Heart of Fire

Chapter Twenty Six

Zehra doesn't hesitate to come after me, just as I'd hoped. I let my flames go out, reaching for my sword instead. We have to get her out of here alive if we want to interrogate her on the heirloom, and my fire won't exactly help me in that department. It doesn't matter how good it would feel to end her life, those aren't my orders. Still, a girl can dream.

She looks at me angrily as she approaches, a sword ready in her hand. I smirk as she makes a move to attack, which I block with ease. What I wasn't expecting her to do, however, was block my attacks on her. It seems as though she has had just as much training as me in combat. Maybe I underestimated her fighting abilities.

We go back and forth, attacking each other only to get blocked. Getting annoyed, I drop my sword to the ground, choosing to go for her feet instead. I swipe my leg under hers, causing her to land on the ground harshly. She gasps for air as I lock my arms around her neck to keep her from moving.

"Miss me?" I laugh in her ear, earning a grunt of annoyance from her. I take this chance to look for Kenton. He was supposed to knock her out as soon as we had eyes on her. Obviously that hasn't happened.

There's so much chaos on the field, it makes it next to impossible to spot him. I see Amelia and Brooks tag teaming against their army, fighting together effortlessly. Fyn strikes down their soldiers with his ice, freezing their limbs from moving before ending them. Hudson fights with grace near Fyn, keeping as many soldiers away from his trio as possible. I see many of our army go down, though it is a small amount compared to what we have done to theirs.

I never knew just how gruesome battle is. Sure, I've heard stories and read many books on how awful it is, but nothing compares to actually being present to see it all. The smell is almost too horrifying, the blood and sweat and many bodily fluids mixing on the field, it's dizzying.

I finally spot Kenton far away from the rest of the fighting taking place. He's completely surrounded, fighting off guards left and right, struggling to keep up with the mass amount of them. My heart skips a beat as I see a guard approaching from behind him. Kenton doesn't notice that he's there. Panicking, I let go of the struggling princess in my arms before surrounding her in my flames where she can't escape.

I run towards Kenton as fast as my legs let me, keeping my flames ignited as I sprint into the chaos. Just as the guard is about to strike Kenton from behind, he spots me, halting his movements.

"Touch him, and you will die." I breathe, letting my flames take full control of my body.

Kenton finally acknowledges my presence, looking at me through the sides of his eyes as he continues to fight off guards. I release my hold on my flames, letting them loose through the mass of guards around Kenton. Each one of them drops to the ground immediately, their bodies surrounding Kenton and I in a heap of flames. I rush towards him, embracing him tightly. He drops his sword to wrap his arms around me, dropping his head to my neck.

He pulls away from me, scanning my every feature in awe. "You are glorious." He breathes, not taking his eyes off of me.

I look at him in confusion, but when I catch a glimpse of myself in the reflection of his sword that lays on the ground, I freeze. My eyes shine brightly as the color of my flames, as does my hair, completely filled out in burning red. I look every bit of the person I truly am, and I've never felt better.

A loud cry snaps me out of my daze. I snap my head in the direction it came from, only to see Brooks clutching his side as he falls to the ground. Amelia struggles to keep off the guards who attack her without his help, nor can she aid his injury.

"Brooks, you idiot." I scold to myself as I run towards him. Kenton runs beside me, but I quickly wave him off. "No, you need to get Zehra. Knock her out so we can get out of here." I order him. He nods, changing his direction to where I've trapped Zehra.

My flames are already ignited when I reach Brooks and Amelia. I release my flames on Caraq's soldiers, careful not to hit any of our own. As expected, they drop to the ground instantly, their cries fading out as my flames take their lives. I drop to the ground where Brooks lays, clutching his side in pain. I take his hands away from the injury to examine it, my stomach lurching once I see the amount of blood he's losing.

"Dammit, Brooks. What the hell did you do?" I say, now applying pressure to his wound. It looks as though he got punctured by a sword in his side. If it were just a few inches closer to his middle, he would already be dead. Amelia rushes to us, dropping down beside me to see the wound.

"Shit." She curses. "He's losing a lot of blood, we need to get out of here." I look at her worriedly, if he doesn't get medical help fast, this could end very badly.

"I'll be fine. I'm fine." Brooks grits out, his words sloppy and slurring. My hands are covered in blood as I keep as much pressure on the wound as possible.

"No, you're not fine. We need to get you some help." I say to him.

He drops his head back in defeat, obviously struggling to remain conscious. Hudson runs up to us with a cloth in his hand that he must have had on him. I take the cloth from him to apply it on Brooks' wound, the tiny thing immediately filling with blood. Fortunately, most of the guards are either dead or severely injured, leaving us to focus on Brooks without worry of being attacked.

Hudson calls Fyn over to us to help. He's here in an instant, looking over at Brooks and grimacing. "You three take him to the horses, I'll make sure Kenton gets Zehra." I order them. Amelia takes my place in holding pressure to Brooks' side as Fyn and Hudson pick him up, swiftly taking him to safety.

I spot Kenton almost immediately, carrying a limp Zehra over his shoulder. I run over to him, not bothering to wipe the blood from my hands.

"How is he?" He asks, referring to Brooks.

I shake my head, "He doesn't have much time before he bleeds out. We need to leave now." I say. He shouts to his army to retreat to the horses, all of them obeying without hesitation.

Just as we start to follow the army, I hear the King shout to us. Kenton turns around with Zehra still on his shoulder, looking him dead in the eye before knocking him out cold. He sways a little bit under the weight of the princess, probably from the amount of power he's used. This, I realize, is exactly what he warned us about by using his abilities. If he uses too much at once, it weakens him.

I grab his arm to steady him, looking at him worriedly. "Are you alright?"

He blinks a few times, trying to gain some strength. "Yes, I just used too much power. I'll be fine." He affirms, walking away from the castle. I stay by his side, once again escaping Caraq with him.