Flames (Book 3)

Chapter 21: Aron

I hadn't ever spent so much time outside the Flame base in my entire life.

I found my brain absorbing the feelings of outside at a level of great detail- I noticed the sensation of the dirt under me, the humidity settling in around me, and the ancient trees that surrounded me, making me feel like I was suspended in time.

"...That went well," Thorel said sheepishly. It was the first time anyone had spoken since the fall of the base, and relieved some of the tension that had built up in the air.

"Yeah," I smiled humorlessly. "Hey, at least we're alive. We need to find everyone else, and locate a sustainable hideout."

"Not happening," Thorel growled. "We have to save Tara! We only have three more months before she's married. To a literal rat!"

"We've gotta save ourselves before we're in a position to save anyone else," I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah," Rory added, scooting closer to the fire that burned in the middle of our band of around thirty survivors. "We're in the middle of freaking nowhere with no money and no transportation."

"Money isn't an issue around me, dear," Lady Myers smirked. "Thorel is right. We have a princess to rescue."

"With all due respect, shouldn't we focus on getting ourselves back together, first?" I asked. "We've just been split apart across over fifty different villages."

"Aron, such a good leader..." Eleanna mused. "But, leadership and planning aren't what we need right now. The Queen is expecting us to go into survival mode. She wants us to split up and hide, so she can root us out one by one, killing us in unspeakable ways. Are we going to let that happen?"

"NO!" Came a chorus of Flame voices, still strong although not quite as certain as they had been back in the base.

"The Flame is dying. We all know it. The blow we just faced is more than we could possibly survive. But, don't lose heart. In all my years as your leader, I have never encountered a Flame who died in vain. Let's not waste our deaths, my friends. We're not going out with a bang. We're going out with a supernova."

"Let the Flames forever burn!" Thorel bellowed, standing on top of a tall rock. "Beyond life, beyond death, beyond everything!"

"Tomorrow, we march. Next week...we storm Glaisse," Eleanna announced.

"That's so unstrategic!" I protested.

"Dude, Queen Saralee's a master strategist. If we follow any kind of strategy, she'll predict our next move before we even know what it's going to be," Rory said.

"Precisely," Eleanna nodded. "The Queen is so intelligent that she expects everyone else to be just as smart as she is. Our only chance of tricking her is by doing something that is utterly and totally stupid."

"And, it's our only chance of saving Tara," Thorel added.

"Tamarius and Alsiyah, find as many other Flames as you can, and instruct them to report here! FAWD members, junior and otherwise, locate the nearest spaceships," Lady Myers began, quickly entering rapid-fire order mode. "Aron, find Teren."

"What?" I gasped. As the leader of the FAWD's junior division, I had expected a more important task. But, instead, I was stuck keeping my idiotic brother out of trouble!"

"This is no time for arguments, Aron. You know him better than anyone else here. You know how important it is that we know his location. He's an unpredictable force, and could very easily sell us out to the Icehearts."

"Alright," I smiled. If I was going to complete a mission, I was going to do it well, regardless of whether I liked it or not.

"For the Flame!" I screamed, drawing a long knife from my belt as I charged into the jungle.

Prepare yourself, Queen Saralee. You're about to be defeated by the stupidest stupidity in the history of stupidity.