Stroke the Flame

21

With that grim thought, we quickly prepared ourselves and left the ruined building, since there was no room to fight inside it. As we stood in the center of the village, the men all drew their weapons and I gripped my bow tight. Jasin clutched his large sword, while Auric held a long, thin blade with elaborate carvings. Slade lifted his huge axe, his stance wide, like nothing was getting through him. Reven disappeared into the shadows or maybe onto a nearby roof, I wasn’t sure.

Dark figures crept out of doorways and blades glinted under the starlight, but my rapid breathing was the only thing I could hear.

Auric raised his sword. “Here they come.”

“Protect Kira,” Slade told the others.

Jasin gripped his weapon tighter. “With my life.”

“I can protect myself,” I told them, readying my bow. I prayed to the Gods it was true.

17

Kira

A

s dark figures approached from all around us I nocked an arrow, my heart pounding in my chest. We were outnumbered and would soon be surrounded. What if I’d made the wrong decision?

When the first bandit came within range, I released my arrow. It struck the man in the chest and he hit the ground. I grabbed another arrow immediately, but by then the attackers were already upon us.

Thin knives appeared from the rooftops above us, landing in the throats of two of the bandits, killing them instantly. Thrown by Reven, no doubt. He leaped off the rooftop and his twin blades sliced through another bandit as he landed. He then launched himself at the next attacker in a blur of movement.

Slade swung his axe at a man wearing a gray hood, while Auric’s long blade clashed with a curved sword wielded by a woman. Jasin moved in front of me, meeting two bandits with his heavy sword, his movements swift and powerful. He spun and slashed between the two of them, keeping them at bay.

Everything happened so quickly it was hard to tell who was friend or foe in the darkness, and I hesitated to release my arrow while wishing I could be of more help in the fight. When Auric narrowly dodged a blow from the woman with the curved sword, I saw my chance and let my arrow fly, taking her down with a well-placed shot in the chest.

The two men fighting Jasin pushed him back against a wall and I saw a burst of blood under the moonlight. Panic shot through me and I readied another arrow to help defend him, but then a woman lunged at me with a dagger. Auric let out a shout and blasted a gust of wind toward her, sweeping her off her feet—and me along with her.

I hit the ground hard on my back, all the air knocked from my chest and my head smarting from the impact. The bandit woman recovered faster and grabbed her dagger off the ground, already getting back to her feet. I sucked in a breath and lifted myself up, but I wasn’t quick enough in reaching for my own knife from my boot. She raised her dagger, but then a barrage of rubble slammed into her, courtesy of Slade I assumed.

Only problem was the rocks went wide and smashed into Jasin and Auric too. Flames lashed out from Jasin’s hands at the two bandits in front of him, setting them both on fire, along with everything around them. In an instant, the nearby brush was alight and blazing with heat.

Behind me, Reven swore under his breath and conjured a downpour of water over the flames like he’d done this morning, except on a larger scale. A much larger scale. Suddenly we were up to our knees in a flash flood of muddy water, which swept two of the bandits away into the forest. I grabbed onto a nearby piece of rubble to steady myself as the water rushed around me.

Within seconds, all our attackers were either dead or gone. I wasn’t sure if any of them had escaped or not. If they did, then our secret would be out.

A body floated up beside me and I shuddered, while our nearby horses stomped their feet in the rising water. I lifted my bow above the water and each of my men looked somewhere between stunned and exhausted, which was about how I felt too. We were all soaked through, covered in mud and blood with a few cuts and bruises, but at least we were alive.

“Is everyone all right?” I asked.

Jasin touched his neck, which was still bleeding. “Nothing serious.”

“I’m fine,” Auric said.

Reven regarded the ruined village like he still expected trouble to emerge from its dark doorways. “We should get moving.”

“No kidding,” Jasen said, as he trudged through the knee-high muddy stream. “Think you summoned enough water here?”

Reven’s eyes narrowed at him. “I wouldn’t have had to use my powers at all if you hadn’t set the entire place on fire.”

“That wouldn’t have happened if Slade hadn’t attacked me with a pile of rocks,” Jasin snapped.

“That was an accident,” Slade said.

“We all made mistakes,” Auric said, glancing at me. “I’m sorry I hit you also.”

“We’re still alive,” I said. “That’s what matters. We just have some things to work on, that’s all.”

“That’s an understatement,” Jasin muttered. We made it to the horses and began packing up quickly, all of us eager to get away from this wretched place. But then Slade stopped just before mounting his horse and moved to rest his hand against a large rock nearby. All of us paused to watch him, wondering what he was doing. He closed his eyes and stood there, his palm pressing on the smooth stone, before finally pulling away. “There’s a cave nearby. We can camp there tonight.”