by Eric Vall
“Were you stung?” He grabbed her arm and closed his eyes.
“Papa, stop it.” She pushed his hands away from her. “I told you I’m fine. I was stung, but Lord Evan healed me, so I’m okay now. I promise. The venom is gone.”
The chief glanced at me, and he looked startled before he turned his attention back to Ravi.
“Can you change into your true form?”
Ravi stayed silent for a moment.
“No,” she finally admitted quietly.
Chief Fiyero frowned before he reached for his daughter again. “Come. We must heal you immediately.” Then he turned to Valerra and me. “Were either of you stung?”
“No, I am not so foolish to let a Deathstalker so close to me,” Valerra sniffed, and I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes.
“I was, but I’m fine,” I added. “My magic is strong, and the venom inside me was destroyed.”
The chief stared at me with disbelief in his eyes. Then he held out his hand.
“Do you mind?”
I looked down at his hand and grasped it. A moment later, I could feel his magic flow through me, and it felt exactly like Ravi’s essence. It burned, but it was also peaceful as he searched for any trace of the venom to purify.
“Incredible,” he said as he pulled his hand back. “Your healing ability is very powerful. There is not even a trace of the venom in your blood. I’ve never seen such powerful healing magic.”
“I know, it’s pretty convenient,” I replied with a smirk. “I tried to heal Ravi, but her magic has been suppressed by the venom. She needs rest.”
“That is how the Deathstalker’s venom works. It works its way into your blood, suppresses your ability to access your magic, and paralyzes you. Once you are defenseless, they go in for the kill. When our magic is repressed, we have to essentially restart our bodies. Until Ravi is reborn, she will not be able to access her magic.” He paused and turned to the phoenix princess. “Are you ready to burn for the first time, my child?”
Ravi’s eyes sparkled. “Yes. Of course, I am.”
“We will need to set up a pyre, then,” he replied. “If you can’t access your magic, I can start your fire. We will prepare it at once.”
The chief left us to prepare a pyre for Ravi, and the princess turned to me and Valerra.
“I guess I can give you the grand tour,” she said as she bounced on her toes. Then she turned around and gestured for us to follow her as she stood in front of the tent the chief had vanished inside earlier. “This is where my father stays. It is used as his sleeping quarters as well as his meditation room.”
The tent was large and matched the color of the sand, but Ravi didn’t take us inside. Instead, we walked past it and stopped in front of a smaller tent. This tent was the same shade, but Ravi led us through the flaps. The inside was full of different flame colored fabrics, and there was a hammock set up along the right side with a nest of red blankets and pillows. There was also a small golden mat in the center of the floor. The left side of the room had a small table with a few books, an incense burner, and a golden necklace with a small sun charm that hung off the middle.
“This is my tent,” Ravi explained. “It may not look like much compared to what you have in Hatra, but it’s mine.”
“It’s nice,” I told her as I studied her modest home.
I knew the phoenix tribe wouldn’t have much. Ravi had told us they were nomadic, so they would only carry around the bare minimum in order to travel more efficiently.
I walked over to the table and held the necklace.
“Why don’t you wear this?” I asked her. It seemed like it was important to her since she kept it around, but it was strange she wouldn’t wear it.
“It was my mother’s,” Ravi explained in a subdued voice. “She died before I hatched. That’s all I have of her.”
“I lost my mother when I was young, too,” I said as I put the necklace back in its place on the table and turned to Ravi. “What happened? I thought you were supposed to be immortal?”
“We are immortal, but we are not gods,” she corrected in a bitter voice. “We can still be killed.”
“Your mom was murdered?” I asked in surprise. “How did that happen?”
“It’s a long story,” she began with a sigh. “Before my father asked the king to save us, my father gave the other phoenix tribes the opportunity to join us and form one tribe. Only two tribes agreed to join together under the leadership of my father. After a few hundred years, one of the ex-chiefs began to grow bitter. He thought he should lead the tribe. He had planned to hold out in the hopes that my father would name him his successor when my father eventually grew tired of leadership. When my mother announced that my father was to have another heir, me, the man flew into a jealous rage. The next time my mother burned, he stole her ashes and dowsed them in water. As we are creatures of fire, we cannot be reborn if our ashes are wet. So, my mother never came back. My father caught the man and had him executed. He tied stones to the man’s feet and threw him into water, drowning him.”
“Good,” Valerra suddenly spoke up. “Although, that man deserved a fate worse than death.”
I turned to look at the crimson dragon in surprise and saw her face twisted in rage. Then she took a deep breath, and her expression returned to its natural state of indifference.
But that was the first time I’d seen something almost akin to empathy from the other dragon. Guess there was a heart under those tough, red scales after all.
“I’m sorry about your mom, Ravi,” I said as I turned back to the phoenix. “I’m sure it was hard to grow up without her.”
“Thank you,” Ravi replied as she dipped her head. “My father is the only family I’ve ever known, and I’m grateful for him, but I wish I’d had the opportunity to meet my mother and my brothers. That is why my father is so protective of me. He doesn’t want anything to happen to me as well.”
“That’s understandable,” I murmured.
“Yes,” Ravi sighed as she turned to walk out of the tent, “but let’s continue the tour, follow me.”
Over the next hour, Ravi showed us around the small village. We walked past the tents set up for the rest of the tribe, and a few phoenix people waved to us.
I looked a little closer at the waving people and noticed the tent behind them seemed a little different. It was larger and more ornate, with swirling patterns of orange and gold dyed into the canvas.
“What is that tent over there?” I asked with a gesture.
“That is the nursery,” Ravi replied. “It’s where we keep the few eggs that haven’t hatched yet. We don’t have many, though. A phoenix can only have an egg once every five hundred years, and eggs can take hundreds of years to hatch. Three eggs are currently inside the nursery, the youngest of which is three hundred.”
“Wow,” I murmured, and my eyes darted to Valerra, but the crimson dragon just stared stoically ahead.
I wondered if she was thinking about her sister’s egg back in Hatra.
We continued to where the elders of the city lived, although most of them appeared to be in their late thirties or early forties, and I noticed the little village had torches set up every five feet, all of them with a fire that burned brightly on top. I figured it was a dedication to the Sun God.
We’d just finished the tour when Chief Fiyero appeared beside us.
“Ravi, come, it is time,” he told her, and Ravi was pulled along by two female phoenixes. They led her back inside her tent before the chief turned to us.
“Come with me,” he instructed, “we will wait by the pyre.”
Valerra and I followed the chief past the tents, and he led us away from the village and into the desert. Torches lined the pathway as we walked, and the pyre was set up just outside of the village. The pyre was piled high with a variety of wood, and a few steps were built in to allow Ravi to climb to the top. There was also a tall pole along each side of the pyre that was carved into a phoenix on the very top.
The sun had already begun to set when Ravi finally arrived. She walked naked down the path slowly, and her bare skin seemed to flicker from the fire of the torches. Her hair hung loosely over her shoulders and fell across her breasts, and her cheeks had two finger sized red lines that ran from her eyes to her jaw bone. A smear of orange dust was streaked across her forehead, and her eyes were focused straight ahead as she walked.
I couldn’t help but stare as she walked past. She looked gorgeous, and my eyes trailed after her as she climbed up the stairs.
When she reached the top, Chief Fiyero spoke.
“Today, we bear witness to the first burn of Ravi, my daughter and heir to our tribe. The fire will cleanse her body and heal her soul. She will return to us, purified. By the fire of the sun, she will be reborn.”
“By the fire of the sun,” the village repeated.
“Ravi, are you ready to feel the blessing of the Sun God?” the chief asked as he turned to his daughter.
“I am ready,” she replied with her eyes straight ahead, but I could sense her nervousness.
Then she met my gaze, and I nodded to her, and her lips twitched slightly into a smile as she blushed.
“Then I shall light the pyre,” her father intoned before he vanished in a plume of fire, and his phoenix form took off into the sky.
I saw him dive, and flames enveloped his body as he soared down toward the pyre. He pulled out of his dive just before he collided with the wooden structure, but his flames licked the wood and caught fire.
Soon enough, an inferno consumed the pyre, and I watched Ravi as the fire enclosed her in its flames. She had no fear on her face as the flames danced around her, though.
The pyre burned for hours, and we all watched the flames lick up into the dark night. The moon was high in the sky when there was no longer anything left to burn, and all that was left was a pile of ash.
The chief walked forward and stood in between the two poles along the edge of the pyre. Both of them seemed to be unburnt. Then he summoned red flames to his hands and lit the poles at the same time. The poles burned quickly, and the carved phoenixes were rapidly consumed. Then the fire of the poles illuminated the ashes on the pyre.
We watched as the ashes began to move, and slowly, a figure started to form. It stood, covered in gray ash, and then there was a sudden burst of blue fire that burned around the figure. The flames vanished just as quickly as they appeared, and Ravi stood proudly on the ashes of the pyre. Then she cleaned off all her paint and ashes and stood there naked and new.
The two phoenix women from earlier approached Ravi and helped her into her red robes. Then her father climbed the pyre and pulled a small golden circlet from his robe. He walked to Ravi and placed the tiara on her head. It was made of thin wires of gold and had small pieces of amber spread evenly along the sides, and in the center was a ruby that sat in the middle of her forehead.
The crown stood brightly against her hair, and I stared at her in awe. Ravi was magnificent, and I wanted her to be mine.
She would be mine.
Chapter 8
There was a small party after the burning, and Valerra and I walked together as we flowed with the crowd. The air was filled with the smell of ash, and the phoenixes laughed and talked loudly with each other as we walked. The atmosphere seemed to be alive with all the excitement.
“So, that was quite something,” Valerra said as we marched along.
“Yeah, it was kind of incredible.” Images of Ravi’s naked body still ran through my head. “I didn’t think it would be so intense.”
“Imagine what we could do with that kind of power,” the crimson dragon mused with a hungry glint in her golden eyes. “We would never have to worry about death’s grip. Humans would tremble before us. I wonder if our Predation skill could assimilate that power. We could easily just take two of the phoenixes away to test this theory … ”
“Valerra, we are not here to kill them,” I sighed at her as I gave her a stern look. “Besides, humans are already terrified of you.”
“That’s true,” she agreed, and her words were tinged with pride.
We continued to follow the crowd until everyone stopped in the center of the village.
Ravi stood in the middle of a large group of phoenixes, and her orange hair was illuminated by the torches along the edge of the village. The new born phoenix laughed and tipped her head back, and my eyes trailed along the pale skin of her slender neck. Ravi seemed to sense our presence, since she twisted her head around and met my eyes. Then she smiled and walked toward us, and the crowd parted as she approached.
“Hi!” she greeted in an excited voice. “How did you two like it?”
“I suppose it was fine,” Valerra said with a roll of her eyes.
Ravi grinned and turned to me. “What did you think, Lord Evan?”
“It was incredible,” I admitted with a smile. “I’ve never seen something like that. Are all burnings so … ” I struggled to find the right words. “Extravagant?”
“No.” Ravi shook her head. “Normally, a phoenix just goes home and burns themselves while a person they trust guards their ashes until they are reborn. It’s not a big deal. That was my first burn, though, which is why there was so much to it. Although, my father may have gone a little over the top with the pyre. He’s always had a flair for dramatics.”
“Ravi!” the chief called, as if on cue, and walked toward us.
“Father!” Ravi met him, and they embraced.
“How do you feel?” Chief Fiyero asked as he pulled away from his daughter and place a hand on her forehead. “Your rebirth was much faster than usual for a first burning. Are you light headed at all? Nauseous?”
“Papa, stop!” She pushed his hand away. “I’m not a chick! And I feel fine. Better than ever actually.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Her father caressed her cheek with one of his hands and smiled softly. “You did wonderful. You looked just like your mother at her first burn. Now come, your people want to congratulate you.”
The chief led Ravi away from Valerra and me and toward a group of women, who immediately began to compliment and fuss over the princess.
Ravi looked back at us and sighed before she began to thank the women.
“Her father is very protective,” Valerra stated.
“Yeah, he kind of reminds me of you,” I told her.
“I am not … ” She stopped when I gave her a look. “I suppose I am slightly protective of my sister’s egg.”
“Slightly?” I laughed as we walked along the village.
There were several tables set up with different foods displayed. I couldn’t identify what most of the fare was, but I picked up a piece of purple fruit that seemed okay. The skin was peeled away, and the fruit was cut into bite sized portions. I popped the piece into my mouth and chewed. It was sweet in flavor and tasted similar to melon, so I grabbed another piece and continued down the table.
Beside me, Valerra grabbed a skewer with what I assumed was a lizard and shoved the entire thing in her mouth.
I grimaced, but she grabbed another and held it out to me.
“Try it, it’s not that bad,” she told me.
I begrudgingly grabbed the skewer, and I frowned as I looked at it.
“Isn’t this weird?” I asked. “I mean, we’re dragons. We’re kind of like lizards.”
Valerra looked unimpressed. “Just try it.”
I took a small bite, and then I looked at her with wide eyes.
“It tastes like chicken.” I took another bite.
“I told you it wasn’t bad,” Valerra huffed as she grabbed a few more skewers.
We each tried a few more foods as we walked. I ate roasted cactus pods while Valerra dipped a piece of fruit into a thick yellow syrup. I was surprised at how much variety the phoenixes had found here in the desert. I’d expected their food to be bland and tasteless, but everything Valerra and I tried was delicious. At the very end of the food laden t
ables was a bowl that looked like it was made from a cactus. The spines had been shaved off, and the pale green inside was filled with what looked like water. A wooden ladle and cups sat next to the bowl, and I poured a glass for each of us. The beverage was warm and had a slight berry taste.
“Hmm,” Valerra said as she inspected the water. “This is not what I expected.”
“No, me either,” I took another sip, “but at least it’s a drink.”
Valerra hummed in agreement.
We left the tables and walked around more of the village as the celebration went into full swing. There were drummers and flutists tucked away in a corner while phoenixes danced around a fire. The music was lively as the band played an upbeat tune, the dancers laughed while they circled the fire with their hands clasped together, and my foot absently tapped to the beat.
I scanned the area for Ravi and found her with a group of phoenixes near the tents. One of the male phoenixes stepped closer and whispered into her ear. Ravi blushed slightly, shook her head, and subconsciously stepped back. Then the man grabbed her arm, and Ravi’s eyes flashed.
Without thinking, I stormed over to the group and wrapped my arm around Ravi’s waist.
“What’s going on?” I asked the phoenix princess but kept my gaze on the man in front of me.
He had bright red hair and eyes so dark they were nearly black. He released Ravi’s arm and held his hands up.
“I asked the princess for a dance is all,” he told me with a smile.
“And I told you no, Kiran, now go away,” Ravi said as she curled into my side.
“Come on, just one dance? For old time’s sake?” He smiled again as his dark eyes stared at Ravi.
“She said no, so leave her alone,” I threatened, and my scales crawled up my arm.
Kiran’s eyes followed them, and he opened his mouth to respond. Then I narrowed my eyes, and the phoenix clenched his jaw.
“Fine. It’s time for me to return to bed anyway. I have morning patrol. Good night, Ravi.” He bowed slightly to her. “Dragon.” He nodded to me and moved toward the tents set up inside the village.