Fanning Her Flames

by Lacey Thorn

  Kiva was the one who knew fear. Kiva was the one who screamed and scrambled back from her, struggling to get away as she stepped closer and closer to him. The flames seemed to leap from her in waves, trying to reach him and coming closer with every step she took. He turned blindly, searching for the door, for any way to elude her.

  Farrah turned so that she blocked his way to the exit that Kito had already run out of when Kiva had first thrown the torch at her. She embraced the fire, reveling in its lover’s caress along her skin and deep within her very blood. She tasted the true power of her guardianship for the first time in her life and gloried in it. Now she knew what it meant to be the Guardian of Fire. Now she knew that her hands were a crutch when her entire body could be the flame. The small balls of fire that she had thrown before were like child’s play compared to what she could do now. She could burn higher, hotter, brighter than she ever had and she had Kiva Latoni to thank for showing her. Her laughter bounced around the cave and it was Kiva who screamed for mercy as she approached him where he was finally trapped along the far wall.

  * * * * *

  Marcus had gone but a few miles when his brothers and the Savaris caught up with him. They never said a word but he knew that Alexi and Bannen were both angered that he had left without them. He couldn’t worry about that now though. He could feel Farrah calling to him, her cries echoing in his head like the beat of the war drums that sounded with the sighting of every new vessel that landed on their shores. It called to him and refused to release him from its spell.

  “Do you hear that?” Erika asked softly, her head tilted to the side like she was listening closely for something.

  “I hear nothing,” Marcus answered and the rest of the men nodded in agreement.

  “What is it you hear?” Alexi asked her just as quietly, as if he were afraid to interrupt her.

  “Someone runs quickly through the trees,” Erika stated, a strange expression on her face. “I hear the earth calling to me in pain as he rips her apart in his hurry. He comes to us. Listen, he is near.”

  They all heard a thrashing off in the distance and looked again at this Guardian who spoke to the very earth itself. None were startled by her feat but accepted it easily as who she was. Instead they formed a wall around her, closing her inside the circle they made, protecting her from whoever approached.

  Kito saw the warriors in front of him and knew that he had finally reached help. He fell to his knees in front of them, his chest and arms scratched and bleeding from his mad scramble through the thick foliage of the forest. “Please you must help me,” he looked up and focused on who was in front of him. “You are them,” he whispered, recognizing the three men from when he and Kiva had watched them mate with Farrah in the woods. “Farrah’s mates.”

  Marcus lifted Kito back to his feet with a firm pull on Kito’s shoulders and Galen and Arik closed in to hold Kito up while the three Donan brothers stood shoulder to shoulder in front of him. “What do you know of our mate? Tell me now where she is!” Marcus demanded.

  “You must hurry,” Kito whispered, fear overtaking him as he was surrounded by the five large warriors. “My brother has gone mad. He is going to burn her in the fire. I couldn’t stop him,” he mumbled. “I couldn’t stop him.”

  It took all Marcus had not to hit Kito but Bannen wasn’t so reluctant. His fist connected with Kito’s nose and the noise of crunching bones filled the air as it broke and flowed red with blood.

  “Stop.” Erika stepped forward, pushing her way in front of the Donans, placing herself in front of Kito. “Did you not look at his face? Did you not see his back? He has been hurt enough!” Erika turned and faced Kito. Without thought she released her top and, shaking her waist-length brown curls forward, hid her breasts and pulled the veils from her chest, placing them gently against Kito’s bloody nose. “I see that you have tried to stop your brother before.”

  “Yes,” Kito whispered like an awed child. His gaze was fixed on Erika, seeing her as mother and savior.

  “I thank you for trying,” Erika told him, smiling softly. “Can you take us to where your brother has her? Can you show us the way?”

  “Yes,” Kito shook his head and groaned as his broken nose cried out with pain at the fierce movement. “I can show you.”

  “Here.” Erika moved one of his hands up to his nose so that he could hold her top there by himself. “Hold this firmly against your nose and it should help to stop the blood flow. Now show us the way.”

  Kito turned and it was only then that the five warriors saw what Erika had already noticed. Kito’s back was a mass of scars on scars, mutilated by a sharp blade and the madman who plied it. Bannen fisted his hands at his side, mad at himself for what he had done. This warrior in front of them leading them to Farrah was like a child and Bannen had struck him with anger.

  Alexi placed his arm on Bannen’s shoulder as they followed through the forest and murmured softly, “Do not worry on it. If you hadn’t hit him then the blow would have been delivered from me or Marcus. Either way the result would have been the same.”

  Bannen nodded his head, knowing that his brother spoke the truth and feeling better for it.

  They heard the screams before they even saw the opening to the cave. Marcus, Bannen and Alexi rushed forward with Kito while Galen and Arik made a protective barrier using their bodies to shield and protect Erika. She pushed away from them though, shaking her head and replying, “It is a man’s scream. Can’t you hear it? I must go to her.”

  The Savaris entered the cave and were as transfixed as the Donans, who now stood along the wall just inside the cave. They all stared in horror at the sight across from them, too shocked even to move. Farrah was ablaze with blue flames from head to toe, her hair like a cascade of fire licking along her flesh like a lover’s hand. Her clothes were gone and she stood naked and proud, facing the warrior who cowered and screamed before her. She paid no attention to those who now stood behind her, her attention solely fixed on the man who had wanted to hurt her.

  That man, Kiva Latoni, was writhing in pain as flames licked and retreated along his skin, singeing and burning his flesh so that it blackened and smoked. His cries were so hoarse that they could barely make out what he was saying other than the fact that he was begging Farrah to stop. Farrah just smiled and used her hand to work the fire along his skin some more.

  Erika smiled, knowing full well how Farrah felt, and secure in her link to Farrah as a Guardian that she was not afraid or even slightly worried. Arik and Galen, so well attuned to Erika, relaxed as well, their faith in their mate’s abilities unfaltering.

  Bannen was the first of the Donans to break free of the spell that held them all so captivated. “Farrah,” he screamed as he lurched forward toward her. She held her hand out to him and the flames died out and disappeared along her arm when he took it and clasped it tight in his own.

  “I am fine, my warrior,” she assured him softly. “I have been waiting for you.”

  Marcus and Alexi stepped up to her then. Alexi reached out for her other hand and the flames there flickered and died out as well. Marcus stepped up behind her, pulling her snug against his body before bending forward and tilting her head back for his fierce kiss of possession. The flames seemed to consume them both for a moment and then they too flickered and died and once again Farrah was wrapped in the arms of her mates, safe and loved.

  Kiva still thrashed on the floor, beating uselessly at the flames still moving along his flesh. Kito moved forward to help his brother but Erika put her hand out to stop him. “No, Kito,” Erika told him. “You cannot help him anymore. He is beyond you now.”

  Kito looked unsure and Erika whispered something to her mates. Galen stepped away from her side and placed his arm around Kito’s shoulders. Kito’s nose had finally stopped bleeding and Erika’s veil slipped from his fingers and fell forgotten to the cave floor.

  “Let us step outside now, Kito Latoni,” Galen told him. “You have seen enough.” Galen
turned and glanced briefly once more at Kiva Latoni before looking to the Donans. “We will await you outside. Justice shall be as you wish.” Then Galen and Arik put their right fist over their hearts and gave them a thump, a warrior’s way of pledging acceptance and support of whatever decision was made. Warrior Law decreed that justice was in the hands of the betrayed, which would be the Donans, and only they could decide the punishment of Kiva Latoni and Kito if they so wished it.

  Marcus, Alexi and Bannen took turns kissing Farrah, their hands stroking repeatedly over her flesh to assure them that she was indeed whole and well.

  “Are you all right, little one?” Marcus asked softly, afraid of all that she could have been forced to endure while they had searched for her.

  “I am fine, mate of my soul,” Farrah assured him. “He did not hurt me.”

  Alexi turned her to face him and rubbed his finger gently over the split in her lip before brushing his knuckles softly along the bruise on her cheek. “Then where did these come from my heart? Did Kito do this?”

  “No, never,” she hurried to explain. “If it wasn’t for Kito then I am sure that Kiva would have hurt me far more than these little things.”

  “You can not brush what was done to you aside.” Bannen turned her to face him, his eyes blue chips of fire as anger coursed through him at the sight of her bruised and marred face. “They will both pay for what has been done.”

  “Put out the flames, little Guardian,” Alexi whispered. “Justice shall be delivered by your warriors.”

  “You should not have harmed him thusly, little one,” Marcus told her, stepping away and pulling a thick wand-like instrument from his weapons belt. “I would wish for him to feel every moment of his death.”

  Farrah looked up at them. “You mean to kill him?” she asked softly, already sure of the answer by the look in their eyes.

  “He will pay with his life for what he attempted,” Bannen stated calmly. “Now put out the flames and go join the Savaris outside.”

  “I will not be sent away like a child, Bannen,” Farrah scoffed. “If punishment is to be given because of what was done to me than I should be allowed to see it as well.”

  “Put out the flames, Farrah,” Marcus thundered. “Then you will do as you are told. You are in enough trouble as it is.”

  “Trouble?” she yelled. “Just what did I do?”

  “You kept secrets from us, Farrah,” Alexi replied. “You hid from us what you should have been the one to share and in doing so left yourself and us open for this.”

  “Now put out the flames and go, Farrah,” Bannen said. “You will wait for us outside.”

  Farrah glared at them. Okay, so she hadn’t found the right time or the courage to share with them that she was a Guardian but she had been working her way up to it. She looked over to Kiva and with a wave of her hand, the flames disappeared and his skin returned to the way that it had been, as if never touched by the flames. “He was never on fire anyway,” she informed them. “It was just an illusion.”

  “Your skill is amazing.” Alexi smiled down at her. “Now go so that we are not hindered in our need to punish by your presence.”

  So that was it. They did not want her to witness their ruthlessness in dealing with the man who had kidnapped and tried to hurt their mate. That she could understand and comply with.

  She turned to go but Marcus stopped her with his hand on her shoulder while Alexi and Bannen moved forward to lift Kiva to his feet between them.

  Marcus walked her to the far wall where he had dropped a pack on entering the cave. He bent and rummaged through it, pulling a blanket out and wrapping her in it before pulling her close once more and breathing deeply. “He did not touch you? He hurt you in no other way?”

  Farrah smiled up at him and cupped his face in her hands. “He did not violate me or the bond we share.”

  “I would still love you if he had,” Marcus whispered for her ears alone. “Nothing would make me stop loving you little one.”

  “As I will always love you, my soul,” Farrah murmured softly.

  Marcus squeezed her to him once more before turning her to the cave entrance and giving her a slap on the buttocks. “Now go!” he ordered but there was a small smile on his lips when she glanced back at him in mock outrage and his love shone clearly in his eyes.

  Farrah stepped out of the cave and took a deep breath of the crisp cool air, tugging the blanket closer around her. She would never share with her warriors exactly what Kiva had done to her. There was no good that would come from them learning how he had used his hand to bathe her buttocks in his seed. That was a secret she would share with no one. She walked over to join the Savaris and Kito and noticed Kito’s swollen nose still red with dried blood.

  “Kito,” she cried. “What happened to you? Are you all right?”

  Galen and Arik grinned as Farrah mothered the boy-man and Erika took delight in informing her of how Kito’s nose had come to look such a way. “One of your warriors hit him when he stumbled across our path in the forest.”

  Farrah thought for a moment. Marcus could be ruthless in his control over his emotions. Alexi was the one to use words first before ever raising a hand. She smiled softly, a woman’s smile of secrets. “Bannen,” she murmured with a smile and Erika nodded. Bannen was Farrah’s passion, the most volatile of her warriors, the most easily riled. She couldn’t imagine him any other way.

  The sound of the whip against flesh was followed closely by Kiva’s screams, both sounds rolling into each other and echoing through the forest. It seemed to last for an eternity and Farrah felt every lash as if it was against her own skin. Kiva’s screams for mercy did not bring her satisfaction like she had thought, but a deep sadness filled her instead as she thought of the life wasted on Kiva Latoni. When she thought she couldn’t take one more scream the sound was cut off and silence filled the air, somehow more profound and intense for its very stillness. In that moment she knew that Kiva’s life was over, his blood spilled by the hand of her warriors. She would never know which of them had delivered the death blow that finally killed Kiva. She would never ask and they would never tell. It was enough that blood had been spilled.

  Chapter Nine

  Farrah reclined back in the large tub of hot water, grateful for a few moments of privacy. Her warriors hadn’t let her out of their sight as they traveled through the forest back to their house. Mariska, Erin, Katya and Reanna had all been there to greet them, thankful that Farrah had been found safe and sound. Farrah considered herself very lucky to have them all as friends and family.

  Marcus, Alexi and Bannen had gone into a meeting with the Savaris and several other warriors almost as soon as they had returned. Change called on the wind and the air seemed to constantly carry the beating of the drums of war. Farrah and Erika had been unable to really talk with so many people around but they had managed to speak briefly.

  “Can you feel it in the wind?” Farrah had asked Erika.

  “I can feel it in my very body,” Erika replied. “The earth cries to me as she is soaked in blood and death.”

  “I feel it as well,” Farrah admitted.

  “Another one comes to us,” Erika murmured before they were interrupted. And now sitting in her tub, that was what Farrah was thinking of.

  Another one was coming. Farrah could feel it in the thickening of her blood and had no doubt that soon they would be joined by another Guardian. She was anxious to meet her, curious to now what power she possessed. The bond between Erika and Farrah seemed to grow stronger every day, their powers greatly increased when they were together. It was getting to the point where they could almost hear each other’s thoughts. Farrah couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like when the four Guardians were united together. And what of the Mystic? When would they receive her call? Why was everyone coming here to this little village? Was Erika more than she seemed? Was she instead the Mystic?

  “Deep thoughts, little Guardian?” Alexi murmured from the doo
rway where he was standing, arms crossed over his chest, watching her.

  “Just thoughts,” Farrah replied with a smile. “I was wondering when one of you would show up.”

  “Marcus and Bannen will be here soon. I left to see you.” Alexi moved closer to the tub and held his hand out to her to help her from the water.

  “Something is wrong,” Farrah stated as she stepped out of the water and into Alexi’s wide embrace. She used her heat to dry her skin and hair so that she would not soak him or the floor. “Can you tell me what has happened?”

  “A council is being called by the prince,” Alexi spoke into her hair. “Warriors from all villages are required to be present. We must make plans. More and more land on our shores every day and our soil grows red with blood.”

  “Who will go from here?” Farrah whispered, already knowing the answer in her heart and soul.

  “I leave tonight with Arik Savari and several other warriors. Bannen and Marcus will remain here with you for now and I will return as soon as I am able.”

  Farrah looked up at him, understanding that he must go but unhappy with it all the same. Now she knew why Alexi had come to her alone. Marcus and Bannen were giving him time to say goodbye to her in private. “I love you, Alexi,” she told him softly, rising up to her toes to place kisses along his neck and jaw. “Wherever you go know that my heart goes with you.”

  “And mine shall stay with you,” he answered before sweeping her into his arms and carrying her into the bedroom, laying her gently on the bed and stripping quickly before joining her there.

  No more words were spoken from their lips but their bodies were not so quiet. Fingers stroked and caressed. Lips soothed and enflamed. Tongues meshed and mated. Teeth nipped and marked. Farrah was captivated by Alexi and he was lost in her fiery heat. His kiss was filled with untold passion and she cried out for more but he left her wanting as he slowly trailed his way down to the turgid points of her nipples. He delayed there, nipping and sucking at her flesh, marking her as his before journeying lower across her flat belly to the dewy curls that graced her mound.