7 Deadly Instincts (The Sinfire Chronicles Book 1)

Gray held the torch. Ames held the ruby. And the box of supplies was at Lilian’s feet.

The princes turned away from them, covering her face in her hands.

Ames went to her and touched her back. “Kindness or cruelty?”

“What?” Ames asked. There was such misery in her voice.

“Do you want me to be kind or cruel? We have eight hours to get to the stadium and win a fight. I can be kind to you, or I can be very, very cruel.”

Lilian whirled around and shoved Ames back. “I’m fine. I’m not going to tell you why I’m crying, so don’t ask. Let’s just go through the labyrinth and get this over with. I’m just tired. And maybe I’m scared. I’m probably scared. I don’t like being scared. But we’re being tested, right?”

“We are,” Ames said quietly. She raised the ruby. Channeling a big of her midnight blue into it, fiery numbers appeared above it. It took away quiet a bit of the chill.

Lilian put her hands out. She smiled. “That actually feels really, really good. I want fire. I want to burn things.” She giggled, and with the tears on her face, it made her seem even more unhinged.

She realized that and giggled more. “It’s funny, isn’t it? That the people who get the maddest also get fire. To burn it all down, the whole world, like the angriest dragon ever. When I get my magic, which should be any time now, you both better be nice to me, or burn your lips off. Burn your hair off. Burn you and burn you until you beg me to stop. Because I’ll be so fucking hot.”

Ames nodded. “But maybe your heart will be too cold. It won’t be a warm fire, like the numbers. It will be ice. The fire that freezes.” It was the quelling elf’s turn to smile. “We had the ice the burned with Pamalee. But you’re the opposite of her.”

“Okay, crazy,” the princess said with a giggle. “I’ll take your word for it. But to answer your question, kindness. I don’t want…I couldn’t…it would…your cruelty would hurt me. Can we please just figure out this maze so we can win?”

Gray looked into the simple wooden box—in it was a waterskin and three ironbites.

“Grab the box, Lilian,” Gray said. “And yes, let’s get this over with.” He drew his sword and charged it until it glowed red.

Ames did the same.

And they went through the doorway marked with the spiders and snakes. They had only walked a few feet in until they had to make their first choice—either to the left or the right.

“We’ll go to the right,” he said. “And we’ll mark it in case we get lost.”

He scratched an arrow into the stone wall and then marked it with a stylized “G.”

Time was ticking away, he could feel the seconds falling. Ideally, they’d beat the maze first, and then Ames and Lilian wouldn’t have to fight up in the stadium. Then again, both Ames and Lilian were both accomplished fighters. Either one of them could probably win a due, Ames especially, since she had that excruciating pain touch spell.

Eventually, Gray finally did his marks again—the arrow with the “G.”, so they turned around and he found one of his arrows scratched out so it wasn’t clear which way it was pointing.

He found other marks as well—so the other squads had his same idea.

Lilian carried their box, but she wasn’t happy about it. But that box was the least of their worries. It was so silent, so cold, and the maze seemed endless. They’d gotten into a loop, and it took a while, until Gray found a new passage. It took them down a long central corridor with crumbling statues in alcoves on the wall. Time had worn away the faces but it seemed a few had had horns.

Gray was feeling good as they wandered down the long statue gallery. This had to had to lead somewhere. Hopefully to someplace good.

“It’s getting colder,” Lilian complained. “And the quiet. I hate hearing our footsteps. It just makes me think someone is around us. Or demons. What if there are bad demons here? What if the demons look like…look like people.”

Ames laughed a little. “Since it’s so quiet, we’ll see them coming. And it is getting cold. Do we need to rest with the ruby flames?”

“We can’t,” Gray said. “Let’s just keep going.”

“As if it matters,” Lilian said bitterly. “We’re going to die down there, I know it.”

“No one is dying.” Gray paused. ‘Well, I can’t say that for certain, but I know I’m not going to die.”

“Why not?” the princess asked.

“Because I want to see my dog and my stick again. And Rynn. But not necessarily in that order.”

Lilian grimaced. “What is it with you and that stick?”

Gray laughed. “Don’t get between a man and his stick.”

The princess chuckled a little, but it was a far cry from her normal giggle.

At the end of the gallery, Gray’s hopes increased even more. Whole walls were gone and there was dust and debris covering the floor. A few sections of the ceiling were gone, revealing corridors above. That was a little unnerving. Even worse were the holes in the floor. The darkness down underneath seemed to stretch on forever.

Whispers in the darkness. Footsteps.

Lilian’s face went white. “Where is that coming from?”

It was impossible to tell. Was it from the hallways above them or the pit underneath?

“You don’t think there are ghosts, do you?” Llian asked.

“I’m a ghost,” Ames said suddenly. “I mean, I came back from the dead, right? That makes me a ghost.”

“See?” Gray smiled. “We’d just send Ames after the ghosts. She’d take care of them.”

“I would.”

Lilian sighed. “Why does that not make me feel better?”

More footsteps. More whispers. There was a rough voice—an orc? And then a woman’s voice…make that voices. It was at least two women.

It felt like someone was watching them, but Gray couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

Their only option was to continue down the corridor, picking their way through the ruins. They found themselves next to a section of wall that had come down and the floor had tumbled down with it. To the left was a low wall and to the right was nothing—just empty space.

Gray paused—something didn’t feel right.

“Come on,” Lilian said and moved forward

The fire came out of nowhere—shooting over the wall separating them from Lilian.

A second later, there was a grunt, and a scream—Lilian.

The fire abated and there was Blonko, grinning. The light from Gray’s torch glimmered on his metal arm. Lillian was nowhere to be seen. It was clear what had happened—Blonko had pushed her into the darkness.

Ames darted forward but a tail lashed out—from one of the dragon sisters. It sent her flying off the stone.

Gray was next to go—both Kabe and Ishnash shoved him before he could vent his core.

Everything happened so fast—to Gray it was a blur of dragonfire and orcs. He didn’t have time to consider that the Wrath City Raiders and the Fire Flyers were working together—but they were.

And Gray thought they just might’ve killed him.

Who would know?

No one.

Gray fell and expected to fall forever. But he slammed down onto a ledge. The torch went flying but at least he still had his sword in it’s sheath.

The pain wiped out all conscious thought. He couldn’t think. His bones had snapped in his leg, he was sure of it. And his arm, when he’d braced himself.

He wanted to cry out but he kept quiet.

Something fluttered in the distance—wings. It was loud—how big were those wings? They sounded enormous.

Gray grunted in agony as he pulled his sword from his scabbard—with the arm that hadn’t snapped. He channeled mana into it. He was on a ledge made of black stone, only about five feet wide and five feet long. It was made of natural cave stone—it was smoothed and ridged from water.

It was a miracle he’d hit the ledge at all.

It was impossible to know how far he’d fallen. Above them, the orcs and dragons and left and their light was gone as well.

The walls were that slick black stone—no way to climb up…at least from his ledge.

“Ames!” Gray called out.

“I’m here,” her voice came.

She was above him. He could see the glimmer of her sword—she hadn’t fallen as far on a similar ledge.

“Lilian?”

Nothing.

It was hard to think with the pain his leg and hand, and if he moved just the right way, he could feel the shattered bones moving against each other. As bad as his agony was, it would only feel worse when Ames did eventually heal him.

Or he could try to heal himself one more time…

He’d been able to throw the mana burst at the dragon sister during the Sixblood game out of desperation. Maybe this would work in a similar way.

But first, Lilian.

“Lilian!”

Ames was oddly quiet on the ledge above. Was she afraid of whatever was fluttering around in the darkness? How far did that abyss go under them? How far was it to the ledge and back to the maze?

It took several long seconds before he heard a quiet sob. It was down below and a little to the front of him.

Gray crawled to the edge of his little perch. “Lilian,” he said. “Draw your sword and channel mana into it. Or are you too hurt?”

“No.” It was part whisper, part whine.

“Then do it,” Gray whispered.

More fluttering and then hissing.

“Okay.”

But nothing. What was wrong with her? Gray knew. It was the despair.

He relaxed, opened his eyes, and then he could see her core, blood-red in the darkness. While it was nearly dark as the blackness, it still had some color to it because it was absorbing mana.

He grimaced. “Lilian, I can see you. I can see you are having trouble but if there are demons here, they will be coming for your core. It’s what they love to eat. So, I’m sorry you’re scared, but I’d rather have you scared than dead.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Draw your sword. We need the light.”

It seemed to take forever, but then, Lilian’s bloodless blade lit up, glowing golden in the gloom.

A second later, the demon struck—it was a winged serpent. Gray couldn’t remember the name, but he thought he’d seen them before. The thing was big, at least six feet long and as round as Gray’s leg. Instead of feathers, it had leathery wings that seemed even darker than than the bitter darkness of the cavern.

It lashed out at Lilian, but a mana burst came from above, hit one of it’s wings, and severing it.

Ames had just saved Lilian’s life.

“What are those things?” the princess shrieked.

“Names don’t matter.” Gray felt exposed on the ledge, as hurt as he was, but both his sword’s light and Lilian’s allowed him to see a narrow ledge that connected their rocky platforms together.

“I’m hurt, Lil,” Gray gasped. “I need you to climb to me, and then we need a way to get back up to Ames. There’s that little ledge on the rock. Can you see it?”

The princess groaned. “That’s not a ledge. That’s not even a crack. That’s like a tiny bit of slippery rock. Maybe a lip. No, even a lip would support me better. Don’t we have rope?”

That made Gray laugh despite the sweaty pain he found himself in.

Fluttering above, and then, the thing was on him, striking at him.

Gray grimaced and vented his core—it shattered the winged serpent, blowing off the things wing. The meat slapped wetly onto the stone and immediately started to steam. The flying snakes were big and disgusting but they weren’t tough. Thank the gods of sea and sky.

He was dizzy after the explosion of mana. There was more fluttering. He had the idea the demons didn’t know what to do with the unexpected intruders. They probably had spent their entire lives in the cavern, eating hellish things, maybe each other, and this new prey was unknown and deadly. Two of the things had been killed almost immediately.

But it wouldn’t be long before the demon snakes realized that attacking all at once was their best bet.

“Lilian, I don’t know why you’re…you’re feeling so broken, but if we’re going to survive this, we need to work together. Please.”

“I can’t…”

He heard the despair in her voice, and it pissed him off. Good. The anger was refilling his core. He controlled that rage and kept his voice even. “Squad 23 doesn’t have a logo or a color palette or a song or even a secret handshake. But we do have a motto. Inseparable. Unstoppable. We’re not just a team, we’re a family, and that’s where our strength lies. If you really want to be a part of Squad 23, if you really want to perfect your magic, I need you to commit to us, to me, right now. Master your fear. Walking that ledge. And help me. I broke my leg and my arm. I’m all fucked up. So, enough of this whiny seacow shit. Get to me. Right fucking now.”

“But we’re not inseparable. We were pretty fucking separated, right?”

“Yes. But we can fix that. Come on. You’re a wind dancer. You can walk that ledge.”

“I am a wind dancer.” “Her voice had a certain strength to it. That blood-red mana in her core was still there, but it was sucking in magic.

“Gray!” Ames called out.

Another flying snake was blown out of the air from her mana blast.

He winced. “Thanks.”

But there was more and more flutterings.

Lilian was on her feet, on the ledge, with her sword sheathed. She needed both hands to grip the rock.

Eventually, she got to him, and she was there, bloodless blade glowing scarlet, when another of the snakes attacked.

She sliced off the thing’s head—rather elegantly—and the thing dropped like a stone. It took several seconds…no, it took nearly a minute for it to hit the ground far below.

Gray closed his eyes. He had mana. He had the ability to cause pain. If he could hurt, he could heal.

He just needed to focus.

But he couldn’t. It hurt too bad, and he knew, if he channeled that healing mana into his body, it would hurt even more. But it would help him. It would make him whole.

He’d wanted that his entire life—to be able to use his mind to fix his body. And yet, he had spent his entire life failing and feeling that failure keenly. It was imposslbe. It had taken an ancient dragon woman to snatch him away from everything he’d ever known to repair him. That wasn’t going to happen.

Lilian bent down next to him. She took him by the shoulder and shook him. “I’m here. You’re sitting there with your eyes closed. What the fuck? You say I’m full of seacow shit. Well, look in the mirror.”

“I don’t have a mirror,” he said with a grin. “I’m trying to heal myself…”

He was looking into her face, and it too ka second for him to see the gash in her hairline. Her normally golden hair was dark with blood.

“You’re hurt,” he whispered.

“Yes. My head is killing me. Thanks for noticing.”

He touched her face, the mark next to her left eye. It was going to be very big, and very noticeable. It was going to basically cover the entire left side of her face.

“You’re hurt in all kinds of ways.” It was the wrong thing to say, at the wrong time, and again, Ames hurled another mana blast. Another snake fell to it’s death.

Lilian nodded. “I am.”

He wanted to fix her. he wanted to take away her pain. He’d helped Rynn. He’d helped Ames. He’d taken their pain away through both his actions and his words. They were so happy. He suddenly wanted that for this troubled princess, who’s life was so entangled with his. And it shouldn’t be.

He was a slave boy. She was a princess. Their lives never should’ve intersected, and yet, they had, in the most unimaginable ways possible.

“I’m going to heal you,” he said, feeling the determination. “I can’t take away your sadness, but I can heal the gash in your head. I can. I have the mana.”

And he touched her.

She shrieked. He was hurting her, but he felt the damage in her head, the pain, and he could feel the wound. I was like he had that same wound, that same painful wound, the brusing, the blood, the whole thing.

And he could feel her flesh kntting together.

She was trying to flee from him, but he had her, grpping her arm, forcing her to stay, because it wasn’t just about fixing her head wound, it was about the confidence he needed to fix himself.

And then a dozen of the flying snakes attacked all at once, and they were lost in a flurry of wings and snapping teeth, and whipping tails.

“Lilian get back!” Gray screamed.

She cut her way through the serpents even as one latched onto Gray’s arm, rending the flehs, but he hardly felt it.

He vented his core again—and around him. It was like being inside a rain of blood. Bits of destroyed flesh peppered him in the face even as he breathed in the stink of their steaming flesh.

He tried to blink away the blood, but he couldn’t see for a second—then he saw Lilian, clutching the edge of the rock, panic in her eyes. He’d nearly launched her off the platform. She was trying to get back on, kicking her legs, but she couldn’t.

Gray couldn’t help her—not if he didn’t heal himself.

Ames threw mana blasts—other flying serpents were trying to get to her.

Gray closed his eyes, too his hand, and slammed it down onto his arm. He’d healed Lilian’s flesh. It was easy. Her body wanted to live even if her soul had other ideas. He was the same. He dove into that desire to exist, to be whole, to be strong.

He’d wanted his entire life to be strong, and now, he could be. And not just strong but enduring. His bones were shattered in his arm, but his body knew how to fix them—it just needed power.

And he gave it that power. It hurt. By the gods of sea and sky it hurt—but with the power in his meridians, that power radiated out ot the bone, and they started knitting together.

“Gray, please, I’m slipping…” From Lilian. If she fell, she’d die.

He’d failed her once…maybe twice, in his reaction to her coming to join them. He wasn’t going to let her fall.

He screamed in pain, in frustration, in fury. It was Blonko and those fucking dragons. It was the the unfairness of First Field. It was Settie and her hating questions because she didn’t want to reveal who she was and what she could do.

Gray felt his arm bones heal, and then, he focused on his leg bones, and those were harder, and he was already so tired.

And even as he absorbewd mana, he used every once to repair himself. It hurt, it hurt so badly, but he couldn’t stop.

At one point, he found himself on his back, holding his leg up in both hands, and squeezing, squeezing, squeezing.

Until he wasn’t sure which hurt worse—the pain of his bones coming together and restoring themselves or the bursing he’d experience gripping his leg so tightly.

“Gray!” Lilian screamed.

And Gray knew he’d run out of time.

He was on his knees—ripping open his pants to the skin, and then he caught Lilian in his arm. He was nearly out of mana, but he hauled her up and onto the ledge, and they both rolled back.

Ames called to him with panic in her voice. “Gray!”

Gray caught up his sword, was on his feet, and he cut snake after snake out of the air with Lilian trembling at his feet.

He was laughing as he fought—laughing and laughing. He’d healed himself. He’d perfected the magic that his bond to Rynn and Ames had given him. It had taken incredible desperation, but he’d done it.

There was a last bit of fluttering as the demons left him and from the sound of it, they were giving up completely.

A second later it was silent.

The only sound was Gray as he continued to laugh even though they were still stuck in the darkness.