Peacebringer

Chapter Forty Six - Tana's Secret

Asha went at Tana with fists flying ,as her one and only weapon had been taken. She forgot about this as she pounded Tana's scaly face. All the anger and frustration at Valda's death and now her father's came pouring out. She was so angry she didn't even think to use her fire spinning.

She felt a sting on her left cheek and pulled back. She touched her face and winced, seeing blood on her hand. Tana had cut her with her own dagger.

This momentary pause forced Asha to think about what was happening. Rone looked shocked, she could see Finn and Havi to her side, ready to join her fight.

Tana cackled, her voice sounding even hoarser than before. She had become something else entirely and seemed to be drinking in the air through her extra nostrils. Asha suddenly remembered what the nurse had told her way back when they were watching Finn's bandages being changed. He had mentioned ancient and evil creatures that had walked the earth. Vampires, werewolves and...

"You're a phobophage." Asha said. There were gasps from the people nearby who had heard her.

"Still clever," Tana croaked. "You are correct."

"And what corner of darkness did you crawl up from?" Rone spat. While phobophages hadn't been seen for hundreds of years, he clearly knew what damage they could do.

"I was reborn out of fear, and fear is what allowed me to stay." Tana took a deep breath. "The air is rich with the scent of fear, it has been since the war started."

"That's why you came in as an advisor," Havi said slowly. "You wanted control of the war from within the castle.'

"And you also took control of the resistance," added Finn, "so that you could make sure the conflict would continue. That's why neither side ever gained any ground."

"It was an eternal cycle of fear, enough for my people to start to come back in hordes." Tana licked her dry, cracked lips, tasting the fear in the air. "We are back and stronger than ever, returning from the depths of the earth where we have lived, weak and hiding, for so many centuries."

"The rangers...." Natalya said, popping up from behind Havi. "The rangers are phobophages too."

Tana only flicked her tongue in response, but they all knew it was true. The King's devoted servants were dark creatures, sucking the fear out of people.

"The King would have perished soon anyway," Tana glanced at his body on the ground. "I have fed off of him for so long that he was starting to lose his mind. Didn't even know what he was ordering most of the time. He wouldn't have remembered much of the past fifteen years anyway."

Now Raza stood suddenly, looking ready to fight.

"And that's why you sent all the fire spinners away," Asha said, igniting her fingertips. "Phobophages burn easily and fear fire most of all." She had read that in a story when she was a child. "You didn't just want my mother and I out of the way so you could control the King, you wanted us out of the way so we wouldn't burn you. But why did you train me?"

"I knew it would keep the fight going if there was a glimmer of hope. But imagine the deliciousness of the fear that would come when you perished."

"And my mother?" Asha glanced at Raza. "Why did you bring her here to comfort me?"

"There is no fear greater than a mother's when her child is in danger."

Asha ignited both of her hands with deep red flames. Now Tana looked nervous, stepping backwards. She turned and gave one last glance at Finn.

"You should join your people while you can," Tana whispered. She almost looked sad.

Finn's mouth dropped open, and he wasn't able to get words out.

"What do you mean? Natalya stepped in front of him, as she would to protect one of her own brothers.

"Changelings aren't human," Tana explained, a grin of delight spreading across her face. She was just waiting to reveal a juicy secret. "Changelings are newly formed phobophages."

Finn's scarred face drained of color. Natalya even stepped back to look at him again. Tana took this distraction as time to disappear in a flash of gray smoke. Apparently phobophages could teleport too. Asha's dagger dropped to the stone floor with a sickening clatter.

The crowd of resistance members was left staring at Finn, the dead King, and Asha, who still had not extinguished her flames.

Now was her opportunity to kill off Finn, after all he was a phobophage. Instead, she put her flames out, and pulled him into a hug.

"I don't care what you are, you are my friend and I will protect you." She said firmly. Finn slowly returned the hug and cried silently.