River Secrets by Shannon Hale Read Free Book Online Page B

Lady Megina told us to leave. If I’d stayed…”
    Talone shook his head, saying it was fruitless to question it.
    “Do you think it was her?” asked Razo.
    “If the Tiran find burned bodies after our arrival, they’ll be convinced we’re harboring a ‘fire-witch,’ as they say, whether or not our Enna is responsible. In sketchy diplomatic situations, the truth matters less than what the other side
thinks
is the truth.”
    “Lady Megina said as much to me last night.”
    “Did she?” Talone filled a cup with water and set it on the ground beside Razo. “It’s time to tell me everything you know about Enna’s burnings.”
    Razo had been avoiding this very conversation since the end of the war. He squirmed as he spoke, uncomfortable now on the hard floor. “It’s been about a year and a half since I first figured Enna had something to do with the reports of random burnings in Tiran camps. When I confronted her about it, she seemed almost relieved to have someone to tell, as well as eager to do more with the fire.”
    Razo dipped a finger in the water, shook it off. “It was her idea to go on scouting missions with me into the Bayern towns the Tiran had taken, burn tents and stacks of weapons and such. She was aware that her control over the fire slipped sometimes, so she wanted someone to make sure she didn’t go too far. After our first burning raid, I brought Finn along, too, but she was already falling fast. When Finn and I realized, we refused to go with her until she was clearheaded. That night she ran off without us to Eylbold, got herself caught by that nasty Tiran captain, and spent a couple of months prisoner. I don’t know what-all happened there.”
    Talone was changing his clothes, washing his hands and face, ridding himself of the residue of grave digging. Razo watched, realizing that whether or not Enna was burning, he and Talone were now elbow deep in these murders. If any Tiran had seen them, if they were found out… Razo rubbed his back against the wall. Cold chills always made him feel itchy.
    “Finn and I tried to rescue her, as you know.” Razo cleared his throat casually. No need to dwell too long on that point. By rights, Talone could have seized their javelins and all rights as soldiers for deserting the army. It had hurt Razo as much as any of his wounds to betray Talone like that. “Captain, you know the rest, how Enna burned our way free and we caught up with the Tiran army before they invaded the capital.”
    Talone wiped a smear of soot from his boot. “Tell me about Enna during that last battle.”
    Razo decided he wanted that water now and drank the entire cup without a breath. The cold tingled his empty stomach as though he had swallowed honeybees.
    “It was ugly, Captain. It was the worst thing I ever saw, and whenever I find those images in my skull, I kick them out again with a swift boot.”
    “Go on, son.”
    At the word
son,
Razo sat up a little taller.
    “Well, Finn and I, we stood in front of Enna and fought any Tiran who tried to stop her. They’d started to catch fire, whole groups of them. I tried not to watch, but I could hear them scream. When I…when I turned back once to look at Enna, she was lying on her stomach, holding herself up on her elbows. She sobbed, but her face was smooth, as if she didn’t know she was crying. She just stared at the field, at the burning men.”
    Razo scratched his face with both hands. “Times I saw her set fire to tents and things, and I could tell she enjoyed it, but that dead expression…I didn’t look back again. Before long, some Tiran villain got a sword between my ribs and I didn’t see her again for months, not until she and Isi had returned from their trip south.”
    “Do you know what happened there?” asked Talone.
    “Finn told me that in Yasid, Isi was able to teach Enna wind speech and Enna taught Isi fire, so now they both have both talents, and somehow that made Enna better.”
    Talone did not even