Phoenix Heart: Episode 5: Grand Hadri Read online

  Phoenix Heart: Episode 5, "Grand Hadri"

  Phoenix Heart, Volume 5

  Sarah K. L. Wilson

  Published by Sarah K. L. Wilson, 2021.

  Phoenix Heart

  Season One

  Episode Five

  “Grand Hadri”

  Sarah K. L. Wilson

  Copyright 2021

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Note to the Reader:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  A Note From The Author

  Behind the Scenes:

  OTHER BOOK SERIES BY SARAH K. L. WILSON

  For my little phoenixes. Fly free!

  Note to the Reader:

  Phoenix Heart is a series very much like your favorite streaming tv. There are seasons and episodes. These episodes are designed to be read in roughly two hours, though fast readers will read more quickly and those of you who really like to absorb the story may take longer. They’re intended to be fast-paced, exciting, and they release frequently so that you can keep up with the story even if you have a very busy schedule. Perfect for lunch breaks, a single evening of enjoyment, or younger readers who like bite-sized chunks, this story will keep you wanting more.

  I’d like to also offer you a prequel short story for free download when you join my subscribers.

  Also of note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Enjoy!

  Chapter One

  Phoenixes can land in a space that seems impossibly small. If they were a dragon of myth, or even just a real bird the size they were, then they wouldn’t fit in the spaces they could squeeze into for a landing. I was pretty sure that was because they were more spiritual than physical. They were only limited by their riders, not by their bodies.

  You’re no limit, little hawk. You are freedom and warm zephyrs caressing my pinions as I soar.

  “Crowd in close to Judicus,” Gundt advised me, drawing in beside me so we were almost touching as the strange phoenixes and their riders landed.

  Stone statues loomed over us and crowded around us, moonlight spilling around them and I licked my lips nervously as the bright figures descended. I would have thought that there was only one way for a creature of flame to look. I would have been wrong. While Kazmerev was dark purple with scarlet and gold accents – sometimes flaring to a molten crimson, and while Huxabrand had bright pink highlights to her flames, these phoenixes were of their own varieties, too.

  There were three of them.

  The one who landed first was such a light gold color that it hurt the eyes to look at him. An impressive man with a sharp black coat that spilled to his knees and heavy leather belts crisscrossed over his chest leapt from that phoenix almost as soon as it landed. His skin was weather-worn but his features were almost delicate.

  As soon as he’d dismounted, a second phoenix landed. This one was a burnt orange color with little tendrils of black smoke clinging to it. The shaggy man who leapt from its back suited the burnt orange. He lumbered to stand with the other man as they waited for the third phoenix – a ruddy creature of red flames and the occasional orange highlight – to set down beside them. The middle-aged woman who descended from its back was dressed to match the other two. She wore a cylindrical black fur hat on her head that disguised short grey hair.

  With the phoenixes burning so brightly behind them and beside them, their faces were half brightly lit, and half cloaked in shadow, giving them an eerie look that left me shifting back and forth nervously.

  Gundt reached out and laid a hand on my arm to still me.

  I was struck by the silence. Phoenixes are silent almost all the time except when they speak mentally and the occasional audible shriek – though now that I thought about it, that might be no more audible than they were visible. Maybe it was only we who could see them who heard it.

  No, we can be heard. Sometimes, we must be heard.

  I was used to silence. I was always close to silent myself. But this silence was eerie. It felt like the silence of judgment.

  No phoenix voices rose in greeting.

  No human voices rose to say anything at all.

  Gundt crossed his arms over his chest and stood a little straighter and I had the oddest feeling that he was standing like a wall between me and them.

  Long moments passed.

  And then Judicus groaned from his place on the ground, and I sank into a crouch to look at him. He rolled onto his side, both hands cradling his head. I placed a hand gently on his shoulder and stroked it, hoping to calm him.

  “Gundt Hellebar.” I was shocked that it was the older woman who spoke first. She hadn’t seemed like the leader of this group. “And with a Fledgling, no less.”

  I could almost hear the capital “F” in “Fledgling.” I assumed that was me.

  Gundt only grunted.

  “Your green sleeves are showing,” the delicate man said mockingly.

  Gundt didn’t even bother to grunt at that.

  So. They knew him. And he didn’t like them.

  But weren’t all Flame Riders good? Didn’t they have to be? Or their phoenix would disappear?

  I felt Kazmerev shift behind me like he wanted to say something. Why didn’t he speak?

  He shifted again.

  To my surprise, it was Huxabrand who spoke.

  Flame to flame, I greet you, ancient fires.

  What? No song and dance this time? No making the other phoenixes bend to her before she’d greet them?

  I felt Kazmerev shift again, and this time I felt the edge of humor from him – but he was holding himself back, purposefully silent before these other phoenixes. I didn’t like that. I wasn’t used to him being near me but not speaking to me. I reached for him with my heart and felt his reassurance. And then he shifted to move so that he was close enough that his hot feathers touched me. I sighed at the feeling. He wasn’t ignoring me. He wasn’t leaving me. He was silent for another reason.

  There was a long pause. All the humans were motionless as if they were about to draw weapons and then, when I thought Gundt would explode if he didn’t take a breath, the new phoenixes answered, three voices speaking in unison.

  Flame to flame, I greet you, ancient fires.

  Kazmerev replied so quickly that they were barely finished before he began.

  Flame to flame, I greet you, ancient fires.

  The humans around me relaxed. The delicate one ran a hand over his face as if great disaster had just been averted.

  “We all get to live another day,” he laughed but there was no humor in his laugh.

  I looked from one to another, confused.

  Remind me to tell you later what happens if phoenixes refuse to greet each other, Kazmerev murmured in my mind.

  They didn’t like being snubbed? But Huxabrand had snubbed Kazmerev and he hadn’t minded.

  He didn’t answ
er me, clearly not wanting the others to hear his answer, but for a moment, his flame went a brighter red as if he were blushing.

  “Well, if we aren’t going to kill each other, then I suppose we ought to offer up the message we were sent with,” the bulky man said, peering around him at the statue. “Though it hardly seems as potent after seeing this stone army. Are you waging war on the worlds of men now, Gundt the Fatherless?”

  “Are you looking to find yourself in a heap wondering what hit you, Refrento?” Gundt replied and while it sounded affable and as if they were joking, there was an edge under their words.

  “We’re here for Captain Rackham,” the older woman said.

  And just like that, everyone was silent again.

  Chapter Two

  Who was Captain Rackham?

  I don’t know, Kazmerev murmured – the first thing he’d been willing to say to me. That was good. Maybe he’d answer more questions.

  Who were these Flame Riders?

  No other answer.

  I shook my head. I was the only one who didn’t know what was happening and yet Kazmerev couldn’t fill me in without telling these new phoenixes everything. For the first time since meeting him, I felt voiceless again.

  He shifted uncomfortably, his feathers going darker and his flame lowering. Maybe he felt bad about that. I felt bad, too.

  “The captain invites you to meet him on his ship,” Refrento said.

  The word “invites” didn’t sound like an invitation.

  “And if we refuse?” Gundt asked, waiting. There was tension in every line of his body.”

  The woman barked a laugh. “Have we miscommunicated? Do you not know who the captain is?”

  “Of course, he does,” Refrento said. He walked to the side, examining one of the stone creatures frozen in place. His hands ran over it, as if memorizing its shape. I shuddered. Those had been alive and moving only minutes ago. “And he knows this ancient magic was seen alive and crawling across the ground. Were you involved in the raising of it, Gundt Hellebar?”

  “No. It was the ropeworker who expended himself stopping this. Shouldn’t Captain Rackham,” he said the name as if it was a joke, “have a better way of expressing his gratitude for that than detaining us?”

  “If you know he should be grateful then you know who he is,” the grey-haired woman said. “And you know this isn’t just an invitation. Bring your rope worker. We leave. Now.”

  To my surprise, Gundt didn’t argue. He merely grunted and leaned down beside me.

  “I can take Judicus.”

  I shook my head. It was better if he was with me and Kazmerev. Especially if anyone attacked us. Gundt could fight back. I couldn’t.

  “It will be okay,” he whispered, though he looked pale. “Trust me. I’ll explain everything as soon as I can. Do you believe me?”

  I bit my lip. But after everything that had just happened, how could I refuse him? I nodded my head.

  “We’ll get your cousin back and keep her safe,” he said, and it sounded like a vow. “And I will not fail you as your Guarding Flame.”

  I nodded again, blinking back tears as I looked back the way we came toward wherever my Aunt Danna’s body had fallen.

  “We’ll come back and set a marker for your aunt,” he said, following my gaze. “And I will keep you safe until we can do all those things. You have my word.”

  I nodded again and offered a tremulous smile.

  “Would you stop babying that Fledgling and get moving?” the delicately featured man said from the back of his phoenix.

  Gundt looked over his shoulder for long enough to growl – actually growl like a wolf – and then he faced me again, all hints of hostility fading into gentleness like he was afraid I’d fall apart if he dealt with me too harshly. Maybe I would. I felt like I was barely hanging on after the shipwreck, and then my aunt’s murder, and then an army of stone figures that had somehow been stopped.

  “Here, Kazmerev,” he said, addressing my phoenix. “Let’s load Judicus onto your back. Sersha wants you to carry him.”

  Kazmerev shifted silently but lowered his back enough for Gundt to sling Judicus over it, belly down.

  I hopped up behind him and held on to both Judicus and Kazmerev, burying my fingers into my now silent phoenix’s feathers and trying not to be too afraid of whatever this captain we were flying toward would be like. He sounded like a thug. He sounded like one of the raiders.

  Kazmerev blazed just a little brighter as if he was trying to protect us with his heat and light, trying to reassure us that he was still burning bright and hot.

  “Ready?” the female Flame Rider asked with a wry twist to her mouth.

  “Ready enough,” Gundt agreed. “Any reason you and the captain are so far north, Dalissa Fenwan?”

  She smiled mysteriously. “That’s for us to know and for you to find out, Gundt Hellebar.”

  They were already mounting their own phoenixes and I drew in a long breath. I wasn’t ready to leap into another adventure again – but once again, I had no choice.

  Our phoenixes leapt into the air.

  Kazmerev flew much slower with Judicus on his back, letting his wing tips almost touch the backs of the stone figures and then the treetops and then the bare earth, he was so keen to keep us safe. After a moment, the rest of them outpaced us. Gundt flew at a pace with them, his head turning to keep an eye on us every few minutes.

  One more moment, Kazmerev said.

  I waited for whatever he was waiting for and I clung to Judicus as I did. One of his hands reached and clutched mine. To my surprise, I felt a small tingling. I held on anyway. What was tingling compared to armies of stone and earth and our enemies bringing us back to a ship with them?

  Ahh, Kazmerev said finally. The rest had outdistanced us, though we were still flying steadily behind them. Now I need to talk and talk quickly while they’re out of range.

  There was a range?

  It’s like talking. They can hear the murmur of my voice, but not the actual words. If we get closer, they will hear me again.

  That made sense.

  I know these phoenixes by reputation. They are very honored and renowned. Yxella, Utterbexen, Frissei. They would set me ablaze if they thought I stepped wrong.

  Wasn’t he always ablaze?

  Not in the way they would make me.

  What was all that with the greeting?

  If they had refused to greet us in return it would be a challenge. From Huxibrand it was a challenge to do better – a flirtatious challenge if you will. Good-humored, perhaps a little dangerous, but only to my reputation and sense of merit. She would not have harmed me. But with these phoenixes, had they not returned our greeting, it would have been a fight to the death right then and there.

  But I thought phoenixes were good!

  Of course we are. But good people can disagree about what good means. And both sides would have thought we were fighting for what is right. The only difference is that you and I would have been right and they would have been horribly mistaken.

  I shivered. I hadn’t realized how important that greeting was. We could all be dead.

  I will never let anyone harm you, little hawk. I will set the world ablaze to keep you safe if I must.

  I smiled at the warmth he sent through our mental link. It seemed to feed something inside me, making me stronger, washing away my exhaustion and fear.

  But back to the situation at hand, I have heard of these riders. Refrento was military before he birthed a phoenix from his heart. An officer. Dalissa is a renowned advisor to the Grand Hadri. The third is Duche Olliman. A noble. Of high reputation as being an effective leader of his people and lands. I did not know he was a Flame Rider. When last I saw Frissei she was born of the heart of a young warrior from the south. I mourn her warrior’s passing.

  So, they were important people. Famous, even. But what did that have to do with us and who was this Captain Rackham?

  Captain Rackham is also well know
n for being the greatest fighter of pirates in all of Calicarn. They say that when he raises his sails the ladies swoon and those with black hearts tremble.

  I didn’t do much swooning. I left that to Judicus. Who was still making my fingers tingle.

  Last time Captain Rackham sailed, he started a war with the Oolibern Islands. In the end, Calicarn won that battle and took over the Oolibern trade routes.

  That sounded dangerous. Didn’t he get in trouble if he went around starting wars?

  It’s hard to get in trouble when you rule the nation.

  What?

  Captain Rackham is the not-so-secret alternate identity of the Grand Hadri.

  I felt my mouth fall open.

  Chapter Three

  Shh now, we’re about to arrive, Kazmerev said, already circling to come around the three red-sailed ships.

  They bucked over the dark waves, curves gleaming in the moonlight, lanterns lit on the masts and strung along crisscrossing lines to light the decks. Even with my superior vision, it was hard to pick out all the sailors at work. The ships were so large that they made the one we’d sailed on look like a local dory.

  I clenched my jaw as we rejoined the other phoenixes, circling a second time. I was feeling very tired. Perhaps surviving a shipwreck, battling for our lives, and then barely managing to flee a crumbling island had taken a lot out of me. I could really use a warm bed. And a blanket. Yes, I’d like that.

  Below us, a bell rang. Was that because we’d been seen?

  Our escort is declaring that we have arrived, Kazmerev said carefully. Which meant those three phoenixes must be visible and they could hear him again.

  Escort? The phoenix voice I heard sounded a bit high-strung. Insolence! But what do you expect from backwater loners? You’ve forgotten your dignity.

  Rude. I didn’t like these new phoenixes at all.

  I probably would have said something but at that moment Judicus gave a long, death-like gasp and I scrambled to check on him. To my shock, he was waking up, scrambling up from his belly to sit in front of me.