Embrace the Fire Read Free Page B

inside, and he pulled a short, wicked-looking blade from the box. “I have no sheath for it, Kinna. Take care and put it in your boot.”
    Kinna hefted the blade. It was heavier than it appeared. She slid it into her knee-high moccasin. “Thank you, Julian,” she said, sincerity touching her voice.
    The tent flap flew open and Lincoln burst in. “Kinna, come. Now.”
    Panic erupted in Kinna's abdomen. Her ears picked up the sound of several pairs of feet tromping through the grass, drawing closer to Julian's tent. She whirled to run, but Julian's sharp, quiet voice stopped her.
    “No, this way. You too, Lincoln.” Julian motioned to the opposite side of the tent. “Out the back. I'll take care of this.”
    Julian disappeared through the opening, and Lincoln hauled Kinna to the back corner of the tent where the ground dipped. “Go,” he whispered. Kinna hit the grass and weaseled under the canvas.
    On the other side, Julian's hard voice stopped the advancing footsteps. “Do you have new orders for me?”
    “Nay.” A man's voice carried easily around the canvas tent. “It's another matter. Search his tent.”
    “What is the meaning of this?” Outrage filled Julian's voice.
    Lincoln had escaped the tent; he tugged urgently on Kinna's arm. She hesitated, wishing to hear the rest.
    “I apologize, Commander, but my orders are to search your tent. A Dragon's footprints have been found on the beach, and orders are to search your tent if any signs of a foreign Dragon appear.”
    Terror seized Kinna; immediately, her mind searched for Chennuh. She wound her arm through Lincoln's. “This way.” Chennuh was safe, but she could feel his disturbance as he maneuvered through the air above them.
    “Where are we going?” Lincoln asked as he hurried beside Kinna down the row of tents. “Back to the beach?”
    Kinna shook her head. “No, there are soldiers all over the beach. Chennuh's heading to the crest over there.” She motioned toward the black line of sand hills that darkened the starry horizon ahead of them.
    “Want me to sing?”
    “No, there are too many of them.” Kinna glanced through a gap between tents and shied backward, nearly stumbling over Lincoln. She yanked him around the corner of a tent as six soldiers hurried by, their swords unsheathed.
    As soon as they passed, Kinna rushed into the next section of tents, but not quickly enough.
    “There they are!” The voice was closer than Kinna had anticipated.
    “Run!” Lincoln urged, his voice no longer quiet. He pulled her along. He was faster than she, but he slowed his pace to be sure she stayed ahead of him.
    Kinna flew down the pathway of tents. On her right, thudding footsteps approached, and she took a sharp left, then a right, losing herself in the maze.
    Behind them, the soldiers' shouts grew louder.
    “We're not going to make it.” Chennuh, help!
    A burst of fire lit the night sky, trailing from a point high in the air into an inverted mushroom above the tents. Several caught on fire. Terrified shrieks filled the encampment.
    Kinna could see the soldiers now. They bore down on her and Lincoln. Kinna burst into the wide pathway that led through the center of the camp and sprinted toward the fire. All around her, men emerged, running toward them, surrounding them. Kinna halted, panting, panicked. Lincoln pulled her behind him. He opened his mouth and a powerful song burst forth, spilling over the soldiers.
    The song crashed like thunder, potent; like a tidal wave, it pulled at the audience’s movement. The men closest to them stilled, their motions sluggish. The ones behind plowed through, but as they drew close, they, too, struggled to move. The men’s gazes grew dreamy and still.
    Lincoln sang louder, and even though the Pixie's voice held no power over the blood of Aarkan that ran through Kinna's veins, the raw emotion and the taibe that moved in his music pulled at the core of her being.
    More men piled through the ranks, and powerful as