Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) Read online

  “Let’s go,” she said. She grinned. “For some reason, I’m more anxious to get to Balin’s now than ever.”

  Rave laughed and dropped his hands from her shoulders. They resumed walking up the roadway, with Leesa paying a bit more attention to where she placed her feet

  Balin’s cabin was exactly that—a one-room log cabin, built by Balin himself. The thick logs were rough-hewn, just like the pictures of old cabins Leesa had seen in her history books, and the cracks between the logs were chinked with dried mud, though the mud was not visible in the darkness. As she and Rave drew nearer, Leesa couldn’t see any light through the windows. A surge of disappointment flowed through her. She wondered if perhaps the old volkaane had gone out somewhere. She hoped not, because if Balin wasn’t home, any kissing was going to have to wait.

  “It doesn’t look like he’s here,” she said as they turned up the path toward the front door. “There’s no light inside.”

  Rave heard the disappointment in her voice. “Don’t worry, he’s here,” he said. “I can feel him.”

  Leesa had forgotten that volkaanes could sense each other’s presence when they were close. And if Rave could sense Balin, then that meant that Balin knew Rave was approaching. Sure enough, the cabin door swung open when Leesa and Rave were still a few steps away.

  Balin stood silhouetted in the doorway, a very faint orange-yellow glow behind him. As usual, he was wearing a homemade buckskin shirt and buckskin pants. Leesa had never seen him dressed in anything else. His long dark gray hair showed only streaks of the dark copper color common to all volkaanes. With the door open, Leesa could smell the savory aroma of Balin’s delicious stew. She had never visited here without Balin having a big pot of stew simmering in the fireplace. She felt her stomach rumble.

  “Ahhh, young Rave and his lovely wizard girlfriend,” Balin said, smiling. “What a delightful surprise.”

  Leesa grinned at Balin’s greeting. Rave had been “young Rave” to Balin when Rave was a child and he remained “young Rave” to this day, more than one hundred and fifty years later. And no one had ever directly called her a wizard before.

  “Hi, Balin,” she said. “I hope it’s not too late for us to stop by.”

  “No, of course not. Do come in.”

  Balin stepped aside so they could enter.

  The interior of the cabin was even more spare than Rave’s home. It was about six paces wide and ten paces long, furnished with simple, handmade wooden furniture similar to the stuff at Rave’s. A rectangular dining table with a split log bench on either side filled most of one end of the cabin, and a buckskin sleeping mat stuffed with straw lay upon the plank floor at the other end. In the middle of the room was a brown bearskin rug so old the fur had worn away down to the skin in several places. The fire in the fireplace had burned down to glowing orange and gold embers, which is why Leesa had been unable to see the light from outside.

  Balin quickly lit a couple of candles on the wall with his finger.

  “There,” he said as the candles’ golden glow filled the room. “That should be a bit better for human eyes.” He looked from Leesa to Rave and then back to Leesa. “I haven’t seen either of you lately. Even young Rave has not been coming by to practice Rammugul. I’m sure there must be a good reason behind it.”

  Leesa nodded. So much had happened in the last few days, she had almost forgotten about Rammugul, the ancient volkaane technique for extinguishing and then bringing back their fire. It hadn’t been used in centuries, and was difficult to master and dangerous to use. The last time Balin had seen it employed, the female volkaane had been unable to bring her fire back. Nothing was more devastating to a volkaane than losing its fire, but Rave was determined to master the technique so that he and Leesa could kiss without danger.

  “You’re right,” she said. “A whole lot has happened. We’ll tell you all about it in a little while. But there’s something I want to do first.”

  Balin’s eyes seemed to twinkle in the candlelight. He smiled. “Something romantic, I take it?”

  Leesa smiled back. “Yeah, it’s been way too long.”

  “Okay. But no trying to use Rammugul and no letting the kiss go on until I sense Rave’s heat building. That almost got you killed last time. I will count to five and then you must stop. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” Leesa said, her smile widening. “But count slowly.”

  She turned to face Rave, waiting.

  Rave laid his hands tenderly on her shoulders and locked his dark eyes onto hers. Leesa’s heartbeat immediately quickened, reminding her why they needed a chaperone when they kissed—it would be way too easy to lose herself completely to these feelings. While she still had some control of her thoughts, an idea came to her. She hoped she would remember to try it.

  She kept her eyes open until the last moment, soaking in Rave’s beauty. Just before his familiar warmth shot through her, she mouthed two words inside her head, not sure if it would work or not. And then Rave’s heat was inside her, filling her to her core with an array of feelings far beyond description. Impossibly, she was flying, floating and falling—all at the same time. Her knees felt weak, but somehow, she also felt stronger than she had ever been. She wanted to scream, to laugh, to cry, to sing. The sensations seemed to go on forever, but all too soon she felt Dominic’s hands upon her shoulders, easing her backward, away from Rave. She sighed deeply and opened her eyes. How something could seem to last forever and yet still feel much too brief remained beyond her comprehension, but it was like this every time.

  When she finally opened her eyes, she saw Rave gazing down at her, wide-eyed.

  “What did…you do?” he asked. His voice was throaty and filled with wonder. “Kissing you is always amazing…but there was something even more special this time.”

  Leesa grinned. Her plan had succeeded.

  “I’m always feeling your magic when we kiss, so I decided to try to add a little of my own this time. I pictured the illumination spell on the tip of my tongue.” She rubbed her index finger tenderly across his lips. “Looks like it worked.”

  Rave shook his head slowly. “I’ll say it did.” He smiled. “It was tough enough not to kiss you before this—now you’ve made it even harder.”

  “Now you know what I’ve been going through,” Leesa said. “Welcome to the club.” She turned to Balin. “Can we do another?”

  Balin placed his hand on Rave’s cheek. “Young Rave is feeling a bit warm. I think it might be best if you two wait a bit. Why don’t you tell me what you have been up to these past few days, and then you can try another kiss before you leave.”

  Leesa sighed. She wanted to kiss Rave again right now, but knew that Balin was probably right. No one was a better judge of Rave’s fire than Balin. At least she had another kiss to look forward to. She wondered how quickly she could tell him everything that had happened over the last few days.

  13. MAGIC COMES AND MAGIC GOES

  “Let’s sit down and you can tell me everything that’s happened,” Balin suggested. He had met Dominic once and knew about Leesa’s nascent magic and about the existence of the black waziri, but he had no idea what had occurred during the last few days. “Does anyone want a drink before we begin? Some mead, perhaps? Telling tales can be thirsty work.”

  With everything that had happened today, Leesa was definitely tempted by Balin’s offer. His homemade mead was even more delicious than his stew, but it was also very strong, especially for someone who rarely drank. She decided she had better pass.

  “No, thank you,” she said. “I think I should keep a clear head. I’ll just have water. Rave, you go ahead if you want.”

  Rave nodded to Balin, who quickly filled two big pewter mugs with golden liquid from a big glass jar. He filled a third mug with water for Leesa.

  They all sat down on chairs arranged in an arc in front of the fireplace. Leesa took the center seat. She could feel the warmth of the glowing embers through the bottom of her shoes. Rave sat to her
right and Balin to her left.

  “It started on Sunday,” she began. “Dominic had to use his magic to save me from being killed by a drunk driver, of all things. His magic immediately alerted the black waziri to his location, and as bad luck would have it, one of them was not too far away.”

  She quickly described the fight against Josef and how Rave had finally destroyed him. She minimized her role in the battle, thinking that Balin didn’t need all those details.

  “Leesa played a bigger role than she’s saying,” Rave interjected. “Without her, the black wizard would have destroyed both Dominic and me.”

  Leesa blushed. “I was just recounting the basics,” she said. “Anyhow, we knew the magical battle would probably draw more of the black waziri, maybe even all three of them. They can track Dominic now, for at least the next few weeks he said, so he had to leave, to draw them away from me. Rave got Dral and Bain to come stay with us for a couple of nights at my dorm, for added protection. This afternoon, we saw the three waziri outside the dorm, right where Dominic had used his magic to save me. Luckily, they didn’t see us.”

  Leesa took a big sip of water before continuing.

  “The wizards were gone when we returned, probably out visiting the site of the battle to see what they could learn. We hoped they wouldn’t come back, but at least one of them must have.” She recounted the incident with the zombies in the dorm just a few hours ago. “I don’t think he could have learned anything from the attack, though, since Rave, Dral and Bain didn’t even use their volkaane fire. Instead, they snapped the creatures’ necks. Just to be safe, Rave decided I should stay here in your settlement for a couple of days. So here we are.”

  Balin took a long pull from his mug. “Young Rave was smart to bring you here,” he said. “There’s nowhere you could be any safer.”

  “I know.”

  Leesa could think of only one other place where she might be equally safe from the black waziri, a place that had come frighteningly close to becoming her permanent home—the underground caverns of Stefan’s vampire coven. She shook that horrid thought from her mind.

  “There’s an added bonus, too,” she said. “For some reason, my magic seems easier, or more powerful, or something here. Rave thinks it’s because I’m surrounded by so much magical volkaane energy.” She recounted her experience with the illumination spell back in Rave’s house.

  “I think Rave is probably right,” Balin said.

  “Would you like to see?” Leesa asked. “I want to do some practice later back at Rave’s, but it wouldn’t hurt to get in a bit of work right now.”

  “I’d love to see you do it,” Balin said.

  Leesa took another swallow from her mug and then set it down on the floor in front of her chair. She took a deep breath and silently repeated her trigger word in her head. When she was ready, she held her right hand out in front of her, palm up.

  “Illuminati verdus,” she said.

  The glowing orb immediately appeared just above her palm. It didn’t seem quite as bright as the last one, but Leesa was pretty sure that was only because the cabin was not as dark as Rave’s house had been. The light lasted about ten seconds before it winked out.

  “Very impressive,” Balin said. “You’ll be a full-fledged wizard before long.”

  “Ha! Not hardly,” Leesa said. “I’ve got a long ways to go.” She was pleased with Balin’s praise, though. “That’s the spell I used on my tongue when I kissed Rave. I have no idea what its actual effect was, but he obviously liked it.”

  Rave grinned. “That I did.”

  “Dominic gave me a whole book full of spells I need to learn,” Leesa told Balin. “Plus, I need to work on other stuff, too, like telekinesis and my dreams.”

  She put her hand on Rave’s forehead, like a mother checking the temperature of her child. “Do you think Rave has cooled down enough for another kiss? I want to go back and practice my magic, but not until I get one more kiss.”

  Balin smiled. “I’m sure the rest and the mead has probably cooled him off sufficiently.”

  Leesa immediately stood up. She grabbed Rave’s hand and pulled him up, too.

  “Pucker up, mister,” she said.

  Walking back to Rave’s house holding his hand, Leesa felt like she was floating in the night air. The memory of their second kiss was still strong in her head—and elsewhere! She was also pleased with the little trick she had discovered with her magic that made certain Rave enjoyed the kissing as much as she did. She was pretty sure she didn’t really have anything to worry about even before the trick, but a girl could never be too sure. And as a bonus, talking with Balin about how her magic seemed easier here had given her an idea. As soon as they got back inside, she was going to make use of all the magical energy around her by practicing the one spell she’d had absolutely no success with so far—the air shield spell. She knew full well that getting a spell to work the first time was always the hardest part, so she was going to take full advantage of being here in the volkaane village.

  As an experiment, she let go of Rave’s hand and stopped walking. Rave also stopped. He looked at her questioningly.

  “Go on another couple of steps,” she told him. “I want to try something, and I need you to be far enough away so I can’t feel your heat.”

  Rave glided about ten feet down the roadway and then turned back to face her.

  “Far enough?” he asked.

  “Yeah, that should be good.”

  Leesa peeled off her parka and draped it over her arm. The frigid air enveloped her immediately. She closed her eyes and pictured blue fire burning in her stomach. The cold vanished almost instantly. She marveled at how easily she was able to warm herself. Looking down at the ground, she spied a small stick she thought would come in handy later. She focused her thoughts on the eight inch long twig and pictured it floating up off the ground and across to Rave.

  “Catch,” she said as the stick did exactly what she wanted.

  Rave reached out and caught it. “Now you’re just showing off,” he said, smiling as he examined the stick.

  “Yeah, a little,” Leesa replied with a smile of her own. “But I do have plans for that, so it’s not totally showing off. And the more magic I use, the better I’ll get, so why bend down when I can do it with magic?”

  “Just don’t get too carried away with yourself, or you are apt to be disappointed when you’re back at Weston and not surrounded by volkaane energy.”

  Leesa walked closer to Rave. “I know. But I think whatever I do here will carry over at least a little. Success breeds success, as Dominic likes to say.”

  Feeling very confident, she decided there was no reason to wait until they were inside to try the shield spell.

  “Wait just a moment, and then try to poke me with that stick,” she said. “I’m going to try the air shield spell.”

  She breathed deeply and performed her mental trigger. “Bonduur,” she said confidently as she pictured the air in front of her turning into thick, unbreakable glass. “Bonduur,” she repeated.

  Rave pushed the twig toward Leesa’s stomach. It seemed to encounter no resistance. When she felt it press against her shirt, she swore softly to herself. A moment later, she was freezing. She quickly slipped into her parka. Rave touched her cheek, sending his warmth into her.

  “Dominic also said failure can lead to failure,” he reminded her. “You have to try to separate the results of one spell from any others. Just because you couldn’t form the shield doesn’t mean you had to stop feeling warm.”

  “I know. I got overconfident,” she admitted. “I wasn’t expecting the air shield to fail so completely. When it did, I doubted myself for a moment, and poof, there went the fire in my belly.” She shook her head. “I should know better than that.”

  She shrugged off her coat again and pictured the blue fire burning inside her. She was immediately warm.

  “See? I can do this.” She shook her head again and sighed. “Sometimes I’m my o
wn worst enemy. Let’s get inside and do some work.”

  Rave took her hand. “Just for the record,” he said as they began walking toward the house, “I think I felt a little bit of resistance when I pushed the stick toward you.”

  Leesa stopped walking and turned to face him.

  “Really? You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

  “Really. I can’t be certain, but I’m pretty sure there was something.”

  Leesa grinned. “Totally cool,” she said.

  14. GOOD TIMES AND BAD NEWS

  The next few days flew by. Leesa wished they would go a little bit slower, because they were absolutely the best days ever. She had never spent so much time with Rave—not even close. It was awesome beyond imagining. They talked, they laughed, they played and they touched, all of it in the easy, carefree manner of people who were comfortable in their love.

  For several hours each day Leesa practiced her magic, far exceeding Dominic’s recommendations, but feeling that the energy she received in the volkaane settlement allowed her to do more than he would have expected. Her practice here was paying big dividends, that was clear. She had pretty much mastered the illumination spell—she could hold a light in her hand for a full five minutes now—and her telekinesis ability had grown by leaps. She could keep herself warm for almost half an hour, as long as nothing broke her concentration. Her only disappointment was the air shield spell. Despite repeated attempts, she had failed to create any kind of shield at all. The visualization was still just too difficult. Rave said he could feel a slight thickening of the air the last few times, but nothing solid enough to stop even a gently pressed stick or finger. Still, with everything else going so wonderfully, she was not about to let this minor setback get her down.

  Late Friday morning, Rave carried her up to their special spot in the hills overlooking the Moodus River. They settled onto the natural rock bench that provided a comfortable place to sit and a spectacular view of the valley and river below.