Guardians Book One - Magic Rising

Chapter Twenty One

Something deep inside was screaming that this was not a good idea, but Kath ignored it as she sprinted towards the source of the burning, vaguely aware Pestilence was a little way behind her; this time, she was outpacing him. They need me...this is something I can do, something I can help with, something I choose to do. Something I ain't forced to do – something I'm made for doing. Something that proves I matter, too.

The aquamarine in the pistol's handle flared ice-cold, making her cry out and almost drop it, and as she rounded the corner to the riverbank edging the little cottage's grounds, she saw the reason.

"Not here! How dare you, monster?" Lady was shrieking, although her face was almost inhumanly calm, her eyes glowing and focussed, a smile of grim satisfaction on her lips as she faced off against the swooping creature of fire before her. The grass around them was singed in a wide, perfect circle, but Lady was on the riverbank, one foot in the water, and her skin was shimmering with...

Magic. She's casting magic...Kath took a moment to goggle at the sight of Lady with her head thrown back, her hands rising to motion the water from the river, circling it up and around herself to slice in a tsunami wave at the screaming firebird.

"Drown!" Lady growled; the bird hadn't moved quickly enough to miss the water stream catching its tail, ripping the flame feathers apart with a hiss of steam. It screamed and swept down to claw at her face. Lady lashed a hand at it, and the water moved with her, lunging at the firebird.

Kath couldn't help but laugh, even in the face of the huge, burning hawk. Who the hell sends a firebird against a water mage?!Stupid! Piece of cake! She ran forward, over the burnt edge of the circle.

The charred line flared into a wall of flames around her, and from that wall tendrils of the flames crawled out, formed, rose up, surrounded her, burning her skin even at a distance.

"Kath?" Lady roared at her as she backed up towards her, shielding her face from the heat, from the spindly beaked things, their stubs of wings becoming clawed and hooked and grasping for the women.

"I got this?" Kath wheezed, her eyes watering as she grappled with the gun in her hand. Her hands shaking, she crammed all her fingers around the trigger and pulled, but the bullet simply glanced off the feathers, too far to the left. It laughed – a shrill parody of a giggle – and mock-bowed to her, its beak almost playfully spitting flames at her. The tendrils caught her unprotected hands and seared through her flesh. Kath cursed, pulling back her hands and trying to remember anything Lady had taught her in the past week. Hr legs shuffled awkwardly into a short fighting stance.

"What do you think you are doing?" Lady grabbed her – all propriety apparently forgotten – and half-dragged Kath behind her, throwing her off-balance and making her stumble into the river edge. She fell to her knees – even in the river she could feel  the edge of the flame, stopping her escaping down the path of the river. She could feel Pes on the other side of the flame, but he couldn't break through – they were trapped.

"I cannot...make more water!" Lady cried at her, her eyes as ablaze as the firebird. "This is it! This is everything that there is! Why could you not just stay with the others?"

Kath stared up at her, wordless. "I...?" She rallied. "You gave me a weapon..."

"Which you cannot yet use! Could you not wait?" Lady screamed back at her, and turned away, inhaling hard and closing her eyes; the air shifted as she drew the moisture from the air around them, pulling it up from the earth and the river bed. The grass withered under her feet; the babbling of the river slowed to a trickle as she pulled it up and around herself. The myriad creatures, clumsy on their spindly heron legs, wobbled forward into the barrier she was constructing as she tore out her own sword from over her back, clasping her hands around the hilt. Close to, kneeling behind her, Kath could see her legs were trembling and her face as she turned to block and slash was sheet-white; trying to concentrate on too many things. Kath saw her teeth grind together as she pulled anything, everything she could from the world around them. Kath's own skin felt drier, the burns stinging harshly.