Blowing Embers

Chapter 24

            The narrow, dead-end space that ran between the central building, the school’s great tower, and the library wing, was quiet. It was also far warmer than the roof, with the winds kept down to just the usual breezes wrapped around Shuu. Hidden from sight and unlikely to be interrupted made Kallai feel much better about practicing her magic. She could only imagine what the other students would say if they saw her holding a handful of fire.

            “Good,” Shuu said, eyeing the fire that had welled up out of her hand. In the darkness of the school after dinner, it cast shadows across both of them. “Now, a shape it into focus. Any shape you wish.”

            Hesitating for a moment, Kallai stared down at the orange and yellow flames. Their colour reminded her of her first magic success and she chose that form. Without closing her eyes, she focused on the fire, picturing it not as untamed waves of heat and light, but as a perfect sphere. She faltered a few times, the image of what was in front of her overwriting what she was trying to build in her mind, but soon enough, her mental picture won out.

            Even as she completed the image in her mind, the fire she held collapsed into a ball, hovering just over her palm. Kallai grinned, her eyes going immediately to Shuu. He nodded his approval and ruffled her hair. “Very good, Sparrow. Now, another shape try.”

            She let the fire drop out of its sphere form, splashing harmlessly back into her hand. She called up a bit more, remembering one of the new combination spells they’d been studying, this one for conjuring and ensnaring someone in a rope. She didn’t know if she could make an ordinary rope appear, but if her fire would work…

            This time it was a bit easier to focus only on what was in her mind, so Kallai only had two false starts before she was able to spread the fire out into long lines that snaked up her arms. She shivered in delight as the flames wriggled up her arms, one strand twining around her neck like a cat. She knew that Shuu had told her about the elements liking their respective mages, but she’d never thought she’d have fire wrapping itself around her, like it couldn’t get close enough to her.

            Kalai didn’t bother trying to rein the flames in, enjoying the sensation. It was the scent of burning that alerted her to the fact that, while she was certainly fire proof, her clothes were another matter. With regret, she chased the fire back down into her one palm, hoping she could repair the damage to her robes.

            When she glanced at Shuu for further instructions, she found him staring at the open end of the aisle they stood in, easy to see in the outdoor glow globes space neatly along all the major paths. “What’s wrong?” she asked, after he was silent for a couple of minutes.

            “Hmm?” He said, turning back to look at her. “Oh, nothing, Sparrow. Something I thought I heard. You well the fire do shape. More practice you need, but not for tonight that is. Now, many witchlights you to make are, as fast as you able are. Witchlight create, then dismiss, only on light at a time, until you tire. Speed too, for elemental mages, important is. Especially for fighting.”

            “I don’t think I’ll be doing much fighting,” Kallai replied, even as she extinguished the fire in her hands. She brought the first ball of light into existence with no hesitation or much effort. It winked out after a moment, the next one popping up right beside where the first had been, its white light add new shadows to the space around them. She was startled to find how easy it was for her now, creating light like it wasn’t something she’d have given anything to be able to do just a month ago.

            By the fifth witchlight, Kallai was frowning, her mind working even as she had lights appearing and disappearing all around her. The next one she created she pictured as the light blue of a fire’s heart. She grinned when that’s exactly how it appeared, and began mixing up the colours as she continued to create the small, glowing balls.

            Kallai had just finished managing to make a witchlight that was split red and purple, when Shuu spoke, his eyes dancing. “That enough is, Sparrow. Yourself do prepare. Visitors we about to have are.”

            She frowned, the smile he was wearing holding an edge of something that, if she had to name it, she would have said was mischief. Kallai twitched, head swivelling towards the far end of their little alley as voices echoed towards her. She glanced again at Shuu, who had taken a few steps back so he was hidden in the shadows behind her, before focusing on those who were approaching.

            Laughter preceded them as they strolled forward, all five of them walking with easy, confident steps. It wasn’t until they’d stopped, only a few feet away and in the light cast by the moon that just peeked over the edge of the great tower, that Kallai could recognize them. She blanched and took an instinctive step back.

            Smiling at her in the way that always made her body go cold and shiver, Azaz waved at her. He was flanked by not just Eran and Makol, but Rachine and Laji. “Hello, Spellless,” he said, his lips stretching even further upward.