| |
THAT FIRST WHIFF OF POWER
––––––––
THE EDGE OF THE GARDEN bled out onto abandoned streets. The occasional shadow bounced around corners in the shifting light of the residual bonfire. There was something unsettling about this town—her town. Just thinking about it set her on edge.
Savara could feel eyes on her skin even if she couldn’t see the faces they belonged to. Once upon a time, she would’ve been hailed the second she stepped onto the pavement. Now, she wondered if anyone would spare her a passing glance. One shifty back alley after another, she pulled the cloak she wore tighter, trying to become invisible.
At the edge of the final alleyway, the same man from earlier leaned up against one of the ramshackle buildings. A little yellow flame danced around his fingertips, illuminating the fiendish curve of his mouth. Griffin tugged her in close and kept his head down, but the man called out to them just the same.
“What are two strangers like you doing in Osiir?” His eyes rested on Savara as he smirked. She retreated further into Griffin’s guiding embrace. “It seems to me like you’re looking for trouble.”
“No trouble. Just passing through,” replied Griffin calmly. “Don’t look at him,” he whispered to Savara. “He’s mafia. Stay close.”
The man thrust his hand out, sending flames from a flickering street lamp towards their feet. A discarded piece of wood near them caught fire. “We don’t take too kindly to strangers passing through these parts,” he said, the grin wiped clean off his face.
The smoke from the flames filled the air. The rising heat curled the hairs on Savara’s arms. She turned to Griffin for guidance, hoping he could read the worry in her eyes without having to speak it.
“Just keep walking,” he whispered reassuringly. “I won’t let him hurt you. Besides, mafia only attack when they are provoked.”
“He is doing the provoking,” she replied nervously.
“Just keep walking, Savara.”
The man growled at them. Their ignoring irked him to the point of setting a nearby bin on fire. Savara linked her arm around Griffin’s, keeping her face hidden under the shadow of her hood. The man’s seeking gaze sent shivers down her spine. The grin returned to his face as he called out to them again. “It’s funny, there’s nothing in that direction but the palace, and as I haven’t seen the two of you for some time. If I had to guess, I’d say you managed to get inside.”
The coy hiss of his words meant he knew he’d made an important find. Two strangers with access to the long-sealed house of royalty, the constant reminder to the thugs and ruffians who claimed themselves the new kings of a dying kingdom that there was still someone greater than them. It didn’t take a genius—which this man clearly wasn’t—to know that this kind of information could fetch a hefty price on these streets. Griffin knew it too, which is why his grip tightened on Savara’s arm and pulled her in closer.
The man shot an arm out in front of Griffin, no fire this time, no pleasantries either. “And ain’t nobody gets into the palace unless they’re some kinda important.”
“You must be mistaken,” Griffin growled.
“I don’t make mistakes, Izar rat. You’re not going anywhere,” the man said, brandishing an evil grin as though unsheathing a sword. With a deep breath and a sweep of his hand, the man summoned the flames around them and set the rest of the path on fire. “An old acquaintance of yours wants you to pay him a visit. He’s got two friends of yours waiting. The wimpy one didn’t put up much of a fight, but you should’ve seen what we had to do to your fiery friend—”
Before he could finish his story, Griffin’s temper exploded as Savara had never seen it before. Sebastian’s words came back to her, describing his loyalty to his friends, and Savara got a first-hand look at what that meant. He launched a series of glowing orbs in the man’s direction. Each one hit the ground with an echoing blast, sending dust and pebbles into the air. The man jumped like an acrobat, twisting in the air, and landing on a crate in the distance. He cracked his knuckles and grinned viciously.
“Come at me, you starry-eyed waste of light,” he goaded. “I’ve been itching for a fight.” The man sent bursts of flames out at their feet as he dodged each of Griffin’s attacks. Over and under, flashes of orange and blue collided, sending flames in all directions. Each blow hit something new—crates, windows, awnings—enclosing them within an ever-shrinking cage of fire. It was only a matter of time before the entire path went up in smoke, and them along with it.
Savara pressed back as far as she could without getting burned by the dancing flames behind her. One of the wall lanterns exploded above her head, sending her to the ground with a hard thud. Her vision blurred. Savara lifted her chin, just in time to catch the man grinning at her. He could’ve torched her then and there, but he saved his fire for Griffin.
Despite a ringing in her ears, Savara pushed herself to stand as fear coursed through her veins. She looked for something to help fight back, but anything loose was already alight. The world around them burned, and she was useless to stop it.
“What have you done to them?” Griffin demanded.
“I’d worry more about your fate than theirs,” the man snickered with another elegant dodge. “It’s her he wants. You’ll go in dead or alive.”
The dance continued. Windows and shutters around them crackled in the fire. With another blast, a pagoda crumbled on top of her. Charred wood rained down from above, the scent of ash filled the street.
Savara closed her eyes and threw her arms up in a panic, feeling the intimate caress of heat as she waited to be crushed by the burning rubble. The flames glowed red through her eyelids. It was only a matter of time, she thought, giving in to the eventuality of her fate. In the fear of the moment, she hadn’t noticed those seconds of silence. Savara... a voice called out. She couldn’t tell whether it was real or in her head. Savara... it repeated with a nervous edge.
“Savara!”
Her eyes shot open. The fire crackled around her. Griffin lay propped up on an elbow calling out to her. Debris hovered around them, suspended in space, but it was the man who startled her. He hung in the air, bent unnaturally, gaping like a fish on land.
“Please,” the man whispered, the shifty slant in his eyes gone, contorted by fear into widened moons. “Let me go,” he pleaded. “I’ll tell you anything!”
Griffin pushed himself to stand slowly and walked over to her. The sound of her own breath drowned out all the other noises around as he neared. Dodging the hovering charcoal and broken glass, he rested a gentle hand on her trembling shoulders, squeezed, and whispered tentatively, “That’s enough, Savara.”
The world around her came back into focus. Her palms buzzed with energy. Savara, suddenly realising what had happened, dropped her hands, and with them, the man crumpled to the floor. Around them, the suspended debris finally hit the ground, sending a cacophony of shattering glass and crumbling stone into the air.
“What the hell are you, lady?” he said between coughs.
“I...” Savara stuttered. Was that me? The word monster echoed through her head, as though it had just been shouted to the world.
Griffin loomed over the man like the Grim Reaper himself. “Get up, you worthless piece of charcoal.” He grabbed the man by the collar. “Now, you better start talking before I have her finish you off.”
Finish him off? Savara recoiled. The sounds of the man’s gasps etched themselves into the crevices of her mind, along with Griffin’s words. But he promised he wouldn’t use me as a weapon...
Sweat beaded on the man’s troubled forehead. “Alright, alright...” Fear swelled in his eyes as he glanced between Griffin and Savara. “Keep her away from me, and I’ll tell you everything I know.”
If Griffin had looked back at her in that moment, he might have seen her falter, might have noticed the pallor in her face or quiver of her lip. He’d almost outright called her a monster. Luckily, the man didn’t look back either, or else he might have realised her secret: she was Arima, a Blood Daemon, and she had no idea what her powers were or how to use them.
“We caught you two entering the palace earlier and sent word back to Big Tog. He sent us back to catch you, and said if we couldn’t catch you outright, we catch the others for collateral.”
Savara noticed Griffin prickle at the name the man had mentioned.
“Where did they take them?” Griffin demanded.
“You trying to dig me a deeper grave?” the man growled. “Look, it ain’t my business to be telling you anything. If the gang finds out I told you any of this, they’ll be on my ass hotter than a forest fire.”
“I don’t see how that is my problem,” Griffin replied. With a flick of his wrist, a blade of blue light appeared in his hand, aimed at the man’s neck. “Remember, light burns just as well as fire...”
“Okay, okay. Put that thing down,” he replied, fearfully eyeing the light energy in Griffin’s left hand. “They—”
But before the man could finish his sentence, the next attack came. First came a fizzle, a little spark somewhere in the distance. Then fizzle turned to flame. Suddenly a great blaze whistled through the air.
Griffin jumped back just in time to avoid it. The man let out a bloodcurdling scream that echoed through the hollow streets as it landed on him. His body caught fire, burning as easily as paper. He pleaded to the invisible shadows of the city—begged his case, promised he didn’t say anything of value—but it was no use.
In the violent commotion, two figures jumped down from the rooftops and grabbed Savara. They reeked of ash and old cologne. She tried to scream, but they gagged her as soon as she opened her mouth. Griffin tried to fight back, but three more had pinned him too. A thick cloud of grey smoke filled the alley. Through the dark, she heard Griffin cough and cough until he dropped. Savara squirmed as much as she could against their grips and bindings, but it was no use. The scent of ash curled the hairs in her nose and brought angry tears to her eyes. Fear forced her to breathe in more smoke and fall prey to the mercy of the foul-smelling strangers.
Everything before her faded in and out through the haze as she slowly lost consciousness. The last thing she saw was the charred corpse of the man who’d attacked them settle on the empty street, as she and Griffin were dragged unconscious into the underbelly of Osiirian society.
