Dark Prince Rising

Nine

Cira immediately began to panic. Vivid memories of her parents' blackened corpses filled her mind, hollow eyes over naked grins. Her heart began to pound, her chest aching like she was underwater. The world grew a bit fuzzy at the edges, like she was looking through foggy glass. But gradually, she began to realize that the boy wasn't burning. Even his clothes were intact.

"Gods," she whispered, her pulse slowly returning to normal. Leo grinned and lifted his flaming arms, his eyes burning white-hot.

"That's enough, Leo," Zael commanded.

Leo's grin shifted to a grimace, his eyes squinting into white slits. "Can't... hold..."

The girl appeared with a bucket and placed it hurriedly on the ground before the burning boy. "In water, Leo! Like we practice!"

Leo knelt an placed both hands into the bucket, groaning with the strain of containing all the fire. Water hissed and fog poured out of the bucket into the alley, clouding Cira's vision. When the mist cleared, Leo was panting and kneeling on the ground. Both of his hands were elbow deep in the now-empty bucket, sweat and moisture dripping from his face.

Zael walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder. "Looks like you still need to work on that a bit."

Leo smiled tiredly up at Zael. "Gettin' better every day, boss."

Zael smiled at him like one might smile at a younger brother. Then he looked at the girl. "And this is Azra."

Azra solemnly bowed her head, but the look in her dark eyes chilled Cira to the bone. This girl clearly didn't want Cira here.

"She has a way with plants," Zael continued, oblivious to the girl's glare. "Growing them, speaking to them, sensing their properties... her gift covers an extremely wide range. She's proven to be very useful in more ways than one."

"Okay," Cira said, narrowing her eyes at the girl. "So that's everyone?"

"Yes, milady," said Falmus. "We are the core members of the Resistance. We are all young because adult lowborns with gifts are either murdered or forced to join the Followers."

"But what do you look like?" Leo had regained a bit of color in his cheeks, and was trying to peer under her hood to see her face. "I can't see your face in all them shadows."

Cira glanced at Zael, who nodded encouragingly. She lifted her hands and slowly drew back her hood.

"Damn!" exclaimed Leo. "Nobody told me she was so pretty!" Falmus elbowed him hard in the ribs, and he quieted with a small woosh of air.

Cira shook her head, fighting a blush. She was used to people staring, but not many nobles were so open in their admiration.

"What gift do you do?" Azra asked in her choppy accent. It was more of a challenge than a question.

Cira glared, taking up the challenge. She lifted her arms, commanding the air around her to gather into a powerful gust. Then she threw both hands forward, and the wind howled with the force of a hurricane into the empty bucket. The metal flew into the stone wall of the shop, smashing nearly flat and simultaneously embedding itself in the stone.

She staggered a bit, but didn't fall. It had been quite a while since she'd tried to summon a wind that strong. All four of them stared in silence at the flattened metal for a long moment.

Zael was the first one to turn back to her. His shock was neatly masked, and he simply nodded to acknowledge his approval.

"Gods," whispered Leo, walking over to the wall. "Imagine what that could do to a man. Bloody hell, it's stuck in the stone!"