Free Burning Bright by Megan Derr Page A

realized he couldn't. He swallowed around the lump in his throat and licked his dry lips. He tried again to speak, and the words finally broke free. "Why?" he asked, voice trembling. "Who are you, and why does looking at you hurt?" His eyes blurred with more tears, and Raz wiped them away, and in that brief lull he was reminded of the trouble he was in.
    "Seize them!" the Duke of Alkaev called from behind Raz.
    In front of him, the man he suddenly realized was the High Priest lifted a hand, his eyes glowing brilliant, sunshine gold with magic.
    "No!" Raz screamed, the words crashing through the cathedral and followed immediately by the sound of shattering glass. Around him people screamed in panic, but Raz didn't wait to see who had done what, just turned, grabbed Pechal, and ran.
    Nobody stopped them as they ran back the way they'd come, and then down the hall to the kitchens. In the kitchens, Raz grabbed loaves of bread and a hunk of cheese as he saw them, but did not slow his steps. At the very back of the last room, he threw open the door and dragged Pechal out—
    —And nearly crashed into two women waiting just outside with their swords drawn. Clearly, they had been about to go inside. "Raz! Thank the dragons you're safe." Shoving her sword back into its sheath, the lavender-haired woman dragged him close to embrace him tightly.
    Raz let her for a moment, but then pushed away. "Shio! Shinju! What are you doing here?"
    "Looking for you," said Shinju, running a hand impatiently through her short green hair. "Come on, we have to get out of here."
    "You're telling me," Raz said. "Pechal is the Vessel; we have to get him out of here before they kill him. I can't let them do it, I just can't!"
    "Shh, little bird," Shinju said, stroking his cheek. "Let's go, we will sort everything out later."  She led the way to where three horses were waiting and helped Raz get Pechal up on one. "I'll ride with Pechal."
    "Thanks," Raz said, relieved. He could barely stay on a horse, let alone keep someone else on it with him—especially Pechal, who passed out almost as soon as Shinju mounted behind him. Holding on tightly, Raz followed them out of the courtyard, focusing on nothing but them as they led the way out of the city.
    He kept waiting to hear the cries to halt, to feel pain as he was attacked by magic—something, anything. But no one came after them, and when they finally stopped in the woods outside the Heart several minutes later, he started shaking so hard he could barely stay in the saddle.
    Wiping his face, he looked over at Pechal still slumped back against Shinju. "What am I going to do?" he asked no one in particular. "I can't let them kill Pechal; I don't scorching care if he is a Vessel!"
    Shio and Shinju spoke to each other in words he didn't understand, but assumed were some Kundouin dialect. "We know a place to hide, rest for a bit," Shio finally said. "It's a few hours from here in a little village on the other side of the forest. We will figure out what to do once we are there." They shared a look again, and normally Raz would have been dead curious about the silent conversation they were having, but right then he was too tired and scared and confused to care.
    He urged his horse into motion when Shio and Shinju did, riding along numbly, trying to sort his thoughts out—but his thoughts were mostly comprised of questions that had no answers, which made sorting it all out impossible.
    How had they gotten away? How was he going to save Pechal?
    Why had seeing the High Priest like that shaken him so badly? Who was he that he looked familiar? Why did looking at him make every part of Raz ache with pain, with … something that felt a lot like loss. That made no sense. He had never met the High Priest in his life. Why would seeing him make Raz feel as if he had lost something?
    *~*~*
    It was midday when they finally left the forest behind and reached the promised village, but Raz was so exhausted that it felt as though