Witch Fire

Chapter 1

I wandered the market place, searching for the delicious, spicy scent that had caught my nose a few minutes ago. It remained there, tantalizing close yet so far away. The market place makes it so hard to scent things, with the smell of sweat, dust and seawater mixed with meats and vegetables cooked in thousands of ways, exotic spices and perfumes, and so much more. Glancing around, I pulled the hood down further over my face to hide my ears and my face in shadows as I sniffed. My tail was dying to move, but I had to keep it still, wrapped around me leg tightly. If the humans knew I was here, it would not be too pretty for a little Rajin child like me.

Okay, I'm not a child, almost an adult really, since I'm approaching my seventeenth name day, but until then I'll still just be a child to the others. The only reason I'm here is because my family is hungry. Well, the family that consists of me, my little brother Sirius who is twelve, and the twins, Sylvia and Ida, who are ten. Our parents have been dead for five years, so I've been raising them since then. It's hard, but it's easier with magic. Not so easy when you have two ten year olds developing their magic which occasionally sets the house on fire or blows a bit of it up. Plus magic can't conjure food and water out of nowhere.

I just know they'll like this food if I can find it. I can still smell it as if I was right next to it. A spicy scent, with red and green peppers, black pepper, salt, a bit of lemon juice, potatoes, some carrots and leeks. Oh and meat. Lots and lots of meat. Just smelling it make my mouth water. I open my eyes and scan my surroundings looking for the source of the delicious aroma. There! Directly across from me, a man selling large shish kebabs filled with all the stuff I could smell. I checked the pockets in my cloak, looking for a bit of money so that I wouldn't have to steal. My fingers close around a few coins and I pull them out, inspecting them. Two gold lions and ten silver stags.

I put it back and approach the stall, wondering if that's enough for eight of the little kebabs. I wall up to the stall and pretend to inspect the items on display. "How much for eight?" I say, eyeing the various types of kebabs he was selling. "Two lions for these over here," his voice was a deep timber and it seemed to hold the accent usually associated with the Summer Isle. He gestured over to the ones I was looking at, "These ones over here are three." "Why three?" I asked looking at the ones he was talking about. They smelled sweeter than the others, the scent of honey that I hadn't noticed until now.

"I dip 'em in honey from the Summer Isle and roast 'em with a few more spices." I thought about it for a moment. I could always buy a few sweets for them with the stags. Besides, what was on the kebabs was more important that a bit of honey. "I'll take these," I said, gesturing to the ones I had initially been looking at. "Please wrap them." "That'll be another stag." I knew this man was overpricing things a bit, but at this point I didn't really care. My stomach growled, anticipating the food that I could not have just yet. I pulled the coins out of my pocket and put them on the wooden counter.

He pulled them off and put them in a leather pouch hanging from his waist and then proceeded to wrap my purchases in the thick, dried leather. "'ere you go," he said gruffly and so I was dismissed from his stall. After that, I headed back out of the town, stealthily creeping out and back to a village of my own. The woods were quite and quite calm, a couple of bees buzzing around flowers, birds calling to each other, the wind whispering through the thick canopy above. Tall grasses brushed by me until I got back to the usual well-worn path that I took to get back. I took a different route to the path, but the outcome was always the same.

Tall trees grew everywhere, undisturbed by human and Rajin alike, even though we had always cared more for nature than the humans. We drew our power from it and it provided us with our limited supply of food and water, while in return, we cared and protected it. Ahead of me loomed the familiar stone wall that protected our village from attackers on foot. Within I knew would be a massive tree, which took fifty of us just to encircle surround it, even when we are pressed against the bark with only our fingertips touching. It stretches up for many miles and we make our homes both within it's wood and below, within it's roots and the dirt and stone beneath. It can been seen, even from the human village, which is about six miles away. I smiled as I looked up at it. We live near the top, and every morning I look out my 'window' in the wood and I can see everything.

I approached the massive iron portcullis, "Hello! I'm back!" I yelled, my voice carrying a bit in the silent forest. After a moment or two, a head poked over the ramparts, "Hello? Who is it!" A man yelled back down, his monkey ears poking out from underneath his helm. "Open up Allen, you know it's me!" I yelled back up the fifty foot wall, hoping that the idiot would hear. "Sorry but I need identification!" He called back down and I rolled my eyes. He could be so irritating sometimes. "How about if you don't open up I won't split a kebab?" I yelled, gesturing to the package under my arm. Even from here, I could see his eyes grow wide and he disappeared back behind the ramparts, the portcullis rising moments later. "Thank you!" I called and walked through, the gates shutting after I had walking through.

Allen met me beyond the gate, "Did I hear you say you have kebabs?" He asked eagerly, practically bouncing up and down in excitement. "Calm down. Honestly, have you been in the sugar today?" "No," Allen said, looking rejected. "You know, you came at a good time. My shift literally just ended when you got back so I can head over to your place and we can split that kebab if you want." He grinned, his white, straight teeth gleaming in him mouth. "Hmm, let me think. No," I said with a smile and turn away, starting for the Sky Oak. "But Celina! You said you would share your kebab!" He whined, shaking my shoulder gently. "Oh fine," I said with a roll of my eyes, "You can have a bit," "Yes!" he said, beaming at me, "But only one potato," "HEY!" He called after me as I ran up to the Sky Oak.

"If you catch me I might give you a bit more!" I yelled over my shoulder and opened the door in, not even bothering to close it before I raced up the steps carved into the very center of the Oak. The led up in a spiral along the core of the tree, stretching all the way to the top, with little landings where you could get off to go to a balcony that went all the way around the inside of the tree on the level so that you could get to your room. I heard the door close and heard Allen running behind me. I looked down and saw he was only two landings up. I was on the tenth. "You'll never catch me at this rate," I called and he looked up. "Or so you think!" He yelled back up and crouched, preparing to leap.

"Oh no fair!" I called as he jumped from the second landing to the balcony above. I kept running, but we both knew it was hopeless. Ever since he was strong enough to jump that far, he beat me in every race to the top. I managed to get up two more floors before he caught up to me. "Fine," I grumbled, "But you had better get something else to bring over," "Deal!" He said, his chocolate brown eyes gleaming in the light. Did I forget to mention that the core of the tree has these little tubes of light that is powered by solar energy. We may be starving but we still have light.

As we walked up the steps, we continued to talk. "How much were those?" He said, sniffing the air, "Cause they smell so good!" "Two lions and a stag to wrap." Allen's eyes widened a bit, "How did you get that money?" I laughed, "I may have picked a pocket or two," I said with a sly grin. He rolled his eyes, "Eventually they'll catch you, and then you'll be in trouble." He was serious, one of his few moments when he wasn't hyped up on sugar and life. "Yes, but the day is not today," I said and continued to run up the steps.

After another ten or so minutes, we finally reached the top, where both of our homes were located. "Be over in five minutes," I said, went to the left, opened the first door, and disappeared inside. "Guys, I'm home!" I yelled, putting the leather package on the wooden table and I looked around. Two couches made out of branches and wool-stuffed skins dyed green were shoved into the corner of the living room, and a small table made out of wood and a glass pane set into it, a few books on top of it. The kitchen was a bunch of counters carved out of the tree and the cabinets were the same, but hallowed. The only things in there that were not wooden was an icebox a small metal oven, so that you could prevent fires, a sink, and the pipes carrying the water. Everything was powered by solar energy, just like how they got running water up this high and such.

A small, smooth rectangular stump sat a few feet away from that, in the corner of the room with six wooden chairs pushed in. The only walls here were the ones separating our house from the ones to the right and left, and the ones dividing our three bedrooms. The twin's door burst open and they came tumbling out, Sirius right behind them. "Celi! Your back!" Ida and Sylvia tackled me, their tails whipping through the air in excitement. Sylvia's nose twitched, "Something smells delicious!" she exclaimed and leapt up away from me and over to the table.

"Don't eat any yet," I said, "Allen will be here in a minute or two and he's bringing a few things over for you." Ida grinned, showing off her pointy canines, which had just come in finally after the others had fallen out. She scratched an ear with a finger, a long nail extending out where normal nails would be before shrinking back to normal size when she was done. Sirius held a book, The Complete History of the Rajin was the title in white ink on the brown leather. "Will he be bringing over more books for me?" He said, serious as always. I leaned over and hugged him before ruffling his thick but soft black hair. "Don't worry Sirius, I'm sure he'll bring a few over."

I must have also forgotten to mention that the Rajin are different from humans. We are different because we take on traits of various animals and we can use magic. Everyone specializes in something, for Sylvia and Ida it's ice magic, for Sirius it's earth magic, Allen has some killer wind magic, and I have fire magic. Ironic isn't it, since it's the once thing that can kill everybody in the village and destroy the Sky Oak? Not everybody has elemental magic though. Some concentrate on healing, others on nature spells, others on lots of other things.

Magic and our animal traits are the gift of our Goddess, Narazura. Our parents were cats, so we inherited the cat ears and tails. That does not mean we use litter boxes. Black hair, black ears, black tails, and golden eyes, we are quite the eerie family. Or that's what Allen jokes anyways. As I got up off the floor, the door opened and Allen appeared, carrying a small leather bag of things. Ida and Sylvia gave him enough time to set his bag on the table and shut the door before they tackled him, "Allen!" They yelled, grins on their pale faces, their sharp teeth glinting in the light that the panels created. He braced himself so that he wouldn't fall and gave them his usual awkward one-armed-hug-thing he always did before going over to Sirius and hugging him to.

"How have you guys been?" he asked, a grin on his face, "Been giving your sister a lot of hell?" "Nope," Ida and Sylvia said together, their black tails swishing through the air. "Oh, and Sirius," "Yes?" Sirius looked up, his right ear twitching just a bit. Allen reached into the bag and pulled out three books, with soft and supple leather covers and their titles in white ink on them. "Here you go, I figured you had already finished the other one, so I brought you a few more. You know, all you have to do is come over and you can borrow whichever ones you want."

Sirius looked me really quick, hope and questioning in his gaze. "Sirius, he's like the older and very weird brother we don't have, so don't worry." I said. His face lit up with happiness and he gratefully excepted the large tomes, each one probably over a thousand pages, probably more. He hugged Allen really quickly and then jumped onto one of the couches so that he could start reading. "Ah, ah ,ah," I said, wagging my finger, "Eat first, then clean up, then you can read, okay?" Sirius wrinkled his nose but put the book down on the table and joined us at the dinner table.

I grabbed our thin but sturdy stone plates and metal tableware and set it down in their places while Ida grabbed the napkins and Sylvia got the glasses. Sirius got the milk out and poured it into the glasses and Allen began to divide the food amongst us. The kids got two of the kebabs, Allen and I got one. He gave them the bigger helpings of the fruits and vegetables that he had brought with him. It was an unspoken rule we shared; they get more so they can grow strong and healthy.

Once everything was done, we sat down and began to eat. Dinner is never a quite affair, with Ida and Sylvia always making faces, Sirius and Allen discussing books and me just doing my general thing. "Allen, can you tell us a story after dinner?" Ida and Sylvia pleaded, clapping their hands together, putting on their most adorable and heart-wrenching faces they could muster, which was pretty freaking heart-wrenching. Allen lasted for about five seconds, a new personal record for him, "Alright, fine, I'll tell you one. Which one?" He could never stand up to them and their innocent attacks, as he said, 'They're just to cute Celina!'

"Can you tell us about the war between us and the humans!" Sylvia said, "Yeah!" Ida added, "Please?" Allen grinned, "Sure." "Wait. Hold on just a sec, what's wrong with the story when I tell it? I tell it perfectly fine!" I said indignantly, turning my head and crossing my arms, but there was a grin on my face. "It's 'cause Allen tells it way better!" Ida said, "Yeah, he has all these cool voices to go with it and he can do the explosions and other noises way better than you!" I shook my head, "I should make Allen leave before he can tell you but I won't," I said as I stood, picked up my plate and ruffled their hair on the way to the sink. They filed up and washed their dishes and then threw themselves onto the couches, waiting for Allen to sit down and begin.

Allen finished washing his plate and cup, dried them off and then put them away before he walked over to the unoccupied couch and sat on it. I took my place beside him, perched on to top of the couch, while Sirius sat next to Ida and Sylvia who were fidgeting impatiently. Allen began, his voice soft but strong and enrapturing.

"Many years ago, there were two groups of people; the followers of Narazura, the Rajin, and the followers of God, the humans, coexisted together, side by side, helping each other through times of great need. The Rajin were thoroughly devoted to Narazura, so one day she called down form the heavens where she resided and said, 'Because of your diligence and steadfast belief, I shall grant you three things. The traits of the animals you have so kindly nurtured, senses that surpass normal mortals, and the sacred gift of magic, draw from nature's energy. Use these gifts wisely and carefully.'

"However, after a few years of this, the humans grew jealous of the Rajin and their powers, wishing that their god had also given them these gifts. So they called their other villages together and began to make weapons. They began to attack the Rajin in small groups, beating and torturing, calling us witches, heathens, freaks, and more. However, the Rajin did not retaliate, in fear of their goddess growing angry, so instead they built the wall around their home and tried to distance themselves.

"But the humans took it too far. They came upon a group of Rajin, ten of the farmers heading to the fields so that they could tend to the crops. They were ambushed, and the humans came down on them with their iron weapons. The Rajin did not stand a chance. So Narazura sent down a message to the Rajin priest. 'Fight against this rising evil and put the humans in their place. No more of my children shall die needlessly.'

"And so, the Rajin called forth their forces and gathered, training for months on end, honing their magic and skills. When ready, the appointed leader for the Rajin, Dax Xan spoke to them. 'We have gathered here for something that I wish we did not have to resort to. However, we cannot tolerate these attacks on our innocent tribes, so we must fight back! Narazura herself shall watch over us and help us win this battle, and no matter the outcome, remember this. We fight not only for our people, for our goddess, but for our pride! We fight for our children and our ancestors! We fight for everything that is us! We shall rise above and conqueror!'

"He led them to the Forsaken Plains, where the human army had gathered in preparation for their assault on the Sky Oak. The two races clashed, magic meeting iron with a clash. Fire, water, ice, earth, ice, wind and thousands more powers mixed with those of the humans. Rajin with weapons magic fought hand-to-hand, blade-to-blade with the humans, and slowly, we gained the upper hand. Dax himself rode forth in the battle, calling upon his creation magic to protect him people and fight with them.

"Suddenly, the skies began darkened, black clouds appearing from nowhere, hiding the sun from the people. Cries of anger and hatred became cries of fear and terror and a massive lightning bolt flashed in the middle of the field, where Dax and the human leader Basil fought. The lightning struck their swords, sending them flying back to their sides and on the rock where they had been fighting stood two people, a man robed in white and a woman with a green dress.

"'This battle is over,' they declared as one, their voices one as they continued, 'Return to your homes and never fight again or the suffer the consequences. There has been enough bloodshed for eons to come.' The people, shaken, wandered home, terrified at what had occurred. They put their weapons away and returned to an uneasy peace that has lasted till now, three hundred years later. Some say we are due for another Great War. Others say that this peace will get better and last till the end of times. However, no one knows."

Allen leaned back and stretched, working his jaw, "You have any idea how sore your mouth gets after talking that much?" I laughed, "You talk that much anyways. I swear, sometimes I think about getting a muzzle while at the human village." Ida and Sylvia yawned, sleepy smiles on their faces. "That was great," Ida said, "Yeah," Sylvia added, "You'd make a great Word Weaver," she said. Sirius nodded in agreement, opening his mouth to say something but it turned to a yawn.

"Alright, time for you guys to go to bed," I said and then I turned to look at Allen, "I'll be back in a minute or two okay." "Alright, take your time," he said with a grin, his tail waving about in front of him. I shepherded them off to bed since Sirius, who is in charge of the house while I'm out, forced Ida and Sylvia to take baths. After three hugs, 'goodnights' and 'I love you's' said, I went back out into the living room where Allen waited. I threw myself down onto the other couch and turned so that I could look at him while on my stomach, my arms folded under my chin.

"You really could be a good Word Weaver," I admitted, albeit grudgingly, "So why did you become a soldier?" Allen scratched the stubble on his chin, thinking. "I guess it's because I never really thought about telling stories to others. My magic is not words, and I wanted to help protect our colony from the outside dangers." I grinned, "How noble," I said, flicking my tail back and forth, "But you do have magic with words, just not in the way people think of." He shrugged and we remained in silence for a few minutes before he spoke. "I should probably get going," he said, standing up and stretching, "I have the dawn patrol tomorrow," he wrinkled his nose.

I laughed quietly, "Not my problem," I said, "Bu then again, I'm on a hunting patrol tomorrow. I'm sure they'll let you off so that you can help, right?" He shrugged, "It depends on how tomorrow goes I guess." I nodded, "Alright," I stood too and gave him a hug, "Try not to fall out your bed," I teased, causing us both to remember his eighth birthday. He turned red, "Are you going to remind me of that forever?" "Until I get bored of it," I said with a grin and opened the door for him, "Sleep tight monkey-boy," "Right back at you, whiskers." I rolled my eyes and shut the door, locking it after it clicked shut.

The clock hanging on the wall above the couch Allen had sat on glowed faintly, giving me enough light to see the time. Ten thirty, not to bad. I picked up one of the books on the table and flipped to where I had left off. Time to catch up on some well deserved reading. I think I managed to get about three pages further before my tired eyes slid shut and the book fell onto my chest.

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AFTERWORD

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…. I actually managed to get this done ahead of schedule, considering sports and everything. But, that's not the point. I hope you've enjoyed the first chapter of Witch Fire. I'll continue to work on the chapter, attempting to get one every week or two. So, if you can spare like five minutes, please rate and review. Thanks for reading and come back soon for more~