Feudlings In Smoke (Fate On Fire Short Story) (7 page)

Almost, but not quite.

“So, back to fighting.”

“We weren't fighting.”

He sighed. “You. Aren't. Allowed. To fight. Not until I figure out who's sending the Carules your locations. Is that clear?”

“Hold that thought while I walk away from people so no one can hear you yelling at me about secrets no one knows but you.”

“You're such a punk.” He got up, wandering around the room. There were pictures on the walls — of him and Ari, of Ari practicing in the training grounds, of Ari and Dani, and Ari and Ward, and so many other memories. He could see their mother in her — they practically looked like twins, except Vivian was much shorter than Ari. In a world where everyone was taller than average, Vivian was a complete anomaly. In fact, she was probably the only sorceress he knew under five foot nine. And seeing her in Ari was the only way he got to see her at all. His heart hurt.

“Okay. I think I'm alone now. Make this lecture quick though. I have a test tomorrow and a dance the next day. And p.s. — you don't have to give any boys any talks because Hunter and Shane are still barely talking to any of us. In fact, they just got here to check on a project and they're already packing up to go.”

Will could hear the hurt in her voice. “But it's your entire group they're abandoning. Not you, Ari. This is different than before.” Before — all the times in all the other schools that Ari had been shunned and ignored and bullied. Until Ari refused to be bullied again.
That
little incident hadn't gone over so well. But she'd never been picked on again, so her somewhat… violent… tactics had worked. Plus, she'd grown about six inches. That helped, too.

“Right. So, back to your lecture?”

“My lecture. Yes. You aren't allowed to fight until I figure this out.”

“You said that already.” She was mocking him.

“I said it again to emphasize my point.”

She snickered. “You did that very well. I will not fight again until the world does not need fighting.”

“I'm serious, Ari.”

Her laughter died. “I know you are, Will. I know you're scared. I don't get scared, but I am a little worried. I will do everything in my power to not fight again.”

“Thank you. That's all I ask. And… you don't get scared? Tell that to the spiders and the crickets.”

He laughed as he hung up.

With Ari's promise not to fight, Will could actually relax. For two whole days, he hung out with Dani and they pretended to be a couple not trapped in a magical prison of their own making. He cooked a romantic dinner with candles, even. They watched a movie on a projector outside. They went on many long walks and he kissed her enough to make up for all the lost years of not kissing her. For two days, it was heaven.

But when he was wrenched from sleep by frantic pounding on his door late, late at night, Will knew heaven had just crashed headlong into hell.

He jerked the door open, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “What's wrong?”

“Will, my parents just called me. Ari's in Adlington, and the Carules Prodigy just showed up with his Guard.”

Inside the house, Will's phone rang.

“No.” Will shook his head as he turned his back on her, going into the house. “Ari isn't in Adlington. She promised not to fight and she never fights without asking me for a shroud first.”

“Will! My parents—”

“The Council is going to find out about your parents, Dani! You have to stop using them!”

He heard her sharp intake of breath behind him, but he couldn't answer as he picked up his phone.

“Will? Ari's in Adlington! And–and they say the Carules Prodigy is there. She and Richard had a fight and he won't pull her out and I can't do a
saldepement
and no one—”

Behind him, the front door slammed shut. Will spun around, but Dani had left without a word. “Mom, slow down. How did Ari get to Adlington? I talked to her earlier today—”

“There isn't time to slow down!” Vivian sobbed. “She's in trouble, Will! She's alone and the Carules Prodigy
and
his Guard are both there and Richard won't let me go to her. I used to be able to do a
saldepement
but I can't anymore!”

Ari needed him. Will knew he was shoving his existence into Death's face and waving a white flag, but he would not let her face this alone. “Don't worry, Mom. I got this.”

“Will! You can't go, either. They'll all kill you! I can't lose you both!”

Will was already pulling on his gear, his blood roiling at the thought of a fight. He might have refused the war, but the love of a battle had never left him. First and foremost, he was an Edren sorcerer, created to protect.

“You won't lose either of us, Mom. Not tonight.”

It was time to be what he was born to be.

Dani met him on the dirt street outside his house. “I'm going with you.”

“No, Dani, you aren't.” His voice was curt, much sharper than he had intended it to be. With herculean effort, he softened his tone. “I need you to stay here so I have a way back. If I can get to Ari, I'm dragging her out of that battle, even if I have to knock her unconscious to do it.”

“Will, I—”

“
Please,
Dani. Please watch my back. I need you here or I have no way to get her out of there.”

“They'll kill you, Will.” Her voice broke. “I can't let you face this alone.”

He took her face in his hands, memorizing every detail, just in case. She was so beautiful, even as tears streaked her cheeks and her lips trembled. “Dani, this is what I was born for. I have the strength to face this. I can save Ari, but I can't bring her back without you.”

She sobbed once, and he kissed her, trying in those few short seconds, to tell her how much he loved her and how much he would always love her.

But it was time to go.

The door shimmered open behind him and he had to release her. He had to let her go and walk away knowing he might never come back. “You just hit send, Will. As soon as I hear it ring, I'll start counting,” she called as the door started to shut behind him. “Will, wait!”

He turned at the last second and a shroud blasted through just as the doorway was gone completely, with her words caught on the air and carried to him. “I love you, Will.”

“I love you, too, Dani.”

The shroud fell across him like a warm blanket, enveloping him in a false security. They might not be able to see his face, but one spell and they would all know who he was.

And he would be fighting not only frenzied Carules, but angry Edrens as well.

“Are you ready for this?” Ward asked next to him.

Will looked up in shock. “What are you doing here?”
Here
was an outcropping of trees just beyond what had once been Ada Aleshire's home. The Carules boy she'd scorned had burned it to the ground, killing everyone in it except the Duke of Adlington, Ada's father. By the time Ada had arrived, it had been too late to save anyone. Now, there were the ancient bones of a stone structure and charred, broken trees that seemed frozen in time. And covering it all were warriors from both sides, locked in a desperate fight. If there was such a thing as a battle to end all battles, this seemed the place to have it.

“I'm here to fight with you. I can't defeat my own Prodigy, but I can get you to Ari.” Ward, who hadn't fought in a battle in over a decade, looked mighty confident in his abilities.

“It's too dangerous—”

“Shut up, Will. I love Ari, too. She's just like a sister to me. I'm not going to stand by while she's slaughtered.”

Will clapped him on the back. He didn't have time to argue, and really, he didn't want to. “Fair enough. How do we find her?” They both looked out over the battle, swarming with thousands of bodies, riddled with screams of the dying as the ground soaked with ash-covered blood.

“You look for the most smoke.”

The most smoke, because Ari moved so quickly and could burn five spells in the time it took a regular warrior to burn one. And if Ari moved like that, it stood to reason that the Carules Prodigy did, also. And the most smoke was, of course, as far away from Will as it could possibly get.

Awesome.

“The way I see it, we have two options. We go straight through, trying not to get hit by stray spells while not fighting back because,” Ward gave him a pitying look, “one spell from you and everyone'll be trying to kill us.”

“Yeah. Thanks,” Will muttered. He could smell the burning flesh now. The smell made him remember why he'd quit the war in the first place. He didn't believe in killing.

But he did believe in saving.

“Or, we scout around, try to stay outside the fight, and see if we can get closer before we cut it. Sounds longer, but it'll probably actually be faster.” Ward smiled grimly at him.

“When did you become a master battle planner?” Will asked, scanning the throes of battle below him. “We'll have to go around. See that cliff?”

Ward squinted, because the smoke was so thick it was hard to see in the distance, but finally nodded. “Yeah, I see it.”

“Ari's below it.”

“You're saying we throw ourselves off the cliff? We're sorcerers, Will. Not birds. Won't do Ari any good if we're dead at her feet.” He rubbed his bald head nervously, and Will belatedly remembered that Ward was afraid of heights.

“No. We aren't going to throw ourselves off it. Just I am.”

Ward snorted. “And leave me looking like a coward? I don't think so. Let's go.”

They backtracked several yards into thicker trees. Sprinting through the close-set branches was difficult, but they'd wasted too much time talking. Will kept his eyes on the smoke, and as they rounded the battle and started climbing the hill that led to the cliff, he could see Ari's bright red flames. There were no matching blue ones, though. Not yet.

The hike on this side wasn't bad. There was the barest hint of a path, like a road had existed here once. Will hit it and started running, focused only on the battle waiting for him on the other side. Too focused to see what was right in front of him.

“Will, look out!” Ward tackled him from behind as a spell blasted over his head, slamming into the trees. Another came just after it, and he felt it slam into Ward, his body heaving. His friend grunted in pain. Will rolled him off, scrambling to his knees as more spells came. There were two Carules just hidden in the shadows. “I got… this. Go, Will.” Ward gasped.

Ari needed him, but he couldn't leave Ward, either. Rage at the war, at the Carules, at the fighting and unfairness and even at Ari for breaking her promise, rage at all these things overtook him and he threw his hands up, flames bursting from his fingers and his palms. The wall of fire raced toward the Carules, too fast for them to move. As their screaming died, Will dug his phone out of his pocket and hit send and started counting down. At “one”, he burned the
saldepement
into the air and gasped in relief when the doorway shimmered open.

“Will? You found her — Ward!” Dani cried.

“I'm okay. Tell Will… shut the door…” Ward could barely talk through the pain, and Will could see the spell still burning through Ward's thick gear.

Will picked him up under his arms and dragged his friend through the portal. “Call the healers, Dani. I have to go back.”

She nodded, already digging for her phone as Will jumped back through and closed the doorway behind him.

He was more careful this time as he raced the rest of the way up the hill. He watched the shadows and the trees for any sign of movement or spark, but there was none. It took him several seconds to realize that the screaming from the battle had stopped. Was it over? Had he missed it all?

And then an awful thought hit him. Was there no screaming because Ari was dead? Had the Carules Prodigy and his Guard killed her while Will fought two roaming warriors on the wrong side of the hill? Terror propelled him forward and he sprinted the rest of the way to the top, skidding to a halt before he threw himself over the side.

His eyes landed on her bright red flames immediately. The reason the field was silent was because everyone had stopped fighting to watch them.

The Carules Prodigy and his Guard had found her, and the Carules formed a tight circle around them.
They
still fought, throwing spells at Ari every chance they got. In the few seconds Will watched, he saw her get hit twice.

Finally, the Edrens on the outside burst into action, fighting their way through the tight circle, trying to help their own Prodigy. “It's about time, you blasted—” before he could think of an awful enough word, he leaped over the side of the cliff. It was steep, but not a freefall. He half-ran, half-tumbled down the sharp face, until he landed on his knees right above them, close enough to hear the weird, dislocated voice of the Prodigy scream, “This ends now!”

Ari answered with a spell thrown right at the Prodigy's heart, a vicious
lirik
that sought to finish him forever. He threw himself to the side as his Guard attacked. It was like watching the most horrific choreographed dance Will could ever imagine.

He pushed himself to his feet and jumped.

He landed hard on the ground just beyond the circle. He had to get in to her.
Now
. He threw his hands up, and his flames responded, exploding from his palms, feeding off his fury and desperation. The Carules in front of him burst into screaming, writhing masses of flames and the circle broke apart as they sought to escape.

He saw Ari's shrouded head jerk toward him, and by the way her entire body tensed, he knew she recognized him. Oh yeah, if he lived through this, she would kill him for it. “Get out of here!” he screamed at her, but she ignored him, backing up until she stood shoulder to shoulder with him.

They turned and faced the Prodigy together.
Not so tough now that you don't outnumber her, are you?

The rush of the battle was upon him and his blood practically sung. He burst into action, his hands moving faster than he thought possible. He threw spells at everything except Ari, because everything except Ari was trying to kill him.

That got the Guard's attention. Will pushed a
lirik
at the Prodigy and spun out of the way as the Guard turned his attack from Ari to Will. Ari threw herself in front of him, dodging flames from random Carules warriors, and threw a
masas
. A spell that attacked multiple targets at once.