Soul Fire (8 page)

Lotheria, called to duty by the war that was raging.
However, this was not a typical kind of war,” all of the
students were paying attention now. “Lotheria was at war
with
itself
. No other countries were involved. Actually,
two other countries tried to lend help. Surac,” he tapped a
large, round continent on the map. “And the Tsalski
Islands,” now the pointer indicated three large islands off
the west coast of Lotheria. I dimly remembered Rain
mentioning that she was from there. “Queen Fleur turned
all help away however; she feared that the involvement of
other countries would lead to the divide of Lotheria. She
also suspected that both countries had a hidden agenda.”

“You mean, she thought they might try to take Lotheria
for themselves?” I asked.
“Correct. Lotheria is a very resource rich continent; it
would be a prize for either country.”
Dena raised her hand.
“Dena?”
“Who were the King and Queen fighting?” she asked,
and we all turned to Jett for the answer.
He sighed heavily.
“The King and Queen were on either side of the war.
They were fighting each other.”
The bell rang, signalling the end of lesson. Everyone
stood up to leave, but Jett had one more piece of
information.
“It is also a little known fact,” he said, almost to
himself. “That Morgan and Fleur were soul mates.”
My eyes widened, and I couldn’t resist raising my hand
despite everyone leaving.
“Why would soul mates be fighting each other?” I asked
loudly but Jett didn’t reply and I knew we’d been
dismissed.

By the time we filed into the mess hall for lunch, the
morning’s history lesson had been forgotten. We loaded
our plates with sandwiches and made for our usual table.

“Uh oh,” Rain said suddenly, looking at something over
my shoulder. “Uh, Sky?”
We all twisted to see what she was looking at, and my
heart seemed to sink all the way down through my body,
trickle out of my feet and pool into my boots.
Eleanora was sitting with Phoenix, smiling and
laughing away. But the thing that had made me die inside
was the fact that Phoenix was smiling and talking back to
her. As we watched, Eleanora laughed loudly, tossing her
hair over one shoulder.
“What?” I heard myself ask weakly. “Are they... I
mean...”
Rain spoke quickly to another student and then leant
into the centre of the table.
“Turns out they’ve been dating for a few days now,” she
said sadly, her eyes on me. “When we went to Keyes.”
I remembered that Phoenix had stayed behind, and so
had Eleanora and the other mages. My heart seemed to
leave my person altogether.
“So he won’t talk to me, his own soul mate...” my voice
trailed off and I clenched my fists.
I’d had enough.
I stood abruptly and strode from the hall, ignoring
Dena’s and the other’s calls for me to come back. I pushed
the front doors open and headed out into the bright
sunshine, making for the river where I’d arrived.
I was going home. I’d stayed in this new world long
enough.
I broke into a run as I neared the forest edge. I could
hear the river and I let the sound guide me to it. When I
stumbled upon it, I realised it was running much faster
than the day I’d burst through its surface and found myself
in another world.
I splashed into the icy water. The water was almost up
to my chest when the current yanked my feet from
beneath me and I realised that I’d made a grievous
mistake.
I was pulled under the surface, and for a few seconds I
couldn’t tell which way was up and which was down. I
floundered, kicking my feet and I managed to break the
surface. I managed to gulp down a lungful of air before I
was pulled back under.
I was helpless, a ragdoll in the icy grips of the river. I
surfaced again and I spied a tree root jutting out into the
river just up from me. As I got sucked back under, I
remembered where the river ended up.
I’d seen on maps that this river ended in a waterfall,
and judging by the increasing speed of the water, I was
getting close to it; that tree root was my only hope. I
forced my way back to the surface just as it passed. I
struggled madly, and my foot hit a submerged rock. I
quickly pushed off against it, and my scrabbling fingers
came into contact with the root. I gripped it tightly,
pulling my waterlogged body to the bank. I was reaching
for another root as the other one gave way. I cried out, just
once, before the river reclaimed me. Just as I’d resigned
myself to the depths at the bottom of the waterfall, hands
gripped the arm that I’d managed to wrestle above the
surface and heaved. I resurfaced, gasping and crying at the
same time. The muddy bank was the most wonderful
feeling in the world as I crawled up it, coughing and
hacking up river water.
“Are you alright?” someone asked, and I found myself
looking into eyes the colour of the sun.
I didn’t answer; I was more concerned with breathing.
“Yeah, I’m ok,” I wheezed eventually, now rather
embarrassed. I huddled my legs to my chest, already
shaking from the cold. “Thanks.”
“No worries,” my rescuer said. He was wearing a yellow
tunic the same colour as his eyes, and strands of dirty
blonde hair fell into eyes that were looking at me with
concern. “What were you doing?”
“Trying to go home,” I replied, looking at the river
distrustfully. “I came here through a portal in the river. I
was hoping it would take me back.”
“So you’re from the human realm then?” he asked, and
I nodded confirmation. “I’m from here. From Gowar.”
“You probably think I’m crazy,” I mumbled into my
dripping sleeve.
“A little,” he replied, though his tone wasn’t unkind.
“I’m Dustin.”
“Sky,” I said automatically. “Thanks, Dustin.”
As his name rolled off of my tongue, I realised why he
seemed familiar.
“You’re Eleanora’s soul mate.” I said, unable to keep the
accusation out of my tone.
“Yeah, so?”
I climbed to my feet, shivering with cold.
“Thanks for saving me,” I said again, and left him sitting
on the bank of the river.
He didn’t try to follow me.

I dried off and changed in my room. I felt completely
numb, and I knew it wasn’t because of the river water that
had deadened my nerves.

“Are you coming back to class?” Dena asked, examining
me. “We’ve got Archery now.”
“Yeah,” I said in a voice very unlike my own. “I need to
get my bag.”
Dena lifted it, having rescued it from the mess hall.
“Come on,” she said, and I was glad that she didn’t ask
where I’d stormed off to.
We followed the rest of the students out of the castle to
a small shed. Inside we found Jett standing next to a rack
of bows, and on the opposite wall hung quivers full of
arrows.
“Time to learn how to shoot, mages. Let’s see how we
go.”
I hadn’t realised how tightly strung bows were, and my
muscles ached from trying to hold the string back. I cut
myself under my knuckles on the string, and stabbed
myself with a blunt practice arrow. The others took to it
quite easily and at the end of the lesson, we were lined up
in front of targets and told to try our hardest.
Dena couldn’t resist laughing when the arrow simply
fell off of the string of my bow, but everyone was
impressed when Phoenix’s arrow landed with a
thunk
on
the innermost circle of the target.
Just as we were about to turn away, another arrow hit
the target. It landed a centimetre closer to the centre than
Phoenix’s, and Eleanora lowered her bow, laughing.
“Oh, I beat you.”
Phoenix smiled at her, pulled another arrow back on
the string and loosed it. It landed even closer to the centre
than hers.
“Ok, so Phoenix and Eleanora can shoot better than the
rest of you,” Jett interrupted, stopping them before it
could become a full blown competition. “Time’s up, I’m
afraid.”
I hung my bow back on the wall and left the range
before anyone else. I couldn’t stand to see them acting
all... couple like.
We had our second riding lesson, and despite how
quickly I’d mastered walking, it was nothing compared to“Trotting,” Professor Alena announced happily. “Let’s
see how you go keeping a rhythm.”
Whilst I had felt graceful and proud about my riding
the day before, I now knew how a sack of potatoes felt.
“No, listen to me, Sky, one-two one-two,” I tried
desperately to follow her, but unless Echo was being
deliberately bumpy, I was incredibly uncoordinated. I
found this highly more likely.
“This is a stupid gait,” I snapped to Dena as I rode to the
side of the paddock. “When are we ever going to use it?
‘Oh no, I must get away quickly! I know, I’ll trot to safety!
One-two one-two!’”
Dena collapsed into giggles at my murderous
expression. My scowl deepened when I noticed Eleanora’s
flawless trotting and one-two-ing. Finally the lesson
ended, and we all limped, bandy legged to the castle for
our Theory lesson with Professor Watt.
It was almost evening when we filed out onto the
grounds again. I watched the sun begin to sink towards
the horizon, wondering if it was the same sun I used to
watch back in Ar Cena.
The obstacle course loomed ahead of us, and I began to
tingle with adrenaline. If I could run this course
successfully, I would feel a lot better about myself. Plus,
I’d make up for the face I’d lost the first time I’d tried to
do it.
I swung my arms as we walked, loosening my muscles.
Jett allowed us time to change and stretch, and then lined
up again. I watched the classmates in front of me run it as
though from a distance; I was too busy measuring
distances, calculating when to leap from the rope. I didn’t
dare lift my eyes to the wall that had defeated me last
time. I knew it would just terrify me.
Finally, I stepped up to the beginning line, trying to
ignore my hammering heart. I barely even noticed
Eleanora beside me until she tossed her blonde hair and
smirked in my direction. I ignored it; she was just trying
to put me off, fixing my sights on the point where I’d
figured I needed to drop to my stomach.
Jett blew the whistle, and we were off. I pushed my legs
harder than I had the first time I’d run this course, and I
knew I had an advantage; she hadn’t bothered warming up
or practicing since the last time we’d run.
I reached the nets and dropped to my stomach,
remembering the bite from the wire from last time. I
scrambled frantically, coordinating my limbs so that I was
constantly moving. Mud flicked at my face, but I ignored
it.
A few strides ahead, I stood up from the nets and in the
same movement leapt onto my rope. It swung out over the
water, me clinging to it like a hitch hiking insect. I sailed
with it to its apex, and then dropped into the water below
me. I’d figured out that last time I’d done myself a
disservice by trying to make even more ground by trying
to jump forwards. As it was, I hit the water with my arms
wide and scissor kicked at the same time, like I’d been
taught in the human world. My head stayed above the
water and I began to stretch out for the other bank, my
strokes slicing through the water. I reached the bank a
good ten seconds before she did, but now I was faced with
my biggest adversary, the wall.
I wound the rope around my hand and began to pull
myself up. I could feel new muscles shifting beneath my
skin, and to everyone’s disbelief, including mine, I gripped
the top of the wall with one hand, and then the other. I
sat atop it for just a second, revelling in my success. Then I
dropped neatly to the other side, waiting for Eleanora to
appear. She did a few seconds later, a murderous
expression on her face.
“Quit smirking,” she snapped at me, which only
prompted me to grin wider.
I changed with the other girls, and whilst they were
keen to get their muddy shirts off, the cold water that
dripped down my plait and pressed my shirt to my skin
felt like hard work paying off, and I would savour every
little bit of it.

We were having dinner in the mess hall when Iain
entered. Everyone stopped talking immediately; it was
strange to see him in our eating hall.

“Good evening, everyone,” he said loudly. “I trust
you’ve been hard at work with your studies.”
We all blinked up at him, but no one answered.
“I’ve come to announce to you all that in two days’
time, we will be holding a celebration called the Knight
Ball, to bring in the new term and wish luck to you all.
Everyone is expected to have partners and it is
compulsory
to attend.”
He left, and everyone began talking at a million miles
an hour. I turned back to my table, and we all stared at
each other blankly.
“This ought to be fun,” Yasmin said, but her voice was
strained as she looked at me.
The next two days passed a lot more quickly than I
would’ve liked and I grew more and more frustrated with
my poor attempts at trotting. I’d given up trying to
complete homework; once we’d had riding lessons, I was
too sore to sit down to study.
On the day of the ball, I scrambled up to my room
before Dena or Theresa could ask me who I was going
with. I entered my room, surprising Larni in the act of
laying a dress bag out on my bed. I closed the door behind
me and she looked up.
“Your dress for tonight, miss.” She said, lowering her
gaze.
“Thanks,” I said, slinging my school bag to the floor.
“But I’m not going.”
Larni looked up, curiosity sparking in her eyes for just a
second.
“But everyone else is going,” she said. “And it’s
compulsory.”
I flopped down onto my bed, avoiding the dress bag.
“So? I‘d rather do detention again if it meant I didn’t
have to see him with her.”
“Who?” Larni asked curiously.
“Phoenix,” I said, and my stomach flipped over.
“Are you having troubles with him?”
I looked at her. She looked back at me, genuinely
curious.
“Yes. He doesn’t speak to me at all, or even
acknowledge that I exist unless I force him to speak to
me.”
“Ah, I’m sure it’ll work out in time, miss,” Larni said,
suspiciously happy about it all. “So who is this ‘her’?”
“Eleanora.”
“The one that you got into the fight with?”
Larni knew more than I’d been telling her, but I
suspected the servants knew more about the Academy and
its inhabitants than they let on.
“Yeah. Her.” I said heavily.
She patted my hand.
“It’ll all work out,” she repeated and began to head for
the door. “I still think you should go, miss.”
She left, leaving me with a heavy heart and a dress bag.
Night fell, and I could hear the other girls heading
down to the Main Hall. I didn’t answer the door when
Dena knocked, even when she called out for me.
I was plonked at my table, finishing a report for
Professor Watt when someone else knocked at my door. I
looked up curiously; all of the other girls had gone down
already. I opened the door cautiously
“Oh… Hi, Dustin.” I said, surprised to see him,
considering my cold dismissal at the river.
He frowned at me.
“You’re not going?”
I looked down at my uniform, noticing for the first
time that he was wearing a pale yellow lace-up tunic over
a white shirt with black pants and black leather boots. He
looked quite nice.
“Didn’t have a date,” I said, smiling sadly. “I thought I
might catch up on my homework, though I can’t sit
down.”
I clamped my lips together hoping he didn’t notice the
last bit.
“Well coincidence just so happens that I don’t have one
either. You might’ve guessed that Phoenix and Eleanora
are together, so when you didn’t show up at the start of
the night, I thought I’d come and find you.” He smiled
nervously.
“Did you now?” I asked, quite pleased.
He nodded.
“Will you come down with me?” He asked and held out
his arm.
I mulled it over. He obviously hadn’t noticed me
talking about my sore butt.
“Give me five.” I said quickly, closing the door.
I untied the dress bag Larni had laid out and lifted a
long green dress reverently from its depths. I stripped
down and stepped into it, somehow managing to do up the
back. It was strapless and fell to the floor, the chiffon
waves falling from an empress waistline. I brushed my
hand over the spectacular embroidery that embossed the
waistline, unable to believe that I was wearing such a
beautiful garment. I pulled my hair up into a bun, quickly
plaiting a section that wrapped around the bun. I couldn’t
find any make up in my room – not that I’d have any idea
how to use it -, but I did find a pair of long green earrings
that lightly brushed my shoulders. I found green heels
with a little strap that went around my ankle in my
dresser and put them on.
Satisfied that I was done, I opened the door again, half
expecting to see Dustin gone. He wasn’t however, and
smiled when he saw me in my dress.
“Don’t say anything.” I said warningly.
“I was just going to say that you look beautiful,” he said,
something in his eyes making me turn a deep red.
He offered me his arm again and I took it. We
descended the stairs and headed for the Main Hall, talking
avidly about classes, people, Phoenix and Eleanora. I
neglected to tell him about the fact that Phoenix had only
spoken about a dozen words to me in two weeks.
We entered the hall, and stood at the top of a large
flight of stairs that descended onto a dance floor. Tables
lined the walls, draped in white linen and rose petals. Tall
branches of candles lit the hall with a soft golden light and
a band occupied a raised dais at the opposite end of the
hall. I frowned; I didn’t recall either the stairs or the dais
being here. It wasn’t until I spied Iain at the back of the
hall, chatting to Professor Alena, that I realised he’d
created the stairs; all the better for a dramatic entrance, I
supposed.
A hush spread throughout the crowd below us as
Dustin and I began to make our way down. I could see
Eleanora glaring at us, and I lifted my chin higher. Out of
the corner of my eye I spied Phoenix standing close to her.
I quickly averted my eyes.
I saw Dena and Theresa sitting with the rest of my
group, gaping at my dance partner. I couldn’t hold back
the huge grin that I beamed at them, though I winced as I
realised everyone was still staring when we got to the
floor. Music filtered through the air, and eventually
everyone began to talk and dance again. Dustin and I
avoided Eleanora and Phoenix, and headed towards Dena
and everyone.
“Nice dress, Sky.” Petre said laughing.
I glared at him, but then laughed as he pretended to be
frightened of me. I introduced Dustin to the others and
they welcomed him eagerly, Petre and Ispin especially; I
think they’d been feeling a little overwhelmed by women.
As the night wore on, Dustin and I danced many times
and I decided I was quite enjoying myself. The rest of the
time I sat with my group at our table, joking and laughing
with them. Right next to us was an enormous vat of mead
that was slowly being consumed. I danced with everyone,
including Petre, Ispin and the red headed guy who’d been
struck by lightning on our first day of classes.
The music ended around one in the morning, and
Dustin towed me back to my room; I was dizzy from too
much mead. As we were walking down the darkened
hallway, I realised two people were standing at the bottom
of the stairs, dimly illuminated by the low burning
torches.
My heart plummeted as I realised it was Phoenix and
Eleanora. His arms were around her and it took me a
second to realise they were kissing.
I felt like I was going to be sick. They broke apart and
looked around at us, Phoenix avoiding my gaze.
“Dustin!” Eleanora said, and I could tell she was
embarrassed. “Uh, we were just-“
“Yeah, we saw.” Dustin said coldly.
He took my arm and led me past them. I felt like my
heart was breaking, and tears began to fill my eyes.
When we reached my door, he stood looking at me for
a second.
“Tonight was fun,” I told him, trying to hide how upset
I was and swaying slightly. “Thank you for taking me.”
“It was my pleasure,” he replied honestly. “Thank you
for coming with me. It’s every man’s dream to take a
beautiful woman to a dance.”
“Maybe in this world it is,” I said, laughing in spite of
myself. And then, quietly, “You think I’m beautiful?”
“Of course I do,” he said softly. “Ever since I saw you in
the Entrance Hall when we first arrived. I was just too
nervous to speak to you.”
“You should’ve,” I said, looking up at him. “I’m sorry
for how I treated you when you saved me the other day.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied, tucking a stray piece
of hair behind my ear.
He took a deep breath as though steeling himself and
then leant down to kiss me. His lips brushed mine, and I
closed my eyes, letting him take me into his arms.
Ok, here’s the truth. I’d never been kissed before.
I could smell his aftershave, and his upper lip was
rough with stubble. He had one hand on my neck, his
thumb caressing my jaw line.
When we broke apart, I desperately wanted to
continue. But then I thought about Phoenix and
something made me step back.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Dustin said, and took my hand
in his. He brushed my knuckles with his lips. “Goodnight,
beautiful woman.”
“Night,” I said softly.