Frozen Flame

Chapter 23: An Unusual Disturbance

Fire Council Capital

The council members were talking between themselves, well, all except for Lord Frelrick and Lord Endis. The first of which never spoke and the second of which rarely spoke unless he was needed.

Time had passed. Lots of time. Too much time.

And the Fire Lord was bored.

Now, he thought, is the time.

Lord Tenebre was speaking. "... I just said that we should stop them, I didn't say anything about killing them. Do we really want to-"

The Fire Lord cut in, "I'm sorry Tenebre, but I'm going to have to interrupt you there."

Lord Delro sighed and lowered his head, his face in his hands.

Lord Cas grinned.

The Fire Lord continued. "It seems that someone's ability has gotten a little out of control." He nodded his head towards the roof above Lord Nargh and all the lords and lady looked.

Nargh's face turned bright red and he jumped out of his seat, moving away from the flames that were licking their way across the roof, following him.

"Nargh," Lord Laros said. "Please get your flames under control!"

"I swear it's not me!" Nargh cried out frantically.

"Yeah?" Lord Tenebre said, lifting his hands up and creating a shield of fire to block the fire running from Nargh's head to the roof. "Then who else is it? Look around you."

Lady Sorsia stood up and walked over to Nargh, concentrating into his flames. "He's right. They're not his."

"Then who's are they?" Tenebre's forehead crinkled.

Laros flickered, appearing behind Nargh, teleporting so fast from one fire to another that it was almost impossible to see. "Get down!" He shoved Nargh and Lady Sorsia to the floor, covering Lady Sorsia's body with his own.

Just as the ceiling erupted.

Lord Cas clapped and laughed. "THIS is more like it! THIS is interesting!"

The fire gathered together, as a huge bird made entirely of fire exploded out of the flames. A phoenix had appeared.

It shrieked. A deafening cry that forced everyone to block their ears.

Lord Fawtor scowled, his face turning pale. He clicked his fingers nervously by his side before crossing his arms and licking his lips in sullen annoyance.

The fire became hotter and hotter, until Fawtor eventually yelled out to Kopuh, "Kopuh, can you please cool this down?"

Kopuh bowed to him, knives in his hand. "My pleasure." The room instantly cooled down as the intense heat subsided.

Tenebre's shield became larger until it covered the underside of the phoenix. From there, it quickly expanded, trying to trap the fire bird but to no avail. The bird was too quick and easily avoided the little trap.

Lord Delro stood up, a huge cloud of smoke emanating from him and rushing towards the phoenix. The bird squawked, banking, its eyes blinded by the smoke.

Lord Cas whistled. "Wow! This is some really powerful ability. I mean, the level is just phenomenal!" He turned to look at the Fire Lord. "I've felt this power a lot before. It's your cousin." He turned to look at Fawtor, "Your son."

Fawtor grunted and Cas looked back at the Fire Lord. "But you already knew that." He grinned and winked, mouthing "Thanks."

Nargh jumped up from the ground. "I'm helping!"

He placed his hands an inch from either side of his head, and concentrated. His hair spread out, growing longer and longer, the fire becoming hotter and hotter, acting like branches as they reached out towards the bird.

Sorsia reached out a hand and gripped his ankle from where she lay on the floor. "Don't, Nargh. You'll send the roof crashing on top of us if you try to stop the phoenix."

Nargh growled, but stopped, his hair retreating to his scalp.

Lord Endis finally stood up, adjusting his jacket cuffs and his collar until everything was perfect. He walked forward, sighing. "Oh, for goodness sake."

He erupted into flames so hot that all around him started to melt. Not one person was close to him as he was a further distance from everyone else, for this reason.

His footsteps were slow and unhurried as he reached out a tendril of flame that flicked the phoenix. It immediately shrivelled away to nothingness, the fire meeting its match.

Endis' fire ended as abruptly as it started. His suit shirt and jacket had been burned away, revealing a pale unmarked chest. He looked down at himself and sighed. "Frelrick?"

Frelrick, who had been completely still in his seat the entire time, threw Endis a suit shirt which Endis instantly threw on.

Cas, who was still grinning, winked at Endis. "So, you finally found some fire-proof pants?"

Endis rolled his eyes in disgust. "Obviously."

"Good thing you brought them today, otherwise that might have been..." He looked at Sorsia and lifted his hands. "Well, you know." He lifted his eyes to Frelrick. "And you got him working for you. When did that happen?"

"He's always worked with me." Endis sat down and tapped his finger. "I'm surprised you didn't know. What, with your spies everywhere."

Cas lifted his hands in mock surrender. "I'm friends with a lot of people, alright?"

The Fire Lord sat back and crossed his arms. Well, that was fun, he thought. And it should finish this stupid meeting.

He had been away from the Fire Temple for about two days now and was ready to go back. He had important business and couldn't afford to waste time here doing idiotic things like discussing the coal collectors in the east.

"And Cas?"

"Yes Endis?"

Endis frowned, annoyed that Cas would ever refer to him that informally – even though he was referring to Cas just as informally. "Get your mind out of the lava."

Cas grinned.

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Hey Guys!

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What will happen next? Will the meeting finally end? And how did the Fire Lord know there was going to be a phoenix attack? We're onto the Ice Kingdom next. A little message is going to come through for Jared. ;)

*The truth about someone and who they are is often different than it appears*

- Sylvia Shadow