A Blaze in the Dark (A New Dawn #1)

Chapter 45 - Sebastian (Part 1)

Please, Your Majesty, Only you can end the tyranny of Captain Frank. He believes he's King of Whitepeak Mountain. X.

Sebastian was plodding through the endless sea of sand of dunes. He couldn't explain how or why he had travelled all these miles in a matter of minutes, but that was where he was. The cruel sun was beating him down, drenching him in sweat. No shade apart from the one provided by rocks too small to provide shelter.

"Seb? Sebby?"

The voice of Uncle Tom resounded in the back of his head, pulling him back to the safety of Sunstone Castle but the call of the Scorching Plains was stronger still.

He stumbled upon the thrashing body of the little girl he had failed so often before in his dreams. He crouched next to her and held her hand, ignoring the pungent smell of her burnt flesh. She was dying.

No matter what he did, there was no way of saving her. The thrashing stopped, the light in her eyes going out faster than a candle in a sudden downpour. He grabbed her by her dirt-stained shirt. No breath. No heartbeat. She was the only cold object in this blazing wasteland.

"Will you show yourselves now!" He screamed at the sky, demanding the Gods to answer him.

He got his answer in the form of a bright-red sky, the sun rapidly sinking beneath the horizon. The world turned and turned, a million stars showing all at once, then went out again.

Abby's remains stirred. The girl grew, her straight hair curling up and darkening. She had curves and bumps in places that had been flat before.

"Alex?" He tapped his hands on her body, seeking a heartbeat but finding none. Her eyes as dull as Abby's. "No, you can't be! You're alive! I saw you. You're not—"

A wave of dust engulfed Alex, an immense light blinding him. As he looked up again, a freckled boy with fiery red hair laid in the sand, a trickle of blood dripping from his lip.

"No, Fox." He pulled the boy in his arms, his body slumping like a dead weight against his chest. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to, but I needed to do this. You're a magician and a dangerous one, and I... I..."

"... became a murderer once more." Nick approached him, wearing a grey uniform with five silver sycamore leaves on the shoulder pad. He was riding on Billy. "First my sister, then Fox, and now you've condemned Alex too. How many more people must die before you learn?"

"But I'm trying! You don't know what it's like to be me." As his eyes filled with tears, he reached for a rock. "Leave if all you can do is criticise me. You wouldn't have been able to save Abby either!"

The rock soared through the air and landed on Billy's head. The horse let out a whiny neigh and staggered, Nick barely able to hold the reins.  As Billy landed back on four legs, Nick stared at him, an icy stare full of contempt. With a quick kick in the flank, the two galloped off into the faint sunrise; the dawn of a new day.

As the ghost of a horse and his friend disappeared, so did the body. In this vast field of emptiness and nothingness, Sebastian was left alone to repent for his sins. He gasped for air, but his lungs didn't work. The sand beneath him spiralled, sucking him down.

"No! Help!" He dug at the sand, but found no grip on the grains. His body tightened. "You can't let me die. I'm the Crown Prince."

A deep voice tickled his ear. Its owner was nowhere to be seen. "I'm right here, Sebby. It will all be fine."

"Father, is that you?"

"No, it's me."

Bright flashes appeared out of nowhere, bringing a tingling sensation that quickly spread from his fingers to his toes. His breathing was fast, in short puffs, like he was at the end of one of Master Paul's training sessions, but he wasn't outside. The typical white marble walls of Sunstone Castle greeted him. Even in a hazy blur, he recognised his toy soldier army grouped together in cohorts on the big map of The Greenlands in Uncle Tom's office.