Green Eyes

Selene came galloping up to her home only a few minutes after mounting Barak; the horse could really fly.

Everything was all wrong; her house had been her and her father’s sanctuary, the one place she felt truly accepted when everything else in her life was going wrong. But now, there were two dozen red-caped soldiers standing guard around her home, spears and swords pointed in her direction.

Strangely, they let her dismount and pass without interference. Instead they carefully watched her, prepared to defend themselves if need be, but making no move to attack. Silently Selene walked through them and into her home.

A sudden and oppressive chill hit her like a wall the moment she stepped through the door. Staggering a couple of steps, she recovered and looked for her father. He was sitting in his chair, arms and legs dangling limp. His jaw was slightly a jar and drool was seeping down his cheek while he stared at her with fixed, glassy eyes.

“DAD!” she cried, running over to him.

He blinked his eyes in response, but didn’t look at her, merely groaning a little.

“I fear he’s too far gone,” a raspy voice informed her. Spinning around, Selene found herself staring at an evil looking man whose black eyes glinted in sadistic triumph: Viceroy Brutus.

“I’m afraid that is the price of treachery,” he added coldly.

“What did you do to him?” Selene demanded, shaking off the dread that Brutus radiated.

“It is more what you did to him, dear,” the Viceroy replied. “It was, after all, his love for you that drove him to protect you. Had he simply surrendered you, I might have mercifully executed him instead. But now, my dear, it is time you came with me. I have great plans for you.”

“What will become of my father if I come with you?” Selene asked, hoping maybe to bargain.

“Him?” Brutus glanced over at Max’s catatonic for. “Nothing; he’s of no further use to me,” the Viceroy answered. Casually he stretched out his hand and a blast of lightning erupted from his fingertips and slamming into Max’s chest. He seized once and then lay still. The lightning abated, leaving a gaping, smoking hole in the center of the doctor’s chest.

“Shall we go?” Brutus calmly offered.

At first Selene was dumbfounded that this man had so nonchalantly killed another human being. Jared killed with ease, but not with flippancy. This was a kind of evil she had never even imagined before.

But as the shock wore off, it was replaced by an anger like she had never felt before. It was pure, unadulterated, unhindered rage, like a boiling volcano building inside of her. Selene felt herself growing hotter and hotter by the moment until it felt like her fists were on fire.

Glancing down, Selene discovered that her fists actually were on fire. White-hot flames engulfed her hands, but didn’t harm her. And they were getting hotter by the second.

Selene was too angry to be surprised or frightened that she was shooting fire from her hands. Instead, as if she innately knew what to do, she extended her hands out towards the Viceroy, who suddenly began backing away towards the door.

“I will never go with you,” she roared. “I will never serve you; I will fight you until you pay for what you did here.”

Mentally fanning the flames even more, she shot a molten ball of liquid flame at the Viceroy. Brutus leapt out of the way as the fireball exploded against the wall. Selene tracked him and fired another and another and another until the entire house was engulfed.

Somehow Brutus managed to stay alive, whether by counter-magic, dumb luck, or a combination of the two. But in any case, he sprang free of the inferno and scrambled away as quickly as he could.

“Stand you fools,” he thundered to the Blood Guard, who apparently had decided that now was a good time to retreat. “Stand or face my wrath.”

“Stand and face mine,” Selene bellowed as she strode out of the building. She almost looked like a demon with the flames dancing around her but never really touching her. Both forearms were burning, her shoes were gone, as was most of her dress; even the tips of her long blond hair were smoking.

Half of the guard found her to be the greater threat and panicked. Two bravely tried to stop her, but Selene blasted each, incinerating them in moments. The rest stood frozen in terror.

Selene was about to destroy them when she got a good look at the soldiers faces. They were scared; petrified. This wasn’t really their fight; someone else was making them fight and so she couldn’t kill them.

She felt the anger drain out of her and with it the power. The fire extinguished from her palms and suddenly every ounce of energy she had vanished. Selene felt the world spinning as she crumpled in a smoking heap.

“Is she dead?” one of the remaining Blood Guard asked.

“No,” the Viceroy shook his head. “But she will be unconscious for quite some time. Quickly, tie her up.”

The soldiers looked at each other uncomfortably, but no one moved towards her.

“Come on you children, tie her up,” the Viceroy commanded again. “She can’t hurt you now, but I assure you that I can.”

Two nervously stepped forward, prodding Selene’s prone figure with the ends of their spears. When she didn’t respond, they bound her hands and feet and drug her unconscious form to the Viceroy. Brutus studied her for a moment before his eye caught the necklace dangling from her neck. He examined it curiously for a moment before jerking it off with a grunt and tossing it to the ground.

“Get her back to the castle,” Brutus ordered. “I have work to do on this one.”

*******

An hour later, Jared arrived on the scene. Barak, who had been completely ignored, was standing in between some pines on the edge of the forest. Jared called him over and after some coaxing, got him to come.

“Selene what did you do?” he asked out loud as he examined the smoking ruins of the house. Several skeletons with armor fused to the bone were lying around, but none of them matched the Viceroy.

Jared found a pair of drag marks leading away from the house towards the road. Following them, he came to were a near-perfect impression of Selene’s figure had been burned into the grass and snow.

“She’s alive then,” Jared exhaled in slight relief, recalling Mallon’s taunts.

Something shiny glinted in the moonlight, catching Jared’s eye. Looking down to the center of the burned patch, he saw Selene’s silver necklace. Gently he held it up to the moon, examining it. The silver was a little cooked, but the sapphire gem was a beautiful as ever.

Pocketing it, he looked towards he charred remains of the house. “I’ll get her back, old friend,” he promised Max. “I’ll get her back.”