Soul Fire

by Aprille Legacy

  ~Chapter Sixteen~

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  The ride back was gruelling. We missed the rest stop where we’d stayed on the way to Riverdoor and so we had to make do with sleeping on a wide section of the road. We slept only for a few hours before we were travelling again as dawn broke across the sky. We crossed the Stanthor border almost without realising it, and as the sun sailed to its apex we drew closer to the south of the continent.

  We were chatting amiably when we passed Keyes. I felt like Echo was straining to get home; maybe she missed her stall as much as I missed my bed.

  We rode over the cobblestone bridge and to the stables. Above us, the Academy loomed in silence, though we knew that lessons would be in full swing. I untacked Echo, groomed her, and then let her into the paddock to graze. She bumped me affectionately with her nose as I removed her halter. I grinned, scratching her up behind the ears.

  “C’mon, Sky, let’s get unpacked,” Rain called, and I reluctantly followed them into the castle.

  Once inside, I took off at a run up the stairs to the dormitories. No one asked what I was doing; they knew I was trying to avoid Dustin, who no doubt would be very hurt that I didn’t invite him along on the Riverdoor trip.

  I groaned as I reached the top of the stairs. I liked him, so why did the thought of him annoy me so much? I found my bedroom and quickly unlocked it by placing my hand on the door so it could read my magical signature. It opened and I barrelled inside, shutting it quickly. Then I turned around and let out a yelp of fright.

  Phoenix was in the middle of my room.

  “Did I scare you?”

  “How did you get in here?” I demanded. I saw his eyes flick towards the open window and I stomped over to it. I pulled it shut with no small effort – it had been open for a long time. “Why are you in my room?”

  “I wanted to see you,” he said, sitting at my table.

  “So you couldn’t come over to me at dinner later? You couldn’t knock on my bedroom door like everyone else?”

  I dumped my pack on my bed and began pulling clothes out of it. I noticed a bowl of water next to my bed with a washcloth next to it, and I began washing my face gratefully. I knew Larni had put the bowl there, and I couldn’t wait to give her the red scarf.

  “How was your trip?” he asked, still trying to prompt conversation.

  “Why are you really here?” I retorted, pulling my hair out of my bun.

  “I told you. I wanted to talk to you. How was your trip?”

  “Uneventful,” I alluded, trying to ignore the hammering of my heart. I’d picked the word because I knew it would infuriate him.

  “I know something happened, Sky. I saw you all talking at dinner one night and the next day you were gone. What was it, family emergency?”

  “Something like that,” I relented. “We went to Petre’s estate.”

  “Ah, yes. The House of Lyon. Right on the border of my home land.”

  I fidgeted, deciding not to tell him that we’d also visited Orthandrell, however illegal that might have been. I continued unpacking, pulling out the charm pin, realising too late that he would know what it was.

  “Ah,” he said again, spying it in my hand. “I thought so.”

  “Did you make this for me?” I asked, holding it out. He took it from my palm, and shivers danced up my arm as his fingers lightly brushed my hand.

  “I did. I made it for protection. Evidently, you needed to use it. Sky, what did you go to Riverdoor for?”

  I sighed.

  “Petre’s little brother had been taken by a Du’rangor. We stalked it and killed it, and brought his brother home.”

  His expression didn’t change, but I thought I saw something flicker in his eyes.

  “I wish you’d brought me along.”

  “Why would I?” I challenged irritably.  “You don’t say a word to me unless I’m in danger.”

  “Well, from the sounds of it, we would’ve had lots to talk about then.”

  I turned around. Was he making a joke?

  “We’re also soul mates,” he said quietly, and I let out a snort.

  “You’re actually admitting it.” I chuckled to myself wryly. “There’s a day I thought would never come.”

  “Ok, fine,” he replied, as irritable as I was. “I can understand not taking me along, but why not Dustin? He’s your boyfriend, is he not?”

  I winced at the word ‘boyfriend’. Unpleasant silence began to grow like mould between us.

  “Yes,” I said slowly. “He is.”

  “So why not ask him?”

  “I... forgot.”

  “Forgot?” he started laughing and I started at the sound.

  “It’s not funny,” I protested, but I could feel the corners of my mouth beginning to turn up into a smile. “He’s probably going to hate me now.”

  “He won’t, don’t worry. It’s just puppy love.”

  “Puppy love?” I asked.

  “He’s infatuated with you, which I see now you don’t return at all.”

  My mouth fell open, ready to retort something that would prove that I did, in fact, return the puppy love, but nothing came to mind.

  He’s right, I realised suddenly. I don’t like Dustin anymore.

  My shoulders slumped. I have to tell him. I can’t lead him on.

  “Sky?” Phoenix had come over to me.

  “You’re right,” I mumbled. “I think that’s why I forgot to tell him about the trip. I don’t think I wanted him to come along.”

  It was true. I hadn’t thought of him at all after Dena had brought it up. Instead I’d gone to sleep thinking of warm, strong hands holding mine, of running my hands through someone else’s long dark hair, pulling him closer so that I could press my lips to his-

  I jerked backwards, almost head butting Phoenix as he came closer.

  “Are you alright?” he asked, concern marking a small frown line between his eyes.

  Before I could answer, both of us jumped as someone knocked on the door.

  “Sky?” my heart sank as Dustin called for me. “Can I come in?”

  “Uh, I’m getting changed!” I called quickly.

  There was silence on the other side of the door, and I hoped that he’d gone away.

  “Need some help?” he said through the door, and Phoenix wrinkled his nose at me.

  “No thanks!” I said quickly.

  “Ok, I’ll meet you downstairs for dinner.”

  We both listened to him trot back down the stairs. I couldn’t look Phoenix in the eyes.

  “I better be off,” he said, also avoiding my gaze.

  He moved towards my bed, and I thought I was going to die as he crawled up onto it. Dashing my fears – hopes? – He pushed the window open and swung a leg out of it.

  “Wait! We’re a long way up. How do you get down?” I asked, sitting on my bed.

  “I manage.”

  “Why don’t you just go out my door? Like a normal person,” I pointed out.

  “Well,” he replied, still half in, half out the window. “Dustin thinks you’re getting changed, and how do you think he’d react if he saw me coming out of your room?”

  I glanced towards my door. Could Dustin still be out there? When I looked back, Phoenix was gone. I peered out of the window to see him climbing down the ivy trellis that someone had built against the wall.

  It was only when I turned back that the full impact of his parting statement hit me, and I went so red the scarf I’d bought would look pale on me.

  I grabbed my towel and dashed to the bathrooms, showering quickly. Dusk had fallen and I was starving. I couldn’t wait for dinner, so I just dressed in my uniform and trotted down the stairs.

  “I thought you were just getting changed?” Dustin asked, confused as he saw my damp hair.

  “I was, but then I decided to have a show
er. We’ve been riding for two days straight,” I said. It wasn’t a lie.

  We piled our dinner plates with almost everything, and I began eating as soon as we made it to our regular table. Conversation was strained; we all wanted to discuss our trip, but with Dustin there, it felt like we were rubbing it in his face that I hadn’t asked him along. Instead, we let him chatter about what we’d missed at the Academy, which wasn’t much from the sounds of it, except we were all behind on a paper Watt had assigned on the day we’d left. Then he said something that made me prick up my ears with interest.

  “Jett has been in a right mood,” he said, stealing one of my snow peas. “I think he argued with the Masters about something,” he shrugged, looking down at his plate and missing us looking at each other, sharing private looks. “Whatever it was, the Academy has not been a happy place.”

  I knew they wouldn’t be happy with us going to Riverdoor. Now they thought we were going to be bad mouthing them all over the state.

  Which, I thought angrily as I stuffed a potato in my mouth, we are well within our rights to do. How much longer would Riverdoor have suffered if we hadn’t visited? Why hadn’t they helped them? Despite my anger, I knew we all had to tread carefully from now on. As Jett had said, they were quick to banish anyone who crossed them, and I certainly didn’t want any of my friends to leave.

  During dinner, I tried to get back some of what Dustin and I had had before I’d left. I laughed at everything he said and smiled when he looked at me, but I felt hollow inside.

  When I got back into my room, I wasn’t surprised to see another phoenix feather on my pillow. I crawled into my bed, pulling the feather through my fingers. Was he courting me? I smiled at the thought, knowing it to be a ridiculous notion. It didn’t make me feel any better though, and my stomach rolled over as I thought of breaking up with Dustin.

  What would I say? I’d never done this before; I hadn’t even been broken up with! I fell asleep uneasily, still thinking of things I could say to him to try to make it easier.

  My group and I fell back into school life easily, almost grateful for the return of normality. I was working in the library with my friends one night when Netalia approached me. We all looked up at her, trying not to show anything on our faces.

  “Could I see you for a moment, Sky?” she asked, and I didn’t let myself look at my friends before I stood and followed her to another section of the library.

  “I trust your trip to Abdoor went well?”

  “Yes, it did,” I couldn’t avoid glaring at her. “It was very... informative.”

  Why are you baiting her? I thought to myself frantically. Stop it!

  “Did you find anything of interest?” she asked carefully, and I knew she was asking about the broken bridge and the dam.

  “No,” I replied innocently.  “We stayed on the Lyon estate and spent the days wandering the countryside like lambs.”

  She’d fixed me with a stare, and I thought I saw her eye twitch. She couldn’t figure out why I was lying.

  “Very well,” she said finally. “But please come to me or Iain next time you want to go somewhere, not Jett. He no longer has the authority to sign off on such matters.”

  I watched her sail out of the library, her off white cloak billowing behind her. I let myself breathe a sigh of relief and then headed back to the others, quickly telling them what had happened whilst Dustin was off in the shelves hunting down a book.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, sitting back down a little while later and putting his hand on my knee. I wriggled uneasily but didn’t remove it.

  “We were just talking about the paper,” Petre said, and I was taken aback by how easily he lied.

  “Oh right,” Dustin took the bait and immediately began chatting about his angle on the paper. We all nodded and agreed, but the truth was, we’d finished most of it already.

  The term dragged on and I still couldn’t bring myself to break his heart. I felt absolutely awful about it.

  “It’s terrible,” I confessed to Dena one evening. “I think I’d rather face another Du’rangor than break up with him.”

  “It’ll happen,” she replied, patting me on the shoulder. “It’s not fair to him to drag it on though.”

  “I know,” I said, but the torment continued raging inside me.

  One evening I was sitting at my table, reading and picking at the snacks I’d brought up with me, when I noticed an array of birds perched along the open windowsill. I tore a bread roll into pieces and crawled onto my bed, offering it to them. Most of them took flight in fright, but one black bird stayed behind and snatched the bread from my fingers.

  “Piggy,” I said, laughing, as the bird devoured the bread. “Do you want more, do you?”

  He cheeped loudly, and I gave him the rest.

  “You’re brave,” I told him, noticing that his little feet were on the inside of the sill. “Or stupid?”

  I offered him my finger almost jokingly, and no one was more surprised than I was when he promptly hopped on board, his little claws latching around my finger.

  “Oh, why hello,” I grinned widely at his antics. “Shall I name you?”

  He peeped in answer.

  “Alrighty then... how about...” I tried to think of a name that meant something to me. “Morrigan?”

  Morrigan had been the name of the dog I’d had in my childhood, a beautiful border collie whom I’d loved.

  The bird tilted his head on one side, inspecting me. He cheeped after a while, and I took that as the go ahead to name him.

  “How about Morri for short?”

  That was an affirmative. Before I could stop him, Morri made his way up my arm until he sat on my shoulder. I turned and faced the mirror.

  “We make quite a pair,” I told him.

  Next to my mirror was my statue of the last queen. Larni had dusted it when I was away, and now it was cleaner than ever before. I stood carefully, not wanting to dislodge Morri, and picked the statue up. For the first time, I noticed that she’d been damaged, as though something or someone had tried to hide certain things. There were marks on her shoulders and back, but the circlet hadn’t been touched. I put the statue down; whatever had happened to her, it was a long time ago, and I wasn’t fussed by it. If anything, it just added to the statue’s charm.

  I introduced Morri to everyone the next day. Theresa burst out laughing when she saw him, telling me that I looked like a pirate with the bird riding on my shoulder. I threatened to turn her hair blue but even that didn’t stop her from sniggering whenever I appeared.

  All was well until I passed Jett in a corridor one day. He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Morri, working to conceal something on his face.

  “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, h
e 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.”