The Blaze Ignites

by Nichelle Rae

  I sighed in relief and let my shoulders sag as he came to stand at my side. “Boy am I glad to see you.”

  “Same here! What’s going on?”

  “I think we were just forced into one of The White Warrior’s meetings.”

  He looked at me, stunned for a second, before looking at the crowd. “That explains why everyone passed out at camp.” Ortheldo scanned the faces. “I wonder what she called us for.”

  “Looks like trouble to me.”

  “Don’t! Don’t!” Azrel—or the White Warrior rather—screamed.

  “Come on,” Ortheldo said, backhanding my shoulder. We both jogged towards the crowd. We pushed and shoved and shouldered our way through the sea of people. As we did we got lots of looks, some of wide-eyed wonder, some of curiosity. The Salynns in the crowd placed their fingertips in the middle of their foreheads and bowed at the waist. I heard some faint whispers as we passed.

  “They’re here.”

  “They’ve finally come.”

  “That’s the brother!”

  “He’s the first and only flawless protector.”

  We finally emerged from the front of the crowd. First I saw Acalith standing on the opposite side of where we emerged from. She had her arms crossed as she looked down at the White Warrior across from her. The White Warrior was on her knees with her back to me in the center of this circle, leaning heavily over the something that everyone was looking at with concern. Addredoc and Reese stood just behind Acalith. Their eyes went wide at seeing us. Addredoc gently pulled at the back of Acalith’s shirt. She turned and looked at him, then followed his gaze to us, her eyes widening. I started to wonder if Ortheldo and I had been brought here by mistake.

  Acalith squatted down. “White Warrior, Ortheldo and Rabryn are here,” she whispered softly.

  “I brought them. Get them over here.”

  Acalith walked over to us. “Come. She must need you.”

  Confused but staying silent, Ortheldo and I made our way to stand across from the White Warrior. It was then that we got our first look at what she was cradling in her arms.

  “Azrel,” I said, unsure if I should be calling her that. “What…or who is this?”

  The form she held was dark, nearly black, and faded slightly as if she were holding a black ghost. But I could see enough detail to know it was a human, a badly beaten human. I could make out lots of blood trails, long cuts, and swollen bumps all over the dark face and the half-naked body. The fingers were all broken so badly that they stayed bent at excruciating angles, as did the toes.

  “Yarin?” Ortheldo squatted down over the black figure and cupped its face in his hands.

  “Who is he?” I asked more insistently.

  “The leader of the Gleo’gwyns, the Metallic Riders.”

  My eyes went wide and I squatted down next to Ortheldo, mostly due to the sudden lack of strength in my legs. Yarin had saved Ortheldo twice before and had saved Azrel and Reese so recently. He was a good man. “What happened to him?”

  “You listen to me, Yarin,” Azrel said to the ghostly form. “I have not abandoned you! I’m here, aren’t I? Holding onto you for dear life? Come to me and take a recess from your pain.”

  “But the pain will still be here when I come back!” Yarin cried more forcefully than I thought he could manage, though his mouth didn’t move. His form quickly faded, becoming more transparent.

  “Don’t!” Azrel screamed.

  The fading paused, clearly beyond any will of Yarin’s. “Just let me go,” he begged.

  “No! You’re not going anywhere!”

  “You’ve forgotten me.”

  Her arms tightened protectively around the dark figure. “No, I haven’t,” she said more gently. “Azrel is coming to get you, I swear it! I need you. Please, please be strong and hold on a little longer. Please!”

  “I can’t,” Yarin now sobbed.

  “How about a little incentive?”

  The dark form solidified a little bit. “You’re going to bribe me?”

  “Damn straight. I have two people here I know you’re eager to see. They’re traveling with Azrel and are going to help her get you out of there.”

  Yarin’s form solidified slightly and brightened to a dark gray color. “Who?”

  The White Warrior’s eyes met Ortheldo’s. “Say hello.”

  Ortheldo’s eyes were brimming with tears I knew he would never shed. He forced a smile. “Hey partner. You look like hell, as usual.”

  Yarin’s brows went up, the first movement he’d made, and then gasps broke out as Yarin’s face tilted up towards Ortheldo’s voice. “Ortheldo,” he breathed, his mouth finally moving as he spoke.

  “Yeah,” Ortheldo replied smiling.

  “It’s been so long.”

  “It has. It seems your life has gotten a little more interesting than riding wild through Casdanarus saving people.”

  A soft smile formed on Yarin’s face, but it quickly vanished. “Yeah, a little bit.” Before Ortheldo could get more information out of him, Yarin spoke again. “You found Azrel?”

  We both stared at The White Warrior. Azrel said the Gleo’gwyns had helped her and Reese in battle just a week ago. How could Yarin not know that Ortheldo had found Azrel? The White Warrior simply closed her eyes and shook her head, telling us not to ask. Then she nodded down to Yarin, indicating that Ortheldo needed to respond.

  “I did,” Ortheldo said. “Thanks to you and your team saving my pathetic hide so I could get to her.”

  Yarin managed another small smile and his formed brightened to a grey color. “I’m so glad to hear that.”

  The White Warrior beckoned me closer. Confused, I moved closer to Yarin. Did she want me to pretend I knew him?

  “Yarin, I have someone here with me I’ll wager you never thought, in your wildest dreams, you’d ever get to meet.” She smiled down at him slyly. “You’ll have to open your eyes to see him.”

  What was she doing? Why would this man so eagerly want to meet me? I didn’t know him from Zoloft’s house cat!

  “Who is it?”

  “It’s your best friend’s son.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Rabryn?” Yarin breathed and his eyes snapped open. The encircling crowd burst into screams and cheers as Yarin’s form completely solidified and brightened into normal colors and all of his wounds disappeared. The White Warrior sighed heavily in relief, then dropped her forehead to Yarin’s shoulder.

  He smiled. “I guess I can stick around for a while.”

  The White Warrior lifted her head and looked down into his eyes. “Thank you.” She helped him sit up. Not knowing what to do as this stranger looked at me with awe and recognition, I simply straightened and held out my hand to help him stand. He took it and I pulled him to his feet. The crowd dispersed, including Azrel, while this man and I stood in front of each other.

  He smiled as he studied my face. “You look just like your father.” I flinched. “Except for your eyes.”

  “You knew my father?”

  Yarin nodded. “We grew up together.”

  “You’re from White Veilvin?” My eyes immediately went to his flowerless blonde hair.

  Yarin smiled a handsome smile. “My story is much like Lisswilla’s,” he said, nodding in the direction of the crowd, who were now standing and talking among themselves. I spotted Lisswilla talking with Acalith and the White Warrior. “You’ll find quite a few Salynns that the White Warrior saved without returning their Sallybreath Flowers or their magic.”

  “Well, how…when…” I didn’t even know where to begin with my questioning.

  Yarin chuckled as he gently gripped the sides of my neck. “Stories for another time, Rabryn. Right now I need to greet an old friend.” He glanced at Ortheldo before smiling at me again. “I’m sure the White Warrior will bring you to more meetings so you and I can talk.”

  “I look forward to it,” I said, hardly able to believe it. My father hadn’t told me much about his
life before my mother. He’d said it didn’t matter. It might be nice to learn it from Yarin.

  Yarin looked at me sincerely. “I’m really happy to have gotten to meet you.”

  “You too.”

  He gave me one last smile, then stepped around me and held out his hand to Ortheldo. They clasped wrists with one hand and embraced each other with the other. “It is so good to see you again,” Ortheldo said.

  “You too, my friend.”

  “How come you asked if I’d found Azrel? Didn’t you just…”

  “Attention everyone,” Acalith called over the din, “the meeting will begin.”

  With that, one hundred chairs materialized, all lined up perfectly facing one direction with a single aisle down the middle. The chatter elevated as everyone started moving towards the chairs and taking seats.

  “We’ll talk later,” Yarin said and then made his way towards the front row of the seats where the White Warrior and Acalith were.

  I looked back at Ortheldo to question what we should do. He shrugged. Both of us heard our names called. We looked to see Reese and Addredoc sitting in the front row to the left and beckoning us to the two empty seats next to them. I looked back at Ortheldo again, who shrugged once more. I shrugged as well and both of us made our way towards them.

  As we walked, I got my first good look at the crowd. There were so many faces I’d never seen before, but what really grabbed my attention was the sight of a race of beings I’d never even heard of. I slowed my pace and couldn’t stop staring at them.

  Ortheldo noticed and stepped up to my side. “They’re called Poppers.”

  I finally stopped to look at them. The beings looked human in all respects except they only stood as tall as my hips. They had pointed ears and really beautiful, but slightly tragic, sets of wings on their backs. Their wings were beautiful because of the different color combinations and soft looking membrane they were made of, but tragic because they looked like a mix between butterfly wings and torn up maple leaves.

  “Poppers,” I said, still gazing shamelessly at them. “They’re really…charming in appearance aren’t they?”

  “They are.” Ortheldo looked away from them towards the crowd. “And it’s their appearance that is their deadliest asset.”

  “Huh?” I said, barely hearing him.

  He chuckled. “Their magic charms anyone who gazes long enough at them, pacifying them into a drooling, adoring stupor until their little daggers plunge into your throat.”

  “Huh? What?” I said snapping my head to look at him.

  He smiled, “Or you are jarred to awareness.”

  I flinched, suddenly realizing that I had just been under a Popper’s spell.

  Ortheldo cast a soft gaze at the group of Poppers. “Niferri, that wasn’t very nice of you.”

  I looked back and immediately realized all the Poppers were smirking devilishly at me. One beautiful orange-haired girl smiled shyly and feigned innocence as she brought her shoulder up to her face as if to try and hide behind it. “Sorry Ortheldo,” she said in a tiny, sweet voice. “He was just enjoying the view so much I couldn’t resist playing with him a bit.”

  Ortheldo then got to one knee and held out his hand. The orange-haired Popper, Niferri, happily skipped forward, her dainty feet barely touching the floor, and placed her hand in his. He lowered his head and kissed the back of her hand. “It’s good to see you again.”

  “It’s always a pleasure to view you,” she replied. She turned her face to the side, trying to soften her boldness, but she kept her big green eyes on Ortheldo. He smiled broadly and winked at her before standing again.

  “You know her?” I asked as we started away, casting another glance back at her even as I asked. Niferri blew me a kiss and smiled before she turned and headed back to her group. All of them were almost doubled over in hysterics.

  “Our paths crossed once or twice while I was searching for Azrel. She’s a rogue Popper. You never, ever see a Popper outside Blossoming Bays unless they go rogue. But even then you don’t see them often. It was just by chance that we met.” He smiled, “but she sought for me the second time.”

  “A story for the road, I presume.”

  “Sure. Now that you’ve felt the effects of a Popper’s charm, you might understand.”

  Realization dawned on me. “You didn’t…” I couldn’t even finish the thought.

  He only smiled. “A story for the road.”

  “Did you?!” I asked more forcefully.

  “No, no.” But he was still smiling. Finally he said, “But not for her lack of trying.”

  I shook my head. “Never mind. I don’t think I want to know.” Ortheldo just laughed.

  When I looked towards the front of the seats, I stopped in my tracks and my eyes went wide. The most magnificent white horse I’d ever seen now stood with the White Warrior. He had well-built, sleek muscles, and he was huge. His coat and mane were the purest, most vibrant white I had ever seen. He was whiter than freshly fallen snow. He had to be the most powerful and formidable war horse in all of Casdanarus. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the beast could outrun the flight of an eagle!

  “Lightning,” I heard Ortheldo say.

  “What?”

  “I can’t believe it. That’s Lightning!” He breathed more forcefully. “That’s the White Warrior’s horse!”

  “The White Warrior’s horse indeed,” I said, still stunned at the perfection and beauty of the animal. After a moment we continued scanning the crowd.

  “There are some Fayithjens here,” Ortheldo said.

  My heart twisted at the mention of that land, but with pain and excitement. “Where? I don’t see any.”

  “They’re in human form right now. I just know some of them from my travels.”

  My brows dropped. “How come Norka couldn’t turn into a human?”

  Ortheldo gave me a sympathetic look. “A Fayithjen that is banished or sent to Tribeltwel loses the ability as part of his or her punishment and is forced to stay in half-creature form.”

  “Oh.” I looked in the direction in which he had been gazing and I noticed a young woman staring at me. She was older than me, possibly Ortheldo’s age. She was rather attractive, though nothing compared to Acalith’s goddess-like beauty. She had perfectly straight ash-blonde hair that fell to just past her shoulders, an olive complexion, and big dark blue eyes. Her full, light pink lips were so grimly set that I wondered if they had ever smiled. When she noticed me looking at her, she looked away and sat down in a chair.

  Ortheldo and I took our seats in the front as everyone settled and quieted. The White Warrior stood in front of everyone, Acalith stood to the left with Lightning, and Yarin sat in a chair with them. When White Warrior clasped her hands behind her back and bowed her head, everything went completely quiet. She started pacing at the front.

  “Alright,” she said, looking up at the crowd, “there are a few matters we need to discuss. First, as you can all see, Acalith has finally been named The Deralilya.” Everyone clapped and yelled words of congratulations that Acalith accepted with a small smile and a nod. I didn’t say anything. All I noticed was the bitter tone the White Warrior used with “finally.”

  She stopped pacing looking more tired every moment that passed. “Also, as we all feared, Hathum has surfaced. He is in complete command of Dwellingpath and its army.” A few murmurs broke out. “I know this is difficult for you to hear, but trust me, it’s even more difficult for me to tell you. Because there is no bloody way Azrel is ready for this showdown.”

  Again that a bitter tone, this time paired with my sister’s name. I felt my heart start pounding with sadness and rage.

  “I can’t discuss the details right now because I’m extremely exhausted. I had to use a great deal of my power to speak to Azrel and calm her down after her most recent temper tantrum, one we all knew she would throw.”

  Everyone laughed. They laughed! My teeth clenched hard.

  “In light of this
issue arising with Hathum”—she let out a breath of frustration—“I’m really not sure what to do. I can’t do anything because Azrel is in my way.” Now my fists clenched. “The only thing I can think of is to just continue with the plan to find the necklace’s owner. As Azrel endures this journey, her thick head will eventually crack, and she’ll accept me. Then maybe we can have a shot at destroying Hathum.”

  The crowd chuckled…and I was out of my seat before I really knew what I was doing.

  “How dare you talk about my sister that way!” I screamed. Ortheldo was right behind me, glaring just as hatefully at the White Warrior. No one else, no one else came to Azrel’s defense. Not Reese, not Addredoc, no one—which only enraged me further.

  The White Warrior looked at me with slightly widened eyes. “Excuse me?”

  “Are you deaf? Or is my statement just too difficult for you to understand?”

  Her mouth dropped as gasps and murmurs broke out among the crowd. I felt angry enough to breathe fire! The White Warrior’s eyes quickly shifted to the audience, then back to me, her brows drawn in anger. “How dare you talk t—”

  “How dare I?” I said, pointing to myself and taking a step forward. I was so mad that I was shaking. She thought I was the one out of line? “How dare I? How dare you!” I screamed, throwing my arm in her direction. “How dare you say anything hateful about my sister!” I turned to the crowd. “How dare you all laugh at her. How dare you!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “You know nothing about her! None of you do! You’ve never even seen her!” I turned back to The White Warrior. “You don’t know anything!”

  The White Warrior gave me a smug smile that I wished I could just slap right off her face, but Azrel had taught me better than that. “I hate to break it to you, darling, but I’ve already shown everyone what her life was like.”

  I gave a sarcastic gasp, touched my fingertips to my open mouth, and looked at her with wide eyes of mock shock. “No!” I breathed in sarcastic amazement. “You didn’t show them that did you?” Her brows dropped in confusion. “Try living through it!” I screamed, making her and a few others jump. I sneered at myself as I remembered how awestruck I had been at seeing the White Warrior duel Acalith, enough to bow to a knee. Now I glared at her. I had a feeling I shouldn’t be talking to the White Warrior like this, but the need to defend my sister pummeled it away. “Let me out of here,” I growled at her.