Clan Thief

Chapter 12

 Don inched toward me with worry over his face. He looked over to Vortex again for answers. With no explanation, Vortex held his clenched fists out in front of him, giving them all his attention. He focused hard; and in an instant, his hands lit up with bright orange flames.

"Oh I see, you've possessed a new power. Did this just happen?" Still silent, Vortex nodded.

That's when I noticed Don peeping around the corner, giving us a blithe expression. His face was red; he was covering his mouth, but I still saw a big smile hiding under his hand. Vortex got up with a pout and he folded his arms, facing away from Don.

"Oh come on, dude. S'not like that." He turned back around to both of us and huffed again. Don came out from behind of the doorway and giggled quietly under his breath.

"I know, just teasing." He cleared his throat and continued to speak. He sounded a lot more serious than how he was before. "Anyway, let's get this yard cleaned up and start training right away. We have no time to waste." He went inside and stuck his head back out the doorway. "You go ahead and start Vortex, I'll go change. Kari, you can start when you're feeling better." Then he disappeared. I looked away from the door and back at the ground. Vortex sighed stressfully and started toward the planks of broken wood on the ground and stacking them in a pile along the wall. Though I wasn't feeling much better, I got up from the chair and helped him anyway.

"Kari, what're you doing? Aren't you in pain?" He picked up another piece of wood and looked back at me. He threw it in the pile of other planks. Continuously, he added other scraps of the torn dummy to the pile of wood. I joined in.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me. My face just hurts. It's not like it's preventing me from doing anything." I picked up the head of the dummy off by the side of the destruction and put it in the pile along with the other scraps of junk. I look over to my right, and Don is standing back in the doorway with a wet rag in his hand. He nods me over and hands me the damp cloth, which is just now starting to get a little cold.

"You sure you're able to work, Kari? He bruised you up pretty bad." Once cleaning the dark patch on my cheek, he took a closer look. I sighed in between a chuckle.

"I'll be fine Don, he only punched me. Besides, the pain is going away." I say, rubbing my cheek with the rag. I give the darkened cloth back to him and start to turn away back to the debris. Don joined us and tore off the rest of the broken boards still remaining on the fence. He threw them down into the pile with a loud crack.

"I might have some spare boards in the back," He scanned the broken boards and the hole in the wall with his arms raised to his sides. "If I'm able to find them, I'll go repair this fence and we'll go get training."

Don disappears again back into his home. I watched as Vortex proceeded to pick up a small portion of the pile and throw it into a nearby dumpster. Shadowing him, I took hold of the debris and followed. Soon enough, the pile disappears. Vortex and I shared glances at the spot the pile used to be.

We lose our focus to some rustling in the house. Don comes back out with a tied up bunch of wooden posts and a big bucket of wood glue.

"Alright, nice work kids. Now mind helping me with one last favor?" He separates the wood and passes us a fairly equal amount of wood. He gets a paintbrush out from his back pocket. We all turn toward the hole in the fence, seeing village people pass by with their children, carrying baskets of market goods back to their home, and the rustling of the forest trees not too far from the village. They are just tall enough to see the tops.

Vortex holds the boards in place and Don and I use the brushes to sweep the glue on both sides of the board until it's firm in place. The sun beams hard on my back; beads of sweat roll down my forehead. I could see Vortex happily absorbing the sunlight as if he were drinking it up like water. I looked up to him curiously.

"How are you enjoying this heat? Don and I are swimming in our own sweat." Don looks down on me, wiping his forehead in agreement.

"Kari, I'm a dragon. I 'prolly got fire burning through my whole body. This heat ain't nothing for me. As a matter of fact, it's a little chilly."

Don and I shot up at him with our mouths heavily dropped onto the floor. Vortex laughed with a sweat.

Don stabbed the last board into the soft brown dirt and held it in place for Vortex and I to glue down. We slipped it into place like a puzzle piece. Once it had dried, we all gave our hands a rest. I could tell how cramped up Vortex's hands were. He rubbed at his wrist in a circular motion and clenched and unclenched his hands. He let out a sharp exhale and shifted his way over to the seats by the back door.