The Blaze Ignites

by Nichelle Rae

  I felt so alone and inferior to the man my father had been—inferior to the White Warrior he had been. Casdanarus would never love me like they had once loved him. They hated me without even knowing me. They would never take a knee in unison before me. They’d never chant my name as we rode into battle. I was in no shape to be commanding battalions of soldiers. I couldn’t even take care of myself.

  I knew I was going to be long dead before I even met Hathum.

  Deep agony filled my soul. “I miss you, Daddy,” I whispered. I didn’t want to be the White Warrior. My father was the deserving one. I was nothing but a lost, abused orphan, trying on her daddy’s enormous boots and watching them swallow her whole.

  I must have fallen asleep again. I didn’t understand why I was sleeping so much here! It was really getting on my nerves. I opened my eyes…or so I thought. It was still black. What was this? I suddenly felt an itch on my neck and tried to get my arm up there to scratch it…my arm wouldn’t move. Panic seized my heart! Was I paralyzed somehow? Was I tied up? What could be wrong? I suddenly heard whispers. People were inside my room.

  “I’m telling you, she ate all of the food. I took the empty plate out of here myself.”

  “You’d better be right. Go gather the others—it’s happy hour.”

  The second one chuckled. “Aw, we’re only going to have her for an hour?”

  “No. We’ll have her as long as we like. She’s no White Warrior. She’s scared of everything.”

  It was quiet a moment. “But Sepp,” the second voice said nervously.

  “Nothing but luck. A boulder probably fell on his head.”

  “Okay, maybe you’re right.”

  “Go round up the others.”

  One of them walked away. I tried to move my hand to my sword, but it was no use. Why couldn’t I move? Suddenly it dawned on me—the White Warrior had taken over. Did she know something I didn’t? She must. These men were obviously not friendly and she had known it somehow.

  I felt someone move closer to me bed. “Sit up,” he commanded.

  Before I could comprehend what to do, my body sat up in bed and my eyes opened. The room was pitch black. Only the open doorway let in light from the hall. I felt someone move closer to me. “The potion worked? Wow.” he said, impressed. “Stand.” My body rose from the bed. I thought I recognized the voice, but it was magically distorted.

  “You killed my brother,” the voice said, “ and now you’re going to pay dearly for it. My only regret is disappointing my companions who were so looking forward to having a good time with you.” I could barely see an outline of him. As he stood in front of me with his arm raised, I could just make out the shape of a knife in his grip. “That’s okay, though. I’ll have a good time watching you slowly bleed to death.”

  Just then I heard someone come running into the room at full speed. The person holding the knife was tackled to the ground. I heard a thud as both of them fell, and then grunts as they fought each other. Amazingly, when I wanted my head to turn to see, it turned. “The window is open a crack,” Rabryn had said. I guessed that entitled me to some privileges, though she was in control.

  I watched as the two shadows rolled over and over each other. Why wasn’t she helping the one that saved us? Suddenly, one shadow stood and slashed a knife across the other’s chest. The injured one screamed. It was Fali!

  I suddenly willed control back. I demanded it. Fali, the only friend I had here, needed me! Thankfully it didn’t take long for me to come back into myself. I ran to Fali’s aid just as my head exploded with such intense pain that colors momentarily flashed in my vision. After they cleared, I was left with a bonfire raging in my skull like I’d had when I willed control back from the White Warrior in Oaksher.

  I looked over my shoulder at the doorway as Fali’s attacker fled to the hall. It was Reese! I nearly threw up as he looked back at me for a moment and then ran down the hall with blood dripping from his knife.

  “Reese,” Fali squeaked through the pain. “He tried to kill you. I knew he would. He put a control potion in your food. It didn’t work. I’m so glad.”

  “I didn’t eat the food. That’s why it didn’t work.”

  “Thank the Light Gods.”

  “You hold on. I’m going to get you some help.”

  “Okay,” he squeaked. I felt blood bubble up from his chest.

  I clenched my teeth with worry. “Just hold on.” I gave his hand a squeeze, then ran towards the door. Who could I get? Addredoc? Yes, Addredoc could save him.

  I charged out of the door at full speed, nearly crashing into the opposite wall of the hall. I froze in my tracks and stared in horror when I saw Reese standing there. He was lazily resting his back against the wall and as I emerged from my room. He narrowed his eyes at me, as if challenging me to do something about what he’d just done. I clenched my teeth again as I thought about crushing his windpipe with my bare hands. He smiled a wide toothy grin at me and brought his hand up, waving at me, with just a wiggle of his fingertips. I clenched my fists so hard my nails cut into my palm. The shadows did that!

  He ran.

  Without thinking, I was after him. I forgot about Fali dying. I forgot about getting Addredoc. All I wanted was for him to die. I would kill him! I would kill him myself! My heart was pounding as I sped up. My entire body tingled with such a vicious rage that I felt like my insides might explode. He would pay for what he did.

  We entered the round sitting area where I’d seen the shadow people. I sped up, then jumped and tackled him to the marble floor. Rolling away, I got to my feet first and I was at him before he could even get up from his knees. In the same motion, I grabbed a fistful of his hair at the back of his head, pulled it forward, and drove my knee up into his face as hard as I could. Blood exploded from his nose and he went flying onto his back, cracking his head on the marble. I gathered his shirt in one fist, then drove my other fist down into his face over and over again.

  When my fist became numb, I switched hands, pounding his face in with that one until I physically couldn’t move anymore and both my hands were numb and badly swollen. I shook with rage and exhaustion as I looked down at his once pretty face that was now just a mass of broken bones, hanging skin, and blood.

  A large chorus of laughter rose up all around me then. I looked up, hearing it coming at me from every possible direction. I stood. Beings completely surrounded me, coming out of every open door on the lower level of that common. I spun around frantically.

  “See boys,” a familiar voice said, “I told you she was scared of everything. Look at her.”

  I spun around to see Fali coming out of the hallway where my bedroom was. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “Fali, thank goodness. What—” I froze when I realized that he wasn’t injured. He was walking tall and proud, without even a blood stain on him. What happened to the fatal gash? I placed a hand on my throbbing forehead, trying to make sense of this.

  Something caught my eye on the floor in that moment. Reese’s mass of dark brown hair faded to blonde hair! I felt my heart sink to my toes as I stared down at the being I’d killed; it wasn’t Reese! His hair was such a pale blonde it was almost white. What was happening? I stumbled backwards, my knees threatening to collapse. My reaction only caused the surrounding beings to laugh more.

  “Poor Laxford,” Fali said with mock sympathy. “He was a good Salynn. Since you killed his best friend, he chose to take the role of the bait voluntarily—so I don’t feel too bad for him.”

  My eyes frantically searched the room for Reese. Had he planned this? Was this his doing?

  “He’s not here,” Fali said. “He’s up in the History Room, drawing up the maps he’s been working on since before you even arrived. He wanted to get you out of here as fast as he could.” He shrugged, then grinned evilly. “He probably knew we were planning something special for you.”

  My hands gripped the sides of my head. I was afraid it might spin right off my shoulders. Reese was…was on m
y side? He was trying to help me? But…but that didn’t make sense.

  “It’s a shame you didn’t eat your food,” Fali said. “I wanted to see if my concoction worked. It doesn’t matter, though. Watching you try to put up a fight might be more fun anyway.” A chorus of chuckles rang out from the crowd.

  I was panting now with fear and confusion. “What…is going on?” I managed to say, my eyes darting in every direction as I waited for one of them to jump me.

  “It’s really simple if you take a moment to think about it. I wasn’t sure if my potion would work, and I knew you were suspicious of Reese, so I set up a little test to see if it did. I had Laxford take on Reese’s image and pretend to attack me.” He smiled sickeningly. “Me, your only friend here.” I swallowed back the bile that rose up into my throat. “If you went after him or aided me, I’d know my potion hadn’t worked. Laxford was instructed in that instance to run down here so we could all greet you for the party.” His grin was ugly and thick. “I believe you mentioned earlier that if one of us wanted to succeed where Sepp failed”—he looked up at the ceiling pretending to be in thought—“How did you put it? ‘You better make damn sure you have enough people.’” His sly smile terrified me into a state where I began to tremble. “Is this enough people for you?”

  I looked around and estimated that more than half the people of Rocksheloc were in that room, and I was completely at their mercy. I didn’t understand! How could Fali be my enemy and Reese my friend?

  My bodily functions nearly shut down completely as memories of my stay here so far came back to me in a flood. The first—and most frustrating—clue I’d missed that should have alerted me to Fali’s untrustworthiness was his asking me if Cairikson was my son. Beldorn had said the potentially harmful beings were banned by his magic from hearing about our journey and from knowing that I was the White Warrior. Because he was a threat, Fali had not been entitled to hearing how we came across Cairikson.

  Then it suddenly occurred to me that Reese had referred to the maps as being “from your father’s time.” He knew my father was the White Warrior! He knew I was the White Warrior! He had been entitled to hearing our tale!

  My knees buckled and I had to grip the arm of a nearby chair to catch myself. I slowly lowered myself to sit down.

  Some little things started adding up too, things that I should have realized if I wasn’t such an idiot! Fali had been around the place where Cairikson saw the group talking in the dark room, probably on his way to a meeting to plan this. Fali also hadn’t formally bowed to Cairikson when he found him, though Cairikson largely outranked Fali. Reese had bowed.

  But Reese had watched Fali prepare my food in the kitchen. Wouldn’t he have seen Fali poison it? I brought my hand to my forehead when I remembered that when both Fali and Reese came to my room, I’d been busy greeting Cairikson and Reese had been staring intently at me while Fali had moved to put my food on the nightstand. He must have put the poison in then.

  Fali was my enemy and he’d been planning this ambush. That’s what the White Warrior had known. She had taken over so I wouldn’t run out here, but I’d pushed her away. My lingering headache seemed to violently pound in my temples once, as if the White Warrior was hitting a wall and screaming “Idiot!” I vowed that next time I wouldn’t push her away. If there even was a next time.

  “See?” Fali laughed. “She’s terrified!” He shook his head at me. “You are definitely no White Warrior like we suspected. But you are such a fine specimen of a female and a warrior from another land to boot. I thought it would be fun to have a good time with you, to see what a warrior across the sea could do in the face of all of us, if anything.” He laughed. “You nearly wet yourself at the sight of our shadow effects! Now what kind of warrior does that?”

  My shoulders relaxed a little as realization dawned on me. “So that’s what this is about? You’ve been testing me to see if I was the White Warrior?”

  “We were looking for the White Warrior’s magic, or fighting style—some proof to allow us to believe he, or she, was back for certain.”

  That sounded like the subtle work of Hathum, sending otherwise decent beings to try and find me. I sighed and rested my hand on my forehead again for a moment. I realized I had to save these people if I could. Hathum had entered and corrupted their minds to obtain the proof he wanted of who I was. This entire mountain could be as loyal to Goodness as Galad Kas was for all I knew. But Hathum had gotten to them easily because they were much weaker than Galad Kas. I sighed as I stood up from the chair, finding new strength in a mission to try to save them. I had to save them. It was my job. It’s what my father did when he came into existence. And I had an idea how.

  “You want proof I’m the White Warrior? Come and get it.”

  Fali looked at me, confused for a moment. Then he smiled at the surrounding group and they all chuckled.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Are you afraid I just might be the White Warrior?”

  All the smiles were gone immediately. Fali peered at me through a narrowed gaze, as if unsure I’d really said that to him. “What?”

  “You heard me,” I said raising a brow. “I think you’re afraid you might be wrong and that I am the White Warrior.”

  Everyone started looking really nervous. They glanced around at each other wondering what they should do. Fali gazed around the room. “She’s bluffing! She isn’t the White Warrior!”

  “Stop talking and prove it to them, Fali! I’m getting bored real quick with your mouth.”

  Everyone was stunned silent for a moment. “Fali,” one human nearby whispered at last, “look what she did to Laxford.”

  “Luck,” Fali snapped, then turned his glare back to me. “Nothing but pure luck and I’ll prove it,” he said and took a step towards me.

  “Good.” I took a deep breath through my nose and blew it out of my mouth, as my father had taught me, so I could gain my focus. I turned to the side, setting my feet apart and bending deeply at my knees, and took an empty-handed fighting stance that would look strange to them since no one else knew this fight style. “I haven’t used my fight style since I killed the Dirty Thirty.”

  Gasps suddenly went through the crowd and the tension grew. Fali stopped in his tracks and I gave him a smug smile. Regaining composure, he clenched his fists. “She’s a liar!”

  “Oh, you haven’t heard? I suppose if you’d been entitled to hear the conversation between me and Beldorn when I first arrived, you’d know all about how my travels have gone for the past three weeks. They’ve gone quite well—on my behalf anyway.” I looked up to the ceiling and pretended to be thinking hard about it. “Let’s see, I’ve killed the Dirty Thirty. . .um, about eighty humans in Narcatertus.” More gasps and chatter. “Err. . .about forty, maybe fifty Gibirs.” More noise erupted from the crowd. “Now what am I forgetting? Oh yes!” I brightened as if just remembering and tightened my stance again. “And eight Legan’dirs.”

  The crowd erupted in a loud panic as most of them looked around for the nearest exit. I wanted to laugh, but held myself back.

  “She’s lying! Don’t you all see that?” Fali called desperately.

  “I will spare the lives of any of you who believe I am the White Warrior and leave now,” I called over the ruckus. Without question, about half of them turned to go.

  Fali nearly went mad. “If any of you leave, I’ll kill you when I’m through with her!” About half of those that had turned to leave changed their minds. If I couldn’t’ save them all, at least my idea to try to save some of these Humounts was working.

  “I’ve also used my magic to heal,” I called out. “Those of you that were playing those shadow tricks on me, or those watching for amusement, must have seen me hit my friend Ortheldo and break his nose.” A low murmur and a few nods came as a reply. I smirked at Fali. “How’d he look at dinner?”

  A few curses were shouted out as they realized Ortheldo indeed had no broken nose at dinner. I suppose they could have guess
ed that one of the Salynns with me could have healed him, but still, many more turned and left. I was only stuck with about forty bullheaded Humounts.

  “You’re all dead! Do you hear me?” Fali screamed in a near panic.

  My brow twitched. “Care to try me on for size yet, Fali?”

  His face was red and his fists were clenched at his sides. “I’m going to tear you apart,” he said, advancing towards me.

  “By the way!” I called, stopping Fali again and grabbing everyone else’s attention. “If any one of you see a single move I’m about to make, I will have to kill you when I’m done with Fali.” Several of the remaining Humounts glanced nervously at each other. I shrugged, making it clear that destroying them all would be no big deal. “It’s nothing personal. I just have to look out for my own safety right now. I’ve got Hathum looking for me.” Every single pair of eyes widened in that room, even Fali’s. “So if you see any proof of who I am, like the fighting style I’m about to use, I’ll have to kill you so he won’t see in any of your minds that the White Warrior has returned.

  Half of the group left without a word, leaving twenty for me to deal with. I liked those odds a lot better. I really didn’t want to kill any of them, but I’d done everything I could to turn them away. I was glad that I could at least save the hundred and fifty or so that had left.

  The remaining Humounts closed in around me, glaring hatefully—all except one. I looked at the Salynn standing to Fali’s immediate left. I read his eyes for a moment and saw that he was scared out of his mind. The only thing keeping him in the room was some obligation.

  “What is your name?” I asked the young Salynn, and the group paused in their advance. He looked like a human of about fourteen or fifteen years.

  “Haliser,” he replied nervously.

  “Haliser, why are you still here?” He twiddled his thumbs and chewed on his bottom lip as he glanced from me to Fali. His fine blonde hair came pin-straight down to about two inches below his jaw, loosely framing his youthful, fair face. “I have a talent for reading eyes,” I said gently. “Do you know what yours are saying?” His forehead creased with worry. “They’re saying, ‘I want to leave! I know it’s her! I believe her. I don’t want to die. Why am I still standing here? Because I have to.’” I gave him a sympathetic glance. “Why do you have to?”