The Blaze Ignites

© 2013 Nichelle Rae

by Nichelle Rae

Smashwords Edition | Copyright 2013
Nichelle Rae

Azrel

They would need to rest for the night. Not
me. I wasn’t stopping until I reached Rocksheloc Mountain.
Forfirith was doing very well under my abusive driving. Though we’d
rarely stopped over the past two days, and then only for water, he
was still in a good mood. Still, it didn’t make me any less angry
at him.

I glared down at his head, staring between
his pointed ears. “I know you spoke, you overgrown ass! I may be a
little thick sometimes, but I’m not mad! You spoke!” He snorted and
shook his mane. “Yeah, if you say so. I know what I heard.”

After nearly two weeks straight, the heavy
rains finally seemed to be over. Though I was glad for it, the
storms had left behind a ghostly mist that hovered just above the
ground of the already ominous forest we rode though.

“This place gives me the creeps,” I said to
myself. I looked down at Forfirith. “Feel up for a run, buddy?” He
neighed and stomped his front hooves. “Alright then,” I said,
gripping the reins tighter. “Let’s get out of here.”

He immediately bolted forward, despite the
rough woodland terrain and the thick mist hiding the forest floor
from view. With the ground not visible and no path laid out, I
feared he might trip on something and break a leg. He maneuvered
the woods though, as if it were a grassy plain.

I was really impressed by the way he was
flying at a remarkable speed without missing a stride. Suddenly, I
sensed it. I hadn’t felt that dark shadow deep in my soul for
nearly two weeks, but now it grew inside me quickly. Something was
wrong.

I panned my eyes over to the right, but I saw
nothing but a blur of trees as we sped by. I looked to my left
where a single shadow caught my attention. I narrowed my eyes. It
looked like the shadow of a person, a person running. But it was
keeping pace with Forfirith’s speed. No human could do that!

My face burned with apprehension and my mouth
went completely dry. The shadow in my soul deepened. I tried to
lick my lips, but my tongue felt thick and heavy On my right, just
inside the thick of trees, another shadow was running. Its arms
were pumping and its head kept turning and looking in my direction.
I held back a cry, unable to admit to myself what they were. It
couldn’t be! It just couldn’t be!

In a flash, the shadow on the left jumped out
from a thicket of bushes and thrust its arm upward in an arc. I
screamed as the knife ripped through my left side. I lurched back
and nearly fell off Forfirith, blinded by the sizzling pain. I
scrambled for the reins and pulled myself upright again. I couldn’t
think or breathe. This wasn’t happening! I covered the gash with my
hand, biting back a scream. Thick, warm blood gushed out between
through my fingers and onto my pants.

I looked over my shoulder. Four shadows now
ran behind me! As I watched in horror, lumps of shadow material
developed between their legs. The lumps grew and grew and soon took
the form of shadow horses.

Legan’dirs!

Legan’dirs were after me! No one ever had
survived an attack from one of these things, let alone four!

“Run, Forfirith! Get us out of here!” I
cried, clutching my wound. Somehow he went even faster. I glanced
back at the Legan’dirs. They were catching up!

I faced forward and was suddenly hit by a
wave of nausea. I’d lost a lot of blood already, and I was losing
more. But I would not allow myself to throw up. I looked back at
them again. One was riding on the far right, heading straight for a
tree. It looked solid enough to make an untrained eye think it was
about to crash, but I knew better. It passed through the tree as if
it wasn’t there at all. It watched me as it drew out its weapon,
the only solid part of a Legan’dir.

I held the reins with my free hand, my other
clutching painfully at my wound. The creature rode up to my right
side, its arm raised ready for a strike. I screamed and yanked
Forfirith’s reins to the left as its arm came down. The blade
missed me but cut a shallow gash in Forfirith’s side. He cried in
pain and stumbled, but he quickly regained his footing and galloped
even faster. I couldn’t believe this was normal speed for a normal
horse. No way.

“Are you okay?” I called to him over the
howling wind. He merely gave me a grunt and continued on. He was a
lot braver than I. I found myself struggling to keep from passing
out. My entire left thigh was covered in my blood. Every foot of
terrain we covered seemed to rip my gash open another quarter of an
inch, and soon my eyes were going to start rolling back. I managed
to get a foggy glimpse to my left and saw another Legan’dir next to
me with its arm raised high. I couldn’t even attempt to move.

Helplessly, I watched its arm come down.
Suddenly, I was blinded by a red explosion of light and nearly
deafened by a BOOM. I recoiled, closing my eyes in horror and
shock. When I opened them again, the Legan’dir was gone. I was
still alive!

I looked behind me and couldn’t believe what
I saw in the distance. Addredoc, remnants of red light on his palm,
was riding behind me. So were Meddyn, Thrawyn, the Tan Stranger,
Ortheldo and my brother, Rabryn. They’d come after me. They’d
caught up with me? Their horses looked to be on their last legs,
foaming, panting and sweating profusely. I was surprised they were
on their hooves at all.

Addredoc moved his hand to the side, and a
current of liquid red fire shot like an arrow from his palm. The
flash nearly blinded me again as another Legan’dir that had gotten
too close to me was hit by his magic.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw the misty
woods ahead of me were about to open up into a narrow clearing. Two
more Legan’dirs were waiting on each side of the opening. With no
strength left to scream, I ducked my head until my forehead was
touching Forfirith’s back and covered my head with my arms. My
heart pounded. I waited for the pain of sharp metal to rip through
my back.

The grey light of day fell on me and I knew
we were out of the trees, yet there was no stabbing pain. All I
heard were the battle growls from two men, then the clang of metal
on metal. Shocked, I sat up. Ortheldo and Rabryn were riding beside
me now, blocking the Legan’dirs’ knives with their swords and
allowing me to ride through unharmed. Ortheldo’s eyes met mine for
a moment, they were soft but determined.

Unable to hold his gaze, I quickly looked
behind me at the other four, who were riding hard as the Legan’dirs
surrounded them on all sides. They tried to fight, but the
creatures were nearly invincible. One of the shadows broke free
from the throng and sped after me. The Tan Stranger was quickly in
pursuit. But why?

The Tan Stranger’s warhorse was large,
powerful and extremely muscular, allowing it to easily catch up
with the shadow. As the creature raised its weapon above its head,
a tan gloved hand reached out. With a high-pitched cry of effort,
the Tan Stranger took hold of the very blade of the weapon and
yanked it backwards, flipping the Legan’dir off the rear end of its
shadow horse.

That cry—it had been a feminine sound. I
couldn’t believe it, t it was a woman under those bulky tan
garments.

All of them injured, the three Salynns
abandoned the vain battle, but the Legan’dirs followed.

Even Addredoc, as powerful as he was,
couldn’t completely destroy Legan’dirs. He could just temporarily
dismember them, forcing them to reform. Only one thing could kill
them. My magic.

Rabryn and Ortheldo had gashes in their
shoulders and upper arms. The Tan Stranger held her arm against
herself, not daring to touch the leather reins with her sliced-open
palm. Her blood-soaked the front of her tan tunic, a garment so
thick that there was no evidence she had breasts at all.

I fought another wave of nausea, this one
stronger than the first, and the edges of my vision began to
darken. I squeezed my legs against Forfirith to stay on. Much as I
hated the idea, I knew what had to be done.

Still holding my wound with my left hand, I
released the reins in my right and reached across my body to my
left side for my sword hilt. I braced myself, squeezing my eyes
shut and anticipating the pain, then yanked out my sword. The gash
opened further. I screamed and clutched my blood soaked left hand
tighter to it.

Rabryn was suddenly at my side. His eyes went
wide. “Azrel is bleeding badly!” All heads turned to me. I held
back another scream of anguish as I pressed my hand tighter to the
wound. Ortheldo pulled his horse, Urylia, back, then moved behind
Forfirith to ride up to Rabryn’s far side. His eyes went wide at
the amount of blood I’d lost. It was now dripping off Forfirith’s
side to the ground.

“I’m fine! Just ride!” I cried. I didn’t want
to, but I had to do it. I released my wound and took up Forfirith’s
reins with my blood-soaked hand. I slowed Forfirith down so the
others would go ahead of me. All of them pulled on their reins,
too, slowing their horses down. “No! Just go!” I cried. They
hesitated, stared back at me, but continued on.

I glanced behind me. Four of the shadows were
gone, but I knew they weren’t far off. I scanned the patches of
woods that ran along the sides of the narrow clearing. When I saw
one of the creatures in the trees to my left, I looked away,
pretending I hadn’t seen it at all. As subtly as I could, I
switched sword and rein hands, putting my sword in my left hand and
held the reins with my right.

It was getting closer. Closer. Almost.

It burst out of the trees. In an instant, my
sword was ablaze with white fire. With an agonizing slash
backwards, my flaming sword cut right across the shadow’s throat.
The shadow exploded in a white burst of light and an eerie scream
of agony. I screamed in pain, more blood spilling from my wound. I
didn’t have time to think about it. Clenching my teeth, I quickly
switched hands again as another Legan’dir approached my right. I
swung my sword up. When it ducked like I knew it would, I switched
the direction of my swing and sliced forward, cutting through its
back and out its chest. It exploded like the first.

I screamed again in pain and had to hold my
wound. I’d lost too much blood. I was dizzy and my sword felt
heavy. The arm holding my sword dropped to my side and my entire
upper body slumped forward over Forfirith’s back. How I hadn’t
fallen off yet I couldn’t imagine.

Death. Finally death was coming. The thought
made me happy. Peace was waiting for me now. But the Legan’dirs
were still out there, going after them. I couldn’t die now! Not
until I killed all the creatures and my brother and the others were
safe.

I tried hard to sit up, but my weakness was
like an anvil on my back. I could barely even breathe. I was going
to die now, when I didn’t want to? I couldn’t yet. I had to save
them! But slowly the edges on my vision darkened. I felt myself
relaxing, seeping into silence.

“Help! Someone help her! She’s dying! Fix
her!” a vaguely familiar voice screamed. I fought off my impending
death just slightly to try and see who it was. “Help her!”

It was Forfirith. I knew he had spoken in
Narcatertus. But still I couldn’t help wondering if being so near
death was making me hear things.

Fight! I screamed at myself. Fight it, Azrel!
Get up and kill the Legan’dirs. Then you may have your peace! But I
just couldn’t do it. My sword slipped from my grip. I didn’t even
hear it clatter to the ground.

I felt a small warm tingle in my palm and
shifted my eyes down to look. A thread of white magic was suspended
from my hand to my sword, keeping it from falling. Though I
supposed that was good, what help was it when I couldn’t move?

A set of running hooves suddenly filled my
clouded vision. I forced my eyes upward to see the rider. It was my
brother, wearing the fiercest look of determination I could ever
imagine. He rode so close to me that it was a marvel the two horses
didn’t trip over each other. He kicked my foot out of Forfirith’s
stirrup so my leg hung limp in the wind. He swung both legs over
Eleclya’s back so he was riding sidesaddle, and then put his own
foot in Forfirith’s stirrup. He took the reins from my limp,
blood-soaked hand and heaved himself into my saddle behind me.

“What . . . do you think . . . you’re doing?”
I managed in a few small breaths.

He gripped my shoulders and yanked my body
up, putting my back against him, and resting my head against his
shoulder. “Shut up, Azrel. For once in your life, just shut
up!”

If I’d had the energy or strength, I would
have screamed at him for talking to me like that. Suddenly, a
Legan’dir appeared next to Forfirith. I gasped, but before I could
scream it exploded in a flash of blinding red light. Addredoc came
back into view and gathered up Eleclya’s reins to lead her on.