I stared the more I became transfixed and perplexed. Her skin wasn’t ashen anymore; it gleamed with a creamy essence like a full autumn moon.

  My mother’s dead, I told myself; but that didn’t matter anymore.

  In a distinctly graceful movement, my mother swept her slender arm behind her, twisting her body elegantly like a ballerina. When she faced me again she held something in her hand. I watched the object, mesmerised at how it was clasped in her fingers. She tapped it gently with her index finger. It chimed softly, like the high-pitched ringing of a hand bell.

  I heard another sound as if it was very far away. I felt like I was in an extensive cave, deep in intricate stone tunnels and somebody was shouting to me at the entrance; screaming: yet I barely noticed. I looked beside me, to those blurry figures. They were swaying more fiercely now, frantically waving distorted arms.

  Where was I?

  I gazed confusedly at my mother and everything seemed to clear again. She was there, analysing me with warm clear eyes. I felt safe in her presence. But then I frowned at the distressed figures: what were they?

  Then my mother’s voice filtered through my head. It wasn’t the soft, caressing sound I remembered from my childhood; it was rougher and more passionate but still just as beautiful. “Ignore them.” she said, gesturing towards the shadows. “It is you I am here for.”

  “You’re dead,” I whispered. My voice cracked, tears filling my eyes.

  “No,” she shook her head, red ringlets catching in her black hoop earrings. My forehead creased; I swear my mother never had her ears pierced. “I am alive; and I will be your second downfall.”

  “What?” I was so confused, “My downfall? What are you talking about?”

  “Your first will follow you even into the afterlife. You are already marked with the fate of the fallen.”

  “Mum, I-“ I began, but then one of the unfocused figures moved silently towards my mother; like a ghost floating across the floorboards. My mother’s face seemed frightened. I realised that the long curved blur attached to the figure wasn’t actually a weird limb; it was a blade.

  They were trying to kill her!

  I ran towards the figure; not knowing what I planned to do. More blurred people were surrounding us now, ten at least, but I couldn’t comprehend properly what was happening. All I knew was that my mother was in trouble and I needed to help her. I felt it in my heart. The hazy mass was upon her already and her face was contorted in agony. I screamed.

  Abruptly the confusion dissolved and all the shadows focussed.

  I blinked as the scene transformed dramatically. Fire warriors were positioned around the room, blades clasped in their hands so tightly the muscles in their arms stuck out like cords. Briseis and Zac stood beside me, the same confusion that I felt echoing across their faces. In the middle of t
he room stood the Airbird; blade in hand.

  A small girl lay motionless in a puddle of blood beside his feet.

  She was a tiny little thing, no older than twelve, with a characteristically plain face and drawn greyish skin. The confusion lingered, my brain still struggling to comprehend what had happened.

  A translucent, spherical object was laced in her fragile fingers. I suddenly felt very sick when I identified it as a small hand bell.

  I understood then. She’d impersonated my mother, calling for reinforcements with the bell while we were distracted. How she had done it I had no idea. I didn’t have time to think about it either.

  The guards were closing in on us. I moved to take a weapon from my belt, realising that I hadn’t been given one. I didn’t have time to use my voice as the first warrior was already attacking me with a pointed, spearing instrument. I blocked the wooden shaft, twisting the sharp edge to the side with minimal damage on my part. The man jabbed forwards again, so instinctively I gathered my existing energy, concentrating it into my fist. I dodged to the side, simultaneously punching his stomach; distracting him.

  I darted forwards, but another warrior was already swiping at me with a blade. I ducked as it fell just short of my temple, then staggered back at the second lash of metal. The first warrior had already recovered and was currently lunging at me with the same dangerous device.

  I moved quickly but without a weapon I soon became trapped between two deadly instruments. From the corner of my eye I noticed Briseis attempting to unlock a trapdoor in the ceiling with a vaguely familiar key.

  The spear and the blade dropped above my head and I closed my eyes instinctively; anticipating the pain. But then the sound of metal clattering to the floor made me open my eyes again. I looked down, surprised that the weapons were on the floor rather than my severed head.

  Lynk looked down at me with a calm, calculating indifference. Two blades were embedded in the warriors that were previously trying to decapitate me. Lynk pulled his blade swiftly out of one man –now disembowelled on the floor beside me- and I quickly took the other.

  Maybe I should have started trying to kill Lynk -after all he was the man who ruined my life on more than one occasion and was probably going to kill me once I stopped being useful- but to be honest, I was a little preoccupied.

  Another warrior lunged at me, though when he realised he was the last guard standing he turned and bolted. Zac chased him immediately; returning a moment later with extra blood smeared across his blade. I glanced away disgustedly. I knew more men would come soon; but for now we were safe.

  Briseis was now looking at Lynk. “You took your time,” she commented, still trying to unlock the trapdoor but too short to reach.

  “Fashionably late,” Lynk agreed coolly.

  There was one man, I realised, who was still alive. He whimpered, clutching his bleeding stomach at one end of the room. I rushed over to him but before I could do anything Zac had noticed and slashed a knife across his throat. Purplish blood gushed gruesomely from the injury and the man’s head collapsed onto the floorboards. Zac then proceeded to clean the blade. I glowered at him. There wasn’t even a hint of remorse in his eyes.

  “You could have warned me about the girl,” Briseis huffed.

  “I didn’t know about her.” Lynk admitted, shuffling Briseis to the side and unlocking the trapdoor personally. It swung open so fast it nearly whacked Briseis. “It’s a shame we had to dispatch her so brutally. She could have been useful.”

  I looked at the dead girl lying in the middle of the bloody carnage and felt pity for her; she was too young. “What was she?” I asked, despite myself.

  Lynk looked at me as if he’d only just realised I was there.

  Briseis was the one who answered. “She had a gift called Reon’ju; a gift almost as rare as yours. Those who have this gift can see into people’s futures. They then use what they see to freak you out; making you visualise a particularly horrific or emotive event. She was just a distraction while the warriors came. We better hurry,” she added suddenly, “More will come.”

  “So whatever she showed us, or told us, is going to happen?” I demanded. There was no way that was possible. My mother is dead.

  “Yes,” Zac shuddered. “That’s why it’s so effective.”

  No. It couldn’t be true. My mother is dead and gone. I should know; I buried her.

  Lynk pulled a ladder from the trapdoor and began climbing it. Briseis then followed and I quickly decided it was time to try and escape. Purposefully not thinking about what I was doing, I turned on my heel and ran towards the only exit; the staircase. I needed to get the hell out of there.

  I heard Zac mutter to himself and suddenly I felt a gush of water flood down my throat. I halted instantly and choked, coughing up thick salty water which tasted of teardrops. I tried to breathe but more flooded my lungs and I was drowning internally. Panic seized my senses. I could feel my cheeks flushing a purplish colour as the need for oxygen rapidly increased.

  “Zac,” Lynk said, poking his head out of the hole in the ceiling. “Would you please bring my daughter up here? Preferably alive.”

  When the water ceased, I was gasping. My body convulsed violently as Zac grabbed me with iron strength and pushed me over to the ladder. I struggled against him, desperate to be free of his fierce grasp. It took me a moment to realise that he was holding a knife at my ribcage.

  He hissed something incomprehensible and I felt a pinch of stinging pain in my side from the knifepoint. I glared but grudgingly surrendered. Reluctantly I clambered up the steps; discovering a large room with wooden vaulting that arched the ceiling into a perfect point; like a church steeple. It was lit with looming spheres of encased light, dangling from metal chains.

  We were at the very top of the Tower, seeing Ephizon in all its glory through the thin crystal wall. The room was filled to the brim with thousands of priceless items. There seemed to be no order to anything –the solid gold statues, royal jewellery, ruby-embedded goblets and rich objects from all four corners of Kariak- were just randomly scattered around. I took a deep breath at the sight; feeling like I’d just discovered El Dorado.

  “So where is the Eternal Light?” Briseis wondered.

  Lynk nodded up to the lights. “Last time I was here I spent hours searching this room. It was only when I gave in and left that I realised,” He glanced sternly at me, his white-blond hair flashing in the light. “That it had been hidden within numerous identical copies of itself; disguised as a light.”

  “How do we know which one to get?” Briseis asked.

  I gazed up at crystal spheres but it was impossible to count them.

  “We don’t,” Lynk said to Briseis, “and we don’t have time to inspect each one either. You, Zac, and Korab will stay downstairs while Ruby retrieves the lights and puts them in this wing brace.” He shrugged the massive hunk of metal off his shoulders and I suddenly recognised the marks etched into the leather straps and individual links.

  “That’s mine!” I burst.

  Lynk nodded, ignoring my shout and speaking politely. “I specifically brought an extra-large attachment for this so you can fly with it. There will be too many lights to put in just one brace so put some in Briseis’s and Zac’s as well.” Zac and Briseis immediately dropped their braces beside mine.

  Underneath my feet I could already hear the shudder of the staircase as heavy warriors marched up in what sounded like hundreds. There was one tiny window towards my left but it was decorated with protective wards– meaning it was practically unbreakable. I slowly realised that my only chance of survival meant me doing exactly what I was told.

  “So you want me to Change and go up there?” I said slowly glancing up at the rafters, at the numerous lit baubles.

  Lynk smiled a slow, treacherous smile and nodded.

  The others had already disappeared down the ladder so it was just me and Lynk in the treasure room. I closed my eyes, cleared my mind of the situation; thinkin
g of my powerful element: fire.

  Pretty soon that familiar energy began trickling down my spine like warm water. I followed the energy, willing it to consume my entire body; sparking alive every cell and nerve. There was a horrendous wave of pain as my flesh succumbed to the energy; beginning the dividing and expanding process; tearing my clothes. First my gorgeous crimson wings sprouted from my shoulders, wrapping around my human body. I could feel my complex system morph into the appropriate shape. The pain eventually ebbed away.

  Once the Change was complete my eyes opened.

  Fear motivating me, I pushed off into the rafters and began catching the dangling orbs of firelight, yanking them from their chains with my talons and bringing them down to Lynk. I could hear the clash of metal blades below and my panic rose but I persevered. I managed to collect them all just as Briseis and Zac struggled up the ladder.

  “There are too many,” Briseis exclaimed, slamming shut the trapdoor with the Airbird still on the other side. “Korab is dead.”

  “Change, now.” Lynk ordered. “And you,” he pointed at me, still somehow retaining an air of practiced calm, “Put on that wing brace.”

  I halted, knowing exactly what he was doing; strengthening my role in this offence and implicating me as one of the main culprits.

  Then again, at this moment in time, I didn’t exactly have an alternative.

  Instantly I grabbed the wing brace and struggled into it; using my long neck to awkwardly fix it in place. The guards were banging repeatedly on our only feeble defence; the trapdoor. Intermittently I heard loud explosions battering against it; we’d have mere seconds before it relinquished its determination, and crack and blow apart in a hurricane of metal splinters.

  I rushed over to the only small window, kicking it, but the wards flared in resistance, shocking me with painful electricity, and the glass didn’t budge. I staggered back when I realised that outside hovered about fifty Phoenix; their eyes flashing in the moonlight.

  A flood of flame suddenly gushed up from the floorboards.