Guardian of Calandria | ✔️

Chapter Three

           Flames licked at the sky and smoke coated the air. Kira slowed her horse to a trot in an effort not to lose the path in the blackened mess. Crops which, according to Emma, had been in her family for generations burned on all sides. Fire danced from reed to reed of the sugar inferno. She pulled back on the reins and looked around. Sooty clouds concealed everything, she didn't know up from down and her mind was at a loss as to where to go.

Ash coated her skin and hair in gray. Wind created by the flames pushed the ash along in a dirty blizzard. Kira looked to Ry as he struggled to see through the firestorm. Streaks of ash covered his angular face as he turned to look back at Kira. Heat from the fire warmed her skin to the point she feared her flesh might melt from her bones.

"We go left up here, right?" he asked. "I've been coming to these fields most of my life, you'd think I'd know the way blindfolded."

Kira's feet shook in the stirrups as discomfort washed over her. She leaned against the mare's neck, stroking the side with one hand. Her eyes closed to block out the snowing ash. Ry was right; both should've known where they were going by instinct alone. She'd spent her entire life working those fields with her aunt and any men from town Emma could afford to hire. Yet now, surrounded by flames, she couldn't remember. It was like a maze swallowed her.

"Something's wrong, and I don't mean the fire."

Tears rimmed her eyes, collecting on her thick lashes before rolling along her cheek. She wasn't sure if the tears steamed from the fear rushing through her veins or from the smoke choking her. Her eyes re-opened as she straightened in the saddle. She extended her hand and a blue mist circled her fingers, stretching outward. The mist spiraled in a cyclone and twisted and wound along the path. Flames attacked the spray, wrapping around the cyclone in a coil. Kira grimaced at the power converging with hers. Her stomach convulsed, twitching in a spasm that made her want to vomit. The power stretching from her hand faltered and fell victim to the orange glow of the burning heat.

She took a deep breath and raised her other hand to throw more mist and enlarge the cyclone. Her eyes narrowed, she knew her irises would be consumed by her pupils, as she expelled her breath toward her hands. The blue mist rippled with the oncoming air and darkened to a steady stream. Her fingers curled inward as her arms shuddered under the force of the battling powers. Somehow the fire had a life of its own and it knew what she was trying to do. The flames squealed and cracked, mixing with her magic until the cyclone flickered between a muted brownish orange and gray. Sweat rolled along Kira's brow.

"Follow my magic and fast. Something is fighting me."

Ry said nothing but rode off along the path of Kira's power. She followed him, struggling to control her horse. Fire reached for her, lashing out like a whip and leaving behind blistering welts. She gritted her teeth, trying to ignore the pain. Kira emerged from the flames, her skin bubbling with welts. Ry had already dismounted from his horse, blades drawn. She frowned when he ran toward her home. It took a moment for her to realize why he'd drawn his swords.

Three boys, whom Emma often hired to help with the crops, had their hands tied to the wooden posts. Their faces were bloody or covered in soot. Kira dismounted and grabbed the reins of Ry's horse and made her way toward them. Ry knelt in front of the boys for a second before running off toward the barn. Kira tied horses to the fence. She pulled out a dagger Ry kept hidden in his satchel and knelt by the boys.

"What are you doing here? You have to get out of here," one of the boys said.

"What's going on, Jackson?" She cut the ropes binding the boys. Two ran off without saying a word. Jackson rubbed his eyes and looked toward Kiras home. Her gaze followed. Guards marched from inside her home, torches in hand. The thatched roof went up in flames first before the entire structure became its own raging inferno. Kira watched on in horror as the beams that once held the roof up caved in.