The Boys of Fire and Ash by Meaghan McIsaac Read Free Book Online

he could feed himself. She never fed his brothers, either, and her sisters never fed their sons. So Rawley taught himself to hunt—”
    “Still sting?” said Blaze, sitting down beside me…on my cot…
my
cot. My eyes narrowed on him. I hadn’t invited him over, yet here he was, sitting on my cot, my space, the only thing that was mine!
    “What?” I said.
    “Your chin. Still sting?”
    I rubbed the spot where Fiver had slugged me earlier and winced. It must’ve looked pretty blue. Even so, what did Blaze care?
    Blaze smiled. “Thought it might. I’m no stranger to a fight myself, though I can’t say I ever took one quite so well as you.”
    I inhaled as deep as I could.
Well
. I couldn’t help but think he meant something different. Fiver had landed blow after blow, and I had done nothing to protect myself. I hadn’t taken it
well
. I’d just taken it.
    All because Blaze had to have a bad dream.
    Blaze picked a red piece of Larmy meat out of his full bowl with his giant, greasy fingers and offered it to me.
    Mouth watering, I shook my head.
    “Not hungry, eh?”
    I shook my head again and turned away from him, trying to keep my temper in check. Here he was, pretending to be nice to me and it didn’t make any sense. It was his fault my body was bruised, his fault Av wasn’t talking to me. He could keep his Larmy. I didn’t want anything from him.
    “What do you care, anyway?” I snapped.
    He grinned, a sideways smirk that made me want to hit him. “I dunno. You just remind me of someone, I guess.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “Who?”
    “Me. A long time ago.”
    My back stiffened. I don’t know what I expected him to say, but it wasn’t that. From where I was sitting, Blaze and I had less in common than a Cavy and the Fire Mountains.
    He leaned back on his elbow, making himself more comfortable.
    I rested my chin in my hands and tried to focus on Fiver.
    “I’d almost forgotten, you know, the way it feels here. I haven’t felt this…” He let his words trail off as he savored the food in his mouth, Fiver’s words in his ears.
    I waited.
    He saw me looking at him and he cleared his throat. “Anyway, it’s nice to feel it again.”
    “Feel what?” I asked.
    He smiled, but there was something sad weighing on it, something cloudy behind his eyes as he watched Fiver. “Home.”
    “And when his evil Mother and her evil sisters decided they wanted no sons, no fathers, no husbands, they led Rawley and all his brothers and cousins far, far away from their home, leading them to die in the fires of the IkkumaPit. But brave and clever Rawley would not let his brothers and cousins die—”
    Blaze began to chuckle. “Word for word. That’s unbelievable.”
    I turned back to him. “What?”
    “The story. It’s word for word the same as I remember it.” He stuffed another fat piece of Larmy into his mouth and I felt my stomach grumble.
    “It’s incredible how nothing changes here, how untouched you boys are.”
    I was insulted and I guess my scowl let him know because he shook his head.
    “No, it’s a good thing, Urgle.”
    “When his evil Mother and her evil sisters had abandoned the boys in the Ikkuma Pit, Rawley taught his Brothers all he’d taught himself,” continued Fiver. “Then Rawley took a hot ember and burned the inside of his ankle, a symbol of his promise to take care of, and to share with, all his Brothers. And his Brothers made this same promise, and burned their ankles for Rawley. Every day they ate like kings, hunting the creatures of Nikpartok Forest.”
    Untouched
. The word hammered into my brain with Blaze’s every smacking chew of Larmy.
    “Years later, the evil Mother returned. She had with her another son, a son she did not want—”
    “Untouched by what?” I almost didn’t realize I’d said it out loud.
    Blaze watched Fiver, chewing and smacking. Finally he shrugged. “Things aren’t as simple out there, kid. Beyond that forest…”
    “When Rawley found the