Firestorm Forever: A Dragonfire Novel (84 page)

The prophecy swirled in his thoughts yet again.

Three blood moons mark the debt come due

Will the
Pyr
triumph or be hunted anew?

Three eclipses will awaken the spark

In thirteen monsters breeding in dark…

Three times the firestorm will spark

Before darkfire fades into the dark.

Firestorm, mate or blood sacrifice

None or all can be the darkfire’s price.

When the Dragon’s Tail has turned its bore

And darkfire dies forevermore

Will the
Pyr
be left to rule with might

Or disappear into past’s twilight?

Six more clones could be expected then, and they believed they would hatch at Machu Picchu. All of them would want Erik dead. Would he be the blood sacrifice? The Dragon’s Tail was a time of karmic rebalance, after all. It might be that because Sigmund had been his son, because Sigmund had turned
Slayer
because of the rift between they two, because Sigmund had been the one to devise the clones, that any balancing of debts would require Erik’s death.

If his execution saved the
Pyr
and his daughter, Erik would pay the price willingly.

He abruptly felt a presence behind him and wondered who had joined him beneath the stars. Erik turned slightly, not truly surprised to find his lost son behind him when that
Slayer
had been so bright in his thoughts. The ghost of Sigmund gestured to the apparition that accompanied him.

“The blood moon will ripen the eggs,”
Sigmund repeated in old-speak.

Tynan, formerly the Apothecary of the
Pyr
, bowed his head before Erik. The sight of him tightened Erik’s throat, for he had liked and trusted this
Pyr
well.
“‘The caduceus is the mark of he who can wake the sleeping and send the awake to sleep.’”
Tynan said, the Irish lilt in his voice achingly familiar and reminding Erik of their shared past.
“The Apothecary must decide, that he may heal the world with his choice.”

Before Erik could ask for clarification, the two specters shimmered, then disappeared from view. He heard the flap of Sloane’s wings and felt the shimmer of the other
Pyr
shifting shape as he landed. Erik turned to meet Sloane’s gaze, noting the frustration in his eyes, and bit back a confession of his vision.

“I have an idea about the
Slayer
,” Sloane said with purpose. “I might be able to counteract the Elixir.”

Erik almost smiled. “So that you can put the
Slayers
to sleep forever.”

“Not quite that,” Sloane admitted. “But if they aren’t immortal, that can only help our side. I’ll need to talk to Marco and his mate, Jac.”

“I’ll contact them. Can I assist you in any way?”

Sloane smiled. “I’d like that. Thanks, Erik.”

As they strode back to the house and the sleeping
Pyr
, Erik dared to take hope from the Apothecary’s sense of purpose.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

September 28, 2015

Knowing he was doing the right thing didn’t make it any easier.

Sloane took a vacation for the first time since the Seattle virus had struck. He hiked through the mountains in Peru, following the Inca trail from Chillca and camping at night. The solitude helped him to prepare for the challenge ahead and to make his peace with whatever the result might be.

For the
Pyr
and for himself.

Sam had been right about the Dracontias, and it had dispelled the Elixir from the clone’s body. Erik had taken great satisfaction in battling that
Slayer
and killing him, then the
Pyr
had ensured he was decapitated and burned to ash. Sloane had prepared a solution with the dissolved Dracontias and distributed syringes of it to his fellows.

Then there had been little to do but train and wait.

Sloane dared to be optimistic about their chances.

Even so, he wanted time to make his peace with what he had done and not done in his long life, in case all did not go well. He felt as if he could talk with his father again in those mist-shrouded mountains. The light reminded him of Ireland and the murmur of the wind recalled his father’s old-speak. Tynan had always been optimistic, always certain that good had to triumph in the end.

Sloane had to choose to believe that, but he did.

It would have been easier if he hadn’t been in love with Sam, and known she was better without him. She’d called a few times, but despite the temptation, he let the calls go to voice mail. He didn’t want her to hope for what would never be. The chances of him having a firestorm soon were slim, and the chances of having one with her were practically non-existent. It would be better for her to fall in love with someone else and be happy.

Once again, he chose for the greater good and not his own. Maybe the Apothecary’s role would change after the end of the wars, and change for the good.

Sloane met up with Thorolf and Chandra the last evening and smiled at Chandra’s practical way of wearing her son in a kind of sling. Partnership and motherhood hadn’t slowed her down in the least, and he wondered whether the sacrifice of her immortality had even changed her much. Thorolf, on the other hand, had been transformed by his firestorm. He was a devoted father and at ease in his skin as he had never been before. Watching them together made Sloane yearn for something that might never be his.

What if he didn’t have a firestorm? What if he never had a chance? What if he failed and the
Pyr
paid the price? He felt as if his father laid a hand on his shoulder then, and chose again to believe.

On the morning of the eclipse, Liz and Brandon joined them, as well. There were sparks on the tips of Liz’s fingers, and she smiled when Sloane glanced at them. “Fire in the air,” she said and he assumed the pending eclipse was awakening the Firedaughter.

Brandt and Arach were taking the train and would arrive with the first flood of tourists. Melissa and Rafferty had arrived the day before and would meet them in the city. Melissa was determined to film this final battle, and Erik had agreed on the condition that it would be the last episode about the
Pyr
that she filmed.

Sloane supposed it would be, one way or the other.

They approached Machu Picchu from above in silence and in darkness. The group perched on the side of the trail to watch the sunlight touch the mountain peak opposite. Mist swirled in the valleys below and the city was empty. It was clearly a sacred place, at least to Sloane, the majesty of creation and the ingenuity of man in perfect harmony.

“The Huayna Picchu,” Chandra said quietly as that distant peak was illuminated.

The light spread gradually into the valley below, banishing the shadows and illuminating the ruins of the great city. Sloane caught his breath at his first glimpse of it. He’d seen photographs, but nothing had prepared him for this marvel. “It ends where it began,” he said quietly, then pointed. “Sara’s parents were killed by a
Slayer
on that road right after the moon’s node turned.”

“It’s
Slayers
who will die tonight,” Thorolf said. There was a moment of silence as the others clearly hoped that would be the case.

“The Incan monarchs were believed to be the children of the sun,” Chandra continued. “Personifications of the divine sun, taken flesh to rule men.”

“That’s not very different from carrying the divine spark of the Great Wyvern,” Sloane mused.

“Maybe we’ve come here because of the link with the element of fire,” Liz suggested.

“That’s not the only element present,” Thorolf noted. “Air and water and earth are here, too.”

“All in balance,” Sloane said. “And countered by the influence of man. It’s an incredibly harmonious place.” They all agreed, and Sloane couldn’t help thinking that this was the perfect place to defeat the
Slayers
for all time, securing the relationship between humans and
Pyr
forever.

“There are several Incan foundation stories that have been recorded, although it’s not clear which one was their favorite,” Chandra continued. “They didn’t write, so the stories were recorded by others. I like the one about the brothers who were sons of the sun and instructed to found an empire where they could sink a sacred stick completely into the ground.”

“So there’d be soil for planting crops,” Sloane said, having noted the rockiness of the ground on his trip.

“Yes, but here’s the part you’ll like. Manco was good and just. He followed instruction and established the empire at Cuzco. Ayar, however, was cruel and reckless. He was either sealed into a rock or turned to ice, to contain his wickedness forever.”

“It’s the same duality as
Pyr
and
Slayers
,” Brandon said. “And the same juxtaposition of fire against ice and stone.”

Sloane couldn’t help but think of the
Slayer
who had been in his fridge, never mind that the same
Slayer
had broken free of an egg that could have been considered a stone prison.

“The Inca had a healthy respect for the elements, as well as being keen observers of the sun, moon and stars,” Chandra said. She pointed to an oddly shaped stone on a platform to the left. “That’s the Intihuatana.”

“The hitching post of the sun,” Brandon supplied.

“For the tethering of the sun god Inti at the winter solstice, to ensure he returned the following summer,” Sloane said. “Do you think we might find the eggs there?”

Chandra and Liz shrugged in unison. “We’ve spent months here, studying every rock that looked promising,” Chandra said.

“With zero results,” Liz concluded. “We just have to wait for them to stir.”

Sloane indicated the sparks on Liz’s fingertips. “If you’re sensitive to the pending eclipse, maybe they’re responding to it, too.”

“Either way, we have the day to search again,” Thorolf said, getting to his feet. The entire city was bathed in golden light now. Sloane could hear a distant train approaching and knew the site would soon be flooded with tourists. “The eclipse isn’t until tonight.”

“Any particularly strong candidates?” Sloane asked Chandra and Liz.

“I’d think the Temple of the Condor or the Royal Palace might be good choices,” she said, pointing out the two structures. “But that might also be where Sigmund would have expected us to look.”

“I vote for the Temple of the Condor,” Thorolf said.

“We should split up,” Brandon said. “Then meet in a couple of hours to compare notes.

They nodded and stood to descend into the city, before there was a rustling of wings. Chandra tipped her head back and smiled as she watched a large black and white bird soar overhead. “A condor,” she whispered. “They were revered by the Inca.”

“Or is it your friend Snow?” Thorolf asked.

Chandra didn’t reply, but watched the bird circle back toward them. It swooped over their heads, gave a cry as if in recognition of Chandra, then dove down toward the city again. Raynor echoed Snow’s cry with incredible accuracy and reached out a hand toward the bird.

“I’m following Snow,” Chandra said with resolve. She strode down the trail, one arm wrapped protectively around Raynor, Thorolf right behind her.

Sloane found his gaze returning to the curiously shaped stone used to tether the sun god. That was where he’d search for Sigmund’s hidden eggs.

* * *

Outside Traverse City, the
Pyr
were as ready as they could be.

Erik had divided their forces, trying to determine key locations the newly hatched Slayers would attack. Having one team at Machu Picchu with Sloane, in the hope of catching as many as possible of them early, made sense. The second team was with Erik, as the clones would hunt him down. Marco, Quinn, Donovan, and Lorenzo had gathered at Quinn’s home with their mates and children. The third team was with Drake, at his new home with Ronnie in Virginia. Drake insisted that they were making a home there and would defend it, and Erik hadn’t been able to shake that
Pyr
’s resolve.

Marco knew that the biggest fight would be at Machu Picchu, followed by the clones coming for Erik. He knew that Erik was determined to take down every version of Boris Vassily himself, per the honor code of the
Pyr
, but he also wasn’t alone in believing that the leader of the
Pyr
might need some help to take out as many as six
Slayers
in rapid succession.

That didn’t even count Jorge, because no one knew his plan.

Quinn’s rural property offered more privacy than Erik’s Chicago loft, and if nothing else, there would be dragon fights on this night that were better unobserved by humans. It was a fine clear night, and the mates and children were secured within the house. Lorenzo was ready to beguile as necessary.

The
Pyr
gathered in a meadow and waited restlessly for the arrival of any clones of Boris Vassily. Marco could only hope that Sloane managed to eliminate a few of them at the source, or that Jorge summoned some of them to aid him. Quinn had convinced Erik at least, that he could only fight one at a time, and that so long as he was engaged in battle the other
Pyr
could fight any additional
Slayers
.