I'd made four circuits of our camp when I knew we were in trouble. Surprisingly, or not, the Earth hadn't whispered a warning at all.
Six burly Gi Guards entered the clearing from all directions. My heart stopped beating. I couldn't see Noah, but I was sure he was being detained - or worse - somewhere else. This would not be the entirety of the Guard sent to retrieve me. The Queen wanted me too badly to send only half a dozen. Bile rose up my throat, and my heart kicked back into gear with an adrenaline rush, on the thought of why she needed me so much and the consequences of her desire.
They were dire consequences. Horrific. Appalling. Unacceptable.
I sucked in a shaky breath of air as the Guards and I stared off at each other, me turning frantically in an almost circle to keep them all in my line of sight. Them standing there, hands on pistols, green glowing from their eyes. The message crystal clear: Don't fuck with us, Princess.
Why no warning? I whispered to the Earth, but didn't get a reply.
Even below par, like I am now, I am a force to be reckoned with. The Earth and I are a tight team. For it to ignore me now, would take the Basilissa herself, or a large number of Gi. I was so screwed.
Panic made my body tremble, my breaths coming too quickly to be healthy. I couldn't go back. I just couldn't.
I moved closer to the fire, thinking some of the wood could be used as a weapon. Then remembered the knife Noah had given me, over by the fruit. I glanced towards where it lay, and watched defeated as a Guard reached down and picked the weapon up casually, flipping it over in his hand. The others chuckled darkly.
My mouth went dry.
Firewood. I'd use the firewood, then. And hopefully some confusion with the help of the Earth.
I managed to hold the nearest Guard's stare, none of them having said a word as yet, their presence enough to let me know why they were here. Reminding me what horrors lay in store.
Instantly my mouth pooled with saliva; the precursor to my sudden need to vomit from fear. Maybe one of these Guards would step into Davos' shoes and be the one to tie me to the wall. I forced my whimper back down with the bile. The Guard only frowned back and crossed his bulky arms over his chest. His Stoicheio reached out to brush against me, the sweet rot of dead leaves meeting my nose.
Oh, freaking hell, this was going to take a shit-load of luck and superb timing. But I could not allow myself to be caught. That was an essential fact. That was all I could focus on. My need to avoid that bunker and the horrendous plans of the Gi.
My foot edged closer to the pile of wood waiting to be burned. My heartbeat thundered. I sucked in a deep breath, centring myself with the scents of the forest. This was it, the only chance I'd have to escape. Holding my head high and praying inside my head that this would work, I pulled with all my might on every ounce of Stoicheio I could muster.
Except it wasn't Gi Stoicheio that responded to my call for help.
It was Fire. Pyrkagia. And it was out of control.
Chapter Six
Oh Dear God, Not Again
Oh God, oh God, oh God, I cried out in my mind, as flames erupted from the set dry wood and spread out in an erratic fashion, catching nearby bushes alight, blistering the skin of several Guards, all within a few seconds. The small clearing Noah and I had chosen for our camp was ablaze and yet I couldn't feel anything more than a welcoming heat.
Flames licked up the trunks of the Oenocarpus and Babassu Palms that ringed the area, the Guards shouted and raised their arms to protect their faces. Their commands to retreat turning to screams of pain as their clothing caught alight.
The smell of burning flesh met my nose and I gagged.
Smoke billowed overhead sending a visible signal to any other Guards who cared to look above the canopy of the forest. More would come soon, but I had no idea how to fix this.
I tried a command, "Stop!" but the Fire just flared hungrily, the crackle of flames a deafening roar on the air. It sounded like a freight train coming. The rumble getting louder and louder as the Fire grew to an incomprehensible size.
I stood in the middle of hell and watched the forest, the Earth, that I loved burn to cinders. Several Guards had fallen where they stood, overcome before they could even retreat a foot or more. Some had made it out of the clearing, but had been chased down by the ravenous flames. I stared as Fire flicked out and struck the back of a running Guard, hurling him to the ground in a sickening sound of fractured limbs.
The Fire pounced on his crumpled form, engulfing him in bright yellow and red flames. It took only half a minute for it to consume him.
Freaking hell. This was happening because of me. Because I called on my Stoicheio out of sheer desperation to avoid a fate worse than death. And Pyrkagia answered. Why?
I took a tentative step away from the still burning wood I'd set for our dinner and the flames of the Fire immediately swirled around me. Touching, stroking, welcoming.
You have come, it crackled in the fires and whispered in my mind.
A scratchy sounding voice that could never be mistaken for that of the soothing Earth. Pyrkagia's tone was excitable, alive with desire and eager to play. The Earth's, which I hadn't heard since this horrible scene started, was smooth as silk, soothing, nurturing like a mother's. I missed its comfort.
Stop, I whispered to the Fire. Please, enough.
No, it crackled back, but I detected a note of sorrow. You are Awakening, it added. We must guide you now.
The flames flared brighter, hotter, as though they burned in a kiln, thousands of degrees Celsius. Ready to harden ceramic or produce charcoal from wood. A transformation that I knew intrinsically I could not escape. I collapsed to my knees, unable to carry my own weight.
Smoke began to clog my nose, slip uninvited down my throat. I coughed, choked on the superheated vapour, and fell forward onto all fours, panting for breath, knowing I couldn't find a clean lungful in amongst the fury of the flames.
And it was a type of fury. Not necessarily full of malice, but wild all the same. Tendrils of flickering bright flames wrapped around my body, as smoke filled the air before my face. I tried not to breathe. I tried to hold my breath as long as I could. But my chest began to ache and my limbs began to shake and bright white lights flickered at the edge of my vision.
A searing pain brought a gasp, making me suck in polluted air. The Fire kissed my naked back, stroked heated fingers down my spine, traced the scars left by Davos' whipping. It curled golden yellow fingers around my wrists. I looked down stunned as the pain of its touch melted skin, struck bone, and then began a slow, inexorable trek up my arms, singing fine hairs, grasping, tugging, pulling, consuming.
I screamed, unable to stop myself even though in my mind I kept repeating, lips shut, lips shut, lips shut. Fire tore down my open throat, seared my upper palate, reached inside my lungs, and branded itself on my soul. It sang its joy to the world with loud explosions of sap from nearby burning trees. One after the other after the other. The Fire made a musical of flames and overheated seed pods and detonated stone fruit. I could hear how close the projectiles came, they whizzed past my bent head, rebounding off the charred ground and ricocheting up into overhead burning branches.
The Fire laughed in delight. A wild and abandoned sound. A carefree and happy noise.
It hugged me closer. I realised it actually felt like an embrace; the flames wrapped around my body, stroking my back still as though it couldn't get enough of touching my skin, my scars. It relished the contact. It fuelled itself through the searing of my skin.
I crumpled further, rolling into a little ball, hoping to protect something of myself. But by now I was fully aflame. Inside and out. Burning brighter and brighter by the minute. Heating up until surely I too would explode... or transform.
A small sob escaped my lips, the Fire rushed to touch them, as if it could catch my whimper on my skin. Caress it. Kiss it. As though it was kissing me.
And then I felt it. That heat that Theo had used. That unimaginable
burning that would start deep down inside and spread lazily at first. Through my chest, down my body until it pooled between my thighs.
I sighed.
The Fire urged me on, tempted me further. Turned the lazy licking of heat into a sensual simmering of passion. I rolled over onto my back, vaguely aware the trees in the clearing had stopped burning, all that continued to blaze was just me and the original pile of wood set to cook our dinner.
I moaned.
The Fire hissed in satisfaction. Aware that it had created this reaction in my body, in me. Pleased with itself, like Theo was always pleased when he'd made me respond to his touch.
I lifted my hand and stared at the flames flickering from the tips of my fingers. They danced and hopped from one to the next, the heat bearable now, familiar, wanted. I played with the Fire and it cried out in joy, sending sparks up into the air to drift slowly back down to earth in celebration.
I let my body relax further, allowed myself to sense all that the Fire willingly gave me. Let it take me further and further on the wave of euphoria it created. Embraced the sensations, savoured the feelings of bliss.
One last sudden flare of the flames around me, up into the smoky sky, and I shuddered, shook with endorphins, heat washing my skin and setting my body alight.
Welcome Athanatos, the Fire crackled. Welcome Pyrkagia, it added. Welcome home.
I blinked away tears, feeling a little overwhelmed, and heard the Earth finally sigh. I had been so worried it would forsake me. My Pyrkagia Stoicheio had done such damage right here in its most precious rainforest. How could it forgive me?
But it sent a wash of Gi through my body, fuelling my Stoicheio, lifting my back off the ground and making another moan escape my lips. Almost as though showing the Fire it was capable of getting a response from me too.
Welcome Athanatos, the Earth whispered in my mind. Welcome Aether, it added and the Fire hissed its approval.
Aether, they both intoned. Welcome home.
I lay still as the flames retreated until my body was my own again, and only the fire in the set wood continued to burn. I checked my hands and arms, noting normal looking skin, no seared flesh, no gaping burned wounds. I was whole, but in an entirely different way than I was whole before.
I was more. Again. Holy freaking freak show, when would this stop?
Not only had I become a Gi by being buried in a pit full of dirt for two days, but now I had taken out a contingency of Guards and a small section of the Amazon rainforest while I lit up like a firecracker and burned from within. Gi and Pyrkagia. Is that what being an Aether meant? Two Stoicheio, not just command of one. Like Noah, I thought. An Alchemist agent who could use elements of both Gi and Pyrkagia. But I wasn't an Alchemist, I was something else again.
Aether. I needed to know what it really meant, but as I slowly pushed myself up into a sitting position, I noted that I was, for now, truly alone. No one to ask. Six Gi Guards lay in various forms of disarray. A polite way of saying, dead. Or at least, I thought they were, but none had been decapitated, so as Athanatos they would survive. Albeit painfully as they recovered.
I frowned at that thought. Harming someone did not come naturally. Yet the Fire, which was responding to my call, hurt these men.
They would have hurt you, it defended itself, hearing my thoughts clearly.
And yes, they would have, or at the very least, taken me back to the Basilissa and allowed her to order my continued torture, captivity and... Yeah, well, I didn't really want to spend too long envisaging what Davos had started and the Guards would finish; maybe one by one.
A sound of disgust mixed with horror escaped my lips and I scrambled to my feet. I needed to get moving. I had no idea where Noah was or if he was still alive. But staying here was out of the question. More Gi Guards would come looking for their men. They'd find them, and hopefully care for them, but if I was still here, the same considerations would definitely not be given to me.
I checked the sorry state of my clothing. Now not only threadbare and dirty, but also slightly singed in places. I looked like a vagrant who'd rolled in the dirt and come too close to a barrel of fire. I reached around my back, as well as I could, to feel my skin where it had been whipped and the Fire had lovingly touched. No blisters, no peeling of flesh from bone, and only one raised mark. The Scar. The one whip Davos had channelled essence into. Even Pyrkagia had not been able to remove that.
But it had healed everything else, and I realised thankfully, I felt the strongest I had felt for months. Two Stoicheio feeding me made for a hell of a packed lunch. I stretched my arms above my head, easing the tension in my shoulders and taking a moment before the enormous trek ahead would begin.
Care for the Guards, please, I asked the Earth. And accept my apologies for what happened here. A deep seated sense of pain washed through me, I wasn't entirely sure it was all my own.
From Fire grows new life, the Earth whispered quietly. And although it didn't suggest that an apology wasn't needed, I felt it had accepted my words of regret.
"Time to get going," I said aloud, about to ask the Earth to give me some guidance. I had no choice. Noah still held the compass, I was as good as lost in amongst the dense trees of the Amazon.
But I didn't get a chance to voice that command in my mind, because the fire crackled and spat, hissed and popped and then a sound, like men talking, came out from its depths.
I jumped back, startled and full of fear. Was someone nearby? Had the other Gi Guards appeared already. I swung around, trying to spot the origin of the voices, but already knowing the answer. I turned slowly back towards the fire, which still licked flames up into the air in a lazy burn.
My heart beat painfully fast in my chest, my skin felt too tight over my bones. I clenched my fists, took a small tentative step towards the flames, and leaned in closer to hear what was being said.
"Has there been any news out of Manaus?" voice one said and I collapsed to my knees in heart-aching pain.
"Not yet, sir. But have some faith, we will hear something soon."
Tears started trailing down my cheeks. This was cruel. The Fire was teasing me. What a wicked joke to play.
"Stop," I whispered, and the first voice in the fire said, "Did you say something?"
A whimper escaped my lips. Please, just stop!
"No. It wasn't me. Is someone contacting you through the Fire?"
"Hello?" voice one said, and my hand cupped over my mouth to hold the sob inside.
My head shook from side to side, my eyes blurred with the copious amounts of tears that accumulated. My heart ached. Oh, good Lord how it ached. I gasped through my fingers, my free hand pressing into my chest to stem the agony that was unfurling deep inside.
This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. I was hallucinating, which meant only one thing. Gi were near and were channelling Hederin.
I struggled to my feet, the world spinning in a hazy array of different colours. And ran.
I didn't even extinguish or smother the fire, just left it burning and prayed the Earth would work with Fire and put it out. I just ran, no idea where I was running to, only conscious of where I was running from.
They were close. Too close. I had grown complacent with the after effects of Pyrkagia burning through my veins, my body, my soul. Drunk on Stoicheio and had made an almost fatal mistake.
Minutes ticked by as my feet pounded the ground, the Earth somehow matching my rapid and frantic footfalls with a softening cushion beneath each one. My heart thundered, blood pounding through my temples, making a headache start up behind my eyes. I panted for breath, each exhalation a grunt, each inhalation a wheeze of forced air.
But I still couldn't shake the thought that the Gi were just over my shoulder. I turned, while still running hell for leather through thick bush, to see if I could spot a Guard. And crashed through an oversized spider's web I'd failed to see and dodge. There was only so much the Earth could do for me, but if I didn't pay attention I was on my own
.
I danced around the narrow path I was on, flapping my hands at my head and hair, trying to dislodge the sticky web and certain I could feel the tickle of spider feet all over my body. I slapped at skin, scratched at my face and sobbed, feeling more and more unhinged by the minute.
Breathe, the Earth urged. Let us ground you, it suggested. Inhale the soothing scent of Earth, Gi.
I stopped struggling with imaginary creepy crawlies and took a shattering deep breath of air in through my nose. Sweet orchid blooms, rich succulent fruit, sharp pungent excrement of animals. A sob of relief replaced the cries of fear from earlier. I leaned my hand against the bark of a tree and allowed the Earth through my shaken frame, settling my heartbeat, comforting my soul.
I'd covered a lot of distance. A glance at the sky let me know I'd been running longer than I had realised. Half an hour, maybe more. The sun had shifted lower, almost beneath the horizon of the tree tops. Night was approaching and I didn't have a safe harbour to rest.
And rest I needed. Despite my recent refuelling of both Stoicheio I'd burned a lot of juice just now, not just physically, but mentally. Fleeing for my life and dodging rainforest hazards in a zigzagging line.
When I could actually hear my own thoughts I checked with the Earth to see how safe I was. It wasn't necessarily a sure-fire way to find out. The Earth could be controlled by Gi in enough numbers to override me, and I wouldn't even know. But what choice did I have?
Am I safe here? I asked, crossing my fingers for good luck.
This way, the Earth replied, parting branches and opening up a hidden path from the more obvious one I'd just run on.
I let out a slow breath of air and having no other option but to trust my Stoicheio, took off at a gentle trot down the track Earth showed me. Twenty minutes later I came to a clearing in amongst some beautiful Banyan Trees.
Here, the Earth said. This will be hard for them to find.
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