I thought back to the members of the village. I can't believe I hadn't noticed. I nodded my head. “But that means he needs a good interpreter. Do you think it’s possible that there’s another divinare with the gift out there?” If that was true, maybe Mahlia was still alive.
“It’s possible. Or maybe he just wants to be prepared when he finds Mahlia. But I did have a different thought. Remember when I told you that the Assassin’s Dagger might be evil? Well, it was forged by brutarians and it has King Averis’ blood in it. Not the best combination. The king was growing paranoid about the lack of divinares being born with the gift so he put his blood in the dagger to allow any divinare who held it to see predictions.” Denton saw my troubled look and added quickly, “Who knows if all the kinks were even worked out, though. For all we know, that prediction it showed you was rubbish.”
I waved my hand. “What else were
you going to say about the dagger?”
“What if they made more than one? Brutarians would know if multiple daggers existed because they helped make them. They’ve been raiding and pillaging villages searching for Mahlia. What if they found one of the other daggers and now they need a divinare to decipher the predictions?”
I gulped. Mortwar was already larger and stronger than us. If he had the one thing that gave us an advantage we wouldn’t stand a chance against him in battle, and what I wanted most was to cut Mortwar’s throat. “Do you really think there’s more than one?”
“Wouldn’t you want the fate of the divinares to rely on more than just one dagger? King Averis may have been a little crazy, but he was still smart.”
I nodded my head. It made sense. If the power of the Moira was vanishing, he'd make dozens of daggers to make the gift everlasting. And if Mortwar had a dagger, maybe he didn’t have Mahlia. “Does the dagger work when brutarians hold it?"
"I don't see why not," he replied. It probably gives them a worse reaction than when you hold it though. At least you have divinare blood. And the symbols would be nonsense to them, so they'd definitely need a reader."
"Let’s get some rest." I didn't want to think about how the dagger affected me. "We need to get an early start.” I pulled a blanket up and over my shoulders and lay down on the cool sand.
“We’ll find her,” Denton said with a loud yawn.
In a few moments I heard him snoring. I rolled onto my back and stared up at the starry sky. It had been a long time since I had bothered looking at the Lords. It wasn’t cloudy, but the stars seemed dim and distant. I tucked the blanket under my chin and shut my eyes.
***
Smoke swirled in the air, clinging low to the ceiling and making it difficult to see. My lungs filled with the smell of burning wood. Tears welled in my eyes and I began choking on the smoke. I arose from my bed, glancing only briefly at the empty ones beside mine. I grabbed the handle of the door, but it was jammed. My lower lip began to tremble as I realized I was trapped. I rammed my shoulder against the door. It remained perfectly stable. I wasn’t strong enough to break out.
Pieces of wood began falling from the ceiling, sparking the floorboards. But these were the only flames I could see. The house must be burning from the outside. Someone had set the roof ablaze. I sunk down on the floor, but even the air down there wasn't clean. There was only one window in the room, but it was too high for me to reach. I was looking around for something light enough for me to push under the window when the glass smashed.
Screams made my hair stand on end. The whole village must be on fire. Then I heard a familiar voice: “Breghton!” My older sister’s voice sounded shrill and frantic. “Breghton are you in there?”
I ran to the window. “Rizelle! I can’t get out!” I choked on the smoke. A moment later I saw her hands smash the rest of the glass. She pulled herself through the window and landed in the small room. I ran to her and jumped into her arms.
“It’s okay,” she said, holding the back of my head as she looked around the room. She set me down on my feet and knelt down to my level. “Let’s crawl to the window. Then, I’ll need you to get up on my shoulders so you’ll be able to reach the sill.”
I nodded. She bent low and I climbed up onto her shoulders. She rose shakily as she held on to the wall. She pushed me up to the ledge and I grabbed on. I was just strong enough to hoist myself onto it.
“Go,” Rizelle said with an encouraging smile.
I turned and leapt out through the broken glass. A barrel underneath the window smashed and cracked when I landed on top of it. She must have used the barrel to come through the window.
“Rizelle!” I screamed. “How will you get out?”
My younger brother hobbled over. He was unsteady on his feet because he had only recently begun walking. He wasn't even the size of a small ear of corn. Tears spilled from his eyes. He hugged my waist while we looked in horror at the burning house.
My hair twitched as I heard Rizelle trying to kick down the door. There was a pile of rubble in front of it causing the jam. I ran over and pulled the pieces of wood and rock away from the door. When the debris was removed, I grabbed the handle and howled. I removed my hand quickly, but a layer of my skin remained on the handle.
I heard the scraping of wood and knew she must be moving a bed over to the window. She was tall enough with the bed. She’d be able to get out.
My little brother started to cry harder.
“It’s going to be okay, Jeremody,” I said and pulled him closer. But I didn’t even believe my own words.
***
My body was jerked awake. My face hit the ground and my mouth filled with sand. I spat it out as Denton tried to get my attention. He had a worried expression on his face.
Ignoring the grainy feeling on my tongue, I looked up and saw the guard and the mountain dweller bearing down on us. “Crap,” I said. I jumped to my feet and stuffed my blanket into the satchel.