To Ashes

Unlikely Help

--

Chapter Seven

Unlikely Help

--

Eric stared up at the glittering ceiling of his cell. No one had visited him in hours. Or maybe days. It was incredibly difficult to tell what time of day it was, not that it mattered much. Out of sheer boredom, Eric had started breaking his time into chunks.

When he had first moved into his little coastal town, he had taken up karate at the only tiny martial art school the town had. At first, it had just been something to build up his strength. He'd found it fun. He went two or three times a week. The phoenix remembered Beren's disdain when Eric had proudly proclaimed he had experience with fighting. A year or two of karate didn't exactly amount to much in comparison to a sun fae several hundreds of thousands of years old. It didn't take long for Eric to concede the man had a point, especially after the fae flattened him in their very first sparring match.

Beren had started to teach him a different set of footwork skills to help him move and dodge more efficiently when fighting the wraith. Eric practiced those movements in his cell, going through all his katas, then his blocks, kicks and finally the movement drills Beren had given him. When he was done, he switched to meditation. Bella, his other fae teacher, had given him breathing exercises. Whilst this did quiet his mind, Eric still didn't like that horrible reminder that his phoenix fire was gone.

Eric sighed and tried to refocus. He settled himself back into a more comfortable position and closed his eyes. There was a faint warmth, muted and contained. It grew and shrank with his breath. With his eyes closed and his mind focused, the sigils of his grand cage were visible to him. He had studied them several times by now. They were undeniably beautiful, a spiralling cascade of ancient magic. He gave them a cursory glance as he always did when he meditated when something about them caused him to pause.

Was it his imagination or did they look a little different today?

There was a gap in the swirling sigils that certainly wasn't there before. Eyes still closed, he stood up and reached up a hand to it. He expected to feel the weird prickling force of the barrier.

To his utter amazement, he felt nothing at all. There was a hole in the barrier.

Barely daring to breathe and still keeping his eyes shut, Eric stepped through the hole and opened his eyes. He was on the outside of the cage.

Utterly dumbstruck, Eric stood there for what was probably an inappropriate amount of time. He should leave. Well yes, obviously he should leave, but where should he go? His heart now beginning to gallop in his chest with shock and excitement, Eric tried to remember every detail of the corridors outside this room.

As he stood there, out of the confines of his magical containment, Eric tried once more to reach his phoenix fire. Unfortunately, he was still wearing the odd gold necklace Kadrek had given him. With a smirk, the king had said it looked pretty. Eric touched the warm metal. There was still no clasp or catch. It was completely smooth all the way around. His power would have to stay muted until he could find a way to get the damn thing off.

With very little plan in mind, Eric walked to the entrance of the room. He glanced once over his shoulder toward his cage before slipping into the corridor.

It never once occurred to him that ancient magical cages probably didn't just develop holes in them...

--

It was late.

Bec half expected the weird girl from the morning to not show up. Bec and Katie had found Jack and filled him in. Jack, for his part, had looked both puzzled and mildly amused. He'd asked if Holly was good-looking. Katie had smacked him. The three of them now sat out by the pool area. This place was still technically open to guests despite the late hour. The dinner window had just closed, but there were still a few people milling about. Katie had told Hope how to follow the side path to the short ramp that led up here from the back of the apartments.