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Authors: Shane Porteous
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its
raging flames. Flames hot enough to melt flesh. Kae could release
the fire, let flame cover the Orcs. Torch them all until only ashes
remained. If only Baynard taught him how.
Baynard’s blood fell to
the ground in fat drops, pooled there. If he was not healed soon,
he might never be. His eyes were already rolling into the back of
his head.
Tell
me! Kae yelled directly into the priest’s
mind, demanding he agree.
“ Just let it
cover the skies, then unleash it. You dictate its shape. It must
always do your bidding. If you tell it to plant all the fear in the
world into the hearts of those it can reach, that is what it will
do. Because it must do what you want it to do…”
I can make it
cover the world with flames!
Kae looked at Ryon again
to fuel his own anger, make the flames rise higher, burn
hotter.
He gave all of his
attention to his separated self.
Like melted
butter over bread…
But his separated self
would not expand, would not leave its human shape.
Kae tried harder, pushed
and pulled.
Imagined his separated
self turning into a river, a sea.
Nothing.
It wouldn’t even
fly.
But he had to end this
battle. Had to find a healer for Baynard. Had to bring him
home.
Had to return home and be
near Issa.
All the sadness at the
thought of Issa, his forbidden love, turned to red-hot
ire.
If it won’t
stretch, it might explode!
Kae fed the flames
burning inside his separated self with all the rage he could
muster. He let the memories come. Bandits killing his mother and
father. Dead Ann with blue flowers in her hair, beaten to death by
her husband for laying with a Protector. Issa laughing on the
cliffs holding Kae’s hand, as they leaned into the strong gusts of
wind. Entan telling him he must never see Issa again. The priests
don’t allow love; Protectors must do as priests command.
Kae’s separated self
exploded in a red sunset. A sunset of fire and death.
Orcs shrieked and
screamed as flames engulfed them. Those nearest turned to ash in
seconds. Flames danced on the ones farther out. The catapults broke
as their arms were swallowed by the fire.
Kae’s separated self was
the fire, burning all in its path as it covered the land to the
south, east, west and north. It had no beginning, no end. Yet still
remained a part of him. His essence made fire.
The Protectors and
steel-clad warriors atop the wall beat their arms against invisible
flames.
Yet Kae could not control
the burning.
“ Leave the
wall!” His proper body yelled to the men and women atop the
battlements. “Leave or be burned alive!”
They obeyed, scrambled
into the courtyard.
All the Orcs, all the
thousands upon thousands of them were shrieking, dying or
dead.
Kae’s separated self was
unyielding flame consuming the world.
He did not know how to
call it back.
He imagined it taking the
shape of his copy.
It wouldn’t.
He called it back into
his chest.
It didn’t
come.
The river, cold, deep and
green flowed through his mind when he called it. Flowed over the
flames of his raging separated self. Evaporated in clouds of steam
as it doused its flames.
The sandy bottom showed
before Kae’s separated self was contained again. A man again. His
copy.
All the Orcs lay
smoldering beneath the walls. Their bodies covered the ground all
the way back to the ridge, and as far as sight could reach on all
sides.
Shouts of joy at a battle
won broke the silence. First one or two, then enough to fill the
courtyard.
Kae’s separated self
wavered and waned, turned translucent, its strength spent. Kae no
longer saw through its eyes, no longer saw the thousand dead
Orcs.
Baynard was sitting up
next to Kae, a bandage covering his wound. Beside him, a man in
brown robes was repacking bandages and ointments into a leather
bag.
Baynard looked into Kae’s
eyes. “I saw what you did! Truly, you have more skill than
me.”
Ryon lay in a puddle of
congealing blood to Kae’s left.
The healer followed Kae’s
gaze and whispered. “Him,
raging flames. Flames hot enough to melt flesh. Kae could release
the fire, let flame cover the Orcs. Torch them all until only ashes
remained. If only Baynard taught him how.
Baynard’s blood fell to
the ground in fat drops, pooled there. If he was not healed soon,
he might never be. His eyes were already rolling into the back of
his head.
Tell
me! Kae yelled directly into the priest’s
mind, demanding he agree.
“ Just let it
cover the skies, then unleash it. You dictate its shape. It must
always do your bidding. If you tell it to plant all the fear in the
world into the hearts of those it can reach, that is what it will
do. Because it must do what you want it to do…”
I can make it
cover the world with flames!
Kae looked at Ryon again
to fuel his own anger, make the flames rise higher, burn
hotter.
He gave all of his
attention to his separated self.
Like melted
butter over bread…
But his separated self
would not expand, would not leave its human shape.
Kae tried harder, pushed
and pulled.
Imagined his separated
self turning into a river, a sea.
Nothing.
It wouldn’t even
fly.
But he had to end this
battle. Had to find a healer for Baynard. Had to bring him
home.
Had to return home and be
near Issa.
All the sadness at the
thought of Issa, his forbidden love, turned to red-hot
ire.
If it won’t
stretch, it might explode!
Kae fed the flames
burning inside his separated self with all the rage he could
muster. He let the memories come. Bandits killing his mother and
father. Dead Ann with blue flowers in her hair, beaten to death by
her husband for laying with a Protector. Issa laughing on the
cliffs holding Kae’s hand, as they leaned into the strong gusts of
wind. Entan telling him he must never see Issa again. The priests
don’t allow love; Protectors must do as priests command.
Kae’s separated self
exploded in a red sunset. A sunset of fire and death.
Orcs shrieked and
screamed as flames engulfed them. Those nearest turned to ash in
seconds. Flames danced on the ones farther out. The catapults broke
as their arms were swallowed by the fire.
Kae’s separated self was
the fire, burning all in its path as it covered the land to the
south, east, west and north. It had no beginning, no end. Yet still
remained a part of him. His essence made fire.
The Protectors and
steel-clad warriors atop the wall beat their arms against invisible
flames.
Yet Kae could not control
the burning.
“ Leave the
wall!” His proper body yelled to the men and women atop the
battlements. “Leave or be burned alive!”
They obeyed, scrambled
into the courtyard.
All the Orcs, all the
thousands upon thousands of them were shrieking, dying or
dead.
Kae’s separated self was
unyielding flame consuming the world.
He did not know how to
call it back.
He imagined it taking the
shape of his copy.
It wouldn’t.
He called it back into
his chest.
It didn’t
come.
The river, cold, deep and
green flowed through his mind when he called it. Flowed over the
flames of his raging separated self. Evaporated in clouds of steam
as it doused its flames.
The sandy bottom showed
before Kae’s separated self was contained again. A man again. His
copy.
All the Orcs lay
smoldering beneath the walls. Their bodies covered the ground all
the way back to the ridge, and as far as sight could reach on all
sides.
Shouts of joy at a battle
won broke the silence. First one or two, then enough to fill the
courtyard.
Kae’s separated self
wavered and waned, turned translucent, its strength spent. Kae no
longer saw through its eyes, no longer saw the thousand dead
Orcs.
Baynard was sitting up
next to Kae, a bandage covering his wound. Beside him, a man in
brown robes was repacking bandages and ointments into a leather
bag.
Baynard looked into Kae’s
eyes. “I saw what you did! Truly, you have more skill than
me.”
Ryon lay in a puddle of
congealing blood to Kae’s left.
The healer followed Kae’s
gaze and whispered. “Him,
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