Soul Fire

by Legacy, Aprille

  “Don’t let Iain or Netalia see you with him,” he advised and then quickly swept past me.

  “Jett-“I began, wanting to apologize for getting him in trouble, but he was gone.

  After a while, when the novelty of being home again had worn off, assimilating back into school life was depressing. Instead of a hero, I was the one who always handed up assignments late, just like back at my old school. I wasn’t a Du’rangor Slayer; though everyone knew I had killed one, they thought it was just a one off fluke. Instead I trained with Jett, who, despite Iain and Netalia’s admonitions, insisted on teaching me with my swords. In Professor Yu’s class, I trained with my usual sword, though my muscles ached after a session with it. We’d begun training on practice dummies, stabbing them through vital areas which would maim or fatally injure an opponent. I was fitter than I ever had been in my life, and could run the Fitness course with relative ease.

  At least, I thought I could.

  “Alright, please line up,” Jett called as usual, and we arranged ourselves in our lines. “Can you pair with your soul mate please?”

  I raised an eyebrow at nobody in particular as Phoenix came to stand next to me. I wasn’t impressed with him at all; since I’d gotten back and he’d climbed out of my window, he hadn’t said a word, hadn’t even made eye contact with me. The phoenix feather that had appeared in my room had disintegrated by morning and I’d woken up covered in orange dust. Since then I’d tried desperately to keep him out of my thoughts, but he’d appeared in many of my dreams more times than I’d like to count. It had gotten to the point where it hurt to see him and Eleanora walking hand in hand around the Academy.

  He lined up next to me, and I was both surprised and dismayed when Jett came along and tied my left wrist to Phoenix’s right wrist. My arm was now pressed along his, the back of his hand against mine. I wriggled my hand, trying to get it free, but it just pulled the cord tighter.

  “This exercise is all about teamwork,” Jett said, returning to the front. “You’ll run the course in your pairs against another pair. You’ll need to work together.”

  To not get electrocuted, drowned, or hung on the wall, I thought bitterly.

  We watched a few of the pairs run the course. Yasmin and Petre worked like a well oiled machine, and I watched them carefully to try to pick up tips.

  Just before we were going to start – pitted against, of course, Dustin and Eleanora – Phoenix turned his hand around and grasped mine. I immediately stretched out my fingers in an effort to get away.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Yasmin and Petre did it,” he replied, grabbing my hand again. “It’ll be easier than just having our arm dragged along by the other.”

  I gripped his hand, trying to ignore how it felt against mine, how easily my fingers fit between his and how nice his calloused palm felt.

  Jett blew the whistle, and we dashed off the line. Phoenix and I had both had the same idea about getting a running start for under the nets; we hit the mud on our bellies and slid forwards before beginning to wriggle on our elbows. It gained us about a second lead, and there was no way I was losing to Eleanora.

  Phoenix reached the other side first and helped me through. I arched my back so that I didn’t hit the wire and we were first to the rope.

  “How are we going to do this?” I gasped, covered in mud but still holding his hand tightly.

  “Wrap your other arm around me.”

  “What?”

  “Other arm, quick.”

  I managed to awkwardly hug him, holding on as tight as I could and determinedly ignoring the butterflies in my stomach. His muscles shifted beneath his shirt as he grabbed the rope with his free hand and pushed off of the embankment just as Dustin and Eleanora arrived at the rope.

  We swung out over the water, and despite my tight grip I was beginning to slip down towards the surface.

  “I’m falling!” I managed to gasp.

  “Let go... now!”

  We both dropped into the water, surfacing at the same time. We struck out an awkward one armed stroke towards the other bank, climbing up it clumsily.

  The wall was next. Phoenix grabbed a hold of the rope and then gestured towards the other one.

  “I don’t want to use theirs; that’s cheating,” I protested, and he rolled his eyes.

  “Well, follow me up the best you can,” he knew I could climb it, had seen me do so before.

  I followed him up the rope, my arm burning as I managed to slowly make my way up the wall. Phoenix reached the top first, and for a second I thought he was going to leap down the other side. Instead, he pulled me up to the top with him, and together we dropped neatly to the other side. Dustin and Eleanora dropped a few seconds later.

  “Good work,” Jett said, cutting us free. I rubbed my sore wrist as we began to make our way back to the line.

  Eleanora bounced over to Phoenix and began chiding him for beating her, and then pulled him down so she could kiss him. I turned away, fighting down the urge to cry or something.

  He is your soul mate, I thought angrily. Nothing more!

  We changed back into our uniforms and then headed back to the Academy for Theory. We’d just sat down and had begun pulling out our books when I realised I’d left mine in my room.

  “I’ll be right back, save my seat,” I told Rain quickly, darting out of the classroom.

  I retrieved the book and was on my way back when I heard Netalia and Jett arguing just around the corner. Not wanting to get involved in an ugly scene, I stopped and tried to work out a way around them, until I heard my name.

  “-and Phoenix worked very well together,” Netalia was saying in clipped tones. “Maybe too well.”

  “You devised the class!” Jett replied exasperatedly. “The challenge was for them to have to rely on each other to get through the obstacles, of course they had to work together!”

  “Even so-“

  “No! Enough, Netalia, stop looking for reasons to hate her!” I drew back further around the corner, my heart pounding. “Sky has done nothing wrong, if anything she excels at her studies! She’s kind and brave and loyal to her friends. If you could look past all of your misconceptions you’d see that!”

  There was silence. And then,

  “You’ve seen the signs, haven’t you,” Netalia said. It wasn’t a question.

  More silence, and then Jett said, “Yes.”

  “And you’ve been teaching her the twin swords?” “How did you find out?”

  Netalia didn’t answer.

  “Yes I am. So what, Netalia? She wants to learn them, it doesn’t mean anything-“

  “Of course it does! Out of all the weapons in the room, she picked those!”

  “Why do we have them if they’re not meant to be used?” Jett asked peevishly. “The weapons are the only indication.”

  “For now,” she was beginning to walk away, to my relief, in the other direction. “You know your obligation to the Academy, Jettais.”

  That seemingly ended the conversation. I quickly scrambled back the way I’d come, putting some distance between the corridor and myself. I turned around and started walking back. Jett swept around the corner as I drew closer.

  “Sky,” he said in surprise.

  “Yes?” I asked innocently.

  “Why aren’t you in class?”

  I held up my book.

  “I left my book in my room. I had to go and get it.”

  “Alright. Another lesson tonight then?”

  “Sure,” I replied, wondering why he was still going to teach me now that Netalia knew, and from the sounds of it was threatening his employment at the Academy. “Same time?”

  He nodded curtly and brushed past. I didn’t waste time standing about entertaining thoughts; I was late enough as it was.

  “Sorry,” I said to Professor Watt, skidding to a halt at my seat. “Got lost.”

  She rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘of
course’.

  “Where were you?” Dena hissed as I slid into my seat and began to clumsily flip through the text book.

  I shrugged, deciding not to tell anyone about the conversation I’d just overheard. I replayed it over and over in my mind, and every time I reached the bit about Jett calling me brave and loyal, I couldn’t help but smile a little. I respected Jett a lot, and for him to think those things about me meant equally as much to me.

  The lesson was over before I could find the page we were up to. I realised that it had been the last lesson of the day, and I stuffed the book into my bag happily.

  “Don’t do that,” Yasmin groaned, watching me trying to make it fit. “You have to return it to the library you know.”

  “I know,” I replied, using a foot to wedge it inside my already overstuffed bag. “You know we can do magic, Yasmin.”

  “Yeah, but still...” she trailed off, eyeing off the crumpled book.

  I wolfed down my dinner and gabbled some excuse about homework in my room. I trotted up there and dumped my bag and got changed into my breeches. Morri whistled from the window ledge, and I held my arm out to him. I’d never thought about having a pet before, other than my dog, but as Morri climbed up to my shoulder, I decided that birds were pretty cool too.

  I met Jett in the abandoned weapons room. I stepped onto the practice mat, bouncing slightly. Puffs of straw marked where we’d murdered the practice dummies earlier in the day.

  “Evening,” Jett said, looming out of the darkness in the far corner of the room. I bounced to him, taking my twin swords with the usual feeling of anticipation.

  Before I could remove them from his grasp completely, he unsheathed one just a little bit.

  “These have just been polished,” he said. “Why did you clean them if you were just practicing with them in Riverdoor?”

  “They got dusty on the ride,” the lie came to me easily. I must be spending too much time with Petre.

  “Funny. I also found the remains of an enchantment against Du’rangor venom.”

  I pressed my lips together.

  “Alright,” I admitted. I couldn’t really lie my way out of that one. “There was a Du’rangor stalking Petre’s home estate. We travelled there to hunt it.”

  Jett slid the blade back into the sheath, his expression blank. He sighed.

  “Sky, you’re a good mage, and you’re skilled with these weapons, but please don’t think for one second that you can just go off and hunt dangerous creatures. You killed one, I’ll give you that, but-“

  “I killed two,” I confessed. “I found the one in Riverdoor and killed it as well.”

  Jett blinked. Once. Twice. I was beginning to think he wouldn’t answer when he repeated slowly:

  “You killed the second Du’rangor.”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it had taken Petre’s little brother and was threatening the townsfolk.”

  “And you killed it? With the others?”

  “By myself. I mean,” I scrambled to correct myself. “They were there, but I was on my own when I found it.”

  He paused for a second, and then asked like he didn’t really want to know:

  “How did you kill it?”

  “I set the swords on fire with my magic,” I said carefully. “And then stabbed it through the roof of its mouth.”

  No need to mention the fabric that had been torn from my shirt by the poisonous claws, or how I fell into the marsh water and wallowed around. Also didn’t need to mention the banter I’d used to distract it or the charm I’d used to protect Sammy.

  “You’re... impossible,” he settled on finally. His face was lined and he seemed to be getting older as I looked at him. For the first time, I noticed bits of grey at his temples. “How about we get started?”

  I nodded and began warming up. Morri flew to Jett’s shoulder as I stretched, apparently unimpressed with how I was moving about. After ten minutes I bounced on the spot, loosening the rest of my muscles. When Jett handed the swords back to me, he did so with a certain amount of reverence. It unnerved me.

  We fought, as we usually did. Jett trusted me to the extent that he didn’t make me use blunt wooden swords anymore. Instead, we danced a deadly dance around each other, light from the torches glinting off of the blades.

  He stabbed forwards, deliberately leaving an opening for me. Instead of taking it, I dodged around him instead, and when he whirled, expecting me to be there, he almost fell.

  Because we’d just started I let him regain his balance, but I was grinning triumphantly as he righted himself.

  “Tricky,” he called, but I could see him smiling.

  I flicked my right sword up over my head with my left sword outstretched. I balanced on the balls of my feet, ready to swoop down.

  My opportunity came a second later. Jett ventured just a little too close and I spun, bringing the right sword down and using its momentum to carry me around so that I could bring my left sword up and over. I knew Jett would block it, and he did, the swords clashing together. Taking advantage of his off balance, I reached out with my left foot and hooked it around his ankle, then snapped it back. He fell onto the mat and I darted forwards, placing both sword tips by his nose.

  “Yield,” I told him.

  He held up his hands and laughed. I held both swords in one hand and pulled my mentor to his feet.

  “You’ve come a long way since we first started, my young pupil,” he said, bringing out the polishing cloths. “Thinking on it now, it doesn’t surprise me so much that you’ve killed two Du’rangors.”

  “Do you really mean that?” I asked, taking a long drink of water from my bottle as Morri landed on my head.

  “Course I do. You’ve done me proud.”

  ~Chapter Seventeen~

  We finished cleaning the swords in silence, and then I headed back up to the dorms to have a shower. To my dismay, I ran into Dustin on the way up the stairs.

  “Hello,” he started brightly, but then he frowned when he saw that I was all sweaty. “What’ve you been doing?”

  “Running,” I lied immediately. “Went for a little run around the castle.”

  He accepted it without question, but he’d also noticed Morri, whom he was yet to meet.

  “Who’s this little guy?” he asked, reached forwards for the bird, but Morri shrieked an ear splitting screech and flew up towards the rafters.

  “Sorry,” I apologized. “He doesn’t do so well with new people.”

  “Fair enough,” he replied, tucking his hand back into his pocket. “How long have you had him?”

  “He adopted me a few days ago,” I held my arm out so that Morri could land on it, though he immediately crawled up my arm and under my ponytail where Dustin couldn’t reach him. “Since then I’ve been his pet.”

  “Right,” Dustin rocked on his heels. “So how’ve you been?”

  “Um, alright,” I could see my door past Dustin’s shoulder. “Look, I’m all sweaty. I was on my way to have a shower.”

  “Oh right, sure,” to my relief, he didn’t offer to help me shower. “Hey, why don’t you come by afterwards?”

  “Sure,” I said before I could stop myself. “See you in a bit.”

  I more or less shoved past him and made it to my room. As I collected up my towel and shampoo, I cursed myself over and over again.

  There was no phoenix feather or charm pin on my pillow. I half-heartedly hunted around my room for a gift, but there was nothing. I sat down on my bed with a sigh.

  I really shouldn’t be pursuing him, I thought sadly. He’s with Eleanora and I’m with Dustin. Maybe I should work harder at remembering that.

  I showered, deliberately taking my time. Morri perched on top of the stall, getting his feathers soggy in the steam.

  “You’re the only boy I’m letting watch me shower,” I told him as I dried off. My face reddened as I thought of Phoenix, but then I pushed him away and tried to replace him with Dustin
. My mind shoved that away all on its own.

  I dressed in my pyjamas and then padded down towards the boys’ dormitories. I then realised I had no idea which door was his. I was saved knocking on everyone’s door when Ispin emerged from his room and stopped dead at the sight of me standing in the corridor. I quickly asked him about the room I was looking for, and he pointed at a door wordlessly.

  I knocked on the door, and waited. It was flung open almost straight away by Dustin, hope shining in his eyes.

  “I didn’t think you were coming,” he said, letting me in.

  “Sorry, I had a long shower,” I replied, gesturing to my damp hair. “The water was nice.”

  I sat on his bed, looking around. It was definitely a boy’s room. It was a carbon copy of mine, except it smelt like deodorant and sweat. Clothes had been bundled up on the end of his bed and were draped over his table. I found it strangely comforting, for this was what my old bedroom back in Ar Cena had looked like.

  “Sorry for the mess,” he said, seeing me look around.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, smiling, and then realised conversation was going to be very strained.

  “How’ve you been?” he asked, echoing himself from the stairs.

  “Alright,” I replied. “You know, the usual, homework, classes, and friends.”

  “Sounds like you guys had a nice trip to Riverdoor,” he said, sitting next to me.

  If you can call it that, I thought, but then forced a smile across my face.

  “It wasn’t bad,” I alluded. “It was nice to meet Petre’s family.”

  He smiled back but then slumped.

  “I wish you would’ve asked me,” he mumbled.

  “I’m sorry,” I said immediately, feeling terrible. “There was a bit of a family emergency, none of us were thinking clearly.”

  He just nodded, and I felt like rolling my eyes. Did he think himself more important than Petre’s little brother being taken? Anger flushed under my skin and I had to work to calm myself down again.

  We chatted for a little longer, but I think both of us were quickly realising that our relationship was dead. I wasn’t sure when it had happened, but I suspected it had been the Riverdoor trip. I’d had a few days away from him, and had felt free, unrestrained. Heck, I hadn’t even thought of him until Dena brought it up.