The Phoenix Stone

Chapter Three

I only realized after I recovered from my state of rigidness that the Enchantiss had taken the Phoenix Sword as well as my grandmother. I figured as long as they didn't also have the Phoenix Stone it would be okay but I had no idea how I was going to live by myself. My grandmother had taken care of me for twelve years and she'd never left me for more than half a day. I wasn't at all prepared to take care of myself. Learning to cook for myself wasn't going to be easy and the loneliness would hit in about a day or so. That much I knew so I tried to prepare myself the best I could.

A few mornings later I discovered—to my absolute horror—that there was no food left in the cottage pantry. I knew I had two options: One, I could forage for mushrooms and herbs in the woods, maybe even hunt a little. Or, two, I could be lazy and just go to the nearest village, Duskstrand, and buy some food. Duskstrand was about an hour's walk away but the people of Duskstrand absolutely hated me for something I hadn't meant to do.

Almost exactly six months ago I had been practicing a fairy-fire spell when my best friend, Millee, had distracted me. She hadn't realized how concentrated you have to be to do magic and so she interrupted my concentration. That was the biggest mistake she would ever make.

"There you are, Nyx! I've been looking for you." Millee had said as she burst into the clearing where I was practicing. "What are you doing?"

"Ahh!" I shouted. I hadn't heard her coming because of how concentrated I was on doing the spell correctly. "You scared me, Millee!"

She started to smile but then her eyes opened wide and she screamed. Her eyes weren't focused on me but behind me.

"What's wrong, Millee?" I asked her, panicked.

She slowly raised her hand and pointed behind me, her mouth wide open, a scream piercing the silence.

I turned around and gasped. High above our heads was a huge fireball that was growing bigger with every passing second. I lifted my hands towards the fire and tried to rein the fireball in with magic but I couldn't concentrate hard enough to rein in the huge fire.

Millee screamed so loudly that soon some of the nearby villagers came running into the clearing. Some of them had been down at the river gathering water so they ran back and got their water-filled buckets but it wasn't enough to stop my mistake from growing. The fireball, despite my best efforts, grew and grew until it finally fell from the sky.

I had had just enough time before the fireball landed to cast a protection spell on myself and run out of the fire. All I could hear as I ran from the inescapable heat was the sound of their screams being cut off by the roaring flames as they were consumed by the raging fire.

I snapped out of the flashback with a gasp and I found myself kneeling on the floor in a puddle of salt water lol with tears running down my cheeks. My grandmother had rushed in a few seconds later and instantly subdued the fire but it was already too late. Millee and the other villagers were gone. Forever. The deep ache in my heart made me realize how much I needed people in my life who loved me.

A little while later, once I'd recovered, I packed the spellbook into my satchel and stepped out the door. It wasn't a very long walk through Everneau Woods to Duskstrand and when I arrived at the outskirts of the village I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. Dread. I dreaded going into the village but I needed food.

I took a deep breath and walked into Duskstrand. I probably looked pretty shady because I stayed in the shadows of the houses until I reached the centre of the village; the marketplace.

As usual the marketplace was extremely busy and you could hear vendors shouting loudly to one another from across the plaza. There was absolutely no way that I could get in and out without someone recognizing me and surely being recognized was no good thing given what I'd done.

In the shadows of the nearby buildings I took another deep breath and pulled the hood of my cloak over my head. As I made my way through the bustling crowd I wondered what would happen if someone did recognize me. Perhaps they would shout and everyone would run away from me? Or perhaps not.

I made it all the way across the plaza without someone recognizing me until I literally walked into someone. Fate was not on my side in that instant because when I had bumped into the person my hood had flown off my head revealing my face. Fate was also not on my side because the person I had bumped into—a hulking giant of a man—was Mannix, the local blacksmith and the widower of one of the people I'd killed in the accident. I hadn't been to Duskstrand since the accident but I'd accurately predicted how they'd react to my presence.

"Nyx?" he said quietly. It was almost like he couldn't believe I was still alive. I guess in his mind I had also died in the fire?

I looked up at his bearded face with fear shooting through my veins. His monstrous shadow darkened my face. I tried to turn and run away but he caught me and grabbed my arms.

"I can't believe you would dare show your face in this village again!" He shook me, making my teeth rattle in my head.

"Let me go, Mannix! I'm not here to cause any trouble!" I tried to pull away but his grip was firm. He shook me again.

"Hah," he said grimly. "I'll make sure of that." He lifted a beefy arm high in the air and yelled to the entire marketplace, "The murderer, Nyx, has returned! Let's give her a warm welcome, shall we?" he said sarcastically.

The mood in the plaza turned sour instantly and in that moment I knew that I should've just foraged for my own food instead of being lazy and buying it. I knew that I would be lucky if I made it out of Duskstrand with my life.

The crowd cheered as Mannix lifted me high above his head triumphantly.

I protested, screaming, "I meant no harm to anybody! I just need food and then I'll leave! Please! I'm begging! Let me go! I swear I didn't mean to do anything!"

I tried to kick him. I tried with all my strength to get down but his grip was too strong and grief made him oblivious to pain.

"How should we do away with her?" Mannix yelled to the crowd, shaking me like a prize piece of venison. "Give me some ideas!"

"Hang her! Drown her! Feed her to the wolves!" The crowd suggested.

I tried to meet the eyes of some of the people I knew from when we'd lived in town. My former teacher, Miss Zuni? Nope. She wouldn't meet my eyes as she pushed her way through the crowd, heading home. My friend, Ova? Nope. She looked scared of me. Almost like she thought I would just summon a fireball and kill her with a single glance. I tried everyone that I recognized in the crowd. The baker? The pastor? Not even the village peacemongers would help me! That was the moment when I realized that I had no friends and no one who cared enough about me to stop these angry villagers.

"Any other ideas?" Mannix asked when he hadn't heard of a satisfactory way to eliminate me.

"I have an idea." A little boy that I didn't recognize stepped forward shyly while his mother looked on proudly. "We should burn her like she burned us."

The crowd roared with approval and just like that my fate was sealed with eight words uttered by a five year old.