FireSweet

Storm Struck

                The inside of the fort was a bunch of low-lying buildings that resembled cabins.  Everything seemed to be built of wood. The walls held no trace of metallic reinforcement or technology.  The only shine of metal came from the naked blades thrust into belts and sashes. The main courtyard seemed to be devoid of decoration, serving only as a necessary common area. I could see groups of the cabins on my right, looking like a living area, a bunkhouse and a common kitchen area maybe?  I couldn’t fully tell, but that was my best guess.  The far side of the fort looked like a target range, with various types of targets for different styles of fighting, I assumed.  In this area there were many of the blue bandanas practice fighting or working out.  Every person in the compound was wearing a blue bandana around their forehead like some sort of wannabe ninja and had a blade of some sort thrust into a white cloth that acted like a belt around their waist.  The entire perimeter of the fort was ringed by the river moat that I had seen outside the walls.  It turns out that this was their normal entryway.  Shadow and Kaelo had simply swam underneath the wall and pulled the door open for us from the inside.

            As I entered the camp, every guy stopped what they were doing and stared at me.  I don’t mean that I felt like I was being watched.  I mean that they dropped what they were holding, quit their conversations, turned toward me and openly stared.  I took a few steps closer to Red and Shinyé, it was a habit from the past, back when I used to call Red my brother. 

            Shinyé and Red kept their heads held high, eyes straight ahead to our destination.  They were leading me to what seemed to the biggest building within the camp.  I assumed that this is where Captain Storm stayed and judged others.  The building itself wasn’t all that impressive.  It looked just like all of the others, but it looked a little more cared for and the flagpole was in front of it.  So to me, that was a dead giveaway for the captain’s quarters.  The blue front door wasn’t guarded at all, which surprised me.  It only made sense in my mind that their precious captain would be important enough to warrant protection from harm at all costs.  But security for the building was nonexistent.  We simply strolled right in and down the hallway to another blue door; this one had a grey and gold stripe running through it.  Red turned me and Shinyé and said a single word to us as we stood in front of the door.  “Wait.”  With that he knocked twice on the door and let himself in. 

            After a minute or two he reopened the door and Shinyé entered the room as well, but the door was shut before I could see anything.  I could hear the arguing from where I stood outside the room.  It was mainly Shinyé, yelling things like “She’s a freaking tag-a-long! You know that’s not allowed here!” and “I always told you pretty boy here wasn’t what he pretended to be!  There’s no such thing as a noble mate.”  I had no idea what all of this meant, but I knew they were obviously discussing me and my future in this place, or lack of future here. 

            Several minutes more it was Shinyé who opened the door this time, saying, “Cap’n wants to see you now, wench.  Tell him the truth or else.” 

            Shinyé didn’t really scare me all that much anymore, but I didn’t need to be told twice.  I breathed deeply and strode into the room with my head held high and defiance in my eyes.  I wouldn’t let this Storm guy push me around, captain or not. 

            The room was some sort of teenage office.  Captain Tempest Storm looked like he had just turned 18.  He had his feet up on the messy wooden table and was leaning back in his chair.  He was flipping a knife in the air and catching the hilt with the opposite hand.  His expression was neither angry nor judgmental, merely amused.  The light coming in from the back window lit up his platinum hair and highlighted the stripe of blonde running across it.  He studied me as I studied the room.  There were no books or charts here, just a couple of trophy swords and one exceptionally large blue gem.  There was a small crate in the corner holding more new looking blue bandanas and a few older looking knives.  But otherwise the place was barren of interest.  He gave me a few more seconds and then nodded to the chair in front of his table and said, “Sit.”