Playing With Fire (14 page)

“I
didn’t make her sit this out because I thought she would get hurt,” Vaze said
with a confident smile playing across his lips. “I made her sit it out because
I know I can beat you myself.”

“Showing
off doesn’t get you noticed either, Vaze,” Kyra said while laughing. “It makes
girls think you’re a complete idiot.” That last statement was completely true,
no matter the scenario.

“You
should really take me more seriously, don’t you think?” Vaze said calmly. Vaze
bolted at her, but Kyra just laughed. Vaze threw punch after punch, but Kyra
dodged them all. It looked more like she was dancing rather than dodging blows.

I
came up behind Ed on a parallel tree branch, and hesitated a little. I didn’t
want to do it. He had hardly done anything to me, and he was an okay kid, but
it was a part of the plan. While Ed was watching the spectacle from below, he
was completely oblivious to me, which was going to have to be the way it had to
be until it was time.

“You’re
not going to do anything but tire yourself out this way, Vaze,” Kyra said
between her swift dodges.

“And
why would it matter to you, Kyra?” Vaze said without halting his attacks.

“It
would be a boring way to lose, wouldn’t it?” Kyra said mockingly. “That
wouldn’t show anything of your efforts of running from Velkire all this time.”
With one swift kick, Kyra bested Vaze and he toppled over clutching his gut.
Kyra was in position facing away from me.

“I
really expected more from you Vaze,” Kyra said disappointedly. “All you got out
of this was a couple of broken ribs, and soon to be a lot more broken bones.”

As
fast as I could go, the blur of a body hissed through the air towards Kyra, who
still didn’t bother to turn around. It turns out she didn’t need to. With one
swift movement, Kyra grabbed behind her, catching it midair and yanked it in
front of her, about to punch it hard as she could. She stopped short.

“What?”
Kyra exclaimed as she stared into the deep blue eyes of a gaged and bound Ed.
He tried to spit out the shreds of cloth I gaged him with, but it was useless.
His arms and legs were bound at the joints with shredded cloth. Kyra whipped
around, but much too late. As she turned her head, she realized what was happening—but
it didn’t matter. My fist made contact with her face, and sent her flying back
to the ground.

“That
was great Scarlet! I see you improvised on the binds,” Vaze commented at my
ripped pants and shirt. My pants were above my knees, and my shirt no longer
possessed two sleeves, making me freeze, but beaming with victory.

“I’m
used to wearing rags,” I said back smiling. Slow clapping made our heads turn
back to Kyra.

“Congratulations,
you pass,” She said while wiping a little blood from her mouth. “I should have
guessed you would have come up with a plan like this Vaze. Using yourself as a
distraction to not only me, but Ed as well, was something only you would think
of. And using Ed as a decoy was genius. But I am disappointed you didn’t put up
a fight, Ed.”

Kyra
cut Ed’s bonds and Ed removed the cut up shirt arm I shoved in his mouth. I
felt bad for him; I couldn’t have passed without him, unless I used an animal
maybe. Rubbing the back of my neck, I approached him.

“Sorry
about that, it wasn’t my idea to use you,” I said apologetically. I could feel
Vaze’s eyes shoot to me as I unloaded the blame on him, and I smirked in
satisfaction.

“It’s
alright,” Ed replied quickly, still avoiding looking me in the eyes. “I’m glad
you passed. Good job.”

“So,
are you going to keep your promise to Scarlet?” Vaze asked Kyra.

“Of
course,” Kyra said. “Would you like to come? She can fix your broken ribs.”

“I
wasn’t going to let Scarlet go unless I came any way,” He replied.

“Aw,
young love!” Kyra cooed, which subtly bugged me. Vaze’s composure didn’t sway,
which pleased me.

“If
that’s what you think,” He said emotionlessly.

“Ed,
you’re coming too,” Kyra said and Ed nodded. The next hour was taken up
following Kyra through the forest, and I soon noticed we were going in circles.

“Kyra,
where are we going?” I groaned impatiently.

“We
are going to the priestess so you won’t have to worry about become a demon,”
Kyra said in a ‘why are you asking’ tone.

“But
we’ve gone past that tree and that rock five times now!” I complained. It was
true. We really
had
passed the same tree and rock five times.

“And
your point is?” Kyra replied. I rolled my eyes and sighed. There was no point
in fighting her. If it took too much longer I was going to have Vaze fly us
back to camp, because my stomach was complaining as well.

Just
about when I was going to ask Vaze, a stone cottage appeared before us. The
only part that freaked me out was that it hadn’t been there before.                                                                                                                        

“Finally!”
Kyra said in exhaustion. The smell of chicken soup wafted out from the small
cottage, causing the chorus of earth shattering stomach growls from the four of
us. Kyra raced towards the cottage, with the three of us in tow. Without
bothering to knock, Kyra threw the door open and revealed a cluttered mess of
string strung across the entire room, lacing around furniture, doors, and every
loose object. A little woman with light blonde hair that had traces of grey was
furiously stirring the contents of a pot three times her size.

“Still
haven’t learned your manners I see, little Kyra,” The little woman said without
turning her head away from the pot. Her voice was slightly gravely with age,
but it had a soft kind grandma feeling to it.

“I’ve
always found that manners are unnecessary at most times, Madam Gale,” Kyra said
while making her way through the spider web of multiple colored strings to the
small woman.

“So
that’s how you think of it,” the little woman said as Kyra finally reached her.

“Well,
I guess they are important sometimes,” Kyra said shrugging. The little woman
drew the giant wooden spoon from the pot and whacked Kyra over the head with
it, making a satisfying loud crack.

“OW!
What was that for?” Kyra whined while grabbing a the bump that was forming on
her forehead.

“You
never listened to my lessons when you were little, did you?” Madam Gale nagged.
“Manners are an essential part of life when you’re a woman, you should be more
lady-like!”

 “I’m
a general of a vital part Moraj’s army! I have more important things to worry about
than manners!” The little woman whacked Kyra across the head again.

“Don’t
sass me young lady!” The crabby little woman said while shaking the giant soup
spoon over head. “I didn’t waste long hours each day on manners for you to go off
to war like some man! If you keep acting like a man you’re never going to get
one! And for the sake of the Healer stop slouching!” The little woman whacked
Kyra’s shoulders and immediately she straightened up. “Now are you going to
tell me why you’re visiting for the first time in ten years, or are you just
going to stand there?”

“I
brought a friend who needs to have a curse sealed,” Kyra said while rubbing her
new various bruises and bumps.

“I
know that!” The woman said.

“Then
why’d you ask!” Kyra fumed, losing her patience, but was hit on the head again
by the little woman.

“I
said don’t sass me!” The scary little woman could use a spoon like a weapon.
The she turned to us with a sweet smile. “Why are you all just standing there
children? Come in, come in!”

The
three of us made our way through the obstacle course of string towards the
woman. She looked at us with a smile, but the only thing I noticed were her
eyes. They were glazed over, and possessed no pupil or color. She was
completely blind!

“What
are they feeding these children at that camp of yours, Kyra?” Madam Gale said
while poking Ed in the ribs. Ed looked uncomfortable. “This one’s nothing but
bone!”

“I
don’t eat much, ma’am,” Ed mumbled, and I could have sworn he was shaking.

“Speak
up, boy!” She said while whacking him over the head with her spoon. “No one’s
going to listen to you unless you talk with that strength you have! And you
shouldn’t be afraid to use it either; you could put that bratty older brother
of yours in his place for once!”

“How’d
you know about my brother?” Ed asked, rubbing his head where she hit him.

“The
Healer tells me a lot of things, and I can see things others can’t,” she said.

“Like
what?” Ed said curiously. The little woman whacked him across the head again.

“Either
speak up or don’t speak at all!” she said again. Ed fell silent.

“So
you’re back,” she said as she touched Vaze’s face. “Did you perfect summoning
your power?” The little woman yanked the back of Vaze’s shirt down, and I
expected to see his wings, but was surprised to see they weren’t there. In
their place were two amazingly realistic tattoos on his back of bat wings
trailing down on either sides of his spine. Madam Gale touched one of them and
smiled. “It seems you have.”

“Vaze
where are your wings?” I asked.

“They
are the tattoos,” he replied. “They come out of them when I need them, and go
back into my back when I don’t. It’s hard to explain better than that.” I would
have asked more questions, but had no time to.

 The
little woman walked over to me while holding onto a string. She touched my face
and crinkled her nose.

“You
smell like blood and ashes,” she said as she inspected my face with her
slightly wrinkled hands. Alarm flashed through her face, but as quickly as it
came, it was gone. “What is your name, girl?”

“Scarlet,”
I replied, hoping that I wouldn’t get wacked in the head with her spoon.

“I
already knew that!” The woman said and whacked me across the head.

“Hey!
Stop it!” I snapped, and was hit across the head again.

“Watch
your mouth!” she nagged, and I caught sight of Kyra trying to conceal giggling.
Madam Gale whipped around and whacked Kyra across the head with the spoon. “Do
you think that’s funny? This girl acts as if you taught her how to behave!”

“Would
you stop that?” Kyra said while rubbing yet another bruise. The little woman
whacked her again.

“Stop
whining, I know what you want,” She said while putting her hands on her hips.

“You
do?” I said eagerly. The little woman nodded.

“I
can see things others can’t, and that includes that curse that was placed on
you,” She said while poking my stomach. “I know why you need it to go away
also. You are the spawn of a Guardian and a mortal, and Velkire wouldn’t waste
so much of his effort to put that curse on you if your power was not natural.”

“Wait
a spawn of what and what?” I asked confused. The small woman hit me with her
spoon again.

“Don’t
interrupt!” she said. “As I was saying, Velkire obviously wants you to not be
able to use your power, so I’m going to seal his curse so that you can. After
all, I was born to be a thorn in his side. Now let me see it.”

“Huh?”
was my genius response.

“The
imprint!” she said while poking my stomach. “Velkire likes making his curses
painful, and always leaves a mark.”

“But
you’re blind. You won’t be able to see it,” I replied, and was whacked over the
head with the spoon that I was really starting to hate.

“Just
lift your shirt enough so that it’s visible!” She nagged.

“Um,
ma’am…” I said while gesturing with my head to the wide eyed and blushing Vaze
and Ed. Kyra noticed my gesture and hit both of them on the backs of their
heads. They understood pretty quickly and went outside. I lifted my shirt and
tied it above my stomach, but below my chest. I was very surprised to find
something that hadn’t been there before. An unfinished star inside a
half-finished circle rested on my stomach. The blind woman touched the imprint
and frowned.

“This
is not good at all,” she mumbled.

“Can
you seal it?” Kyra asked.

“Of
course I can,” Madam Gale replied sharply. “But not entirely.”

“Not
entirely?” I said with a little fear creeping into my voice.

“I
can seal it enough so you may use your power again, but,” She trailed off.

“But?
But what?” I asked my voice getting a little more urgent.

“I
can’t seal off the demon,” She said sadly. “You will have to control your anger
and hatred; that is what triggers the transformation. The seal should make it
harder for the curse to transform you, but it would still be a possibility that
it could happen.”

Great,
there’s nothing like the possibility of turning into a demon to brighten up my
life.

“Just
do what you can,” I said solemnly. The woman nodded and placed a hand on the
unfinished imprint again.