Determined to take control of their fates, Arjen and Arien escape Derolina Castle at the age of sixteen after their cruel mother dies. They adopt new names and find a home in the city of Aramore, while the Emperor of Yuriana searches for his missing...
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Smoke billowed into the room. Arjen coughed and tried to rise from the chair but his legs wouldn't support him.
"A fire?" said Arien. She glanced about to find its source. "We need to get out!" She reached for Arjen and tried to lift him from his seat. He wanted to protest that she wasn't strong enough, but her magic enveloped him and he slowly rose from the chair. When had she learned to do that?
Meanwhile, Niwe pulled Alec from the table. The smoke began to fill the room, and Arjen's eyes and lungs burned. He couldn't see where the fire was coming from, but wherever it had started it was spreading fast.
He drifted in the air next to Arien, but he pointed at the fireplace mantle. "My sword! Arien, get my sword too!"
She extended a hand at the sword's case and it floated down from the mantle.
"Come on, you two," said Niwe. He held a weak-looking Alec in his arms. The second prince gazed at the twins with hollow, worried eyes.
"But we have to get..." Arien began. She looked around the room, her face filling with terror. "We have to save our home!"
"No time for that," said Niwe. He beckoned to them. "Come here!"
Arien floated Arjen over to them and followed. A loud crack sounded and the building shuddered, rattling the trinkets on the fireplace mantle. A small glass figurine fell and shattered. Smoke filtered up through the floorboards. The room became hotter as fire ate at the structure around them.
Arjen blinked from the burning smoke, but as he did so, he suddenly found himself on the street outside the shop. Niwe and Alec stood beside him. Did they teleport out of the building? He took in the bright flames that were consuming the shop. A column of black smoke rose into the blue sky.
"Marcus!" said Arien.
Marcus sat on the ground a few paces from them, coughing and ash-covered. He didn't appear hurt, just disgruntled. He glared at the scene in front of them and said nothing.
Somewhere in the distance, a loud bell rang. People began to run to the scene. Others shouted to their neighbors to go to the nearest fountain or well and to the canal to draw water while they awaited the fire services. Aramore's firefighting staff was some of the best this side of the empire.
But considering how the flames devoured the shop, Arjen believed there was no way even the best fire fighters in the empire could save it. It was like someone had lit a match in dry straw. How was it moving so fast?
"No," said Arien. Tears dripped down her cheeks. In her distress, she loosened the magic on Arjen and he lowered to the ground. He sat there, dumbfounded, as he witnessed his and Arien's dream of freedom turn to ashes.
"How did this happen?" he said.
A clamor rose as people continued to filter in, many carrying buckets of water, but when they saw the size of the conflagration, their determination evaporated. They tossed their meager buckets of water onto the hot flames. People from the neighboring buildings fled their homes and businesses as the fire began to spread.
