Page 36 of Keeper of the Flame: Orrick

“I did nothing of the sort,” said Alwin, gasping for air. The dagger was still embedded in his chest and the blood continued to flow. “I only protected . . . the flame. You decided . . . it was the candle.”

Orrick held the stolen gift of immortality now, so he was the new Keeper. The power of the flame flowed through him, making him want to shout aloud. Without it, Alwin was mortal and able to die.

Alwin clutched the dagger stuck in his chest, and looked up at Orrick with eyes that seemed to see right through his very soul. “I don’t fear dying,” gasped the man. “But I do fear what will happen to you, now that you have let the darkness take control.”

“Nothing will happen to me but good.”

“I only wish that . . . were so.” The man was losing a lot of blood and was near death.

Orrick should have helped him, but there was a dark fog clouding his judgment, just like Alwin said. Instead, he stood still with the candle in one hand, just staring at the dying man on the ground.

“You – you need to get . . . the flame to the . . . next Keeper,” said the man with his dying breath. “The next Keeper’s name . . . it is –”

“I am the next Keeper,” spat Orrick, hearing his own voice and almost sounding like someone else. Part of him wanted to give the flame back so the man wouldn’t die. But another part of him, a darker part, wanted the flame for himself and wouldn’t let him give it up. Unable to unclench his fingers from around the torch, Orrick stood over Alwin, watching the man die. Little did he know that everything the sorcerer said was true, and that being the Keeper of the Flame was going to prove to be a curse instead of a blessing or gift of any kind.

Without even realizing how he’d gotten there, Orrick stopped his horse just outside of the cave that housed the Eternal Flame. Slipping from the saddle, he hurried to the mouth of the cave, using his magic to remove a boulder that blocked the door.

Dirt fell and small rocks tumbled around the entrance. With another swipe of his hand, he magically cleared away all the vines that had grown and tangled over the mouth of the cave in the last hundred years – the last time he’d been here.

He ducked and entered the cave. The cool, earthy air hit him in the face and made him take a deep breath before he slowly released it. By hiding the flame inside the cave and sealing the door, Orrick hoped to never have to see it again.

But now that there were people looking for it, and his powers of shapeshifting were unstable, he figured he’d better check up on the flame.

Slowly making his way deeper into the cavern, he could see the slight glow of the eternal flame still burning from the torch on the wall up ahead. He rounded the corner and stopped. It was right where he’d put it after Petronilla had died. It burned on the wall. The table with the candle that Alwin had used as a decoy was still there.

He felt a presence within the cave and wondered if it was the spirit of Alwin. Even though he’d buried the man’s body outside the cave, he almost felt as if he were going to look down and see him on the floor in a puddle of blood.

A tingle went up his spine. He had hoped to forget about his dark past, but now he was being confronted with all these awful memories once again.

He walked over to the flame, sticking his hand into the fire, feeling the power flow through him. The flame couldn’t burn him, but somehow he wished it could. If he could die, he would gladly take his own life just so he wouldn’t have to live like this anymore.

If only Alwin had told him the name of the next Keeper before he died, then Orrick could have passed along the flame, and given his troubles to someone else.

“Orrick?” came a soft, female voice from behind him. He spun around to see Lady Hope standing there. He’d been so distraught and deep in thought that he hadn’t even realized she’d followed him. “Oh, it’s you, Sir Rick,” she said.

Damn, thought Orrick. It probably would have been better if he’d stayed in the form of the old sorcerer. Now, it was too late. She’d already seen him here and he didn’t know what to say.

“Lady Hope,” he said, flashing a nervous smile. “What are you doing here?”

“I followed Orrick here after I heard him speaking with Lord Corbett in the stable.”

“Y – you did?” Orrick’s heart beat faster. He hoped she hadn’t heard their entire conversation. “So, what did they say?”

“Orrick is the Keeper of the Flame!” she blurted out, making Orrick grimace and squeeze his eyes closed. Now, the next thing she was going to want to do was to see the Eternal Flame, and he couldn’t have that. Nay, that would never do at all.

Chapter 11

“So, where is Orrick?” asked Hope, walking over the stone- cold floor, making her way closer to Sir Rick. She looked around the cave, protectively wrapping her arms around her. “I followed him here and am fairly sure he came in the cave as well. I saw his horse outside.”

“Aye,” said Sir Rick, clearing his throat, seeming nervous all of a sudden. “Orrick was here. But now he’s not.”

“Where did he go?” she asked, looking at him from the sides of her eyes. Something about this man was very mysterious and she wasn’t sure if she could trust him. “And why are you here?”

“Aye, why, indeed,” he said, shifting from foot to foot. “You see, Orrick asked me to – to meet him here.”

“Here?” She took in her primitive surroundings. “In this dark, dank cave?”

“That’s right. He said he wanted to talk to me. But when I arrived . . . when I arrived, he was gone.”