Flames of Fury

Magnolia

I could get used to this. Going off to fight, taunting my boys with the promise of naughty deeds to the victor. I’m not sure they realize that I’m including myself in this competition, and I fully intend to win.

My dad wraps an arm around my shoulders and teleports a few of us to the south caves ahead of the rest of our group. The earth elementals get right to work, shifting the rocks and stone of the mountain in search of a cave Ember circled on our maps.

“Queen Magnolia, over here.” One of the elementals calls me over to a cave entrance on ground level. The cave isn’t deep at all, only going back about twenty feet, but before the back wall there’s a hole in the floor of the cave that drops down into another cavern below us.

My dad drops down into the hole, probably trying to protect me from doing it myself and getting caught off guard. But I’m a shadow walker, not him. He’s at more risk than I’d be.

A few minutes later my dad flies back up into the cave. “This is it, it leads down into the Hollow behind the cells.”

West side is ready. Ro’s husky voice comes through our link.

East is ready. Varian’s voice rings through after Ro’s.

Neither of them mentioned Runidar’s and Incandis’ group to the North so I take that to mean that they’re ready too.

South is ready to descend. Remember, let members of the resistance go free. Kill everyone else on sight, and leave Ian for me. I link back to Ro and Varian so they can pass on my message to the other teams.

Time to go.

Our dragons drop down, some wolves are teleported down while others slide down the tunnel in wolf form. Down below there’s a narrow corridor that runs parallel behind the cells my father and uncle were kept in. We’re rounding a corner that gives way to a wider corridor containing isolation cells and torture rooms when Varian’s voice rings through my mind with urgency.

Stop where you are, the cave is flooded with poisonous gas.

I grab a bow from the closest quiver to me and hold the arrow by the head, poking the feathery fletching into the air in front of me. At the end of the hall where it turns once more to open up to the heart of the Hollow there’s an imperceptible barrier that begins to burn and corrode the feathers at the end of the bow.

What a fucking coward, flooding the hollow with poison rather than fight us face to face. I throw a red flame into the space but it dies out quickly, having done nothing to dissipate the poison. I summon green flames that weave over and under through my fingers and wave my hand through the barrier that disintegrated the bow’s fletching.

When my Fey fire makes contact with the poisoned air, there’s an audible crackling and smoking as the poison is consumed and burned away.

Stand away from the entrances, I have an idea. I link to Ro and Varian. I know that the message was relayed because the wolves in my group take three steps back from where they’re standing.

With my hands pressed flat together, I generate more and more green flames that slowly encircle and encapsulate my hands. As I separate my hands from one another, a hole emerges within the sphere of flames, creating a large, thin circle of flames. I push the flaming circle away from me towards the tunnel in front of me and once the circle hits the poisonous barrier the circle snaps to the walls, ceiling, and floor of the cave, consuming the gas.

The flames begin to move forward through the tunnel, chasing the fuel that the poison provides, becoming faster and faster as more of the fuel is burned up and used. All that is left are wisps of smoke, the air is safe and breathable and the Hollow is ours for the taking.

We press on deeper into the Hollow, passing by the row of cells that are filled nearly to the brim with prisoners.

“It’s her, Queen Magnolia!” One of the prisoners shouts causing the people in the neighboring cells to clamor towards the bars and reach out to me. “Please, my Queen! We are part of the resistance. We were locked away after Griffin’s murder.”

Hearing his name halts me in my tracks threatening to evacuate the air from my lungs. “Let us help, let us fight for you.”

“If I let you out of here will you swear to evacuate the innocent? If you betray me whilst hiding behind Griffin’s name, you will share the same fate as Ian.”

The prisoners nod, sincerity swimming in their eyes. “We swear it, my Queen.”

I blast the cell locks open, allowing hundreds of innocent lives to go free. Some of them run straight out of the cavern by the way we came in, others head back into the Hollow. I hope for their sake that it’s to pack their shit and leave lest they become my next target.

I don’t have much time to worry about their loyalty, Drow begin dropping down from above us with weapons in hand that are no doubt coated in poisons. Fucking cowards.

I jump into the air, stealing the weapon right out of the hands of some idiot Drow warrior and slamming it through the top of his skull.

One.

I pull the dagger from his skull and throw it at a Drow flying down to attack our wolves. The knife embeds itself into his lung, causing his flight pattern to falter and sending him spiraling towards whatever hell awaits him at the bottom of this Gods forsaken pit.

Two.

I’m up to 46 before I start to feel like it’s becoming a challenge. More and more drow are pouring in, engaging in clumsy, futile hand to hand combat against me and my warriors.

“Queen Magnolia, look out!” A voice from one of the freed prisoners sounds from behind me. I twist around just in time to dodge the arrow that was aimed directly at my heart.

Fuck, that was close. “What are you still doing here, I told you to get out!” I reprimand him as I send a spear spiraling towards the archer that targeted me. 47.

“You’re not the only one who has fury to spend.”

“Alright, then. Slay his goons, leave Illian for me.” My wings expand in preparation to fly off again but when I go to lift off I feel like I’ve been sucker punched in the chest by a cinder block and I trip forward landing on my hands and knees.

I can’t breathe, I’m gulping for air but nothing fills my lungs. My body is flooded with emotions that are not my own; confusion, panic, terror… pure, unadulterated terror. My father swoops down and lands next to me, attempting to figure out what’s wrong and help me. But he can’t.

My bond with Ro and Varian has always felt to me like a braided rope, three individual strands woven together intricately which create a tether that can weather any force against it. Only now one of the strands has frayed and is unraveling around the other two.

And then I hear it. Varian’s anguished howls echo through the chambers, protesting the empty space growing in our hearts.

I suck in raspy breaths through my teeth, seething with rage, while everything around me fades away. The stitching on my clothes expands and hardens into purple scales, my fingers extend into talons, and my wings quadruple in size spanning the length of the bridge I’m on.

I see nothing but what is in front of me, I see nothing but red.

I claw and climb my way over and under bridges, clinging to walls and ledges, beelining north towards Ian’s dwelling.

Arrows and daggers rain down upon me, but they evaporate and melt in the heat of the flames coating my body before their blades can ever kiss my skin. I spit flames out in front of me making myself a path free of obstacles and attackers.

I turn right down a familiar corridor that will lead me to his open dining room. I can flush him out with my flames there, like smoking out vermin from your backyard.

I’m clinging to the rock wall below the ledge of his dining room balcony and slowly lift my head up and over the edge.

I can feel my flames flaring out of control when I catch sight of Ian with a knife pressed against Varian’s throat. Immediately I shift back and stand at the very edge of the room where I can now see Incandis on his knees with an electric whip wrapped around his throat courtesy of Ian.

The angry, red slash of Ian’s mouth curls up like a wilting flower, grinning at me victoriously.

“Welcome back, my sweet flower.” Ian muses. His expression doesn’t change, his body doesn’t move, only his arm. He glides his knife across Varian’s throat like he’s drawing a bow across a cello, leaving a thin line that slowly starts to drip and drizzle crimson blood down Varian’s neck.

I ready my Fey fire to finally blast Ian to pieces; how could one, slimy man do so much damage? Torturing hundreds of people, raiding colonies, he’s taken away so much from so many people and now he’s taken everything away from me – but that only makes me more dangerous. There is no fury like that of someone with nothing left to lose.

“He doesn’t have to die, my flower. The cut is shallow, your brother could teleport him home where he can be saved and still live. But if you want me to release your brother I’m going to need something from you first.” Every word spilled from his tongue is acrid and caustic.

I hold my flame steady in my hand, my lack of movement the only indication I’ll afford him to tell me his terms.

“My desires haven’t changed, sweet Magnolia. I want to build an unstoppable army with you. Marry me, call off your dogs, and I’ll let them go and he will live.” Ian studies me, his eyes sparkle with delight when my flames begin to fade. “Come here, my sweet, show your precious mate what he means to you. Kiss me and seal our agreement, then they’ll be free to leave.”

Blood spills out of Varian’s throat faster as he tries to speak to tell me to stop, to let him die rather than live forever having lost me to Ian. But I can’t, and Ian knows it. I can’t watch him die, I won’t survive another broken bond.

“Drop your daggers,” Ian barks as I take a heavy, tentative step towards him. I divest myself of my twin blades, daggers, and knives, and continue my approach. Once in arm’s reach, he wraps his free arm around me and pulls me flush against his cold, abrasive body.

“Let them go. You have me, now let them go.” I order him. I wrap both hands around the back of his head and bring our lips together. He drops the whip and I peek to the side to make sure my brother gets Varian out of here.

Varian’s head hangs down below his shoulders, I can feel how broken his heart is and he’s slowly losing the will to live.

I mouth “go!” to my brother, imploring him to save himself and my mate. I hear the telltale whoosh of air signaling that Incandis has teleported him and Varian out.

Ian presses me closer to him, deepening the kiss by licking at my tongue with his. It takes everything in me not to gag at how wrong it is to be in someone else’s arms like this, kissing a man that is not my mate.

Ian hums in pleasure, in victory. I pull my face away to look at him, doing my best to look defeated and resigned to my fate, then I plunge my talon through his cervical spine at the back of his neck and sever the nerves responsible for movement.

I’ll admit, it pleases me beyond measure watching his paralyzed body crumple to the floor.