Blue Flames

Chapter 73

The king? Who would attack the king?

"Watch out!" Noah's voice echoed before his body slammed mine into the wall. A torrent of heat blazed through the corridor a second later, thinning the air. Noah's broad chest filled my vision, his body a furnace even with the heat around us. My eyes watered. The corridor filled with orange flames.

Several guards had done the same, pressing themselves against the walls. The cries of those who didn't duck in time only lasted a few seconds. The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air.

Arthur!

The flames suddenly disappeared and I pushed out of Noah's protective hold, stepping back just in time to keep from being drenched by water. Two guards, water elementalists, held their arms towards the horizontal column of fire, pushing the fire back with torrents of water.

Steam rose from the point of contact, filling the corridor and hampering our vision.

It was several minutes later that the water finally died down, and we sprinted to the end of the corridor. I pushed through the gargle of guards, my heart in my throat.

Arthur stood in front of massive double doors. Air left my lungs in a whoosh. He was okay.

Four of the king's black-clad guards lay limp on either side of the door, their upper bodies a charred mass of muscle and bone. The heart and the brain were deeply damaged. They wouldn't be getting up from that.

The double doors were open, revealing a room. The furniture, couches and tables and chairs were overturned and pushed out of the way. A roaring fire stood in the center of the room.

No, wait. That wasn't fire. It was a beast made out of flames. Angry red flames. It was the size of a car. Demonic energy emanated off him and licked my senses with slimy fingers.

The leonine beast raised its massive head, opened its maw and vomited a deluge of fire aimed at someone deeper in the room where I couldn't see.

Arthur stood in the doorway, his entire body strained. The bond twisted with the power of his magic. I took a step forward and stopped. Something was pushing against me. I moved past the line of guards and soldiers. It was like trying to walk through dense snow. And the closer I got the more difficult it was to move forward.

"What's happening?" I asked, coming to a stop a few feet behind Arthur. That was as far as I could go. The castle guards and soldiers remained frozen behind us.

"Someone used a spell to lock the king and that monstrosity in the room," Arthur said, his voice strained.

"Is my uncle alive?" I asked, not able to see the inside of the room. I couldn't take another step. If I moved another inch, my body would shatter into tiny pieces. "Can the demon get out?"

"Yes. It's a one way spell. The demon and its magic might exit, but we cannot enter."

The demon turned its head, glaring at us through lit up purple eyes with a slit of a pupil. Upclose, I could see the scales on its body, like those of some giant chameleon. The pattern of white and dark scales under the flames reminiscent of a snakeskin. The flames surrounding its body flared upward, and its mouth gaped open aiming straight for us.

I saw the fire coming, but my muscles locked in the energy sludge, unable to move. Arthur was in front of me in a blink, his arms around me and his back to the fire. The current of fire broke apart on his back, heat on either side of us.

When the fire ended I patted his back. His shirt was still intact. He must've used his telekinesis to shield us.

"Water Elementals! Here, now!" he barked to the fae behind us. "And get me a damn witch!"