The Fire Within (The Fire of The Soul Series) (36 page)

"That is my grandfather’s grave; He was
murdered in his sleep. My father was only seventeen at the time when it
happened. The men on our side of the family have a long history of being
assassinated before their time," Victor says, there is a dullness to his
words, as if he has already come to accept this, as if he is already expecting
his death.

I rise from my crouching position besides the grave
and stand back up beside Victor.

"And that's why you placed your soul within
me." I say, finally piecing the puzzle together. With Victor's soul within
me he had a second chance at life, and since he had a long history of family
assassination it all made sense. Victor freezes for a moment like a child being
caught doing something wrong. He looks quite alarmed, and he starts blubbering
nonsense.

I place a finger on his lips to shush him.
"It's alright Victor. It's completely understandable. You didn't do it for
yourself, I can
see
that. You did it for your people, so that their
future would be certain, for as long as you lived." His eyes soften as he
takes in my words. I lower my hand from his lips and I allow him to take my
hand in his. We continue to walk down the path to the church that is now in
plain sight.

The old church is still dusty, though it appears
that it has recently been cleaned. Within the church is Augustus, Astoria, Lord
Baron, Kayden and Shade. There are also some of the maids there. They must have
been friends of Meg's, and I am glad that she had made friends with the staff
in her time here. Astoria is standing at the front of the church, before a
coffin made of white oak. It is engraved with roses, and I wonder where she got
something so beautiful in such short time.

"If you would all take your seats, the ceremony
is about to begin." Astoria's voice is kind but commanding, and no-one
dares to disobey her. Everyone takes their seat and I sit down in between
Kayden and Victor.

"Today we are gathered to celebrate the life of
a dear friend and warrior, Megaera Spiros. Meg, as she was often known as, was
the first warrior to fall at the hands of a Skin-walker that was not only
unprepared for the war, but whom was
human
. Meg came to the Underworld
with her life-long friend Anna, and quickly came to serve all of us under the
Menédez castle. We were all blessed with her warmth and kindness, and although
she was taken from us so quickly, I know that all of us present will miss her
dearly. We ask that Manea - our mother of passed spirits - take dear Meg into
her bosom tonight. That Manea will guide Meg throughout the High Lands, and
lead her to the green pastures of peace that we all hope to find after death.
Let us all take a moment of silence, to think of Meg, and the memories that you
have shared with her." I see everyone bow their heads in silence and I
follow suit. I begin to think of Meg and the memories that we shared, from the
first moment that we met, to all our sleepovers. I remember Meg as she was back
at home, I remember her strength and bravery, her kindness and loving heart. I
remember my best friend, the girl who was the closest thing to a sister for me.

A minute passes and everyone is now looking back up
to Astoria. She has a lit torch within her hands, and she is walking over to
the wooden coffin. "In honour of Megaera, with our future-queen's
permission, we are giving her the warrior’s funeral. Megaera's body has been
wrapped in white cloth and has been coated in the essences of lavender and
vanilla. To send her body to Manea she must first meet the flames that
symbolize the short flicker of life, and the lasting fire of eternity,"
Astoria says as she sets the torch upon the coffin, it illuminates the room as
if it were the noon sun. All I can think about is Meg in that burning coffin,
and I hope that somehow she finds some kind of life after this.

I watch the coffin burn until there is nothing left,
Victor holds on tightly to my hand. I think it's meant to comfort me, to mean
somehow that it's going to be okay, but I'm not quite sure that it is. The room
should have been filled with smoke as there were no windows in the church but
it is completely void of smoke. The coffin is just ashes now on the table that
it rested on at the front of the room.

"Thank you everyone for coming. The ceremony is
now complete. If you make your way back to the castle there will be a brief
afternoon tea," Astoria says. It doesn't take long before everyone files
out of the church. They all make their way back to the castle to enjoy the
afternoon tea that Astoria had organised. For a moment it is only Astoria and I
within the old church. I turn to the older woman. She too had lost a friend of
hers and a daughter, I wonder if her pain ever left her? Did she still feeling
the ache of a missing part of her heart where they belonged?

"Astoria, can I ask you something?" I say
turning to the older woman beside me. She stops for a moment surprised for some
reason.

"Of course Anna," She says as she sits
down on a chair. She motions for me to sit down beside her and I do so, as this
is not only expected but polite.

"You've lost people before, Sinistra being one
of them. How did you cope with the pain? How did you move on?" I ask, she
has a sad lost look on her face. She is clutching onto both of her hands
tightly as if to hold herself together.

"It gets easier after a while but the closer
they are to your heart, the harder it is to let them go. It took me two years
to understand that Sinistra would have wanted me to live for both of us, and
then five years later I learnt how to be able to do that. I of course had to be
strong in front of Victor. How could I expect him to be strong, if I was not
while I was around him? You're own grief will pass in time Anna, you may never
let Meg go, like I never let Sinistra go, but you will learn how to go on. You
will learn how to live again even though that she's gone. However, those who
are truly in our hearts, those who you truly love never leave us, for they
remain apart of us for all the days that we live." I can understand what
she's saying, I mean her words are quite clear, but learning how to implement
it is harder. We both make our way back up to the castle; I realize how far the
church is from the castle on the walk back, how far I walked without knowing it
before.

Perhaps Meg was happier now, safe from harm, and in
a world full of peace. At least I hope she is. The day passes quickly although
silently. I nap for most of the afternoon and I dream of Meg, of everything
that we used to share. Meg's death was uncalled for and cruel. My dreams of
happiness and past memories that I shared with Meg turns dark, and my dreams
turn to the woman who killed Meg, who took her away from me. My dreams turn to
her and it replays that last moment where she tried to kill me. I awake covered
in sweet and shaky, the dream having ended where she cuts open my neck, and as
lay dying I watch her drink my blood and she turns from being Meg into Me.

The sun is down when I awake, and I know that it is
evening; I know that dinner has not yet passed, and so I make my way downstairs
after checking that my appearance isn't too far gone. When I come down stairs
everyone is sitting at the dining table.

We had all planned to be here tonight, it was one of
the last nights that we had together before the battle. We all wanted to be
able to share one last happy night with each other, to remember each other
with. This was something that no-one could take away from us; our memories are
ours to keep no matter what happens.

I take my seat beside Victor and across from Kayden.
Shade sits beside Kayden, and across from Victor. Augustus and Astoria sit
across from each other, Astoria sitting beside me and Augustus sitting beside
Kayden and Lord Baron sits at the head of the table. We are all sitting
together, this is our last supper together, and I'm not going to let my grief,
and pain stop me from enjoying it.

We feast on roasted meats and baked vegetables, we
have gravy and wine and for desert we have lemon meringue pies, with strawberry
sauce drizzled on top.

"Thank you for all coming tonight. Each one of
you are important to me, and that is why I wish to spend this last night with
all of you," Victor says and I know that this is true. Why else would we
be the people that he spends his every moment with.

"Unfortunately there is someone missing, and we
paid our respects to her today. It is likely that we may lose each other due to
this battle and war, and thus our last moments are the most important. It is
important to spend it with the right people and I am glad that I am spending it
with my bride-to-be, and with you, the closest thing I have left to
family," Victor says, he holds my hand upon the table, and I squeeze his
hand gently. He gives my hand a squeeze as well.

"Victor you are quite right. We are all quite
anxious to see what the war will bring, if our fates will be good or bad.
However, we must not dwell on this tonight; our last supper must be enjoyed.
Whatever happens, I am glad that I am here with friends," Augustus says,
he smiles at his godson with pride in the way that a father would smile upon
his own son. There is pride in Augustus eyes, a knowing that even though
Victors own father could not raise him, he knows that Victor's father would
have been proud of his own son.

"When the war is done, hopefully we will all be
able to sit down like this again, and together we will plan for a better
future, one where the Underworld is united. When the war is done, we will have
a chance to make this a better world," Shade says and there are nods of
agreement. Of course we all wish that we will make it through the war, but I
sense that not all of us will make it through. Somehow we are not all going to
be here when it is over and done with.

"Well whatever happens this is our final
moment; and it is a party, is it not? There should be music and dancing,"
Kayden says and he gets up to his feet and comes around the table. He holds out
his hand for me to take as he bows half-way at the waist.

"Would you like to dance Anna?" Kayden
asks, I want to ask Victor for permission ask to see if this is okay, but I
don't. Kayden is Victor's friend and although I know Kayden's real motives, it
is only a dance. There is no harm dancing with my fiancé’s oath brother, and so
I place my hand in Kayden's and allow him to lead me out onto the dance floor.

There is no music, but Kayden sets a rhythm none the
less. It is enchanting and fun being twirled around the dance floor, I can feel
Victor watching us, and as I look over he smiles at us. I wonder what he is
thinking in this moment, as he watches Kayden and I dance gracefully before
him. Shade comes over and steals me out of Kayden's arms, his dance is faster
paced, and we move around chaotically, causing a racket of a noise. Astoria and
Augustus dance in a romantic fashion, and I watch as Augustus leans in to
Astoria's ear and whispers sweet words of affection to her. I am pulled out of
Shades arms by the man that I love, and I look up into Victor's eyes, there
seems to be a dark fire burning within his eyes. I smile at him and he returns
the motion, he pushes my hair away from my shoulder and kisses my neck. Our
dance slows down quite rapidly until we are slowly swaying from side to side.

"You look beautiful Anna, puffy eyes and
all," Victor whispers in my ear before kissing my cheek.

"Whatever happens during the battle, I will
always be with you," Victor says and then leaning down ever so slightly,
he kisses me gently on the lips. I am swept up into the kiss until it consumes
me completely. It feels as if heaven and hell have come to an alliance as
Victor continues to kiss me. We pull away as I need air, but I can barely
breathe as I look up into his eyes. Something is off within them; something has
changed in his behaviour though it appears as if nothing has changed at all.
Was I only imagining the change within him? Was I only I imagining his wish to
die? Or was it more real than I could begin to understand?

Victor and I keep our connection, intertwined in each
other's arms, mere millimetres apart as we stare into each other's eyes. The
world has slipped away from us, and it is only the shaking of the ground that
we stand upon that brings us down from heaven and back into reality.

I look around to see if everyone is okay, and then
when I see that they all are I make me way to the floor length windows. Outside
we can see that there are enormous balls of fire being shot through the air
towards the village below the castle.

"Oh God," Is all that I can say. Hell seems
to have been unleashed on the village, and I stare in horror as those present
come to stand beside me.

"The Skin-walkers have started their
attack," Shade says, it is not a question, but a statement. It is obvious
who would attack us; the very same people that we were meant to battle
tomorrow
.

"Let us pray that no-one is harmed within the
village; Let us pray that they will stay where it is safe," Astoria says
and I can only agree with her. It would be horrible for the people of this
kingdom to be harmed, but is there even a safe place for them to go?

"Lord Baron, go and awaken the soldiers, we
must go and apprehend the attackers," Augustus says to the other older man
beside him.

"Shade and I will go with you," Kayden
says to Lord Baron. Shade and Lord Baron go ahead without Kayden, who turns to
me.