The Blaze Ignites (39 page)

Yarin looked at me sincerely. “I’m really
happy to have gotten to meet you.”

“You too.”

He gave me one last smile, then stepped
around me and held out his hand to Ortheldo. They clasped wrists
with one hand and embraced each other with the other. “It is so
good to see you again,” Ortheldo said.

“You too, my friend.”

“How come you asked if I’d found Azrel?
Didn’t you just…”

“Attention everyone,” Acalith called over the
din, “the meeting will begin.”

With that, one hundred chairs materialized,
all lined up perfectly facing one direction with a single aisle
down the middle. The chatter elevated as everyone started moving
towards the chairs and taking seats.

“We’ll talk later,” Yarin said and then made
his way towards the front row of the seats where the White Warrior
and Acalith were.

I looked back at Ortheldo to question what we
should do. He shrugged. Both of us heard our names called. We
looked to see Reese and Addredoc sitting in the front row to the
left and beckoning us to the two empty seats next to them. I looked
back at Ortheldo again, who shrugged once more. I shrugged as well
and both of us made our way towards them.

As we walked, I got my first good look at the
crowd. There were so many faces I’d never seen before, but what
really grabbed my attention was the sight of a race of beings I’d
never even heard of. I slowed my pace and couldn’t stop staring at
them.

Ortheldo noticed and stepped up to my side.
“They’re called Poppers.”

I finally stopped to look at them. The beings
looked human in all respects except they only stood as tall as my
hips. They had pointed ears and really beautiful, but slightly
tragic, sets of wings on their backs. Their wings were beautiful
because of the different color combinations and soft looking
membrane they were made of, but tragic because they looked like a
mix between butterfly wings and torn up maple leaves.

“Poppers,” I said, still gazing shamelessly
at them. “They’re really…charming in appearance aren’t they?”

“They are.” Ortheldo looked away from them
towards the crowd. “And it’s their appearance that is their
deadliest asset.”

“Huh?” I said, barely hearing him.

He chuckled. “Their magic charms anyone who
gazes long enough at them, pacifying them into a drooling, adoring
stupor until their little daggers plunge into your throat.”

“Huh? What?” I said snapping my head to look
at him.

He smiled, “Or you are jarred to
awareness.”

I flinched, suddenly realizing that I had
just been under a Popper’s spell.

Ortheldo cast a soft gaze at the group of
Poppers. “Niferri, that wasn’t very nice of you.”

I looked back and immediately realized all
the Poppers were smirking devilishly at me. One beautiful
orange-haired girl smiled shyly and feigned innocence as she
brought her shoulder up to her face as if to try and hide behind
it. “Sorry Ortheldo,” she said in a tiny, sweet voice. “He was just
enjoying the view so much I couldn’t resist playing with him a
bit.”

Ortheldo then got to one knee and held out
his hand. The orange-haired Popper, Niferri, happily skipped
forward, her dainty feet barely touching the floor, and placed her
hand in his. He lowered his head and kissed the back of her hand.
“It’s good to see you again.”

“It’s always a pleasure to view you,” she
replied. She turned her face to the side, trying to soften her
boldness, but she kept her big green eyes on Ortheldo. He smiled
broadly and winked at her before standing again.

“You know her?” I asked as we started away,
casting another glance back at her even as I asked. Niferri blew me
a kiss and smiled before she turned and headed back to her group.
All of them were almost doubled over in hysterics.

“Our paths crossed once or twice while I was
searching for Azrel. She’s a rogue Popper. You never, ever see a
Popper outside Blossoming Bays unless they go rogue. But even then
you don’t see them often. It was just by chance that we met.” He
smiled, “but she sought for me the second time.”

“A story for the road, I presume.”

“Sure. Now that you’ve felt the effects of a
Popper’s charm, you might understand.”

Realization dawned on me. “You didn’t…” I
couldn’t even finish the thought.

He only smiled. “A story for the road.”

“Did you?!” I asked more forcefully.

“No, no.” But he was still smiling. Finally
he said, “But not for her lack of trying.”

I shook my head. “Never mind. I don’t think I
want to know.” Ortheldo just laughed.

When I looked towards the front of the seats,
I stopped in my tracks and my eyes went wide. The most magnificent
white horse I’d ever seen now stood with the White Warrior. He had
well-built, sleek muscles, and he was huge. His coat and mane were
the purest, most vibrant white I had ever seen. He was whiter than
freshly fallen snow. He had to be the most powerful and formidable
war horse in all of Casdanarus. I wouldn’t have been surprised if
the beast could outrun the flight of an eagle!

“Lightning,” I heard Ortheldo say.

“What?”

“I can’t believe it. That’s Lightning!” He
breathed more forcefully. “That’s the White Warrior’s horse!”

“The White Warrior’s horse indeed,” I said,
still stunned at the perfection and beauty of the animal. After a
moment we continued scanning the crowd.

“There are some Fayithjens here,” Ortheldo
said.

My heart twisted at the mention of that land,
but with pain and excitement. “Where? I don’t see any.”

“They’re in human form right now. I just know
some of them from my travels.”

My brows dropped. “How come Norka couldn’t
turn into a human?”

Ortheldo gave me a sympathetic look. “A
Fayithjen that is banished or sent to Tribeltwel loses the ability
as part of his or her punishment and is forced to stay in
half-creature form.”

“Oh.” I looked in the direction in which he
had been gazing and I noticed a young woman staring at me. She was
older than me, possibly Ortheldo’s age. She was rather attractive,
though nothing compared to Acalith’s goddess-like beauty. She had
perfectly straight ash-blonde hair that fell to just past her
shoulders, an olive complexion, and big dark blue eyes. Her full,
light pink lips were so grimly set that I wondered if they had ever
smiled. When she noticed me looking at her, she looked away and sat
down in a chair.

Ortheldo and I took our seats in the front as
everyone settled and quieted. The White Warrior stood in front of
everyone, Acalith stood to the left with Lightning, and Yarin sat
in a chair with them. When White Warrior clasped her hands behind
her back and bowed her head, everything went completely quiet. She
started pacing at the front.

“Alright,” she said, looking up at the crowd,
“there are a few matters we need to discuss. First, as you can all
see, Acalith has
finally
been named The Deralilya.” Everyone
clapped and yelled words of congratulations that Acalith accepted
with a small smile and a nod. I didn’t say anything. All I noticed
was the bitter tone the White Warrior used with “finally.”

She stopped pacing looking more tired every
moment that passed. “Also, as we all feared, Hathum has surfaced.
He is in complete command of Dwellingpath and its army.” A few
murmurs broke out. “I know this is difficult for you to hear, but
trust me, it’s even more difficult for me to tell you. Because
there is no bloody way
Azrel
is ready for this
showdown.”

Again that a bitter tone, this time paired
with my sister’s name. I felt my heart start pounding with sadness
and rage.

“I can’t discuss the details right now
because I’m extremely exhausted. I had to use a great deal of my
power to speak to Azrel and calm her down after her most recent
temper tantrum, one we all knew she would throw.”

Everyone laughed. They
laughed!
My
teeth clenched hard.

“In light of this issue arising with
Hathum”—she let out a breath of frustration—“I’m really not sure
what to do.
I
can’t do anything because Azrel is in my way.”
Now my fists clenched. “The only thing I can think of is to just
continue with the plan to find the necklace’s owner. As Azrel
endures this journey, her thick head will eventually crack, and
she’ll accept me. Then
maybe
we can have a shot at
destroying Hathum.”

The crowd chuckled…and I was out of my seat
before I really knew what I was doing.

“How
dare
you talk about my sister
that way!” I screamed. Ortheldo was right behind me, glaring just
as hatefully at the White Warrior. No one else,
no one
else
came to Azrel’s defense. Not Reese, not Addredoc, no one—which only
enraged me further.

The White Warrior looked at me with slightly
widened eyes. “Excuse me?”

“Are you deaf? Or is my statement just too
difficult for you to understand?”

Her mouth dropped as gasps and murmurs broke
out among the crowd. I felt angry enough to breathe fire! The White
Warrior’s eyes quickly shifted to the audience, then back to me,
her brows drawn in anger. “How dare you talk t—”

“How dare
I?
” I said, pointing to
myself and taking a step forward. I was so mad that I was shaking.
She thought
I
was the one out of line? “How dare
I
?
How dare
you!
” I screamed, throwing my arm in her direction.
“How dare you say
anything
hateful about my sister!” I
turned to the crowd. “How dare you all
laugh
at her. How
dare
you!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “You know
nothing
about her!
None
of you do! You’ve never even
seen
her!” I turned back to The White Warrior. “You don’t
know
anything!
”

The White Warrior gave me a smug smile that I
wished I could just slap right off her face, but Azrel had taught
me better than that. “I hate to break it to you, darling, but I’ve
already shown everyone what her life was like.”

I gave a sarcastic gasp, touched my
fingertips to my open mouth, and looked at her with wide eyes of
mock shock. “No!” I breathed in sarcastic amazement. “You didn’t
show
them that did you?” Her brows dropped in confusion.
“Try
living
through it!” I screamed, making her and a few
others jump. I sneered at myself as I remembered how awestruck I
had been at seeing the White Warrior duel Acalith, enough to bow to
a knee. Now I glared at her. I had a feeling I shouldn’t be talking
to the White Warrior like this, but the need to defend my sister
pummeled it away. “Let me out of here,” I growled at her.

“You can’t—”

“Now!” I screamed, making her jump again. She
looked at me with wide eyes. Her shocked silence only encouraged
me. “You know, it’s no wonder Azrel is having such a hard time
accepting you and her magic. She can probably sense what a wretched
bitch you are.” Everyone gasped and she stared at me dumbfounded.
“In my opinion,” I said, taking a step closer to her, “Azrel is
more of a warrior than you’ll ever be.” I glared hatefully into
those white eyes so she would feel it in her bones. “You keep
having your little gatherings in my sister’s head and keep barking
out your orders. But doing that doesn’t make you a warrior; it
makes you a bully.” She flinched. “When you’ve walked a mile—hell,
even a
half
a mile—in Azrel’s shoes, you let me know.
Then
I might be able to call you a warrior.”

Before I even knew it, I was reaching into
that deep core of my soul where my magic was and I plunged my
conscious deeper into it than I’d ever gone before. My eyes snapped
open a moment later and I looked around. I was back outside in the
clearing.

I slowly sat up, expecting to be in pain from
passing out in some awkward position, but I found myself
comfortably settled into my sleeping roll with a blanket over me.
When I looked around the camp, my heart fell into the pit of my
stomach. Everyone had been moved away from the fire pit where we’d
all fallen, and had been put comfortably into our sleeping rolls.
The fire had been extinguished and even all of our boots were off.
Azrel, who apparently didn’t need to sleep any more when meetings
were held, must have moved each of us into our beds, taken our
boots off, put a pillow under our heads, and covered us up.

Without warning I started bawling. I looked
at my sister asleep in her own bed roll and I just cried. I bawled
so hard that corners of my mouth went down tightly and tears
dripped off my chin like a rainfall. I could only bow my face into
my hands and sob. I don’t think I ever cried so hard in my life. My
sobs were deep and endless, my face and palms completely soaked.
How could my sister be so easy to hate when she so deeply cared for
others? How could she so easily be thought worthless, when she
thought the world of everyone else except herself? My shoulders
trembled violently with every rapid sob I sucked in.

After I managed to catch my breath a little,
I got out of my sleeping roll and went over to my sister. I gently
lifted her blanket and crawled in behind her, wrapping both my arms
tightly around her. I kissed the back of her head as a few more of
my tears fell into her hair. “I’m so sorry, Azrel,” I whispered,
thinking about Acalith, Lisswilla, Reese and Addredoc just sitting
by while the White Warrior verbally brutalized my sister. I pulled
Azrel a little closer to me. “It seems we are on our own.”

Azrel

I woke up as the first dull light rested on
my face. I couldn’t believe I’d managed to sleep again. After
sleeping eighteen hours straight yesterday, I hadn’t thought I
would. But I’d suddenly gotten very tired when everyone else had
passed out, and I’d fallen asleep again with ease. I suppose it was
good. I hadn’t slept much lately.