Ablaze Without Flames

Chapter 1, Part 3 - Felix

'Blaise!'

The name escaped Felix's mouth before he could stop it. The back of his collar ripped as he wrenched himself from the okami's grip. Falling to his knees at the cliff's edge, Felix could do nothing but watch as the two of them fell.

The rocks were merciless, would leave them broken. There was no hope for either of them to survive and yet Felix could not look away.

His blood ran cold.

The okami hit the ground with a crack of rock and bone. He lay sprawled on his front, his limbs splayed out at unnatural angles. A pool of blood collected beneath his head, narrow veins bleeding into the stream. The sight made Felix retch, but it was Blaise's lack of a landing that shortened his breath. Less than a second before the okami hit the ground, Blaise had vanished as though swallowed by the rocks themselves.

The okami stared down in stunned silence. Felix could hear nothing but the sound of his own rasping breath in his ears.

Felix did the only thing he could think of and scrambled back to his feet, racing away from the pack along the edge of the ravine toward the bridge. He had no idea how to explain what his own eyes had shown him, but Blaise was gone. The okami stirred behind him as soon as they heard him move before one of them grumbled, 'Leave the pup.'

The wooden slats of the bridge wobbled under his heavy steps and he dived into the trees on the other side, stumbling through the undergrowth. His lungs refused to obey him as they snatched at the air. The scene replayed in his mind in a loop as he desperately grappled for an explanation. He couldn't focus his mind to part the air currents and run faster. Air Craft had always been Blaise's strength, not Felix's. Even as he broke free of the forest and approached the village, he could barely remember half of the run.

'Who goes there?' a guard demanded, perched on the walkway. He lifted his torch to shed light across the pathway beneath, momentarily blinding Felix as his vision adjusted.

'It's Felix!' he called back and scurried underneath the walkway without waiting for an interrogation, darting between the cabins and the trees and swerving around other kitsunes. Most of the clan had woken already from the first of the night's rests and grumbled at him as he stumbled past in his haste. A woman with her arms full of twins tried to ask what was wrong, but Felix didn't hear.

The great marble hall set into the slope of the moorland had been the first building in the village, supported by great rosewood beams with a slate tile roof. It was the size of four cabins sitting on top of six cabins for only the chief and his daughter plus a handful of servants.

Just as he reached the stone steps leading up to the door, a guard moved to block his path and Felix skidded to a halt. 'State your business,' the guard commanded.

Felix struggled to find any words through his erratic gasps. 'I need to see the chief,' he spluttered eventually. 'He- One of the clan... I think he's in danger.' Or dead, he added privately to himself, but shook the thought from his mind.

'Who does this concern?'

'Blaise. The chief's ward.'

Guards were never supposed to show any personal feelings while on duty, but Felix caught the flicker of a grimace on the kitsune's face. 'Go through,' he allowed after a moment's hesitation. 'The chief and Marien are resting.'

Felix nodded a quick thanks and bounded up the steps to the great Hall doors. Another guard opened them for him without a word and Felix ducked through, walking as quickly as he dared toward the drawing room. A maid passed him in the corridor and noticed his agitation but said nothing.