Born Of Fire

Born Of Fire Chapter 53

 Sorry it took so long everyone. But I have a new laptop now!!!! So I shall be posting with much more regularity now. And since I have another laptop, we shall return to my challenges!

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Phoenix thought toward the bird once more, giving it orders. Kill the soldiers that came with him, but do not harm the three with me. I will not need you after that, so you may return to wherever you rest. The bird screeched again, and dived toward the soldiers, who turned and ran. Another hot flash, and the soldiers and the bird disappeared together, the short screams cutting off into the crisp air.

Phoenix fell toward the ground, his legs suddenly too weak to hold his weight. Spedro’s arm slipped behind his shoulders, slowing his descent. Lindani hit her knees behind his head, and brought his head to rest on her lap. Dipping her head to his, her long hair obscured both of their faces as she laid quick kisses along his jawline. “I was so worried that he had killed you.”

Phoenix tried to smile, but even those muscles were too weak after controlling the spectral fowl that had saved them. All he could do was blink in response. Spikes of cold ran through his body, and he shivered. His body felt as though he would never know warmth again. Ember appeared on his right side, she too on her knees. “How is he?”

“Weak,” said Spedro. “Controlling the bird proved too much for him.”

Phoenix felt a flare of anger at Spedro implying he was weak, but at the moment he was too spent to argue. Ember conjured a gentle wind to lift him from the ground, and Spedro led the way back to their camp, where they lay him in his tent. Phoenix’s strength was beginning to return, and was able to swallow the water Lindani guided to his lips. She put a hand to his forehead, and then whispered that his temperature was returning to normal. He could feel it in his bones as his body began to warm once again, and the shivering soon stopped. Ember came and sat with him also, and explained to Lindani that Spedro had gone to hunt. The two sat with him until Spedro returned with a fawn, then they both left to help Spedro clean and prepare it.

Awhile later, Lindani returned with a bowl of stew for Phoenix, and he chewed slowly. Lindani lay next to him, watching as he fell into a deep slumber.

The next morning, Phoenix was the first to awake. A ravenous hunger gnawed at his stomach, and he left the tent silently, looking for something to eat. The pot of stew still sat over the remains of the fire, and Phoenix sent a tongue of flame at the pieces of wood below, setting them on fire. Ten minutes later, the pot of stew was boiling nicely. Phoenix spooned stew into a bowl, and ate quickly. The pain in his stomach stopped, but he was still hungry, so he filled a second bowl. Taking his time now, Phoenix heard a familiar sound and smiled. Ember’s disheveled hair poked through the flap of her and Spedro’s tent, and her body followed. To the small creek next to the camp she strode, and Phoenix waited for close to an hour before he heard her returning.

She sat next to him, and pushed two fingers into his third bowl of stew, pulling a potato free and slipping it into her mouth. “Good morning,” she said, still chewing.

“Good morning yourself,” Phoenix replied, spooning more of the stew into his mouth.

“Sleep well?”

“I have never slept that soundly in my life,” Phoenix replied. It was truth. His sleep had been uninterrupted, and he had awoken feeling more refreshed than he ever had.

“I saw you can control the bird now.”

“It responds to my thoughts, not my words.”

Spedro awoke then, coming to sit beside Ember. A nod went between the Phoenix and he, and Spedro filled a bowl of his own for breakfast. “I still do not understand it. How was he impervious to all our attacks?” Spedro said between mouthfuls.

“He said Demetrius bestowed some special power on him. And I am thinking he spoke the truth. Nothing I did except that last move even hurt him. My whips have sliced armor in two, but it fell from his face without leaving a single mark.”

“Which reminds me,” Spedro added. I noticed you using the stone with a much better proficiency than before they attacked. How did this come about?”

Phoenix thought it over. “I honestly do not know,” he said after a moment’s contemplation. “One minute I was in the blackness, and then the screams assaulted me after the light passed into me. That may have been what awoke the power within.”

“Humph,” was Spedro’s reply, and they sat in silence until Lindani woke and stretched, then came to fuss over Phoenix being out of bed while being so weakened. He fought her off, and then excused himself. He wanted to get a look at where Secrat had fallen.

Through the woods and into the meadow he walked, taking his time. In case Demetrius had left any agents capable of killing him in the area, he wanted to be ready. None presented themselves, and he strode out into the clearing where two large, circular burn marks had been scorched into the earth.

Phoenix could not remember which was which, so he knelt at the first one, running his hand over the where the grass had been. None remained only smooth earth, akin to glass. Phoenix knew that earth could turn to a glasslike substance under enough heat, but he himself had never been able to generate enough heat to do so. He played his hand over the dark surface, looking for what he did not know. He found nothing, so he moved to the next spot, which was more of the same. Kneeling on his haunches, Phoenix stared into the glass like earth, wondering exactly how he had conjured the Phoenix, the one thing he feared, without hurting anyone but those he meant to hurt. If his control over the bird was absolute, then he was more powerful than even he thought.

Something caught his eye below the surface of the glass, and Phoenix moved to his hands and knees to get a better look. An oddly colored stone sat about a foot beneath the surface, faceted into a million images through the scorched earth. Extending his hand, Phoenix beckoned the stone to him, and was surprised when it did not move. He tried moving the earth around the stone and was rewarded with the stone coming closer to the surface. The glass was still earth, so he commanded it to crack and remove itself from the path of the stone, a command that it obeyed without argument. The stone sat now inches away from him, but his pulse beat in his ears, and a spike of fear pierced his heart. The stone before him was grey, as many others. But something, something was different about this one. A dark blue aura swirled about the stone, expanding and contracting around its surface. Phoenix first blew on it, and it remained unaffected. Hesitantly, he reached out to touch the stone, but jerked his hand back when the aura stretched out to meet his hand. Steeling his nerves, though he knew he was not dealing with something of this world, Phoenix shot his hand out and snatched the stone from the earth, cringing as he did. Slowly he opened his eyes, and his booming laughter echoed across the field a moment later.

A flock of crows took off from a nearby tree, giving wing to bad wind that urged them away from their current roost. Phoenix’s laugh followed them in their mad rush to leave the clearing.