The Blaze Ignites (37 page)

Everyone’s eyes went wide except for mine.
Clearly this was significant, but I didn’t know why.

“Then he turned away and kept walking as if
nothing had happened.” Lisswilla’s eyes took on a new light of
excitement. “I have never forgotten that first glimpse of him in
the eleven thousand years I have lived.” He smiled. “I cannot wait
to see you as the White Warrior for the first time, Lady
Azrel.”

Azrel quickly became unhypnotized from
Lisswilla’s story and I saw her blush. She scratched the back of
her neck self consciously. “I doubt I’ll leave an impression quite
like that.”

Lisswilla’s smile lingered on her for a
moment. He shrugged. “Anyway, as I was scouring Alkgwathien, I
realized he hadn’t changed me into a human. I didn’t die of old age
after a hundred years, so I had thousands of years to live still. I
figured since I had time, I would teach myself advanced magic. I
just happened to have a knack for it”—he winked—“and quickly became
a wizard.”

“You
happened
to have a knack for it?
Yeah, I’m sure your life as a magic-wielding Salynn beforehand had
nothing
to do with it,” Addredoc said.

Everyone laughed at that, even Lisswilla,
“No, not at all.” We all laughed more heartily while Addredoc
rolled his eyes.

The mirth was stolen from Azrel’s face
though, and she scratched the back of her neck again, a nervous
habit she was developing too quickly. She was always so tough and
self-confident. She’d never been nervous about anything, and it
broke my heart to see her falling apart.

“Azrel,” I said. She looked at me “You said
you had some matters to address.”

She cleared her throat, her hand still at the
back of her neck. She stayed quiet a moment, not meeting anyone’s
eyes, as she thought about what she was going to say. Finally she
cleared her throat again and her hand dropped into her lap. “Well,
you all have informed me that these shields of yours are based on
love, correct?” Everyone nodded and Azrel turned red. “My question
is who do you love?” All of our brows dropped and we looked around
at each other. “Me or the White Warrior?” Realization washed over
everyone’s faces. Questioning glances went around the camp. No one
answered right away.

“I ask because it would seem to me that if
you love one and not the other, there is a devastating weakness in
your shields. It would only give you about half of a shield, I
guess. Can you, and
do you
, love us both?” Azrel’s lip
twitched uncomfortably at that. She was never comfortable talking
about love. Hell, she and Ortheldo had yet to tell each other they
loved each other, even though it was only
too
obvious. The
problem was that Azrel didn’t believe she
could
be loved,
because she’d been so hated by so many people for so long.

“Look,” Azrel said letting out a nervous
breath, “you don’t have to answer now. It’s just something you
might want to be aware of and think about. I can’t have people
protecting me who are not protected from Hathum.” She looked at
Acalith. “But while I can’t do anything about them, I can do
something about you.”

My heart started pounding so hard I could
feel it in my ears. Did she mean what I thought she meant? The
crinkle in Acalith’s eyes told me everything I needed to know, and
I sucked in air that, embarrassingly, sounded like a gasp. I was
finally about to see her face.

Azrel stood up, walked a little way away from
camp to a wide clearing, and drew out her sword. Acalith followed
and got on both knees in front of my sister. Everyone else followed
as well and formed a circle around the two women, also taking a
knee. I stared at Acalith as I took a knee myself.

Azrel’s eyes turned into glowing white lights
and white flames traveled up from the hilt of her sword to consume
the blade. In my mind I began yelling at Azrel to hurry up, though
only a second or two had passed.

Azrel touched her flaming sword to Azrel’s
left shoulder, then to her right, and I was amazed that Acalith’s
clothes didn’t catch fire. Azrel then slipped the blade under
Acalith’s hood at the top of her head. “By all the powers of
Goodness tied to me and by the earthly element of the Light Gods.”
The cloth of Acalith’s hood started to melt and dissolve around
Azrel’s blade.

I watched in wide-eyed wonder as blonde,
perfect ringlets of hair spilled out. They bounced and swayed,
gently caressing Acalith’s face. Azrel brought her sword down and
rested it at the brim of the tan mask she wore over her nose and
mouth.

“I hereby officially announce you, Lady
Acalith of Spar Ridges, the Deralilya of the White Warrior.”

My breath sped up as I watched the tan cloth
start to melt away. When it finally faded completely, I made some
kind of weird choking noise. Acalith was the only other woman in
the world that could possibly complete with my sister’s flawless
beauty. She had sharp angular features, from her prominent cheek
bones to her pointed chin and small nose. Her eyes seemed much
bigger than when she was covered up, but in a beautiful catlike
way. In fact, her entire beautiful, clean, creamy skinned face,
reminded me a lot of a cat.

She looked up at Azrel and smiled. She had a
set of perfect white teeth and her smile absolutely took up her
entire face, making her eyes crinkle in the corners. I couldn’t
take my eyes off her for the longest time. The only thing that
managed to make me look away was a swirling stream of white
fire.

It originated from Azrel’s sword and, without
her moving, circled Azrel’s feet and moved up her legs and then her
entire body until she stood in her full White Warrior form. I
glanced at Lisswilla to see his reaction and saw him smiling with
wide eyes as he looked upon her.

“Well, Acalith,” my sister’s voice said,
bringing my attention back to her. Azrel suddenly gripped her sword
in both fists and raised it above her head, “Let’s see what you’ve
got!” She brought her sword down in front of Acalith’s face, just
barely missing splitting the woman in two, and a loud crack sounded
just before Azrel’s sword hit the ground.

White fire exploded from the earth where
Acalith still kneeled. It consumed her slowly. I watched in
amazement as her clothes transformed from bulky heavy garments to a
light, silky white outfit. Her white off-the-shoulders tunic was
cinched at her waist by a white embroidered belt. The belled
sleeves were a completely shear white material showing off
Acalith’s strong, sculpted arms. White decorative cuffs were
fastened to both her upper arms. Even her trousers and boots were
white.

A stream of fire shot upward above all of our
heads, and inside of it I watched a magnificent and intimidating
sword take shape. It paused in the air, then slowly started
floating down towards Acalith, who stretched out her hand to reach
it. I looked at her and I felt the seams of my sanity stretching
with a longing to talk to her and touch her.

“Feel like you’re about to go mad, don’t
you?”

I didn’t quite register the whisper for a few
more seconds as Acalith’s sword found its way into her elegant
hand. When I realized someone had spoken to me, I looked to my
right, where Ortheldo was kneeling. “Huh?”

He was smiling. “That’s how I feel every day
about your sister.”

I felt my heart twist as I looked back at the
two women. “That sucks.”

Considering every insane emotion I was
experiencing right now looking at Acalith for the first time, I
couldn’t imagine being tortured by this for as long as Ortheldo had
known Azrel.

“I doubt I’ve got as much as you do, White
Warrior,” Acalith said then. I nearly choked again on my own breath
as I heard her voice without that mask muffling it.

“Just wait until you get to touch her face,
or her hair, or get close enough to smell her,” Ortheldo whispered
next to me. “That’s when the real torture begins.”

I swallowed without taking my eyes off
Acalith as she stood and took a battle stance. “How can it possibly
get worse?”

“It does, trust me.”

“Try your absolute best is all I ask,” Azrel
responded.

It took a moment for their words to click in
my stupefied mind. I realized both women were facing each other in
firm battle stances.

“Wait, they aren’t…” I felt someone’s hand
under my arm and looked up to see Lisswilla pulling me to me feet.
I realized everyone else was on their feet as well and backing away
from the two women.

“Trust me,” Lisswilla said as we backed away,
“we’ll want to be out of the way for this.”

I looked back at the women. “But they aren’t
really going to…”

“I’m not going to
try
anything,”
Acalith said with narrowed eyes.

Azrel smiled broadly. “I knew I picked the
right person.”

Suddenly they broke into a fierce battle.
This time I could not take my eyes off my sister. She was hammering
at Acalith with everything she had. I was terrified for Acalith!
I’d never seen my sister in full force combat before as The White
Warrior. She was lethal! She was deadly! She was something so
beyond dangerous that I couldn’t even find a word for it. This was
the White Warrior, and for the first time, I truly found myself in
awe at being in her presence.

This was the strongest and deadliest warrior
on the face of the earth, in the Sky Sanctuary, and in the Nine
Hells of the Shadow Gods Lair. This woman, my sister, was
one
rank shy of the Light Gods Themselves and created by the
very awesome and raw power of the Light Gods.

As I watched her in battle, glowing like a
lantern in an attic, her sword clanking with Acalith’s so fast it
sounded like one continuous stream of sound, I couldn’t help
myself; I placed my hand over my heart and bowed to a knee before
her. I could feel everyone’s curious eyes on me, but I didn’t care.
My sister, the White Warrior, was a being to be knelt to. Even as I
did, I worried that my relationship with Azrel may have just
changed forever. I knew Azrel didn’t want me, or anyone, kneeling
to her, but how could I stop myself in her presence? She was an
awesome being, a being that I was now aware of. How could I look at
her the same way?

I knew I would
have
to look at her the
same, for Azrel’s own sake, because she wouldn’t be too keen on the
idea of me bowing to a part of herself that she hated. I quickly
got to my feet, hoping Azrel hadn’t notice, but also hoping the
White Warrior had.

“Are you okay?” Ortheldo asked softly as he
leaned into me.

I nodded not taking my eyes of the White
Warrior. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

For a moment it looked like Acalith had an
edge when she feigned spinning around one way to attack from the
side but actually stopped her spin halfway and—faster than I would
have thought possible—reversed direction and brought her sword up
to come crashing down on Azrel’s head. Azrel’s fist shot up,
catching Acalith’s blade between two of the claw-like knives
attached to her gloves. I was surprised to hear the clank of metal
where Azrel’s flesh should have been. With a simple twist of her
wrist, Azrel held the blade in the two claws and then slammed her
fist straight down, burying the claw knives into the ground like
tent stakes and pinning Acalith’s sword. Amazingly, Acalith held
fast to her sword and went down with it when it should have been
wrenched from her grip. Azrel’s sword was quickly under Acalith’s
chin. Both women squatted before each other, breathing
heavily—Acalith a little more than Azrel—and looked into each
other’s eyes.

A broad half-smile spread across Azrel’s
face. “Very,
very
well done. I can’t remember the last time
I fought so hard to defend myself in a duel.” Azrel lowered her
sword from Acalith’s chin and gave a small yank of her fist,
dislodging her claws from the earth and releasing Acalith’s
sword.

“I’m glad to hear you speak so highly of my
abilities, White Warrior.” Acalith placed her hand on her chest and
bowed at the waist. “I’ve worked hard since you called me nine
years ago.”

Azrel sheathed her sword. “I don’t doubt it.”
Both women started to head back to the camp.

“Now hold on,” Reese suddenly said. Acalith
turned to face him. “You’re not going to let us see the sword that
you’ve been whining about constantly for the past year?” Everyone
grinned. “Come on now, let’s see it.”

Everyone chuckled as Acalith held her sword
out to show off. I gave a low whistle when I finally saw it up
close. It looked powerful and heavy, heavier than I thought someone
of Acalith’s thin frame could lift. The hilt was an antique yellow
gold with a thin strip of ruby gems circling the top and bottom of
it. Two strips of rubies came down vertically between the top and
bottom ruby strips, lines that started out parallel before belling
out to make a circle halfway down. In the middle of this ruby
circle was a single, larger diamond in the shape of a fire, much
like the fire brooch Azrel wore in her White Warrior form. The
blade was very broad, broader than Azrel’s sword, with etching in
the metal that depicted the same design as on the hilt, and an
added line of text in modern Salynnian.

“My blood to protect the white fire,” Acalith
said aloud as she gazed at her own blade. Then she smiled and
looked at me. I felt my heart stop beating.

“Come,” Azrel said, saving me from trying to
come up with a response, “I have a few other things I need to
discuss with you all.” Azrel held her hand up to one shoulder and a
white flame erupted in it. She arched her hand outward, dragging a
trail of white flames that spilled over like powder. Another breeze
from nowhere swirled around her, moving the fire with it, and she
transformed back into Azrel.

I saw an uncomfortable expression in Azrel’s
eyes as they fell on me. She shook her head a little, and I
understood the message: “Don’t do that again.”