The sky erupted in white lightning. I woke up to find a cloud hanging above our little campsite, attempting to douse out the fire with rain. Not that it would be put out with such a meagre amount with water. I sat up and looked across the fire. Althaea was laying away from the fire sleeping soundly. She must have dozed off. I shook my head slightly. Then sighed and rolled my eyes. Might as well get this over with. I stood up and grabbed my blade. I sauntered off into the woods, away from the desert.
I came upon a clearing. The trees stretched across the sky, barely letting any light from the four moons and all the stars past its embrace. In the clearing stood three silhouettes. One stood more to the back, his face hidden beneath the hood of his cloak and his right hand resting on a wicked curved blade with curved spikes. The other two stood closer together and in the middle of the clearing. The one, clearly a female, her pale hair cut short and hanging in her eyes, was whispering something in the other's ear. He laughed and shook his head, his long dark hair flying in the wind.
I walked into the clearing and was immediately stopped when a sheet of ice appeared in front of me. I rolled my eyes. Oh boy! I thought. So this is how it is going to go. The ice melted away and the girl promptly tackled me to the ground and held an icy cold dagger to my neck.
"Nice to see you too, Viola," I said raising an eyebrow and shoving her off.
"We expected to see you earlier, Enialis." said the one that was standing next to her. He reached a hand to help me up. I waved his hand out of the way and got up.
"I got held up," I said, shrugging.
"Was it by a pretty dark-haired mortal by any chance?" cooed Viola mockingly, fluttering her dark eyelashes stupidly and making faces.
"That's none of your business," I said unfazed. "Besides, Valor," I said turning to her dark-haired companion, "she is going to the desert. I'm merely helping her get there unscathed so you can bring her to-"
"Don't say his name!" shouted Valor, his brown eyes turning almost completely black with rage. "Who knows what could be listening in these woods! There are spies everywhere! Nowhere is safe."
"Calm down Val," the third of the trio stepped farther into the clearing. A sudden burst of wind caused his hood to fall back and exposed a scarred face. His face had a wretched scar that stretched from his temple, across his eye and over the corner of his lip. The eye had turned completely white. The scar almost looked like lightning. But his other eye was bright blue like electricity and held great wisdom.
"I see that they at least gave some brains to your little gang," I said amused. "How are you, Griffin? I'm sure you've... seen... better days?" I ask the corner of my mouth quirking up.
He grinned and shrugged. Viola rolled her eyes.
"When will that joke get old?" she sighed.
"Never," I smirked.
"I can't get older so neither will the jokes," Griffin said.
"So what is this really about."
"We just want to make sure you don't get attached," Valor remarked sarcastically. "Enialis, the great lover of women."
"Seriously?" I drawled. "You interrupted my nap for this?"
I shook my head and turned to walk away. White lightning hit the path in front of me. I sighed. I turned and one of Viola's daggers was flying for my chest. But it swiftly changed directions and headed for her. She yelped and a shield of ice appeared in front of her. Then, Valor swung his mace at my head and the world tilted.
I woke up a little later to the dawn barely lightening the clearing and seeing Viola smirking down at me. My head was pounding and I glared up at her. She fell back on the ground as if by invisible hands.
"YOU-" she shrieked.
"Stop it both of you," sighed Griffin. "It's not worth it. Besides, you don't want to wake up the-precious mortal."
"He's got a point," Valor said, coming up to join him. "We got to move out now. See you around, breezy."
They all walked into the forest towards the desert. I looked down at my shirt and saw that it was covered with blood. Great, I thought. How am I supposed to explain that? I sighed and walked back through the forest the way I came. I stopped at a stream and cleaned up my face. The mace had cut me with one of the spikes and made a mess of my hair as well.
***
I walked into the smaller clearing where I had left Althaea. She was still sleeping peacefully. I smiled slightly and packed up my stuff. I doused the fire with some water and had some dried meat and some gazabyan fruit. The sweet purple fruit was delicious and quenched my hunger but did little to soothe the pounding headache that grew stronger by the minute. When I saw Valor again I would pay him the same respect just doubled and as for Viola-
My thoughts were cut through by the melodic voice of my travelling companion.
"Good morning," she chirped.
I sighed.
"It was good until you broke the peace," I said. "It was nice and quiet until you woke up."
She raised an eyebrow and looked at the bloody gash on the side of my head.
She shrugged unfazed and took a gazabya.
"It's not that quiet out here with all the birds chirping and the frogs croaking," she said pointedly.
"It's better than nothing."
I stood up.
"Pack up your stuff. The sooner we get going the better."
***
The first night in the day in the desert was harsh. We got a sandstorm in the afternoon. I could tell Althaea was struggling in the heat. But we weren't defeated yet. At least there was a cool breeze the whole time we were in the desert. But the day wasn't even the worst part. The night was bitter cold and we couldn't build a fire with no wood. If only we had come across a sunleech tree. Those fruits are the size of pumpkins. They are called sunleeches because they seem to have absorbed the sunlight. When you crack them open they give off enough heat to keep oneself warm in the desert. In fact, they are used to reverse the effects of frostbite up in the north. Unfortunately, they only grow in deserts and can't be transplanted.
What I wouldn't give for warmth. I myself am fine but Althaea is already shivering and the suns just barely set.
"We should stop here for the night," I say.
She relaxed visibly and sat down. Taking out my water flask, I offered it to her with some dried rabbit.
"I'm going to go look for some sunleech," I announced and walked in the direction of the graying horizon, where the suns had just set.
YOU ARE READING
Firewind
خيال (فانتازيا)All she wanted was to get her family back together. All she wanted was life to return to normal. But in the end, her life was anything but. Althaea had expected everything to turn out how she pictured it. But all that happened was that her family go...
