A Throne of Fire

Chapter 7

 “What do you mean you lost him!!! He was sleeping right on the couch not even two minutes ago!!! Xaylin! Do you know how dangerous this can be?! He’s a summoner! A summoner for Goddess's sake!” Karma’s bellows from where he stands atop the swirl of stairs, slowly making his descent down. Each clicking sound ringing off the soles of his shoes makes the ravenette cringe. Why did they expect the blind girl to be looking after some human? How was she supposed to know he’s a summoner…

Whatever that is.

“I just don’t see what’s so bad. Worst case scenario since he’s a human he’s probably dead. Especially if he decided to just go off and out on his own.” Xaylin gives a slightly annoyed tone, not fully intending to piss her uncle off anymore, but not exactly wanting to push it either. 

She keeps her tendrils to herself, too afraid to really reach out and try to feel where the Demon is. Though not seeing where someone is is terrifying to her, not being able to scope out her escapes if need be is absolutely the most fearful thing she could imagine.

“Xaylin, that’s not the point, it doesn’t matter if he’s human or not. He’s a being of wonderful magic that is just locked inside of him. He is what Vera fears, what she needs in order to have a grip on this world,  and what we need in order to keep her locked away in hell.” 

Vera.

The name itself was enough to give her shivers. The Owl woman. She wanted to create a world full of nothing but darkness. She wanted every being to be “equal” in terms of f**k the natural kingdom and everyone can eat everyone else. 

She’s been quite the troublesome burden for Karma and his brothers for centuries, though it seemed as though things were only getting worse. 

“I’m sorry, But I don’t see why we stuck the blind girl in charge or watching over anything.” It was Mist who spoke next, it looked as though she hasn’t slept in a few days. Which would explain her lack of energy and mood. 

Karma sighed, she could hear him moving towards the witch, they were mumbling something back and forth in some language Xaylin wasn’t familiar with. It sounded old. 

Bunch of geezers. 

“Xaylin.” 

She straightened herself up, giving a little gapped toothed smile, “Yes?” She replied in her most pleasant of tones. Didn’t really want to push the situation and anger any further, especially with the witch. 

“I need you to go on a little adventure with me.” Mist states, she can hear glass clinking together and fear touches the back of her throat. 

“Why?” She couldn’t help but ask. The fear is growing more and more. If she asks her to go with her to the wolves forest, well, she wasn’t exactly up to it. Though telling that to her older sister on no sleep and what sounds like mild frustration wasn’t really the greatest idea. 

“We need to talk to the McGregors.” Yeeeeeeup, that was exactly what she didn’t want to do. 

“Why me?” Her tone was almost whiny and had a graceful hint of it. Which seemed to be enough for the Witch as the room temperature dropped quite the fracture. 

“Because I said so. You will be my bartering tool.” Even her tone was as cold as the air around them. 

“Y-yes.” Xaylin chatted out between clinking teeth, “When do we leave? Do I need to pack anything?” It was a three days trip, though if her sister was feeling it, gathering supplies and such on the way would make it about a week or so. 

“Pack lightly. But enough to last you a couple of weeks.” A couple of weeks? The longest we’ve ever needed to speak with the McGregors was a few days. The last they knew they weren’t exactly on good terms with them either since their last visit. 

“..Okay.” She wasn’t going to argue anymore, just slowly made her way upstairs to pack her things. Why the wolf tribe though? They haven’t needed anything from them in millennia, there wasn’t much of a reason to go back now. Plus the daughter there really irked her... Stuck up little brat. 

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Fink grumbled to himself over and over again while he waited for the human to join him atop the tree flat. It shouldn’t take one so long to climb, if endurance was the game they were to play, then Fink would win for sure! Yes, indeed! 

“Hurry now, come on! You are almost at the top! Yes indeed!” Fink tried to encourage the boy, in all honesty, he was about ten feet from the top still, it’s been three and a half hours. The howling has stopped, but the silence causes the rat to suspect that they have already been found. Just being watched at this point. 

He scans the trees, his heart beating a mile a minute, and jumping into his throat when he sees the sheen of eyes glower back at him. Yes, yes, indeed being watched. They knew they were there, however, those silly wolves cannot climb!

Laughter bubbled out of his throat as he twirled in a little victorious circle. The only thing that they could do was wait!!! Perhaps the human will fall! Death, then the Owl Woman would have nothing to hold over Fink! 

Perhaps he should push him? 

The thought gave him a rush of adrenaline and fear all at once, if the mistress knew that he was the cause of the human’s death he would surely get consumed… The thought alone caused him to shiver. No no, no need to think of such things at this moment. 

“Fink!” The human shouts out and the rodent boy is snapped out of his little daze, glancing down to the one who struggles. 

“Yes?” He clicks his tongue at the boy, sitting back and kicking his legs atop the flattened tree top.

“I don’t think I can make it the rest of the way!” He’s panting, face red with exhaustion, how did humans ever survive he would never know. They get so tired so easily. No wonder it was a breeze for the birdman to wipe them all out. 

“Don’t be a fool! The wolves will get you if you don’t get up here! Come now, it’s not that far, no not far indeed.” Fink attempts to encourage him, that usually works yes? Coach the animal towards you to earn trust. 

“Fink I am exhausted, I need water and to rest.” He all but whines, while the rat boy scoffs. 

“You rest where you are and you will fall to your death, the ground will swallow you whole, and if the fall doesn’t kill you those muts certainly will.” To prove his point he waves his hand out into the woods, to which it earned him a couple of low growls. He’s honestly surprised none of them have tried to confront the two of them. They were watching, waiting, seeing if they would slip and fall.

Jokes on them. 

Fink had practiced for years in the art of escape, he had absolutely no fear for his own safety. However, this mere mortal wouldn’t stand a single chance against those hounds.

Just as he had the thought, the damn muts decided to begin their circling. What a pain.

“You know, you should climb faster! Yes, climb very fast!” Fink tried to encourage the boy, he was an odd shade of white...Where humans usually so pale? Is white a natural color? He didn’t pay too close attention to him before. 

“Fink..I can’t.” The human mumbles, looking up and then down and then back up quickly, “What are those!?”

Fink scoffs, “Dogs.” Another few barks were thrown his way, obviously insulted by his comment. 

“Those are not dogs!” The human white-knuckled the tree he was clutching the branch so hard. He looked even more ghostly if that was even possible. Hehe, Pawsible. 

Fink snickered at his own joke, thinking that if the mistress was here she would have appreciated that. 

“Come now, we don’t have time to worry about those muts. You’re going to fall if you do not get up here soon.” Perhaps rushing the meat bag wasn’t exactly the best idea, but the wolves circled closer and some even began judging the height to which they could jump. You could see it in their eyes, the way they judged the human, and tapped their back paws onto the ground. 

They would try. 

Nerves boiled in the pit of the rat's stomach, he had to calm himself before he ended up snapping and really making the boy fall to his impending death. 

To his effort though he was indeed trying, slowly, surely the human was making his way up towards them. 

“Yes, yes! You’re almost there, only three more feet!” It was more like five but he shortened it to motivate the boy more. To his credit it did. 

With one last final shove, the human pulled himself over the brim of the last branch and onto the canopy flat of the tree. 

“HA! Take that you mange infested muts!” Fink cheered, bouncing in his place on the flat, sticking his tongue out only to add emphasis. This not only angered the wolves and gave a couple of the big dogs enough motivation to throw themselves towards the tree. It shook most definitely, but nothing that would bring it down. They would break themselves before they broke the tree. 

“Fink! Don’t antagonize them, they won’t leave if you do!” The human exclaimed, still panting from where he was laying down. 

“They cannot get us from here, no no, they can only growl and bark like the dogs they are.” Another victory dance and a tongue waggle was enough for the rat boy before he made his way over to the human. Reaching into a pouch he keeps hooked on his belt he pulls out a small vial filled with blue liquid.

“Here, drink.” Holding it out, the human glances at him and looks skeptical. 

“What is it?” He hesitantly reaches for it, bringing it to his nose to give it a good whiff before awaiting Fink’s answer. 

“Nothing bad, no, good for hydration. Stole it from the witch woman.” He gives himself a little sigh, “What a beauty she is, yes yes indeed.” He left her a rose in its place. Surely she wouldn’t be so mad with such a beautiful flower in its place. 

“The witch woman?” He repeats Fink, which slightly annoys the rat, “The one that squealed overseeing me?”

Jealousy filled in the pit of Fink's stomach and he almost took the vial and threw it to the wolves. Almost. 

“Yes.” He said curtly, “She keeps stock for when she goes on long journeys. So she doesn’t have to worry about silly things such as food and water for a few days. Now drink.” His stomach bubbled and boiled with acid, though he took a deep breath and let it subside while the human shrugged and drank it.

Instantly, Fink could see the color returning to his face. 

“See? Never doubt, Fink. He is just here to help.” He felt kind of warm stating that, a nice little bubble of a feeling rather than the acid from before. What an odd thing. 

“Name?” Fink suddenly realized he wasn’t sure what the human calls himself, and just calling him “the human” was getting annoying. 

Be careful, Fink. We don’t want to name our pets. We may get too attached to them. 

The mistress's voice echoed around in his head, causing him to have a slight panic. 

“Damon.” The human said, sitting up, “Where exactly are we going to?” 

Ah, ever the most curious species this one was. He remembered that about humans. They inquired about everything. 

“A safe place, where humans can live in peace and not be tracked down by those who seek to abuse your power.” He figured a little white lie couldn’t hurt the boy, plus if he really explained why he was there to fetch him then surely he wouldn’t get him down from the tree. 

“A safe place?” Damon repeats, always with the repeating, so annoying. 

“Yes.” Fink responds, walking more towards the middle of the tree flat, “Many of your kind resided in this place before the great fire executed them”

“Well doesn’t sound too safe to me than,” Damon mumbled and Fink’s anger spiked just a tad. He wasn’t going to fare well with this one’s sass in the slightest. 

He was even more surprised that the small angry one didn't take him out before anyone else did. 

“Well, how exactly do you escape a raging inferno that coats the world?” Fink shot back, letting some of his irritation show as he took a seat and began making a small meal out of the fruits he stole earlier. 

“Well, how did all of these other species survive?” Damon got closer, eyeing some of the strawberries and Fink sighed, handing him a handful. 

“The fire was meant to just eradicate humans, so those who were not human or had human DNA laced within them were spared. Some lower classes of demons and fae were obliterated though that was because they were far too weak to withstand the power of the cleansing.” He munched on things in between talking, gaging the human's reaction for anything. Though he seemed to just be curious. 

“Tell me more about the witch.” He said this so suddenly that Fink nearly choked on his fruit. His face growing only a tad bit heated. 

“Why do you want to know about her?” Yes, he was getting a little defensive, but out of everyone to ask questions over, why was she the first one? Fink was not pleased, no no, not pleased at all. 

“Well, you said you enjoyed taking things from her. Well, that’s just what I got from you. So I figured you’d like to talk about her rather than all this negative stuff.” Leaning his head forwards and resting them atop his fists, the human gazed at the rat boy in the evening sunlight.

“So, tell me about her.” He pressed.

Fink felt strange. Almost giddy. He did enjoy talking about the witch though he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be talking about her to some human. He doubts he would understand the feelings that he acquired for her many years ago. 

“Ah, well, you see, uh” he stuttered, he was stuttering, what an odd feeling, he had never spoken about his feelings for the witch before. Just acknowledged that they were there. 

“Getting a little flustered?” Damon teased him, giving a bit of a s**t-eating grin. 

“No!” Fink growled, “I haven’t exactly brought up my….” feelings” for her to anyone.” Maybe if he just danced around the topic long the human would just leave it at that. Though with the pressing look he was getting from him, it was easy to say that it was not the case. 

A wiggle of eyebrows and a scoot closer to the rat boy had made him give up. 

Fink sighed, “It happened years ago. She was creating something in her lab and it caught my nose while I was sneaking around the outside. It gave off one of the most wonderful scents I have ever experienced in my life.” Just remembering it got him a little giddy with excitement, “Oh yes, yes indeed! It was wonderful. And as the rat that I am, I wanted that smell for myself. So I found a way inside through a broken cellar door. It was a dimly lit room, full of strange shiny things all over the place, though that wasn’t my main goal at that time. It was that smell. Closer and closer I came, slinking and sliding all around her cellar lab in order to find it.” Fink sighed, remembering every detail, “I finally ended up right behind her, just about to get ready to take whatever she put down in order to get what I wanted. But as she walked away, and I scoured the table, the scent was no longer there. And then I had realized that it was her that smelled so delicious to me.” A soft smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, “Than she beat me with a yardstick to get me out of her lab.” Silly witch. 

Damon just seemed to stare and give him a strange look for a while, “So, what you’re saying, is that you fell in love with the smell, not her?” Fink could see the confusion that flittered over his face. Humans weren’t the smartest it seems.

“No. There is much more to that, however, now is not the time to go over all of what I enjoy about the witch. Sleep. We need to leave early in the morning.” At this point, the rest of that ridiculous family was sure to be behind them. Especially since Fink had taken something from the witch that may have been just a tad important.