Fallen (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 45 - Fire and Ice

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I drew back as heat nipped at my wings. I was far above the fire, but it was so massive and intense, that I could feel it burning my skin. My eyes scanned over the smoke below, trying to spot what was happening through the smoke that lay over it. It wasn't windy so the smoke was not dispersing quickly, and I didn't understand why the fire was so huge.

I gave up trying to spot Kendrick through the white cloud below as I saw some of his pack members retreating into the centre of their territory, looking for a safe place even though there was not any.

It had taken me a while to fly back to the pack, my impulse was to look for him first, but even he wouldn't make it if I focused on that. So instead of wasting more time trying to find him, I turned my attention to calming the fire. I lifted my hands trying to put it out, but it seemed like the flames were somehow fighting back against me and every time I managed to make it shrink just slightly, it would grow again.

It didn't make sense, even though it was tiring to try to put the fire out, I did not feel like I was running out of strength due to exertion. I should have been able to put it out, I would already have if it didn't flame right back up when I was about to extinguish it.

What was happening? Was my magic just not working?

I could have gone down, told the pack members to jump over the flames when they had the chance as I tried to put it out, but I would never be able to get that message to everyone at the same time, not unless I found their Alpha or Beta, which there was no guarantee of.

There was another option, one I did not really want to consider because it would mean destroying the rest of a forest already in agony, but if I did nothing, all the wolves would burn to death. I decided to attempt to use wind to blow the ring of fire outwards, away from the centre of the pack even though it would make the fire much bigger and cause it to burn through the trees of the surrounding forest even faster.

Deciding to think more about it on the ground, I began to descend but stopped at the sight of a lone person on the other side of the river.

The fire had not spread across the river, which was miraculous because some of the burning trees had collapsed into the water, creating a bonfire-like stack that blocked the water and bridged over to the trees on the other side. Despite still being on fire, it wasn't setting the other trees alight.

My eyes shifted to the figure, and I realised why the fire wasn't spreading.

It was magic.

The person appeared to be causing the fire. It wasn't a fairy, I was too far to see their face but their blanket-covered arms were stretched out over what appeared to be a pile of different kinds of leaves.

A witch.

I pointed my hands to them and sent a wave of water from the river splashing onto them. They seemed startled, stumbling when the wave hit, the fire beneath me faltering showing just how much control the witch had over it. They instantly regained their composure and pointed their hands back at the pile of now-soaked leaves. The fire began to flare up again as the witch looked around trying to spot what had caused the unnatural splash.

Our eyes met, the hood slipping off their head to reveal an aged woman with long, grey hair. Even from afar, her face appeared shocked. I didn't want to give her a moment to turn her magic onto me, I knew it was her or the people beneath me, so I began to turn the water that had splashed on her to ice.

She seemed to realise what was happening immediately and tried to fight off the ice, but it grew back each time she moved. The fire beneath me began to shrink at her distraction. Soon, her legs were frozen, keeping her planted on the ground as she let out loud yells while trying to slam at the growing ice tracing upwards along her clothing like growing vines.