Firestorm

Peta shrunk to her housecat form and she trotted to my side. “Dirt Girl, what are you doing, turning the queen down? When she beckons you to her bed, you go!”

I snorted. “Flattered as I was, I cannot fake desire.”

“If you want to survive the Pit, perhaps you’d best learn how to ‘fake’ it, as you say,” she grumbled at me. I scooped her up and kissed her on the nose.

“Peta, I love you.”

“Gah, put me down, Terraling!”

“You see?” I let her down. “I cannot fake it.”

Brand took a few steps after the queen, then turned and looked at me. “Peta is right, no one turns down the queen.”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “Not even you?”

“Not even me.” There was sadness and regret in his eyes. I thought about Smoke, about her having to share him with their beautiful, but-oh-so-deadly, queen.

“Perhaps if more people stood up to her, she wouldn’t be such a power hungry bitch.” Yet even as I said the words, I realized that wasn’t the case. She’d shown that she placed her life on par with all her people’s lives. Though it did not help Ash any, I could give her credit that she at least didn’t set her life above theirs.

And then I realized I’d lost my one bargaining chip. The traitor was dead, and I was no further ahead in getting Ash out of the Pit. Damn it to the seven hells and back.

I made my decision quickly. “She said I could see Ash.”

“No, not yet,” Brand said. I bent and picked up my spear, twisting it in half and hanging it from my belt in two pieces.

“Two questions, Brand.” I crossed my arms and lifted an eyebrow at him. “Why can I not see him now, and where the hell did you get my spear?”

“Your spear was sent by your father. And you can’t see Ash because he is healing.”

My father . . . my brain struggled to comprehend. “My father sent my spear. And you let me have it?”

And then the second half of what Brand said hit home, and I stepped toward him, hands dropping into fists. “What do you mean he is healing?”

Brand shrugged. “Ash started a fight with one of the other prisoners. So he’s a bit bruised up. As to your father, here, he sent a note with the spear. It got here just a few moments before I saw you on the ledge up here. You can have it only because I am vouching for you. Again. Use it on anyone and I will be in the dungeons with you.”

“Why would you do that?”

“You just pulled a traitor down and you’ve been here for less than a day. You tell me why I’m trusting you.” He pulled a sealed envelope from inside his black leather top and handed it to me. The seal was green wax with a perfect blooming tree imprint. I ran a thumb over it, fear filling me. Without opening it, I tucked it into my vest. “Thank you. For this and for trusting me.”

Brand nodded. “Lark, you have done as I asked and ousted the traitor. Now I must hold to my end of the bargain. Ash wanted to get you out of here. You’ve seen just how dangerous the Pit is. And now you have sparked the interest of the queen. Please, reconsider—”

“No, I’m staying until either I get Ash out or . . .” my guts tightened as I realized I might not be able to save him. I might be staying to watch him die and be a final witness to his sacrifice for me. My throat burned and filled with a thick lump. I had to swallow several times to force it down. “Or the three days is up,” I finally managed. Then there was the issue of the firewyrms. They were being killed off and I had to do something; I felt it in the core of my bones that I couldn’t leave them to Fiametta’s culling.

Brand’s eyes softened and lifted his hand as if to pat me on the shoulder. My jaw twitched and he must have seen something in my eyes because he withdrew his hand. “The sleep bell will ring soon. Go.” He turned and went down the stairs closest to us without another word.

“Cactus—”

My friend took my hand and led me away, and I let him. “He’s right, Lark. We need to get back to my place before we pass out in the halls.”

The thought of sleeping and unable to wake in one of the myriad of labyrinthine hallways gave me a chill I did not like. Still, I pulled my hand from his.

“And I suppose you’re going to tell me we need to leave without Ash too?”

Cactus laughed. “No, if you still have the heart of the girl I grew up with, I know we aren’t leaving without Ash. One way or another. But with the traitor dead, what other option do you have? Do you have another way to save Ash?”

In that moment I loved him more than a little. He didn’t try to sway me from my chosen course of action, but backed me.

That didn’t mean I had any sort of idea what I was going to do. Climbing up the stairs that had taken us to the edge of the Pit, it didn’t take long for my legs to feel the strain. It reminded me of my Ender training, which, while it seemed a lifetime ago, had been less than six months past.

My teacher had been Granite, a man I’d trusted, respected and thought was my friend. It turned out that not only was he not my friend, he was actively trying to wipe out my family alongside Cassava. Still, a part of me wished I could ask him what to do. He’d been an Ender long before I’d been born, and even though he’d been a traitor to my father, he was known for his brilliant tactics. So far I’d managed to survive both Cassava’s treachery and the dark secrets within the Deep, but both times had been based on strength and fighting ability more than anything else.