Chronicles of a So-called Fire God (Abridged)

8. Lost

Lestergrad was gone. No one could survive such a fall. Nor would anyone even be able to tell who, or what, had died at the spot where he would have landed. I prayed to the gods that they would keep him safe in the afterlife.

We crossed the threshold of the shimmering portal only a second later. I tried to turn my flamenag around, but it refused. It even showed a little anger by flaring its mane a little. I put my hands up in the typical surrender pose. 

"Renkle, we have to go back for Lestergrad's body. He deserves a proper send off to the afterlife!" I shouted above the roar of the wind. 

"Oh, no time for that. Also, these beasts won't turn around now. They have a purpose and nothing will sway them until it has been fulfilled," he replied. "Besides, he's dead. Let the scavengers have him."

That last comment riled me. "He has your Herald!"

Renkle floated in mid-air ahead of my mount. "Get rid of these two," he said to the flamenags. He then disappeared.

In terror we both looked around for a way out of our predicament. We hung in the air, hundreds of feet above the ground and in a plane of existence outside of our own. I was struggling to see how we were going to survive. Although in another plane, we were not far removed from our own. We could see shadows of our plane all around, as if I were looking through a poorly made stained glass window. This confirmed a theory I'd long held that some creatures, such as flamenags, could enter and exist in the spaces between planes of existence. We were not completely in one plane or another, there was still hope. I hoped that our presence upon these beasts meant that they could not move beyond this space into another plane entirely.

The flamenags started bucking and trying to dismount us both. Thankfully Torq was strong enough that he could hold on to his beast's body. I could see he held onto the flanks of the animal just above the forelegs. In order that I could hold on I had to set a spell on my hand to avoid getting burned. Once cast, I gripped my flamenag's mane and pulled. Hard. I must have caused it some pain because the bucking stopped.

Ahead I saw what looked like a lake through the distorted partition betwixt this plane and our own, that gave me an idea of how we would be able to survive. We had to coax our flamenags towards the lake, and get them to slow down. Hopefully then they would drop out of this plane. Pulling on the mane of my horse was having an effect, it really did not like it, like any normal horse wouldn't. Thankfully these were behaving in the same way. I had to cast the same spell on Torq to give him a chance and some control, to do that I had to get closer. Pulling the mane of my flamenag towards Torq caused it to head in that direction. This spell requires I touch people to cast it on them, thankfully there are few of these types of spells.

When I reached Torq, I touched his arm and shouted my command word. I could see the power flow into his arm. He sat up and grabbed a handful of mane as I had. Together, with now a way to control these foul animals, we headed in the direction of the lake, which was now behind us. My thought was to jump off if necessary and land in the lake. I can swim, I just hoped that Torq could too.

Near the lake I shouted to Torq, "Jump off!" and pointed down to the lake. Thankfully he nodded.

We both jumped leaving the flamenags to speed off on their own. As we fell, all around us I could see features of our own plane more clearly. We were falling; maybe this was a mistake. I didn't feel that we were slowing down. We were not going forwards, but our speed was still great as we fell.

As we fell, I thought of other things that fell. Apples are fast, the hit the ground with a thud as they fall from the tree, Feathers are light and sway from side to side as they gently float towards the ground. With all my magic, not learned from books, not taught to me by a grand master from the Royal Wizarding College of Harnsol, but just something I know I knew not of any such spell that could help us at this time. My abilities were something I was born with. Not natural; according to some. I just used my senses; tried to model what was around me, what I knew existed. Maybe that was the trick. I know how to cast fire from my fingertips because I know what fire looks like. And because I wanted to. Maybe all I had to do was use my instincts instead and think of being light; feather light. I had to be quick.

A thought came to me and I let that thought grow. As it grew, I felt a surge of power build within me. I let it build. I'd never done this before, never let my instinct take over. Pain built within me and I could hold on no more. Letting go of the power was such a relief. A massive weight was lifted from my chest as the wave of power shot out from me. Thankfully Torq was caught in the wave too.

We started to slow down. I was more amazed than anyone, this was something new to me. This new sensation was exhilarating. My new spell needed a name, I hate things that do not have names. Before I could name my spell we were both in the water and fighting our way back to the surface.

Only a few seconds had passed since our leap of faith in my decision. The flamenags were no longer above us, or if they were they were not in this plane.

I crawled into the grass near the site of the lake. Water clogged my clothes, making it hard to move. Torq was a few feet ahead of me. He was wiping silt from the blade of his axe. It looked like he'd been there a few minutes, but I could see from his heaving chest that he was breathing hard, he was as exhausted as I was.

"Do you know where we are?" I asked.

Torq couldn't speak. He just shook his head. A few moments later, after we'd both caught our breath, he spoke. "Thank you," he said. Then he continued, "You're not a wizard, are you?" he asked.

The fake puzzlement I tried to show on my face was not going to fool anyone.

"I've seen wizards before," he said, "many times. They use books. They have to use rituals and staffs or wands or some other focus. You don't use or need any of that. You just do it. And it scares me."

"I -," I started.

"No, it's not something you need to explain. Not to me. You scare me, but I trust you. You've saved my life and for that I will be forever grateful. I hope that one day I can repay the debt."