Hellfury

Chapter 6: Auri

   'You what now?' Auri stuttered and tried to keep her mouth from hanging open. He had to be fucking joking.
    'I'll take you home. As payment-'
    'Yes, I heard that, thank you very much. I told you I wanted to go alone. You'll be okay within two days. Get back to Redania and leave me alone.' Auri made to walk past him and leave him there but he grabbed her arm and whirled her around to face him.
    'I still need coins, and to get coins I need monsters, you,' he pointed a finger at her face. 'Have proven to be very capable of finding them for me. So, I'll take you to the harbor and get your ungrateful backside on a ship.' he spat and the grip on her arm tightened.

Auri was fuming. The crackling fire in her chest howled. Before she knew better she had her dagger pointed to his throat and the former commander pushed up against the rough stone walls of the cave.
    'Why the fuck am I so important to you, why are you here and why are you lying?' she snarled and pushed the tip of the dagger into his jaw to illustrate her point.
    'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' he said and looked down at his own dagger pointed at the side of her stomach, he angled it up and grinned. 'Being stabbed hurts, being stabbed through the kidneys is unbearable. You couldn't hurt me even if you tried. So drop the fucking dagger. Now.'
    'Why are you lying to me?' she pressed, still refusing to believe he wanted to go with her out of the goodness of his heart.
    'Fine.' he admitted, still keeping the dagger where it was. 'I deserted the army. I am wanted. I need to flee. Skellige is my best bet.'

Auri lowered her dagger. Wanted. This was the stupidest situation she'd been in in a while. Dragging him along to Skellige was dangerous. If he was wanted and someone recognized him she'd be in trouble too, aiding a deserter-. She had to stay out of the major cities and her plan to go to Oxenfurt was dead in its tracks.
    'Why did you flee?' she asked and sheathed her dagger.
    'The fire. I was captured. I was tortured for months and I fled. I didn't know what else to do. Then I saw the bounty and decided against going back to Temeria to get my head cleaved neatly from my shoulders.' he said, staring at her. His knuckles whitened around the dagger-hilt.
'You single handedly just fucked up every plan I had to get home, you do realize that?' she questioned and raised a brow at him.
    'I know. What was your plan?' he asked and finally sheathed the dagger.

Auri took a breath and sat down on the cold ground. She might as well tell him. She hadn't lied to him, she was better than that.
    'I wanted to flee Skellige after my mother died. The same chaos that lives in me consumed her, but my father sent me to my grandmother to learn how to control it. She was at Aretuza when she was a girl. She thought she'd be able to help,' Auri stopped speaking. The pain on her grandmother's face still hurt her. She had called it hellfury. The fire in Auri burned hotter than anything she'd ever seen. The old woman had said she was cursed.
    'Did she?' Mawr asked, his voice was softer now, almost concerned. 'Help?'
    'She did her best. I learned to control it eventually, at Aretuza under Tissaia's watchful eye. I was sent to Aedirn as the King's court mage when the war broke out. I was meant to fight and go home. I was meant to go home-'
    'What about the mages? Do they know you're still here?'
    'I don't know. I haven't seen any of them. I assume King Foltest sent word the moment he saw me, but I haven't heard anything since. I figured now was my chance to go back to Ard Skellig, and then came the scouts.'
    'And then me,' he added for her and winced when his arm hit the wall.

    'My plan was to find the Sandpiper. He's helped elves in the past, I figured I'd pay him to get me on a ship to Skellige. I'm wanted too, and I don't think the Nilfgaardians will stop hunting me. Nilfgaard has no footing on Skellige as far as I know. I will be safe there until the war comes.' she finished and rubbed at her temples.
    'The Sandpiper?'
    'Do you know him?' Auri asked and noticed the flicker of recognition in his eyes.
    'I know of him. He left Oxenfurt months ago. Last I heard he was in Brokilon. Your plan would have fallen apart even if you hadn't met me, Auri.'