Playing With Fire (20 page)

Suddenly,
his shadow began to change. Instead of mirroring only one body, it began to
grow into two, and then three. A multitude of shadows began to dance on the
trees along with Velkire’s. Terrified and confused, I lost my balance and fell
on my back, scraping my elbows as I landed on them. Velkire smiled again, but
this time he looked more like a demon than a handsome man.

Then,
before my eyes, the shadows began to take a solid form. Altogether, Velkire’s
shadow disappeared completely and was replaced by dozens of bloodthirsty,
hissing Shadows. Velkire shut his eyes and exhaled. He flicked his wrist and
the Shadows scattered away towards the helpless sleeping rebels.

“No!”
I screamed. “Please stop!” The sight of Yuki and Siren asleep a little ways a
way caught my eye. “Siren, Yuki! Wake up, every one’s in danger!”

“It’s
useless,” Velkire said back to normal again. “I put a spell on your entire
beloved band of misfits so that we would not be interrupted. One would need
immense power to be able to stay conscious or to awake from this spell.”

“You
can still stop this you know,” Velkire continued. “Unless you want your beloved
family
eaten alive and slaughtered by Shadows.”

“If
you touch them I swear on my last breath I will rip you apart piece by piece!”
I screamed desperately with small beads of tears forming in my eyes.

“Scarlet?”
a groggy voice from behind questioned. My breath caught in my throat, I whipped
around to see Al, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “Why are you yelling?”

A
look of confusion flashed across Velkire’s face, but Enzio didn’t hesitate to react.
In a fraction of a second, the demon had my brother restrained, with a dagger
hovering too close for comfort to his throat. Regaining his composition,
Velkire took advantage of the situation.

“Well
now, Scarlet,” Velkire mused. “It seems our guest has finally come to. Now
there will be a witness to the destruction you are about to cause. Your brother
shall be an eye witness to the death of the entire camp, right before he dies
as well. Oh, how a shame it will be, losing the little talents this group of
misfits may have had. Vaze, for example, had a huge potential of becoming the
greatest king that the world had ever seen.”

Al’s
breath came out in a quivering hiss. A small dot of his precious blood appeared
on his milky white skin as Enzio pricked it with his dagger, making me even
more agitated.

“It’s
your choice Scarlet,” Velkire purred. “Will you come with me? Or will you let
all you’ve ever cared about die before your eyes, while knowing you could have
saved it all.” I shot a desperate look back at Al. His eyes were swimming with
fear and confusion.

“What’s
happening?” he asked in a shaky voice, hardly above a whisper. My vision began
to blur as the first of my tears dared to spill over. I dropped my head in
defeat.

“Fine,”
I whispered, my voice already getting choked up.

“What
was that?” Velkire mused, knowing full well what I said. “I didn’t quite catch
that last bit.”

“I
said I’ll go!” I roared, trying to keep it from coming out in sobs. “Are you
happy now?”

Velkire
smiled. “Very much so,” he said, now calm. He turned away from me and held his
hand out parallel to the ground. In response, a wall of deadly black fire
erupted from the ground, and created a swirling portal identical to the one
from Madam Gale’s cottage. I took little interest. I was still trying to hide
my face from Al. Velkire stepped through the portal, and turned back to me.

“Come
now, child,” he said while extending a hand to me. “We have much to do.”
Reluctantly, I raised my head to look at him. He was smiling warmly at me, but
I saw through it. I felt absolutely nothing as I took his hand, and let the
black flames engulf my body. Enzio followed after me into the portal, leaving
Al frozen dumbstruck. I took one last look at my beloved brother.

“Good
bye Al,” I whispered as the flames begin to close the mirror to the world
outside. Al lost it. He bolted for the portal with tears in his eyes and arms outstretched.
I knew he wouldn’t make it. His last word to me was simple. But it nearly broke
my heart and soul.

‘No’.

“NO!”
Al screamed as he made a desperate jump for the portal. The image of his sister
had already started to disappear behind the flames, but he wouldn’t accept it.
He had been training to become stronger, to protect the ones he loved. And there
he was, watching his sister being taken away by a blood thirsty murderer. He
didn’t need a hint to know that the man with the demonic grey eyes was Velkire.
His master had told him about him. Al came with in a fingers distance of the
portal, and for a second he thought he might be able to at least get to
Scarlet. His hopes were extinguished when the portal completely disappeared
from sight, leaving him reaching out to nothing.

Al’s
mind could not process what happened right away, but eventually it overcame him
like a tidal wave. All at once, the poor boy was drowned in grief, loss, and hatred.
Tears began to well up in his eyes.

“No!”
Al cried as he struck the ground with his fists. Torn apart by pain, he
crumpled on the ground. He screamed again, still on his knees weeping. Even while
training to protect what he loved, he could not save his sister. Yet again,
Scarlet suffered because he was not strong enough. But this time, the damage
may have been irreversible. Screams came from the camp of rebels, but Al hardly
noticed them. All that he could process in his mind was:
she’s gone
.

A
little ways away, Siren burst out of sleep at the first scream, only to scream
herself. There, wasting away on the ground, where two dead Shadows. Both of
their bodies were already starting to become ashes. At the sound of Siren
screaming, Yuki also awoke. Still in the form of a wolf, Yuki could not scream,
but she jumped back a whole three feet. Hesitantly, Siren nudged over to one of
the dead Shadows, and jabbed it with her dagger. Immediately, it disintegrated
and became nothing more than a pile of ashes.

“Yuki,
go get Kyra,
now
,” Siren ordered with a sense of leadership no one could
expect just by looking at her. Yuki grunted in response and bolted off towards
the camp. Now fully awake, Siren bent down on one knee to examine the pile of
ashes left by the Shadow. The grey ashes smelled distinctly of dead bodies
mixed with fresh blood, but that was the way all Shadows smelt. Siren stuck one
delicate little hand into the pile and grabbed as much as her child like hand
could hold. The grey ashes fell through the spaces between her fingers as if it
were sand. Siren examined it as if it were the key to existence.

“What
do you think happened?” a female voice said from behind her, which would have
made her jump if she was a normal human. But Siren wasn’t human, and she was
used to Kyra’s games.

“I’m
not sure,” Siren replied as she turned to face Kyra. “But whatever it was, it
can’t be good. There is only one origin of Shadows, and that origin wants us
all dead.” Kyra nodded in agreement.

“It
seems there was something similar to this all over camp,” Kyra said solemnly.
“By every occupied bedside there was at least one dead Shadow, already wasting
away. What really frightens me is if there was even one Shadow at a time when
we were most vulnerable, why aren’t we all dead?” Siren bit her free thumb and
tried to think of an answer.

“This
isn’t in the nature of a Shadow,” Siren said, mostly to herself. “They were
made for the soul purpose of killing and devouring humans. Velkire wouldn’t
have done this just to show us how powerful he is, we already know that. If
this was just a scam to scare us into stopping our search for Moraj, then he
might be getting rather desperate. But he doesn’t operate like that. It’s just
too out of character for him. Unless…” A sudden epiphany struck them both at
the same time.

Siren
sprang up and bolted for the tree Scarlet had chosen the night before to sleep
near. Siren had protested about it was too far from her, but Scarlet wouldn’t
listen. She shouldn’t have let her sleep so far away. Siren hadn’t had much
hopes of finding her there, but her fears grew when she saw Al. Alone he wept
on the ground, and Scarlet was nowhere in sight. Fear taking over, Siren swept
down to Al’s position and forced him to look at her.

“Where
is Scarlet?” she asked with urgency in her voice. She had already lost the
child once. Al tried to answer but was choked up by tears.

“Where
is she!” Siren barked at him.

“Gone!”
Al croaked out. The word stabbed his heart with a searing pain. “He took her!”
Siren’s heart started racing. Her whole body clenched as her fears became a
reality.

“Who
took her?” she nearly screamed out of fear.

“Who
do you think!” Al screamed back at her in rage, but it was himself he was
enraged at. “Velkire took her! He and the demon man came and took her! She’s
gone!” Al saw fear in Siren’s eye, and his guilt reached a new high. Siren
released him, and sank to her knees in disbelief. Once again, she had lost the
child that the Healer had appointed her to protect with her life. Kyra saw that
neither of them could come to accept what had happened. Kyra didn’t want to—she
loved Scarlet like a daughter almost—but she had a job. Turning away from the
two, she sprinted back to camp to tell them the grave news. Their last hope had
been taken by the prince of hell himself.

Let
me start off by saying, I do not recommend traveling by portals—especially evil
black fire, swirly ones. Not only does the swirling make one dizzy, the landing
is crude for beginners.

Without
warning, the portal deposited us in another dark room. Unfortunately, it did
not deposit us on the ground. The ground or whatever I had been standing on in
the portal disappeared beneath me, and I fell through the air, landing flat on
my butt. Enzio chuckled as he landed cat like on his feet. Velkire did the same.
Apparently warnings were not in either of their plans. Neither of them offered
a hand of assistance, and I didn’t ask for one. Ignoring my aching butt injury,
I got up and examined my surroundings.

Like
I said before, it was dark. I don’t know what they had against a little bit of
daylight, but darkness wasn’t my thing. Maybe it was just a bad guy kind of
thing. Never the less, I snapped my fingers and a little flame illuminated my
hand, giving me a better look at where ever the hell I was.

If
you can imagine creepy haunted castles, that’s basically where I was. No matter
where I looked, there were cobwebs. I cringed. I hated spiders. And these
weren’t the average ‘I need to clean the house’ cobwebs. These were like the
kinds found in tombs.

Old
portraits of past kings and queens hung on the walls. Their eyes bore holes
into me, and even when I looked away I could still feel their icy gaze drilling
holes into my skull. Old suits of armor guarded a grand archway, but the once
mighty looking hollow soldiers were subdued by dust and nets of cobweb. A grand
red carpet rested beneath my feet, and led up to a throne that put the Castle
of Wine’s to shame. But the once beautiful carpet was ripped and stained with
old blood. Humongous crystal clear glass windows sat behind the throne and
revealed a stormy night sky outside, accompanied by a vast collection of towers
that guarded a stone courtyard. Lightning flashed, illuminating the damage
done. Dead plants, trees and grass lay scorched in the once fine courtyard. A
large dry cracked water fountain sat in the dead center. The scene made chills
go down my spine, but at the same time filled me with sorrow. So much beauty
had gone to waste. Velkire waited patiently as I absorbed my surroundings.

“Like
it?” he asked as I strode over to the large windows. I ignored him and gazed
out through the window. Unfortunately, I could not see past the towers, giving
me no idea where we were location wise. “This is one of my favorite abodes.
Enzio claimed it for me long ago, before you were born. It was around the time
I was searching for a new body, and my soul had harbored in a very unique
sword. I believe you have encountered it once. Its name is Alma Ladron. As you
could probably tell, the language it was named in is not your own, so I will
tell you what it means. Translated into our tongue, it means ‘soul thief’. It
was named after its first master, a legendary thief that started off much like
you. I’d get into details but it’s a rather long story with an unsatisfying
ending. But then again, from your position, everything in your life has an
unsatisfying ending.”

“Why
don’t you just shut up and kill me already?” I interrupted emotionlessly.
“That’s why you brought me here, and it would be a shame if boredom killed me
before you.”

Velkire
only laughed.

“Kill
you?” he said. “I didn’t take you here to kill you! I could have done that at
any time if I wanted to. No, I brought you here because I found it suitable to
reward you for all your hard work. I brought you here to live with me, and stop
this stupid feud. Siblings shouldn’t fight you know.” That last sentence caught
my attention.

“What
are you talking about?” I spat.

“I’m
only saying that family shouldn’t fight,” Velkire said smiling. “After all,
I’ve been longing to see my only little sister since you were born. But our
wretched mother kept you away from me and hid you with those hideous rebels.”
My heart almost stopped. Suddenly I felt light headed.

“What
are you talking about?” I managed to stutter. Velkire only smiled.

“You
mean no one ever told you?” He said in disbelief. “Scarlet, you and I are
brother and sister. Our mothers were the same person. You are my baby sister.”
That was all that it took to send me off the edge. I could only manage one last
statement before my body completely shut itself off.

“You’ve
got
to be joking!”

 Al
was still sniffling and wiping away stray tears as the king, Kyra and Siren argued
about what to do inside one of the big makeshift tents. The sound of raised
carried through the night, and Al could imagine his master inside sighing and
waiting to leave. His master was not an oppressive man, and he detested
conflict.

 It
was around midnight, but no one in the camp was asleep. They were all still on
edge from waking up and finding a dead Shadow greeting them. That’s like your
mother waking you up one morning and her entire face had been burned off. That
was close to how Scarlet, Al, Seth, and Darren had been woken up when they were
little, even if Jake’s face wasn’t entirely burned. People were all bustling
around him, but he felt utterly and entirely alone. All he could think about
was that this was his fault. He couldn’t save Scarlet in her time of need. He
had changed a lot since he arrived at the rebels’ camp, but he was still the
same frightened little boy who depended on his sister to save him. Even with
the new powers he had come to obtain through training with his master, Al could
not amount to Scarlet or Vaze or any of his brothers. He was ashamed of how
pathetic he was.

A
little ways off, Vaze was struggling to make his way to his father’s tent. He
was still suffering from his injuries, but due to his acquired abilities his
blood was not the only thing that ran through his veins, so he healed much
faster than any regular human. He assumed he would be good to go by tomorrow,
but he had to consult his father immediately. He heard what had happen from a
nurse who’d been trying to keep him from neglecting his bed rest. Of course he
had ignored her, but the news was a whole new injury altogether.

“The
girl was taken,” The nurse had said. “The little Guardian says Velkire came in
the dead of night, and took her away. I don’t believe her though. I think the
girl just left. After all, she has no home here anymore, not after she killed
the nymphs.” Vaze had really given the nurse a piece of his mind after that,
and the nurse was so confused about it, she let him be.

Vaze
knew it wasn’t Scarlet’s fault that the nymphs were dead. She had come back
nearly unconscious. She was most likely fighting for her life, and thus the
lives of the rebels. Siren had told him the true story, and he believed every
last detail of it. Unfortunately, a lot of the rebels did not. Actually, most
of them didn’t believe it at all. Only him, her brothers, Kyra, Ed and the
hooded man believed it. Rumors were even going around that Scarlet had
destroyed their home on purpose. Hate mixed with loss was a powerful and
dangerous thing. Vaze knew that first hand.

A
sharp pain stabbed his gut every time he moved, but he chose to ignore it.
Physical pain was nothing to him. He would go through the same pain a million
times over if it meant he could keep his promise to Scarlet: to keep her and
her family safe.

Trying
to find his courage, Vaze strode up to his father’s tent.

“I
wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” said a broken voice next to him that
almost made him jump. Vaze looked down to find Al staring off into space. His
eyes were red and puffy, and he was paler than usual. “They are fighting right
now about what to do.”

“That
gives me more of a reason to give my opinion,” Vaze replied. Seeing Al like
that made Vaze sad. He could tell without being told that Al and Scarlet were
close, and it must be devastating for your only sister to be taken away before
your very eyes. Deciding on what to do, Vaze eavesdropped for moment.

Meanwhile,
in the midst of a heated debate between Kyra, Siren, the king and himself,
Gidian was starting to drift off. He’d had a rude awakening from the first of
the screams, and it had almost given him a heart attack when he found a Shadow
looming over him. He hadn’t found out it was already dead until it
disintegrated at his first blow. He did care about the situation, but like
almost every other conference, meeting or debate, he was ignored. It wasn’t
like he didn’t try to input his opinion—it was that every time he tried he was
cut off. After a while Gidian gave up and stared with his sleepy blue eyes at
the other three arguing. At first he paid attention, but he had a nasty habit
of getting comfortable at the wrong times.