Rising Fire Read online

  The flames flared higher before her and she could not resist the urge to look deeper into them. Brienne tried to fight their call, tried to fight the strength of it, but lost the battle. She inhaled slowly, trying now to control the fear that simmered in her belly while she moved closer to the fire’s heat. As it called to her, icy tendrils slid along her skin in spite of the heat in the smithy. Shivering and sweating at the same time, she lifted trembling hands from her side and held them out.

  Not knowing how to do what she planned, Brienne stretched her fingers, wiggling them, and watched as the flames did the same. Then she flexed each finger separately, and single bursts of flame followed each movement. When she twisted her hands, the reaction of the fire was overwhelming.

  Each flame danced before her, swirling and dipping this way and that before joining the others in the growing swarm of heat and light. Even when she dropped her hands and closed her eyes, they remained vivid and shifting in her mind.

  They danced for her—they danced for me!—moving in every direction when she simply thought it, and the sound of their movements surrounded her. Holding her arms out over the fire, she wiggled her fingers over the hearth and laughed as the flames writhed and swirled in answer to her gesture. This was not new to her. She’d done this many times before.

  What she planned to do next was different and daring.

  Moving her hands in a gathering motion, Brienne pulled the flames together and then spread them out until they filled the space before her, no longer limited to the fire pit and no longer dependent on wood or peat to fuel them. Staring into them, she searched for the center of the brightness and heat and waited.

  “Mine.”

  She strained to keep her eyes on the fire and listened as the whispers came from the heart of it again.

  “Come to me.”

  A shudder coursed through her body, and the fear overwhelmed her as the whispered words surrounded her, enticing her, entreating and tempting her. The back of her neck tingled, and her skin burned as the heat of the flames—nay, the flames themselves—encircled her. Keeping her body still, she waited to hear more, waited to recognize the voice or to learn who called to her through the fire. From deep within her soul, she drew the strength she needed to regain control over the flames and, standing within their embrace, she listened and waited to hear more.

  “Daughter of my blood.”

  Brienne laughed aloud, feeling the power course through her, stronger and stronger each moment. The voice, the words, the flames at her command all confirmed her suspicion that she could control the fire. After hours or minutes—she knew not which—of her standing untouched within the flames, they began to sway and spark around her. As she gathered them once more under her control, they parted for her to move away.

  When the voice disappeared completely, when she knew that presence was gone, her fear heightened. The heat began to burn her skin, so she tamped down the flames, guiding them back to the hearth of the smithy, easing them back into the coals of burning wood there so that they would be ready for her father’s use. A smile teased the corners of her mouth as inappropriate pride flooded her.

  She had done it!

  Each time she dared, her power over the fire seemed to grow. And grow stronger. But this day, this time, she had stepped within them without dire consequences. Next time she would—

  “Brienne.”

  She jumped at the interruption and spun around to face the door to the small building. Her father stood there, staring at her. Had he seen her move the fire? From the blank expression on her father’s face, she could not tell. Pressing her now-sweating palms on her gown and adjusting her veil back into place, she waited for his reaction.

  He closed the door quickly behind himself and checked the shutters, just as she had before attempting to call forth the ability to command the flames. But she’d not barred the door, so he could have seen everything she’d done. Would the flames follow her commands if another were present, or was this something she could do only in secret?

  Brienne watched as concern and wariness entered his gaze. Leaving some tools near the doorway, he walked slowly toward his hearth, glancing between it and her several times.

  “Are ye injured? Are ye burned?” he asked as he took one hand of hers and then the other in his larger ones, searching for signs of damage. Then he met her gaze. “How is this possible? What have ye done?”

  His suspicious, accusatory tone hurt her, but Brienne understood that he was worried about her. She stepped away from him and away from the constant draw of the flames before answering.

  “I . . . ,” she stammered, not truly knowing how to explain it all to him. Brienne glanced at him, imploring him to understand.

  “Come here, lass,” he said softly, opening his strong arms to her as he always did.

  Embraced by him, she felt safe . . . for the moment. These feelings, these powers, these changes that grew stronger and stronger with each passing day frightened her. There was no one she could speak with about them. No one who could understand or accept that she was more like her true father than anyone had guessed. Even though Gavin the blacksmith had raised her and loved her as his own, she was not.

  She shuddered at the thought of her true father, and Gavin responded by hugging her even tighter. The tears gathered in her eyes as she kept silent.

  “I will keep ye safe, Brienne,” he promised. His words and warm breath tickled her ear, and she nodded, accepting his pledge even if it were not the truth.

  “I know you will, Father,” she said, nodding her head and granting herself another moment of comfort before moving out of his embrace. “I have so many questions.”

  As always, her words stopped him. Gavin hated her questions. He hated the reminder that she was not his, that there was another who could step in at any time and take her. And though years had passed since any interest had been shown, all it would take was the untoward word and unguarded action to draw the wrong attention.

  “I fear there is little I can add to what yeve heard from yer mother or ken already, lass. The lord had ye brought here to us when ye were but days old, giving ye into our care. He gave no explanation, no instructions other than to care for ye, and he has not interfered since that day,” he said. Staring off into the corner, Brienne knew he was thinking on that long-ago day. Turning back to her, he shrugged. “We never had the courage to ask his reasons or why he gave ye to us for fear he would take ye away.”

  Brienne smiled at his admission. She knew of no one in Yester Village or in the area who would question Lord Hugh—or anyone who had survived questioning him. A shiver traced a path of icy sparks along her spine. She’d never even had the courage to approach him before, but now, now that she was discovering these powers and understanding he was the only person who could answer her questions, she might.

  “Do not!” her father warned, taking hold of her arm and drawing her close. “Do not even think about speaking to him on such”—he glanced at the fires now banked low in his hearth—“such matters as these.”

  The fear gazing back at her from his eyes should have been enough to steer her from such a path. The whispered warning should have been sufficient to caution anyone not a bairn or a fool. The need that grew ever deeper and stronger within her pushed her in that dangerous direction. The desire to know her origins and the extent of these strange powers that inhabited her never diminished.

  Words drifted to her in that silent moment, and she shivered. The power in them tempted her and called to her deepest longings.

  Mine. Come to me.

  Daughter of my blood.

  Brienne, who had belonged to no one, who could call none family or kin, longed to be part of something. And this whispered invitation called to that deep need within her. She tried to shake off the fear and the temptation, but it all settled within her, keeping her blood heated and that unspoken need stoked. Gavin’s sad expression called her back to this cottage and this moment.

  “Nay, you are
right, Father. ‘Twould be foolish to speak to him,” Brienne assured him, nodding her head. Gavin kissed her on the top of her head, just as he always had when reassuring her, and released her from his arms.

  “Ye should be thinking about that offer from Dougal’s son James rather than . . .” He nodded his head, lifting his chin in the direction of the hearth. “Marriage and bairns should be your concern now, lass. Surely yer mother has spoken of such matters to ye?”

  Brienne smiled, trying to convince him that such matters did interest her, while her heart broke over her deception.

  “Aye. She has spoken of little other than Jamie’s offer.” That much was true. “I have taken her counsel on it seriously.” A truth, but getting closer to the lying. “It is appealing to me.” There was the lie. Would he believe it?

  “Any man would be proud to have ye to wife,” he said. “Yer weaving skills do ye much credit.”

  No matter that the skills she wanted to practice and develop did not involve a loom and threads. Brienne let this lie stand between them as well.

  Noises began to leach into the cocoon of silence that surrounded them, warning them of the approach of others and the return of their everyday tasks and chores. Gavin walked to the window, unlatched and opened the shutters, throwing them wide to allow the cooler breezes in. Though the cold air of winter had barely warmed these last weeks, Gavin could not work the smithy without a flow to feed the flames.

  Strange. The flames needed no such flow when she called them forth. Even with the shutters and door closely firmly against intrusion, they grew stronger and higher at her command. Her fingers tingled, reminding her of the power that had directed the heat from within her. Shaking them for a moment, more to erase the memory than to ease any tightness, Brienne reached for the two buckets by the door.

  “I will get water,” she said, tugging open the door. She found comfort in the ritual of helping her father work.

  Brienne stepped into the path leading from the smithy to the well at the center of the small village, which was not as large as Gifford itself. Those who lived here worked the lands owned by Lord Hugh or provided some necessary service to those in the keep. Now, as she made her way through the village for the noon meal, she nodded to everyone who passed her by. Reaching the well, she chatted with the women there as she tossed the dipping bucket down and then tugged the rope up until it peeked over the stone wall’s edge.

  An eerie feeling invaded her body and soul at that moment, just when everything around her seemed so much the norm as it was each day. Instead her blood raced through her veins, and Brienne could feel it as it moved through her. Her heart pumped so strongly that she was certain others must hear it. Glancing around at the gathered women, she saw that they took no untoward notice of her. Then her skin began to heat, and she was tempted to pour the cool contents of the recently filled bucket over her to ease the growing warmth that seemed to control her.

  Only when the pounding grew too loud to ignore did she realize it was not her heart making the ground shake beneath her. A group of mounted knights broke through the bushes and headed along the pathway to the keep. Twenty armored men, none taking notice of the villagers as they passed—save one.

  Him.

  The one who led the group slowed his horse before passing the well and met her gaze. Brienne quickly lowered her eyes, whether out of respect or out of fear she knew not, but when Lord Hugh rode through the village, no one dared look directly upon him.

  Now he directed his horse toward her. She watched as the other women began to edge away from the well and from her. No one wanted the lord’s attention, for it usually ended badly for anyone involved. Over the years she’d heard the warnings from her parents about the rumors of the lord’s powers and his attitude toward the women under his control, so Brienne tried to blend in with the others, lowering the buckets to her sides and shuffling back away from his approach. This time it did not work. Glancing up, she saw Gavin walking toward her from the direction of the smithy, but when the lord moved closer to her, Gavin stopped.

  She put the buckets down and waited for Lord Hugh to say or do something. Silence filled the area, and she knew that many watched this encounter from safer distances and from behind cover that would keep them from their lord’s sight. No one wanted his molten-silver gaze to fall on them.

  “You there,” he called out. “You, girl!”

  She startled and began to shake, so she clasped her hands together as she nodded. How could she have wished for just this very thing a short time ago? It was as she raised her eyes that the skin on the inside of her forearm began to itch and sting. Trying to ignore it, she nodded and met his gaze.

  And wished with all her heart and soul she had not. Lord Hugh lifted his helm off and pushed back the chain-mail coif that covered his head. Tossing the helm to one of his men, he examined her from her head to her feet and then focused his fearsome gaze on her face. The patch on her arm stung now even more, and she covered it with one of her hands while waiting on LordHugh’s next words.

  “Your name, girl,” he demanded as his horse fought his control and pranced in the dirt, throwing up dust and stones in his wake.

  “Brienne,” she said. Though her voice shook as she spoke it, she surprised herself with being able to speak at all.

  “Daughter of?” he asked, pulling the reins hard and forcing his mount to his will. The huge warhorse relented and stood still under the lord’s iron grip.

  Brienne tried to force down her fears. Her bold idea to seek him out and ask him about the powers became one of such folly that she could not speak at all. Whose name did she give him? Should she declare her his get or claim the one who raised her?

  “Gavin, my lord.”

  Both she and Lord Hugh turned at the same moment as the blacksmith strode across the clearing and placed himself between the two of them. She stepped closer to him, but to his side so that she could yet watch the lord. Some look passed between the two men that she did not understand.

  “Yours, then?” the lord asked.

  Gavin reached out for her hand, which she gave him. ’Twas an expression of possession and belonging. She wondered if the lord would let it stand.

  “Aye, my lord. Mine,” Gavin proclaimed in a low but somehow bold tone. Before any other words could be exchanged, the lord grabbed at his own forearm and hissed. When a new flash of pain seared through hers, she fought to keep from doing the same thing.

  Lord Hugh seemed to want to say something, but he pulled the reins tightly, causing his mount to sidestep and whinny its displeasure at the tight control. This time the lord released the reins, giving the horse its head. Spinning back toward the keep, he rode off without saying another word. Just when she believed them safe from additional scrutiny, the warhorse rose on its hind legs and spun to face her once more.

  “Brienne, you are mine!”

  Though no words were spoken aloud, they echoed in her mind. The same words as the one who called from within the flames, but these were in Lord Hugh’s voice. As the dust flew up, the horse and rider turned again and disappeared up the path out of the village.

  The rumors about his otherworldly powers must be true—for he had sent those words into her thoughts without saying them. He had touched the same place on his arm as the stinging had affected on her own. Sliding her sleeve up, Brienne watched as the skin there burned away, leaving some kind of mark in its place. Shivering, she wondered at its origin. Gavin turned just then to face her and noticed her arm.

  “Ye burned yerself on the flames, Brienne?” he asked, reaching out to touch the now-raised burn.

  “Nay, not on the flames,” she replied.

  It was hard to deny it, as the singed area now resembled any other burn gained from not tending the fires with care. The intricate pattern disappeared within the patch of reddened skin. Brienne met his eyes and read the doubt in them. He would have lifted her arm had she not pulled away from him.

  “ ’Tis well, Father,” she said.
If she’d not been looking in his direction, she would have missed the grimace that flashed across his face as she called him “father.”

  Without another word, he bent over and picked up both buckets. Gavin did not wait for her or ask her to follow, but she did. But not before looking back at the road to the keep and wondering what other rumors about Lord Hugh were true.

  If he had other powers, had she inherited them as well?

  Chapter Two

  EARLY SPRING, AD 1286, DUNFERMLINE PALACE, DUNFERMLINE, KINGDOM OF FIFE, SCOTLAND

  William de Brus awaited the king’s pleasure, now for the fourth day in a row and with little patience or good cheer about these infernal delays. Still, as his friend Roger reminded him once again, this time for the twentieth time, beggars such as he could not afford to be demanding when it came to the king’s attentions. Called to Scotland by Alexander for a resolution to his problem—the other branch of the de Brus family’s intrusion onto the lands he would inherit at the king’s command—he tried to convince himself that it would be better if he did not anger the king or his ministers.

  Standing in the crowded Presence Chamber of the palace, William gazed around at the others who also held out their hands to the king and wondered what their causes were. Would they, or he, be successful in their pleas to Alexander for help? He held one advantage over many of the others, one he hoped would soften the king’s heart toward his request to rid his lands of the other de Bruses.

  Roger made his way through the crowds and held out a small, wrapped bundle to him. Peeling it open, William found a steaming pasty. Nodding to his friend, he bit into it. Since he dared not leave and risk being absent when finally called to the king’s chamber, Roger ran errands and brought food for him.