Typhoon & Tempest

Chapter Thirty

Lily curled her toes in horror as she realised just where she was standing. Thunder rumbled closer, she could see forks of lightning stretching across the clouds towards her.

Kristofer waved to a bunch of rogues and he walked off the mound. The four rogues approached holding broken branches, disgust in their eyes, and started laying them down at Lily's feet.

They were building a bonfire for her. "N-No!" Lily tried to kick the branches away but Kristofer quickly pinned her legs down, using more zip ties to pin her ankles. "No!" She screamed, and thunder cracked loudly above them.

"Get away!" Kristofer yelled to his men as Lily kept struggling, kept fighting, even with her arms and legs bound. The branches were down and she was standing on the bonfire, unable to kick away the twigs and unable to stop the storm racing towards her, the dark clouds now brushing overhead.

"Please!" She begged, tugging and pulling at the bonds, rain beginning to pour heavily. The temperature was so cold frost was forming over her bare arms. "Please don't do this!"

Kristofer pointed at her, eyes lighting up in feral fury. "We cannot be free of power, we cannot be rogues, if there are always those above us! We won't let you reign!"

"I haven't done anything to you!" Lily screamed over the roaring rain. She was completely soaked, her hair matte against her neck.

"But you will!" Kristofer roared, the rogues yelling in agreement. "And your friend Isaac thinks so too! You will be struck down, little river, and if you survive the strike you won't survive the bonfire it will ignite!"

Isaac? Lily's heart pounded as lightning forked in the sky above her. "No! Please!" Lily screamed, yanking at the bindings again. She kept struggling, kept fighting, wishing she had the power to escape the bonds.

Thunder snapped above them. The rogues covered their ears as it roared as loud as Lily was screaming, and Kristofer held his breath as he watched the storm halt for a second, silence echoing in their ears.

Lily looked up at the storm, rain pelting her face, as she saw what was brewing. She could sense it - the hairs on the neck stand up and curl, that static charge in the air around her. Her eyes burned molten silver and the soft light lit up the clearing for a moment. She saw all their faces, awe and fear of her creature finally surfacing, but she would never forget them. Not after what they'd done to her.

She looked up at the sky, a silver glow kissing the bottom of the clouds, as the lightning formed. Lily could feel it descend; the electric charges rubbing together at the top of the storm clouds and forming, rapidly falling towards her.

Lily screamed, eyes burning bright, as the superbolt struck her. The rogues were flown back as the bolt burned the pole and Lily beneath it, the force of the strike blowing the sticks beneath her wide. It smothered the entire mound, stretching a few metres across.

The earth quaked under the force of the superbolt, a hundred times more powerful than a standard lighting strike, and trees toppled in the clearing, the ancient headstones collapsing to mere rubble. The town trembled, frames falling, glass shattering at the sheer force of strike's impact. The rogues all fell to their knees at the force of the thunder that followed, covering their ears and screaming. The entire forest shook and trembled beneath the sound.

The strike evaporated and Kristofer looked up, ears bleeding, and the sight that beheld him made him scamper back in fear.

Lily was still standing on the mound. The metal pole was melted behind her, and she had her arms either side, the zip ties falling to the ground. Her eyes were as bright as the stars hiding from the storm. Kristofer whimpered, a sound he'd never heard from his throat, as the mound beneath her sparked, like the lightning had sunk into the soil.