Fire

by Rosie Scott

  “Goblins?” Silas asked, watching as the ranger stood, and walked to the small stone wall separating the pasture from the nearby woods.

  Theron shook his head distractedly. “Brownies.”

  “What's a brownie?” I asked. I was unfamiliar with the creature.

  “They're small woodland creatures. Usually quite peaceful,” Theron explained, following a specific path to the woods from the small wall, stopping and crouching along the way. At the edge of the forest, he took note of the matted grass between two particular trees. “Easily controlled, though. They worship these...totems. Somewhat like goblins, in a way. If a smarter creature gets ahold of the totems, brownies have been known to treat them like gods and do their bidding. Any time I've ever heard of brownies getting into trouble, they're being controlled.”

  “How do we kill them?” Nyx asked, getting straight to the point.

  “They're small and frail. Made of equal parts wood and flesh. So use weapons against flesh, and avoid their mouths. They're poisonous.” Glancing back at me, he added, “And obviously, for your sake, use fire.”

  I nodded, understanding. Because Theron was already in the midst of tracking the creatures, I turned back to the farmer, who was still in his pasture.

  “We'll be back when the job is done,” I said.

  The man nodded. “Please be careful.”

  Nyx looked nothing but excited as she began to follow Theron into the woods. “Let's bake us some brownies,” she said to me, as she passed.

  The four of us slowly made our way through the woods, allowing Theron time to correctly track the creatures. Above us, through a canopy of leaves, the evening sky was darkening. I hoped we would be able to finish the job by the time it got completely dark.

  I found that I was quite nervous leading up to my first real battle. I had trained for years at the university for this, but somehow, this already felt much different than practice. Mages had to consider all of the reactions their elements could have on environments, and even the allies around them. When in controlled environments at the university, this was simple, and even educational. Out in the real world, I wouldn't have anyone warning against my move if I were to misuse an element or not fully consider its repercussions.

  Also, I had never actually killed anything or anyone with my magic. These brownie creatures sounded like victims themselves, beholden to another creature's will. How would I feel right in killing them?

  Off in the woods, a short distance away, a slow, rhythmic beat met my ears, pulling me from my thoughts. Theron held one finger back, keeping us quiet and still. My heart picked up its pace, knowing now that we were closing in the culprits.

  After a few moments, Theron continued, and we followed him, quiet and preparing for a fight. The closer we got, the louder the beat. It sounded like the drums musicians would sometimes bring to the tavern back in Sera, only now, we were in the middle of the woods, and the beat being played was much more tribal.

  Past the trees ahead of us, an orange glow shone against the bark. Small, tiny high-pitched voices were chattering with glee, some to a melody, in a language unbeknownst to me.

  They're singing. My stomach churned. How was I going to kill such happy creatures?

  Theron slowly looked past the trunk of the tree before him, seeing the scene ahead. Raising my head up just a bit, I looked over the foliage and into the forest clearing beyond.

  There was a small fire, and over it, roasting beef. Around the fire in a small circle, tiny, short and fat creatures danced, almost as if they were worshiping the beef. The brownies were stocky, probably only two feet tall; and half of that height seemed to be in their disproportionately large heads alone. There were eight of them, just around the fire. All around them, there were tiny makeshift huts, and even small piles of wood that some creatures were using for burrows.

  In the background, directly across from us, larger greenish-gray humanoid creatures sat in chairs, one looking like a throne. I assumed these were goblins, because I'd seen drawings of them. They were ugly creatures, with swollen, misshapen joints and rough, clumsy facial features. Their ears were large and pointy, even more so than the elves, and many of them were pierced. Behind the goblin who sat on a throne was a shrine built out of bone and wood. On it sat a totem carved out of wood. Around it was a magical aura that glowed a light blue.

  Overall, there were dozens of brownies, and probably half a dozen goblins. We were outnumbered, but we were skilled, and the brownies were tiny creatures. It wouldn't take much to fell them. My mind began to sort through the spells I'd learned, trying to figure out which one would be best. Using fire would be dangerous here; we were in a forest.

  Luckily, I had access to all elements.

  Theron lowered his head and faced me. “Let's take as many out as we can from here, and let the stragglers come to us.”

  In a whisper, I replied, “Let me make the first move.”

  He nodded, fine with that idea.

  I moved forward and past him, standing up against the rough bark of the thick tree that separated us from the seemingly happy little community of thieving creatures beyond. I held both palms upward. Directing my attention to my left hand, I recited in my mind, Creatius les fiers a nienda. Even before the flame appeared, I was already reciting another spell for my right. Air magic soon swirled within its magical barrier.

  I stepped out from the tree, alerting the creatures to my presence. The dancing stopped, and the goblin stopped beating on its drums. Rough screams of alarm began to echo from the forest clearing. Directing my arms toward the sky above the population of them, I directed both elements together and forward. The resulting power blew the hair back from my face, both fire and air thrusting forward to combine and become one spell before me.

  The evening sky above darkened and began to crackle with energetic activity, small bursts of lightning flashing in the sky as a funnel cloud swirled down to the earth below, flames licking out from the clouds. As the tornado reached the earth, it was already too late for the small creatures below. The flaming tornado began to swirl and rip through creatures and huts alike, its whirling winds deafening to my ears.

  I heard Nyx curse and run. Like her, I also felt the fear of my own power. I had created what was normally a fatal storm, and it was just before us, killing the creatures below by setting them aflame and lifting them up to displace them, leaving bodies broken and discarded. As the tornado ripped through the small clearing, it continued on its path, into the forest. The trees nearest to it caught fire, just before the flaming branches were broken and thrown elsewhere by the storm itself.

  “By the gods, put it out!” Theron screamed at me. “You'll burn down the entire fucking forest!”

  Reaching upward toward the sky, I once again called upon the weather, quickly reciting two identical water spells to both hands, doubling my efforts. Pulling my hands downward, the spell was complete, and the skies darkened further, before rain meant to accompany a hurricane fell from the sky, pelting both corpses and trees with thick droplets. I dispelled my earlier tornado spell, and the storm funneled back up into the sky, as if it had never been here at all.

  Afterward, I was left breathing hard and looking over the damages I'd just inflicted upon creatures and the earth. With the rains still plastering my hair to my face and neck and adding weight to my armor, my eyes looked over the scene before me.

  All of the creatures were dead. Nyx, Silas, Theron—none of them had had a chance to do or fight anything at all. My spells had killed everything, and if it hadn't been for my quick rain fix, it could have very well erased the forest from the map. The trees nearest the clearing were charred, the new rains dripping from blackened bark. The only color from the scene beyond was the blue aura of the totem, which somehow had made it through the attack.

  With a quick murmur, I dispelled the rain, and all was silent but for the drips of the remaining water off of leaves. No one spoke for a long while. I heard Nyx approach us once again, slowly, from
having run for cover earlier. She still said nothing.

  We all took a moment to survey the scene and think about what we'd just witnessed. No one said anything for a long while, until finally, Theron began to walk past me to loot the huts and bodies before us.

  “You could take over nations with that power,” he mused, his tone awed and even somewhat reserved. He was clearly shaken. We all were.

  Nyx stared at me as if she barely knew me.

  “I'm sorry it scared you,” I offered, my voice low and nearly ashamed.

  “I guess I just never knew how powerful you really were,” she replied, her voice lacking energy. “I mean—I knew. There's only one like you. But...” she looked over the destruction in front of us, and simply shook her head. She offered me nothing else.

  Nyx left then, moving to look through the wreckage with Theron before it got too late to see anything. Silas walked up to me, and I felt a hand at my back, slowly rubbing me, trying to comfort.

  “You need to leave some of the fighting for us,” he commented. As usual, he was hard to read. His green eyes were on the results of my spells, but they did not offer me any insight to his thoughts.

  “I will, next time,” I promised, leaning toward him, because it comforted me. Though we were both wet with the rain, I could still feel his warmth. “I didn't really know I would start and finish the fight like that. Plus...I guess I just got it out of my system, now.”

  “The eagerness for battle?” He questioned.

  “Yeah.”

  He nodded. “I'm glad.” After a hesitation, he asked, “Do you feel...okay? Weaker?”

  I swallowed hard. I knew he was worried. “No,” I answered, honestly. I was grateful for that.

  “Good.” He squeezed me toward him, in a comforting move I was no longer used to from him. I missed it, but I respected him and could leave it in the past.

  “Ah! We've got a hoarder,” I heard Theron speak up, crouching as he came out of one of the goblin huts. “A whole chest full of gold in here,” he clarified.

  “Now, that's what I like to hear,” Nyx replied, walking over to the hut to see for herself. The energy in her voice made me feel a little better. I was worried she felt less of me for my display.

  We finished looting the small huts, and Silas went over to the trees I'd damaged, lying his hands upon them and whispering in Old Elvish. I knew he was offering them apologies and healing. He knew earth spells that could stimulate growth in plant life, and I saw him use them on the trees. I felt guilty watching him do this; it made me feel like he was cleaning up after me, in a way. Still, I was glad he knew how. Otherwise, I would be leaving damages in my wake with no reparations.

  “They appreciate the rains you offered them,” Silas said to me, just before we left to go back to Amere. “This forest is in the midst of a drought.”

  His ability to communicate with plants never ceased to amaze me. It was an ability innate to the Celdic elves, but then again, Silas was the only one I'd ever known so thoroughly. He was my little window into a world I wouldn't have otherwise known existed.

  “I'm glad I offered them more than destruction,” I replied, a little relieved.

  “You stopped it before it got out of hand. That's all that matters.”

  We offered the villagers of Amere the totem that had belonged to the brownies, both as proof we had found the culprits and as a gift that they might be able to use in the future. I wasn't sure as to the origins of the magic of the totem. It was possible that the creatures were drawn to it, and that the villagers would someday find brownies on their doorstep willing to peacefully coexist with them and treat them as gods.

  Other than gold, the loot from the creatures hadn't been too impressive. We were able to pocket some goblin-made weapons, which would go for a decent amount of gold at the next merchant we came across. From the merchants in Sera, I knew goblin weapons fetched some gold for tourists who came from places goblins weren't common in, and also, they made good first weapons for children, because they were often smaller and more blunt than most. Gold-wise, we had found a total of two hundred coins, which we split evenly, each of us getting a little over fifty gold a piece.

  By the time we left Amere the following morning, my share of the gold was left on the kitchen table of the family home we'd been given as shelter for the night. Due to my place in Sera, I was privy to the financial information of the villages on the outskirts of the city, and I knew what Amere was charged in taxes. They needed the money more than I did, especially given they had to build up their livestock again. I wasn't hurting for gold, anyway.

  I knew Amere would forever hold a special place in my heart, even as it disappeared behind us as we traveled on. Though the goblins and brownies there hadn't been able to put up much of a fight, it was there that I realized just what I was capable of.

  Six

  Scrapes and knocks on stone created a pattern in the air between us as Theron set to work grinding down an herb in his mortar and pestle. The rest of us continued to eat, watching him.

  The night sky twinkled overhead, and was brighter than it would have been just weeks ago, when only one moon hung over us. Now, a few weeks into our journey, the season of New Moon was slowly heating up and preparing to hand the reins over to the hot and dry season of High Star, so the second moon had made its appearance, as it did for a few weeks twice each year. Our planet of Arrayis only had two moons; the first, visible year round, was Eran. It was quite small and not very bright despite its white and grey coloring. It appeared smooth save for long, mostly straight lines across its face, as if one of the gods had reached up and scratched at it with uncut fingernails.

  The second moon, Meir, only appeared over Chairel twice a year, and only for weeks at a time. It came to help the exchange of seasons from New Moon to High Star, and then from Red Moon to Dark Star. It was much larger than Eran, appearing almost like another planet. Some astronomers argued that it was, indeed, another planet, but arguments had ensued over that for years. For now, we considered it another moon, and many in Chairel celebrated its appearance in festivals and events twice a year. Meir would first appear low on the horizon in the east, and for the first fortnight, makes its way to the top of our sky. Over the next fortnight, it would slowly make its way to the west horizon, before disappearing for half a year. Meir was a soft cream in color, though its surface sways also toward reds and some browns in the imperfections of its land. The northern half of the moon was dotted in craters of various sizes, but the bottom half was mostly smooth. Those with clear enough vision even would claim to see waves on its surface, like it was a type of desert.

  I stared at the celestial object for now. On the horizon, it seemed so bright and large, like it was ready to fall to our planet at any time. When I lived in Sera, Meir had only been slightly visible at select days of the year, as its course was mostly hidden behind the Seran Peaks that ended in my home city. Our group had kept the Seran Forest to our right over our journey thus far, since the edge of the forests would lead us straight to the Cel Mountains, where Whispermere was buried. Nothing but plains were to our left, and had we walked across those plains, the Servis Ocean would eventually come into view. Over this, Meir etched its path in the sky, allowing its full glory to be seen in a sky that had gone mostly unrivaled.

  I found Meir beautiful. I also found myself grateful for it, because it was something that had always been there, but I had been unable to see it. There truly are no limits to the benefits of freedom.

  “We'll let this sit for an hour or so, and it will congeal.” Theron's voice pulled me away from viewing the sights, for the moment. He had a wooden bowl in his hands, where he'd combined the powder from the herb earlier with water and oils. The result was a milky green looking liquid. Theron spoke to Nyx as he said, “Then you can try it, see how it feels.”

  Nyx glanced over to me with a glimmer in her eye. I knew she was giving his words a double meaning, given her nature. I shook my head in humor at her.

&n
bsp; “Thank you,” she said to him. Theron had made the lotion for her skin, since the warmer weather was causing it to dry out quicker than usual. She had already gone through most of the supply she'd brought with her. “Do you think there will be enough herbs like this the rest of the way to Whispermere?”

  Theron shrugged. “In the forests? Yes. Once we get to the Cel Mountains? Not as much, but you won't have as many problems with your skin then. It gets pretty snowy and cold within a few hours of being on the mountain path. I can make you some extra lotions before we get there.”

  “I have a better idea,” Nyx mused, leaning forward on her log. The campfire cast her face in light, though she was mostly hidden in her armor and hood, to avoid dryness from its heat. “Teach me how to make it and how to spot these plants in the forest.”

  Theron nodded. “I can do that, too.”

  Silas and I both stayed quiet for the moment, eating. I hoped Nyx's idea was more about her learning something useful than getting closer to our mercenary, but I could say nothing more on the subject that I hadn't already. She knew I didn't want her crossing the professional line with those in our group, but I couldn't keep her from becoming friends with anyone, and I wouldn't have wanted to. Silas and Theron had already developed a type of mutual understanding between the two, and it was possible it had started delving into friendship. I was happy for that. I wanted Silas to have more friends than just having me, and if Theron ended up liking being with us, it meant he would probably stay with us past Whispermere. He didn't talk much other than business, but he was useful to have around, despite the fact that we hadn't been in any trouble since fighting with the goblins and brownies at Amere.

  “Maybe now would be a good time to mention what we found today,” Silas said, seemingly out of the blue. I looked over to find him staring at Theron, who nodded.

  “Ah, yes.” Theron's sharp brown eyes found mine. With no amount of emotion in his voice, he said, “We are being followed.”