Fire

A Light in the Darkness

It felt stupid going without weapons, but I couldn’t exactly stroll into the training room without being seen. I knew there were always a few late night trainees, and the idea of bumping into Juku or something wasn’t appealing.

The explosive fire power in my fingertips would have to be enough.

The door clicked shut behind me, and I shoved my hands into my pockets and marched down the dimly lit hallway, hoping I wouldn’t meet anyone on the way out. My footsteps echoed off the walls, making it impossible to tell if anyone was coming down the hall behind or ahead of me. I kept glancing back over my shoulder, expecting someone to pop out. Maybe Asher, asking where I was going. Part of me badly wanted to go find him. To ask him to come with me. But I’d be damned if I let him get hurt. I was valuable to Kari, she wouldn’t kill me. Asher though…I had no doubt he was disposable to her, or that she would try to use him for a hostage. If he got killed over me…well, it didn’t bear thinking about.

I came to a screeching halt in front of a solid brick wall. Crap!

Obviously I still wasn’t quite sure of the castle layout and I’d gotten myself turned around. I ground my teeth together and stomped back down the passageway, taking the left fork instead of the right. Scuffling noises from the end of the hallway made me freeze in my tracks, straining to listen in the darkness. Nothing.

This is a castle, I told myself. There’s probably all kinds of weird noises. Do brick walls settle?

Nobody was jumping out to stop me, so I kept going, feeling relief when I passed the doorway of the great hall. I knew where I was now.

There was only one guard at the door tonight, which was weird. He gave me a sleepy nod, and I stammered that I was going to walk around the garden. I don’t think he cared though, because he just shrugged, pulled one of the doors open for me and went back to staring at nothing.

The night air washed over my skin, cool and crisp, and I breathed deeply. It helped calm my nerves a little bit, but my hands were still shaking at my sides. The sky was black and studded with stars, stretching endlessly above the tree tops. I stepped off the winding driveway, moving towards the tree line. Walking was easy, since the forest floor sloped under my feet. It grew darker the deeper I walked into the forest, and I paused for a second to let my eyes adjust.

Eerie hooting made me jump. A pair of yellow eyes hovered above the branch of a tree just to my left. Shit!

My shoulders sagged when I realized it was just an owl. My pulse was thundering in my ears now. A freakin’ owl had just given me a heart attack.

I stayed quiet, listening to the forest. Screeches and chirps. The trickle of running water from somewhere up ahead. The crackle of branches breaking in the darkness made my heart stop, and then begin beating in double time, so loud I was annoyed with it. How was I supposed to hear someone sneaking up behind me if all I could hear was the sound of my own cowardly heartbeat?

It happened without me noticing. An orange glow beside my left leg made me look down, startled. My hand was on fire.

Well that works.

At least I had some light now. I held up my hand up, letting the fire tickle my palm. A small circle of the dark forest around me was bathed in flickering light. Enough for me to see by. It also occurred to me that I was giving away my position, but…that’s what I’d come for, hadn’t I?

A voice behind me said, “Hello, Jess. Turn around slowly.”

My entire body was rigid, and it actually took me a few seconds to move at all. At last I turned, slowly. My hands were shaking so hard that the light in my hand jiggled wildly, making the shadows jump and dance against the velvety darkness.