Trial by Flame

Chapter 60

He saw the walls of light first, then felt stiff stone under his aching back. The summoning space looked nearly identical to before, except that now, it was littered with ash. Tellik was already tracing the ground with light, a pattern encircling Fehr's flame.

"You're certain I won't hurt it?" asked Avalon, standing on the other end. She was wearing her veil again, likely because Ti'mano could see through the barrier, or perhaps she'd never taken it off in the real world. But more noticeable was the stream of water she held at the ready, guiding it above the circle in preparation.

"It'll come back even if you do. But as long as you avoid concentrating it, it won't cause any damage," Tellik instructed, pulling his hand up from the next rune. "The goal isn't to control it. We just want to keep the flames from getting out of hand."

Avalon nodded, then dispersed the stream. What was a clear ring of water dissolved into a band of mist, which spread and faded around the flame to the point where they could no longer see it. It was then he realized they were dampening the air.

"Was that...are we out of the trial?" Trelisti asked, stumbling to his feet. He tried to shake away the spinning in his head, which hurt more than it helped.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, pretty boy. We still haven't summoned the fa'ih," Avalon teased, approaching with an outstretched hand. "Though I'm glad to see you up. We were starting to think kindness killed you."

"It's cute that you think I'd go down that easy," he shrugged, taking it and jerking lightly. He chuckled a little as she stumbled forward, rose creeping over her cheeks. "And that you think you could lift me if you tried."

"You rogue," she said under her breath, pulling away with crossed arms. A smile tugged at the edge of her lips.

"When you're done flirting," Tellik called, rolling his eyes as he finished his runes. "You'd do best to step back."

He didn't actually give them much time before the light of the runes intensified, and a shaky breath escaped him. He closed his eyes, took a deeper one, then opened them, replacing anxiety with determination.

Then he called the words in Old Fehri.

Trelisti felt a crackle of energy. Loose pebbles trembled, sand sifted shakily over the stone. It was as though the air took one giant breath, and when it exhaled, grew the flame. A piece of ash, still burning, fluttered aimlessly above the rest.

Before it combusted even further, and the shape of a bird bloomed in its place.

It caught him by surprise. All of them by surprise. It started small, like a dove, before the fire expanded, beginning with a current of orange pouring out from each wing. The space was swallowed with voracious hunger, bursting like a spark in a sea of naphtha. A swirling inferno, a swarm of scalding color. They couldn't even make out an outline while it fed, burning uncontrollably.

Until it hit a wall of humidity, and a hiss scathed against the silence.

This was less dramatic than the other fires Avalon extinguished, mostly because that wasn't truly the case. The fa'ih shrank against an invisible, gradual cage, where a vaporous boundary capped its growth. Confined, its form was clearer.

Thousands of blazing feathers, each a fluid flare, constructed a creature with no set form. It was sharp at the same time it was soft; feathers like flaming blades shot from its head, tail, and the edge of its wings, yet its body flowed, a riparian tide of magma. Instead of eyes were hollows, and its beak and talons were almost metallic, solid bronze tapered into razor features. Unlike the rich red of the feather they'd seen before, Tellik's fa'ih was multicolored, bleeding shades of blue at the tips. Only one feather was different than the rest: the tall one in the center of its crown, with edges white as bone.