The Final Storm (Part 3)

Fire Brothers

A whole  squadron of full armed soldiers, some mounted on horseback, others  marching in perfect formation. At the lead was a massive man on horseback with hair like nothing Ralem had ever seen. His hair was red! It tumbled onto his forehead from under an ornate helmet, plumed and heavy. He carried himself with such arrogant assurance that Ralem had no doubt of his lineage. He was a warrior.

That knight… he has hair of fire! Jaydon said. I have seen nothing like it.

Neither have I, Ralem said, watching them pass with wide eyes. What is happening?

Shh, Jaydon closed his eyes and opened his mouth, letting his forked tongue escape from the ring of teeth. I need to concentrate.

Ralem watched his expression closely. Jaydon sucked in the air, tasting it, letting it flow over his tongue. One hundred men. He said. They haven’t bathed in a while. They have traveled long and are tired but ready to battle. I can smell some emotion on them… I’m not sure if it is confusion or anxiety. Suddenly his face scrunched up and his eyebrows rode up on his forehead. There’s something else… Look.

He sent a mental picture of what he had seen. Ralem’s brain was having a hard time deciphering it… it seemed to be a black canvas with red figures walking across the bottom. The figures pulsed red, yellow, and orange at different parts of their bodies. Then he caught something. A yellow figure, behind a regular red one, keeping in pace with the group. And another. He counted them on his fingers.

They aren’t human, Jaydon said grimly. Which means they are either cats or shapeshifters like me. I doubt they are shapeshifters.

What is this image?

It’s what I see when I use my tongue. What you see is the heat radiating off their bodies. The light red ones are humans. Suddenly the background changed, showing a figure sprawled out, it’s hue a darker hue than the humans had been. That’s you. The shape of a hand appeared, this one such a dark red it was almost violet. And this is me.

I never knew you could do that, Ralem said. So… what are cats doing in an army? Was the flame-haired man a cat?

No. He was human. But I counted at least fifteen cats in there. They are heading to Tisbet, for who knows what.

It can’t be for war. I saw their flags. It’s the Vulnairian crest. They are here for something else… I bet swords. Which can only mean…

War. Jaydon finished his sentence. Against us?

It can’t be, Ralem pushed that away, it’s just the two of us. The Queen wouldn’t have bothered to muster an army for just a couple fugitives… would she?

I don’t know, Jaydon said honestly. We should follow them. Leave Aidan here. We’ll tell him we’ll be back in no time.

I don’t feel good about leaving him here…

Fine. You stay here with him and I’ll go and check it out. Jaydon started to worm back to the other side of the hedge.

You’re not leaving without me! Ralem said angrily, the bush rustling as he pushed aside a branch and got smacked in the face.

“Ouch!” Jaydon growled, yanking his wing free of a branch. Finally they tumbled free and found Aidan nowhere in sight. “Aidan?” Ralem called, his heart jumping to his throat.

“I’m right here,” Aidan grunted, heaving himself out of the brush.

“Aidan! You were supposed to stay here!” Jaydon folded his arms and glared down at the boy.