Love & Sprites

Chapter One - Bitten by the Stray.

I tried to focus but the little bird beat its wings too fast as it flew past branches. The sun had pierced too many holes into the shades. Its rays of light littered the soil. How long had it been since daybreak?

I resisted the urge to scratch my itchy buttocks. Was it a mosquito? How many pint of my blood had the menace sucked today? I doubted if it was only one.
The leaves whistled as they scampered wildly around my feet. My tongue was dry. My stomach grumbled again. A sweat drop crept down my cheek. My eyes watered...

Still, I forced myself to concentrate on the glaring ball of fire that floated before my face. I had painfully conjured it with my mind; my curse. Yet, I struggled to tame it. To restrain its searing heat.

The instruction was to make the ball bigger. To make it burn brighter. Not when it mirrored my terrified face. I dared not blink at its vicious stare.
It whooshed again startling me. Then it burned unsteadily, threatening to explode. I couldn't risk another burn. Where would it scar this time? I fretted.

The itch, the noise, the hunger, the thirst and the concentration; I couldn't take them anymore. Suddenly, the once flickering ball of fire turned into a roaring blaze. It was out of my control.

I severed my connection with it instantly and ducked. The ball of fire whooshed over my head with a gust of hot wind, hurtling into the air. It collided with a tree and singed its trunk only slightly, shaking its leaves. The bushbaby that was once there had leapt to another tree. Grateful to the gods that it was safe, it looked over its shoulder, squeaking curses at me before it disappeared. I didn't mean to-

KOM

"Ah!" I groaned as a smack landed on my head. The resounding noise seemingly shook the grove. I rubbed my head, cursing. This time, I was certain my skull had cracked. I turned around to look at the Mage in anger, but I dared not protest.

"That's not how you should have done it!" The old man hollered with a gruff voice. "You didn't concentrate long enough."

"I was trying." I muttered back, still rubbing my head. I checked to see if I was bleeding. The old man's age cloaked his strength.

"That wasn't enough. The fire you made could have razed the forest and killed its inhabitants." I noticed his wrinkling dark skin glowed like embers when he was angry.

"It was only a small ball of flame." I rolled my eyes as I picked up my bow and arrow at the foot of a tree. I'd rather test my new hunting skills than argue over fire.

"A small ball you lost control of. " The breeze swayed the gray beards framing his face. It was hard to tell if the man was blind from birth or old age had sealed his eyes. Either way, rumours had it that he gave up his eyes for the sight of the gods.

I drew my bow, aimed and launched an arrow into the tree. The thrust peeled off its bark and dug its iron arrowhead into its trunk. This only vexed the Mage.

"With this attitude of yours how do you expect the people to accept you and your gifts, eh?"

"Me and my curses you mean." I walked to the tree and yanked out the arrow with anger. I hissed when it bruised my palm. I hated when he addressed my curse as a gift to make me feel better. Curses weren't gifts. They were evil. Doom to its bearer.

He hugged his staff. "You might be thinking like an ass but does that make you one?"

I'd had enough. "I am cursed," I shouted, turning around. "It is who I am. It's the way I was born. I didn't ask you to train me on how to use them. I never asked for any of these."

"We do not get to choose the life we want, Gahiji. But we can only choose the life to lead." He said. "That was why I took you under my wing. Rather than let you lynch yourself in the village square."