Guarders: Playing With Fire

Chapter 16

Flameheart woke up with a start the next morning. Turning her head slightly, she saw with some surprise that Snowrush was sitting in a chair next to her, asleep. Why he was there, she had no idea. She shifted slightly, sitting up on the pillows, and the slight noise woke the other Apprentice.

"Oh, you're awake. About time." He said, his voice rough from sleep, and Flameheart realised blushingly that she found it rather attractive.

She tried to speak, but found her mouth was so dry all she could manage was a whisper. Snowrush rose from his seat and walked over to her dresser, then passed her the glass of water. Flameheart sipped from it gratefully, then asked, "what are you doing here? Last time I checked, you hated me."

He shrugged. "You passed out, drawing in all that energy. You really should be more careful when releasing your power, it's hard enough to control that amount, let alone pulling it back to you, and the backlash was tremendous. Didn't Reddust ever tell you that?"

Flameheart shook her head. Her lovemate had always told her to extend her powers, to cause as much destruction to the enemy with them as possible. She noted also that Snowrush had neatly sidestepped her question about why he was here. She tried to sit up more, then winced as pain shot through her head.

Snowrush lifted his head, noticing her flinch. "Here, drink this. It'll help with the headache."

He passed her a tall glass with some vibrant copper liquid in it. Flameheart stared at it suspiciously. 

"What is this stuff?" She asked.

"A drink made from stardust, mixed with Elemental Fire. Drink it. It'll help."

Flameheart sniffed it cautiously, and hesitantly took a sip. To her surprise, it tasted like, well, something really good. She couldn't compare an exact flavor to it. Within seconds, she had drained the entire glass, and sighed with relief as she felt her headache start to fade a bit more.

"You didn't answer my question. Why are you here?"

Snowrush ducked his head. "We were all assigned to keep watch on you. You just happened to wake up on my shift."

Flameheart felt a slight disappointment at his words. So he wasn't here by choice. Then she shoved that disappointment back. Why the hell would she care about that? Her headache now a faint throb, she swung her legs over the bed, and started to stand. 

"Oh no don't do that-" Snowrush caught her as her legs buckled. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

Flameheart gritted her teeth and shoved herself off him, grabbing onto the bedpost to help her stand. "I need to talk to the other Apprentices. Someone sold us out."

~~~~~~~

"What do you mean someone sold us out?" Kennaspark explained. It was three hours later and all of the Apprentices, female and otherwise, were crowded in Flameheart's dorm. The only person missing was Reddust, he was off on some special assignment from the Guardian.

"I mean, there's no way the Riders could have been that prepared for us. They knew we were coming, they knew all of our powers and our power strength. How else would they know? We're lucky no one is dead." Flameheart snapped.

Everyone glanced over at Dustleaf, who tightened his grip on Willowheart's hand. The two of them had formed a lifebond - a bond of love that only happened once in a lifetime, and was only separable by death. He cleared his throat and spoke up.

"But who would have done it? No one knew about the mission except for us, Reddust, and the Elders."

Flameheart hesitated, and Willowheart gave her a knowing look. "I don't know. And I don't have any ideas. But it's not a completely outrageous possibility that there are Night Rider spies in Camp."

Her  mind flashed back to Reddust and the warning Willowheart had given her about him. There's no possible way he was the traitor. He was too good for that.

Fleetwind interrupted her musings. "Regardless, the Successor Ceremony is approaching, and the Night Riders are bound to make a move then. There's no way they'd let the Elders gain Successors. ESPECIALLY if someone is chosen to become the Guardian's Successor."

Flameheart frowned. "Yeah. When exactly is that happening again?"

"Next week." Breezestorm piped up. "And everyone will be hoping that a Guardian Successor will be chosen"

Everyone exchanged uneasy looks. They all knew that Successors for all the Elders had to be chosen at the ceremony - otherwise the Guarders would lose this war.

Okay okay okay I know it's been super long since i've updated, and i give this speech every time. I'M SO SORRY GUYS OKAY I'M SORRY PLEASE DON'T KILL ME.

I know this is a super short chapter. The book is nearly over and I'm working on the next chapter, because that's where all the drama starts. ALSO, I'm starting to sign everything off with Star, since I'm Wiccan and that's my Witches name.

FEEL FREE TO COME TALK TO ME I LIKE FRIENDS

Also: writing and updating this chapter and continuing this book after my trainwreck of a year was inspired by FireBirdFlame12 who kinda spammed me with comments and votes :) THANKYOU SO MUCH I PROMISE I'LL TRY AND KEEP UPDATING

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