The shadows danced around them as they entered the stairwell. The torch she had seen when they opened her door was now carried by one of the warriors and its light cast dark shadows around the walls that encircled the twisting stairs.
Her father walked before her, his pace slow and deliberate as they marched down the stairwell. Like the Fire Warriors, he was dressed in livery, though his outfit was far more regal and affluent than those of the warriors. She was almost surprised not to see a golden crown resting upon his head.
“Will this be the last time we get to talk?” she asked.
Her father was silent for another full rotation of the spiral staircase and she feared he would simply ignore her for the rest of their journey. As he rounded the next corner, he looked over his shoulder with sadness in his eyes.
“I hope not.”
“You don’t have to do this,” she whispered as she leaned closer to her father. “You can let me go. There’s still time.”
Lord Balor shook his head. “That time has passed. I can’t deny the will of my master.”
Sammy frowned as she resumed her spot between her father and the Fire Warrior that followed dangerously close behind her.
“At least tell me what it wants,” she said, loudly enough that the warrior behind her could hear the conversation as well.
“I don’t know. That’s the truth.”
They reached the bottom floor of the castle and Lord Balor led her to the throne room. A pair of guards pulled open the large doors as they approached, granting access to the pillared room beyond. Without hesitation, her father walked past the throne and pulled aside the tapestry that hung against the wall. A press of a specific stone opened the secret door, leading to the dark passage beyond.
The guard behind Sammy handed Lord Balor the lit torch. The black smoke from the tip of the flame stung Sammy’s eyes as it washed over her. She blinked away the burning sensation and rubbed her face with the back of her hand. Without looking behind him, Lord Balor ducked into the passage. A rough shove from behind her forced Sammy to follow, despite her desire to put space between herself and the sooty smoke.
Her father resumed his deliberate pace once more and Sammy was glad for his slow movements. His pace delayed the inevitable and hid the fact that her legs and hands wouldn’t stop shaking. One glance of the eye before had haunted her ever since, as though the Fire Elemental had taken up residence in her subconscious during their meeting. She was mortified to think about what would happen during this encounter.
She squeezed by one of the support pillars without any thought to what she was doing. Her mind was a maddening mess of her wild imagination and what would happen when she was dragged before the Elemental. The further down the tunnel they walked, the less sure she was that she wouldn’t have to be dragged the last few feet into the massive chamber. She wasn’t sure her legs would support her weight or if she would make it all the way down the tunnel before her insides revolted and she vomited into the narrow passage.
When she had snuck into this tunnel previously, it seemed to take a lifetime to traverse its length. She was surprised when her father suddenly stopped, his feet teetering at the edge of the inky blackness of the room beyond. It seemed impossible that they could already be at the end.
“Fleshling,” it hissed, its voice filling the vaulted chamber.
Despite her father’s body blocking the entrance, she could easily see the draconic eye emerge in the darkness. It was joined by a burst of flame propelled from a long, scaly snout.
“Bring her to me.”
Lord Balor stepped into the room and those marching behind her forced Sammy forward. She moved into the room but immediately hugged the wall beside her, too afraid to fully enter. She had no doubt that the Fire Elemental could reach her regardless of where she stood but there was a psychological sense of safety by keeping her back pressed against the hard stone.
Her father moved the torch to the wall beside his and set its flame in a recessed crevice. The fire ignited the stream of oil within the canyon and flames raced along the wall. The chasm connected to other similar recesses and the flames lit braziers setting in the stonework alcoves. Foot by foot, illumination from the racing fire pushed back the darkness, leaving the room brightly lit.
Sammy’s stomach dropped at the sight and a whimper escaped her lips. She had to tilt her head backward to take in the full size of the monster before her.
The Fire Elemental tilted its serpent head to the side so that the giant orb of an eye watched Sammy’s every expression. Deep red scales as broad as Sammy’s hand coated its long neck and bled into the thick plates of scales that covered its back and chest. Long spines rose and fell with its heavy breaths.
The rise and fall of its chest was echoed in the furling and unfurling of its long, leathery wings, which scraped the vaulted ceiling as they expanded. The membranes of the wings were nearly translucent and the glow of the braziers was easily visible as the Fire Elemental stretched them upward, though the distant walls made it hard for them to expand to their full span. Sparks flew from the stone ground and gouges appeared in the obsidian floor as it slid its clawed feet further underneath it for support, as though it was preparing to take flight.
Her mind struggled with the vision before her and spots danced in her vision. Reality and fantasy crashed together and, despite everything she had experienced with the elemental powers, she was dumbfounded by the sight before her.
Sammy couldn’t believe she was staring at a dragon.
“The final piece is finally in place,” it hissed. Fire dripped from its maw like saliva as it spoke. The flames seared the ground beneath it. “Welcome to your destiny, young Lady Balor.”
“You can’t be real,” she mouthed, though she was uncertain if she actually made any noise or not. Her mind tried to fathom standing before a creature of mythology, but instead she struggled to even keep herself conscious.
“I assure you I’m most definitely real.”
“You’re a myth,” she replied weakly.
“He’s your new master and you’ll show him respect,” a figure said from the far side of the room.
Glad to look away from the dragon, she followed the curve of the monster’s coiled tail. Standing before its scaled tip was a familiar, cloaked face. She didn’t need to see beneath the hood to know that a disfigured face stared back at her.
“This thing will never be my master,” Sammy retorted, finding a fire within her that she feared had been extinguished in the presence of the Fire Elemental.
She turned toward the beast. “Tell me what you want.”
“So brash and full of life,” it replied as though not hearing her demand. “She’s perfect.”
“What do you want of me?” she repeated, though some of her bravado had already faded.
“In time, Lady Balor.” The long, draconic head swung toward General Abraxas, its horns nearly scraping the wall as it turned. “The time for our ascension grows near. Go and tell the other clans to prepare.”
General Abraxas knelt in genuflection to the dragon. “I will do as you ask, my master. My soul exists to do your bidding. However...”
“Go on, General.”
“My flesh has been weakened by the actions of this girl. It’ll be difficult to contact all the other clans in time.”
The dragon swung its head closer until its massive maw hovered inches from Abraxas’ prostrate form. The Fire Elemental breathed in sharply and Sammy felt the heat leave the room.
When it exhaled, a thin ribbon of flames slid from between its elongated teeth. The tendril consumed the General’s head. As he threw his head back to scream, the flames raced into his nostrils and down his gullet, igniting him from within.
A bright white light illuminated his skin as though it were made of paper. His body rocked backward and he shook violently. His screams became a garbled groan as the Elemental’s power changed him. The waxy skin of his face slowly receded, uncovering the sealed corner of his mou
th and reforming his decimated nose. The skin on his hands and arms relaxed and the high, burned ridges were smoothed. From beneath the folds of retreating flesh, a fiery red eye emerged to replace the one he had lost.
As quickly as it had begun, the flamed poured from General Abraxas like water. The Fire Warrior slumped to the ground but managed to catch himself before his face struck the hard stone. Slowly, the man pushed himself upright before climbing all the way to his feet.
Gone was the desiccated man Sammy had tried to kill. General Abraxas was reborn like he had been before her attack.
He turned his glowing red eye toward her and smiled, exposing his pointed teeth.
“I feel incredible,” he said. “I’ve never felt such incredible power before. I didn’t know it was possible for so much strength to exist in such a soft frame.”
“I’ve given you a gift, General Abraxas. Go and tell the other clans of my return. If you fail me, the fire that still burns inside you will turn you to ash at my whim.”
Abraxas bowed to the dragon. “I won’t fail you, my master.”
Standing upright again, Abraxas stretched his arms out wide and large flaming wings erupted from his back. Mimics of the leathery dragon wings that towered over him, the fiery wings pulled him aloft and he hovered a few feet above the ground.
Abraxas laughed maniacally before launching forward. He passed dangerous close to Sammy and she felt the heat roll from the wings as they skimmed by her face. The General disappeared into the tunnel, his glow receding as he sped toward the surface.
Sammy’s stomach clenched tightly and she turned aside, vomiting onto the stone floor. She had warned the Wind Warriors of the Fire Elemental, though she doubted they took her warning seriously. There was no way, though, to warn them of the rebirth of General Abraxas. He was a dangerous assassin before she attacked him. Now, with the power of the Elemental coursing through him, he would be practically unstoppable.
When her vomiting turned to dry heaving, Sammy righted herself and stared back at the dragon. She didn’t want to give it the satisfaction of seeing her weakness but the nausea had come on unexpectedly.
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and stared at the Elemental defiantly. “What do you want with me?”
The dragon crawled forward, though Sammy quickly realized that it didn’t have a lot of room to move.
“Your boyfriend, the Wind Warrior, has upset the balance of the elements. His very existence is an abomination, a trick on the part of the Wind, Earth, and Water Elementals to deny me what is rightfully mine—my reign as master of the planet.”
“I won’t help you against Xander or any of the other Wind Warriors,” she said, placing her shaking hands on her hips.
“When I’m done with you, you’ll do anything I tell you.”
The dragon scraped its claws across the stone floor. A pain erupted through Sammy and she pitched forward, collapsing onto the floor. She cried out in pain as it felt like all her nerves were suddenly ignited simultaneously.
“I gave you your powers. You control the flames at my bidding. Right now, I’m taking back what’s mine. The pain you’re feeling is a result of your powers being ripped from your body. Do you want the pain to stop?”
Despite her best efforts, Sammy screamed loudly as the pain intensified.
“Do you want it to stop?”
“Yes,” she cried out. “Please.”
The pain stopped completely. She still felt phantom pains radiating through her limbs but the burning sensation was gone. Meekly, she climbed back to her feet.
“The other Elementals have conspired against me. They have created the perfect vessel for their power within your Wind Warrior. This abomination cannot exist in nature. You’re going to help me eradicate it.”
“I… I don’t understand.” Sammy choked on the words as she tried to speak, her throat still reeling from the pain.
“They’ve grown weak over the generations. They believe humanity deserves to live, in contradiction to the prophecy we all agreed upon millennia ago. To ensure my defeat, they manipulated genetics until Xander Sirocco was born.”
Sammy wiped away the tears streaming down her face. “You expect me to help you kill him? No matter what you do to me, I won’t help you do it.”
“Silly fleshling,” the dragon mocked. “The creation of your Wind Warrior wasn’t their only betrayal. While I slumbered, the Earth Elemental trapped me within this stone prison. You’re here to do more than just help me destroy Xander Sirocco.”
It leaned dangerously forward until she could smell its sulfurous breath.
“They bred a champion for their cause, so I created one of my own. I can’t escape this stone prison in this form, so I created you to help me.”
It exposed its rows of teeth and Sammy flinched involuntarily.
“You’re going to be my new host.”
“Watch the wave on the left,” Xander yelled seconds before the wave crashed over the deck of the ship, soaking the Wind Warriors as they concentrated on keeping the ship afloat.
Xander sputtered, spitting out a mouthful of salt water. He shook his head, knocking his wet, dark hair out of his eyes.
“Hold the line,” he said, trying to be heard over the howling wind. “Don’t break your concentration.”
The sea boiled as waves crashed over them from all angles. The water’s color had gone from the deep blue green near Ireland to a nearly steely gray the further north they had sailed. Now, the sea was nearly the same dark black of the sky overhead. Xander looked up but he couldn’t tell if it was day or night. No sunlight penetrated the swirling clouds, though he knew it had to be past sunrise by now. With a cough, he cleared his throat from the remnants of the seawater. He reached up and wiped away the water that pooled in the strands of his hair and over his eyebrows. The driving rains had left everyone soaked long before the first wave crashed over the deck of the ship.
The wind was staggering and Xander struggled to keep his feet. The ship was blanketed in a cushion of air created by the Wind Warriors but the force of the hurricane imposed its way through their strong defenses and sent the boat careening from one cresting wave to another.
“This is insane,” Patrick said. The protective wall shimmered just beyond his reach. “This thing is going to kill us long before we make it to shore.”
The ship lurched as another gale-force wind broadsided the vessel. Xander dropped to a knee to keep from being thrown overboard. The other warriors clung to the railing but quickly righted themselves and reinforced the protections.
“Do you wankers think you can do something about this wind before our whole boat capsizes?” Seamus asked from within the cabin of the ship. He leaned out the room’s single window and shook his shaggy, red hair as the beating rain poured over him. “I’d like to make it home in one piece.”
The burly Irishman started to say something else but a crash of thunder drowned out any other sounds. Seamus quickly pulled his head back inside the helmsman’s cabin and shut the window behind him.
“He’s right,” Thea said. Her normally carefully coifed hair hung wet in her face and Xander could see the fear in her eyes. “We’ll never last in this. We have to turn around.”
“No,” Xander replied. “We’re over halfway through this already. Turning around is suicide.”
“Staying here is suicide,” she retorted. “We need to turn the boat around and head back to Ireland.”
“Then what? Where will we go? No matter where we settle, it’ll only be a matter of time until the Fire Warriors hunt us down. We’ll burn with the rest of the planet. Either we push forward or we let everyone die.”
“We go forward,” Giovanni added. “We’ve already come too far.”
“Xander,” Alicia said, the concern evident in her voice. She pointed toward the front of the ship.
Xander gritted his teeth at the sight. A massive wave bore down on the bow of the ship. The tip of the wave grew white capped as it threatened
to crest and swallow the little fishing vessel whole.
“Brace yourselves,” he ordered.
Xander quickly glanced around and realized he was the last that still needed to hold on to something as the ship started to tilt upward, riding the angle of the wave. He stumbled backward on the slick deck and leaned against the wheelhouse.
The angle of their ascent grew steeper and Xander wondered if the whole ship would simply careen backward, end over end, to be swallowed by the sea. They had no choice but to drive forward but he wasn’t sure Thea wasn’t right. This was very possibly a suicide mission.
Thea cried out as she clung to the ship’s railing. Her feet were nearly dangling off the surface of the boat, as the vessel grew nearly vertical.
“We’re going over,” Patrick said as he reached out his hand and grabbed a hold of Thea.
“No, we’re not,” Xander replied.
A swell of power roared through him as his eyes turned ghostly white. A surge of wind struck the back of the boat, driving it forward. It bounced on the tall wave as it sliced through the waters at neck-breaking speeds. Xander was driven against the wooden cabin.
The boat crested the top of the massive wave in a rush and for the briefest moments flew from the top of the wave.
Xander looked out over the top of the roaring ocean and swore he saw a glow of sunlight not far from where they sailed. The sun beat down on an island of lush greenery in the distance. For a moment, he allowed himself to smile at the sight. His happiness was immediately washed away as the boat crashed back down into the water and hurtled down the backside of the huge wave.
Thea, already unsteady, was thrown forward. She dropped to her hands and knees, her hair dangling down over her face. She reached up slowly with one hand and touched her forehead. As she pulled her hand away, Xander could see the dark red blood staining her fingers.
“Thea?” Patrick said as he turned and saw her stooped behind him.
As soon as she focused on the blood in her hands, her eyes rolled back and she collapsed onto the deck.
Flame Caller Page 20
