Fallen Flame

by J. M. Miller

  But as I grew weary again, losing the hope that anything would happen, I heard a crash and lifted my eyes to see the chateau doors burst open. Xavyn had been the force behind the crash, tumbling through the doors in my direction, almost falling down the steps as his legs gained control. I shook my limbs in anticipation, seeing the urgency in having the ability to help, to fight. My eyes tracked him eagerly, adjusting to the fire’s light, and the blood in my veins thrummed as my heart pounded within my chest. The two Guards from the fire stepped in front of me, staggered, one farther than the other, blocking me—his apparent destination.

  He drew the sword he had been carrying by hand, discarded its sheath with no care, and plowed through the first Guard with a single slice. He waited for the second to strike first, dodged the blade with ease, then turned and drove his blade swiftly into his back. Both rolled onto the ground, releasing small grunts and screams. They were two of my own, Guards I’d been aligned with, who I would have fought beside even without knowing their names. But no more. I was no longer a Guard of Garlin. I would no longer stand with those so prejudice and blind to the truth.

  As Xavyn moved closer, Captain Baun barreled out of the chateau with Leint and two others right at his feet.

  Xavyn slid the blade between my arms as I spread them apart. “Hurry,” I said, feeling both his rapid breaths and heartbeat as his chest pressed hard against me.

  Captain Baun was quick for his size. I’d always known he was, but he was steps from us in no time.

  The ropes fell apart, freeing my arms. But we hadn’t been fast enough. Captain Baun slammed into the back of Xavyn, knocking him past the post, where they both fell close to the fire. As I spun away, shaking my arms to finish waking them, Leint was upon me, charging, the ferocity plain to see on his twisted face. I lurched sideways to dodge his attack, but his shoulder clipped my side, spinning me back against the post. I’d sparred with him enough to know that he was a hard and quick fighter, risking his stamina for blows that could end everything in seconds. But this was not a sparring session, and I wasn’t conforming to routine or counting hits for bragging rights, I was fighting for my life and for Xavyn’s. Because even though they weren’t wielding any blades to kill us immediately, they still planned to.

  I ducked as he punched, his fist colliding with the post. While he screamed in pain, I crouched, lifted a handful of dirt, and tossed it at his face. As I stood, a solid, strong hit landed between my shoulder blades, the strike coming from behind. I’d forgotten about the other Guards. The hit had stolen my breath, but I was still able to turn, seeing that one of the Guards had stayed with me while the other had joined the captain against Xavyn. I swung around with a straight kick to his knee, feeling it buckle and snap. He crumbled into the dirt.

  With Leint still stumbling about blindly, I was free to charge the other Guard. I grabbed a log of wood piled close to the fire and slammed it into the back of his head, dropping him faster than the first. I recognized him, though. One of the many who had never spoken to me. Perhaps he’d been too afraid. Or perhaps he held more hate than fear like so many others. There was never a reason for him to hate or fear me before. Now there was reason for both.

  “Stop!” Prince Caulden’s voice shouted from the chateau steps.

  Captain Baun was able to get an arm around Xavyn’s throat, choking him. I moved to help, but the captain pulled a dagger and pointed its tip at the base of Xavyn’s neck. Leint had made his way to my side, a sword in hand, knowing better than to try and hold me for fear of my skin.

  “That’s enough, Vala,” Prince Caulden said, taking the steps slowly.

  I glanced at Xavyn, the firelight so close and bright upon his face, watching his lips tip into a smirk even though the captain’s trunk of an arm was capable of snapping his neck in a second. Before I could raise my eyebrows in question, the skin on his face rippled and the captain roared and dropped his hold.

  I spun away from Leint’s blade, but he realized what had happened and swung quickly, his eyes blinking rapidly, still coated with dirt. I dodged the swing and stepped into him to grab hold of his face with both of my hands, singing his perfectly smooth skin. He fell to his knees before I let go.

  “You’re like Vala.” Prince Caulden’s voice came from behind me, closer than expected.

  Xavyn had picked up a sword again and aimed it at the captain.

  “He is … similar,” I answered, turning toward the prince, confident that Xavyn had the captain contained. “Since you refused to even listen to me before you had me tied and tortured for killing your mother when all I did was try and help her, that’s all you need to know for now.”

  “Vala, let the captain go. I know you don’t want to do this,” Caulden said, my words apparently unheard or unwelcome.

  “I don’t want to do this. I didn’t want any of this,” I said, indicating the people spread out on the ground, some bleeding, some immobile. More Guards entered the courtyard, their bodies and faces mere outlines so far from the fire and dimmed chateau lantern posts.

  “Then let the captain go. We’ll work through everything.”

  “Would we have worked through everything had I remained on that post? What were you going to do? Burn us?”

  “No, I—”

  His voice was cut off as Leint slammed into my side, his body as hard as a battering ram. He’d managed to get close enough while I was distracted. I had no time to react, to move. I was falling. Only I wasn’t falling to the ground like I had thought. Heat had cocooned me, holding me hostage, the hum and crackle of the flames singing to me even louder, lulling me into a calm I’d never experienced before. It was rapturous and soothing, like a melodic kiss in my ears, and all throughout my skin. There was no pain as I continued to fall through the fire. I almost didn’t want to leave, but I heard a scream, so I continued to roll with the momentum of the fall, spilling out onto the ground on the other side, into the open air once again.

  “Vala. No,” the prince said in an airy whisper.

  I got to my feet and was greeted by intakes of breath all around me. Xavyn’s was who I saw first, his skin so coarse like mine, his eyes a swirl of darkness pinned on me, with his sword still pointed toward the captain. I looked down at my hands. My charred skin had gone, leaving the red-orange skin I’d see each time water had finished its assault. Though, the fire hadn’t hurt as water always had. And the air wasn’t stinging. I twisted my arms, noticing that there were no signs of regrowth. But there was movement, like a flame coating the top of my skin, twisting and wrapping around in a tender caress. Smoke rose from the bits of my undershirt that had caught fire, but my leathers—vest and pants—were intact with no damage. I ran my hands down my body, checking for any injuries. There were none. My hair remained as well, the plaits not even singed. Finally, I turned around and watched as Caulden fell to his knees in front of me. His tired eyes took all of my appearance in as if he were seeing through them for the very first time.

  If we had any chance of leaving …

  “Xavyn, bring the captain,” I called over my shoulder, grabbing another sword from the ground as I started to walk. By Caulden’s reaction, I doubted he’d tell anyone to stop us. But I wasn’t foolish either. The captain was our insurance for a successful escape … after I handled what needed to be done first.

  “Vala, I—” Caulden said as I passed by. “I don’t know—”

  “Protect your people. Protect yourself. It’s what your mother wanted.” I stopped for a moment and glanced into the eyes I’d seen almost every day since we were young, picturing all the emotions held within them through the years, thinking of the emotions I’d felt while looking at them. What was there before was now gone, the last string severed when he doubted my loyalty and watched my torture. The feelings that had once lifted me, that I’d once ached for, were like embers in the night fog, drifting into nothing, extinguished. I would always remember him, and possibly love him in some nostalgic way. But I no longer needed a connection. I fel
t free. Of him. Of this island.

  After so many years, your life above ended. Your new life began here, in a beautiful fire unlike any I’d ever seen.

  I held my chin high and breathed in my new life. “Don’t try to follow us. We’re leaving soon. After I avenge the queen.”

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  Haidee had respected my wishes and stayed away during everything. Caulden’s lead Guard had been absent. I was certain that after we were gone, she’d be punished in some way. Whatever it was, though, it wouldn’t last long. Caulden had lost too much to let her go. Haidee was too smart, too valuable. She had even been right about the conservatory.

  Xavyn and the captain were quiet during the march through the chateau and outside to the conservatory entrance. Anyone we passed along the way scattered like bugs under the light of fire. My fire. I felt it dimming as we moved, felt the air begin to dig into my skin again, felt the regrowth taking hold. By the time we’d reached the conservatory, I was almost fully changed.

  The doors were unguarded and only a tiny speckle of light could be seen reflecting off of the numerous glass windows, shining dimly out into the pitch-black gardens. The silence made me pause. As much as I’d hated the conservatory as a child, I knew it had been her place, her reprieve. In a way, it didn’t seem right for my vengeance to take place here, as if it would desecrate something sacred to her. But I also felt it befitting, a way to honor the queen who trusted me to protect, to defend.

  I blinked at the oak and iron casted doors and took a deep breath. “Captain, it’s good that you’re here with us. Maybe you’ll hear this truth.”

  When I pulled the door open and we passed inside, everything appeared in the same order. Trees and small shrubs lined the rows, individual leaves and branches silhouetted by the single lantern visible at the far end of the building. Queen Meirin was clever enough not to trash the place in a hurried frenzy. Knowing that I had been tied to a post in the courtyard and that the prince would be distracted over the next few days to tend to his mother’s burial, she had time to return here, to search whenever she needed. She wouldn’t want her secrets being found due to careless rummaging, especially with a wedding sometime in the near future … if there was still to be one.

  We walked the length of the row, seeing no movement, hearing no sounds. My mind raced, the worry that she had already left starting to turn my stomach. There was no time to look elsewhere. If she was gone, we’d have to leave. Her judgment would have to wait. And she would live. But as one of her guards stepped out from around the trees at the end of the row looking curiously in our direction, I let out a relieved breath.

  “Ah! You are here,” I said, my voice echoing around the panes of glass high above. “I was beginning to think you’d given up your search.”

  The other guard filed behind the first and Queen Meirin’s voice followed. “It seems you are a clever one. More clever than I thought.”

  “You obviously chose the wrong path to find what you were looking for.”

  “I don’t think I did at all,” Queen Meirin said, finally stepping out from around the trees, wiping the dirt from her hands onto a cloth. The silver and white accents along the bodice of her Islain blue dress glinted in the lantern’s light, as did her stacked golden hair. Her crown was noticeably missing, as if she didn’t want to tarnish it. “The path I chose simply needed obstacles cleared out of the way.”

  I clenched my hands as I took one final step toward her, keeping a safe distance between us. “Good thing you have guards who are willing to burn those obstacles.”

  “A hostage?” she asked, ignoring my comment and looking behind me to where Xavyn held a sword to the captain’s throat. “Things haven’t gone quite as you’d planned either then? I suppose we’re dealing with somewhat similar situations. We both need the other out of the way to finish our goal.”

  “I suppose that’s right. I need you out of the way so I can leave. And I’m guessing you need me out of the way to continue searching for Her Majesty’s secret.”

  There was a twinkle in her eye and a hint of a smile on her lips at that. “She told you something after all. Are you planning to tell me?”

  “I am,” I confirmed with a smile. “But I don’t think it’s going to be in the way you want to hear it.”

  “You know, your queen would be disappointed to know you plan to tell me.” Her lips relaxed, abandoning the civil pretense. “She held on for so long without saying anything.”

  I moved to charge only to watch a potted plant fly over my head, aimed at Meirin. One of her guards pulled her out of the way while the other swung his blade through the hardened clay, spraying pieces of clay and soil all over the floor. With the sound of grunts and breaths close behind me, I didn’t need to turn around to know it wasn’t Xavyn who had launched the plant. But I looked back anyway, staring right into Captain Baun’s face, so twisted and red with fury that he was almost unrecognizable. I glanced at Xavyn, who only raised his eyebrows.

  “You killed the queen!” the captain said and bowled past me, armed with another plant and nothing else.

  I turned and charged after him, unwilling to let him fight alone. He threw the plant at the first guard, using it as a mere distraction as he launched his body into him. Before the second guard could join in, I swung my blade at him, slicing through branches and flowers, backing him away from the captain. Xavyn ran up from behind. Unable to engage in the captain’s ground fight, he turned his blade on the guard I was fighting, backing him up farther as he tried to defend himself and protect Meirin, who was tucked into the corner of the well alcove, behind the mourning flower pedestal and the queen’s bench.

  As the guard blocked a swing from Xavyn, I sliced my blade into his side. He lurched and swung, but Xavyn blocked, clearing me for a straight shot to the guard’s chest. He dropped and through heavy breaths I said, “I would have taken your hands if I had more time.”

  “Stop her!” the captain yelled out from his position on the ground, his eyes on Meirin as his arms and legs grappled with the guard.

  Seeing her first guard drop, Meirin had left her corner, edging along the walls, heading toward the back row to escape.

  Xavyn ran down the front row, blocking the doors, and I followed Meirin into the shadows.

  She frantically looked around then stopped dead when she saw Xavyn at the end of her escape. “If you kill me, they will know. You will be hunted! But if you let me go now, I will do the same for you. You can leave here and I won’t send my army after you as long as you stay away. Never show your face.”

  “Let’s go,” I said and stepped aside as Xavyn pushed her forward with the tip of his blade.

  The captain and guard continued to wrestle until the captain found a hold around the guard’s neck. With a snap, it was all over.

  “I’m telling you now. All of you,” Meirin shouted, as if someone outside would hear and respond. “You are free to go. Leave now.”

  “No,” I replied, watching the captain stalk toward her. As he grabbed hold of her wrists and pinned them behind her back, I moved to the queen’s mourning flower still perched atop the pedestal, the open iron lantern hanging from a wall hook at its side. “You were looking for a feather,” I said, sliding a finger over the red-orange petal, thinking of the queen’s words. “Only there’s no feather here.” I turned back around to look at her. Her whole body shook as the captain’s massive frame stood behind her. I almost felt bad for her until I thought of Queen Havilah’s burnt face and body. Her pain. The only mercy Meirin would receive was how quickly she’d die, simply because I could not control the time. If I could, she’d burn for days.

  I reached up to the lantern and pushed my hand between its iron slats, my palm open to the flame below. I was no longer afraid. The years I’d spent staring into the flames, petrified, believing that I’d been cursed … it had all been so foolish. “What feather do you seek? Was it one from the goddess bird, Alesrah? Is that the kind of rarity you’re looking for?” The f
lame engulfed my hand, shedding my charred skin again, the crackle and hum growing louder in my head.

  Meirin’s mouth went slack, her stained lips opening wide. I glanced at Xavyn and Captain Baun, noticing theirs had as well.

  “You see, you were searching for the wrong secret.” The flame traveled up my arm, spreading like wildfire across my body, soothing, sedating. “I was the queen’s secret.”

  “How can it be?” she stammered the words.

  “Why were you looking for a feather?” When she didn’t respond, I asked again. “Why were you looking for a feather?”

  Captain Baun wrenched her arms from behind, jostling her body. She made a pained face and then a slow smile formed on those hideous lips. “You don’t know. And she didn’t tell you or she didn’t know herself. Well, that is surely interesting.”

  “What is so interesting about it?” I said with a growl.

  A loud banging noise spread across the gardens outside. “Vala,” Xavyn warned, his eyes toward the doors down the row.

  With the smug look upon Meirin’s face, I knew she was prepared to take the information to the grave. “Captain? Do you want the pleasure?”

  “This won’t be over for you,” she screeched. “They will hunt you—”

  “Yes,” the captain answered my question, ignoring Meirin. He turned her around, pinned her against the pillar with a single hand, and grabbed the sword I extended to him. “She’ll be there to meet you on the other side,” he whispered then leaned back before shoving the blade into her chest.

  We watched her eyes lose focus, the last breath escape her lips, and her bowels empty.

  But we were out of time.

  Xavyn’s hands were on my face, pulling my hazy focus to him. His gray eyes were wide. “We need to leave. Now.” He grabbed my hands, unfazed by the flames moving across my skin.