Rise of Phoenix (4 page)

“Oh Ash!” she said finally. “I’m such a fool.”

“What?! No! Who told you that?”

“No one had to… I mean look at us. Look at me! I’m on the run. I don’t have a plan, just a stupid childish idea of seeking vengeance for Gaia, but I have no idea where to start, or what to do. I’ve put everyone here in danger and I’ve dragged you down with me.”

She felt the tears welling up again. There was no way out.  She and Ash had nothing before them except a life of constantly playing cat and mouse with the Guilds. Perhaps he had been right, perhaps they should separate and just try to disappear.

“You didn’t drag me anywhere,” said Ash, his tone comforting and reassuring. “I came with you because I wanted to. I followed you because I believe in you and I think you are right to want to stop the Guild. I signed up to become a Guardian in order to protect others, not bring them to harm, and I stand by my decision to help you.”

“You didn’t have that much of a choice,” she said, miserably.

 “I
did
have a choice,” he said. “I had a choice every step of the way, and I always chose to follow you and I always will choose to follow you. Serafin, I love you.”

“Ash… I.” She was dumbfounded.

He still held his arm round her, looking into her eyes, full of expectation, but she didn’t know what to say.

She cared for Ash; she cared for him deeply. He had always been there for her.  He was a close friend and he had been there for her when no one else had.  He had been willing to take risks for her and had been by her side since the beginning. But she had never seen anything beyond that; had never stopped to think there might be anything beyond that.

Suddenly they heard a scream.

They both turned and scrambled up to look over the dry stone wall and back towards the circus.

Serafin gasped.

The Guardians were back, two of the scouts from before.  She didn’t know how they had tracked them here, but they were circling the camp on their dactyls. Swooping low and chasing the show people from their gathering, people had started running in all directions and, without a second thought, Serafin ran towards them.

Ash drew his sword and followed her into the melee.

She couldn’t spot her parents in the darkness and chaos.  People were running everywhere, children were screaming, a caravan had been set alight, and she realized one of the dactyls was a fire breather. The image of the flames licking up the sides of the little caravan brought Serafin to a standstill. She was transfixed.

“Serafin! You must get out of here!” It was her mother, shaking her by the arms and bringing her back into the moment. “You must run, they’ve come for you.”

She looked desperate, afraid, and as Serafin looked around the meadow, all she could see was panic. She could make out the silhouettes of her father, Claude and a few others fighting to put out the flaming caravan.  Not far from them was Ash singlehandedly tackling a dactyl. She couldn’t let these people fight her battle.

“No,” she said, looking at her mother and knowing what she had to do. “No. You run. Take everyone you can. Take the children. Take all of them. Get everyone to the hills.” Her mother stared at her, wide eyed. “Go Now!” Serafin repeated, pushing her away and running to Ash’s side.

The dactyl’s rider was swooping low, taunting Ash by staying out of reach. She summoned magic and blasted it towards the Guardian. It struck the dactyl’s outstretched wing and it tumbled to the ground. Ash ran forward hoping to strike down the rider while he could. They exchanged a couple of blows before the Guardian took once more to the air.

But Serafin had already re-energized and blasted him again. It hit the Guardian square in the chest. He flew backwards off the dactyl and slammed to the ground, while the beast soared into the air alone.

While Ash took care of the rider, Serafin looked around her. The circus tent was alight, as were many of the caravans.  She could see her mother gathering together some of the women and children, urging them to run from the battle. She was watching her childhood burn around her and she felt as powerless as the day her brother died.

She needed this to end.

She saw a man in the darkness, a knife thrower, launching blades at the underbelly of the fire breather as it glided far above him. She blasted a ball of energy at the dactyl, hoping to send it into the knife thrower’s range, but it managed to swerve in the opposite direction.

“Run!” she shouted. “Run! Get out of here! Go with my mother to the Mountain.”

“This is my home!” shouted the knife thrower, looking at her with anger and determination.

She could see the dactyl lining itself up to dive down on them. She ran forward and tackled the knife thrower to the ground as the dactyl swooped just inches above them.

“Don’t make this your grave,” she said. “Get out of here!”

To her surprise he nodded and scrambled to his feet, following the others out of the meadow.

Serafin looked upwards, searching the sky for the fire breather. The meadow was filled with the sound of screams. People were caught in the fires they had been so determined to stop. It was getting out of control; they would lose everything if she didn’t stop the fire breather.

It was hard to make out the black dactyl against the black sky, but she caught a flash of something and launched a blast towards it. It was a hit. To her surprise the dactyl tumbled to the ground, and the rider was thrown off.

“ASH!” she screamed, trying to warn him that a Guardian had landed just a few paces behind him.

He turned in time to see the Guardian draw his sword.  They ran at one another, exchanging a few blows before the Guardian was struck down. Without a rider, the dactyl was no longer a threat.

Serafin was choked with relief. It was over and they’d won.

 “There she is!” She turned as she heard Cassius.

He stood at the head of a contingent of Guardians, led by the Captain who’d shot Ash. Her stomach twisted, as her relief turned to fear.

“So
you
brought them here!” she spat, readying another blast of energy.

“No, Serafin,
you
brought them” Cassius said, rounding on her “You betrayed your people and you betrayed me, this is all your doing.”

“Serafin!” It was her father, but she couldn’t turn to see what he wanted. She had to keep her eye on the Captain.  He smirked at her as he stepped forward and raised his sword. The other Guardians followed his lead and started to close in on her.

“There’s nowhere to run, Healer,” said the Captain, menacingly.

“Give up, Serafin!” spat Cassius, “No one wants you here.”

With that, she blasted the energy toward them, but the Captain barely moved as he deflected it with his sword. In a panic, she turned to see her father and the others fighting off the Guardians as best they could.

“Take her!” shouted the Captain and the Guardians ran toward her.

“Phoenix!” she shouted.

Ash looked at her: she didn’t have time to make sure he understood. She could only hope he knew her meaning. With all her remaining energy she summoned the fire from the burning wreckage of the circus. She pulled the flames towards her, forcing them into a circle which surrounded her and the contingent of Guards.

“What have you done, Firewitch!?” shouted Cassius, his face full of panic as he stared at the wall of fire. He backed away from her, a new look of hatred and fear across his face.

“I’ll let you all go, if you promise my family will be safe,” she said.

The Captain looked at her. A smile slowly formed across his lips as the sweat started to pour from his face.

“Either you cease this stupid game, or we all die together. What will it be, Firewitch?” He walked slowly toward her as he spoke, sword in hand.

She was starting to weaken. It took all her concentration to hold the fire in place but she couldn’t show her weakness. 

“If you kill me, the flames will consume you all. I’m prepared to die,” she said. “Are you?”

The Captain looked at her for a moment and then pulled a small set of pipes from his pocket. He held them to his lips and played a short high pitched tune that sailed into the air.

She didn’t have much time; she was struggling to maintain the fire circle. All she could do was hope that her people had made it to the forest. At least then she would have given her life to prevent their capture.

She looked up to see more dactyls, circling high above in answer to the call of the pipes. As the captain’s tune continued the dactyls flew down but none would enter the flames. Her heart leapt as she noticed Phoenix among them.

She looked to the Captain, his anger growing as the beasts ignored their orders. It was a stalemate; neither of them could escape if the dactyls were too afraid to rescue them.

“Curse you, Firewitch!” he yelled, leaping toward her, sword raised.

In panic, she whipped a flame from the firewall. It lashed across him, his tunic bursting into flames. As they saw their Captain go down, the other Guardians shed their resolve. She screamed as they lunged towards her. She sent the flames towards them but there were too many and she was too weak. She felt a pain across her side before she even saw the sword. She kicked out at the Guardian and as he fell back, the fire consumed him.

She had lost control. The fire was whipping around, no longer a wall but a raging sea. She could see the shadows of men running through the flames, attempting to escape before the flames devoured them. She fell to her knees as her energy drained from her.

“Phoenix!” she screamed, as the last of her power evaporated.

She was helpless. The fire licked at her dress and she cried out in agony as the flames seared her skin. Suddenly the image of her brother flashed across her mind, the image of Wickson writhing in flames, the screams of her people, the sight of the Captain as he was struck and of the Guardians as they fell. She realized she deserved this, she deserved it all. After inflicting this death on so many others, it was only right that she should face the same.

There was a roar above her.

She looked up in time to see Phoenix swoop down. She didn’t think; she jumped.

She grabbed the saddle and hauled herself onto it as the dactyl soared up into the air. She looked back down at the flames and saw Cassius, still untouched but surrounded by fire.

She tugged at the reins and forced Phoenix to do another dive, reaching out to take Cassius’ hand, but he shrank away from her; the face that had once looked at her with love was contorted with revulsion.

The dactyl pulled up, the flames too hot for even the loyal Phoenix to make another swoop.

She had to leave him.

She had to leave him and there was nothing she could do but watch him burn.

***

She saw the dots of campfires among the trees and landed nearby, unsure if it would be the circus people or more Guardians, but as she approached the clearing she could depict the sound of familiar voices. She ran forward, half hoping to find everyone cheering her return, but there were only a few people left. So many hadn’t made it and those that were left desperately needed help.

She managed to find her mother, who only acknowledged her presence to point out those in need of a healer. As she got to work, she kept glancing around the camp, hoping to catch sight of Ash, or her father, but as the hours wore on there was no sign of either of them.

She did what had to be done, concentrating on her healing. There weren’t just burns; there were wounds from the Guardians swords and gouges from the dactyls long claws. She did her best to heal where she could but as she listened to the stories of her people she realized that there were wounds she could never heal.

She was drained and hungry when, finally, the sun started to creep over the mountains and pierce through the forest canopy.

She was tending the last of the wounded, but found that even a cut or a bruise was difficult to heal in her state of exhaustion.  

“Do you want some breakfast?”

“ASH!” She threw her arms around him, delighted and relieved that he was alright. “Where have you been?” she asked.

“Your father wanted to make some fortifications around the camp.  I’ve been patrolling the perimeter.”

“My Father?”

“Yes, he’s alright. He’s with your Mother.” He pointed to the other side of the clearing and she saw her parents deep in conversation. She knew they were discussing her.

She sighed and took the bread Ash offered.  It was only a small piece but it was welcome after such a long night.

“We have to leave,” she told him.

“I know,” he said slowly, “Where should we go?”

She looked up at him, he had followed her through so much and now she had to ask even more of him.

“Do you remember that story my mother told?” she asked.

He looked at her curiously. “The Fisherman and the Apple Tree?”

“It’s also known as the ‘Tale of the Great Elemental’.” she said.

“Alright… but why is that important?”

“Because,” she said, swallowing the last piece of bread, “we’re going to find him.”

THE END

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