So sorry for the delay, guys, but my sister's home from her mission trip and she put her foot down about fan fictioning on her laptop (which I'm using). So I'll upload if you promise not to tell on me! ;P
Anyway, I'm super excited about this chapter because there's going to be some fire ballet action as well as the introduction of a new mysterious character! Hope you enjoy it!
Oh, and before you read this, you may want to go on YouTube and look up "Carmina Burana." I don't know who wrote it, but it's a big, dramatic score that I'm pretty sure has been used in movie trailers.
"This is definitely real fire. I am very apologetic. I think everyone should leave." – Schmidt, New Girl
Chapter 9: Fire Dance or Carmina Burana
"Hm?" said Malen, "What's this?"
"What is it, Malen?" Autor asked.
"My sketch pad is warm," she replied quizzically, "Very warm." She started flipping pages until she came to the warmest one, a still-life drawing of an old-fashioned oil lamp.
"Ah!" she cried out as she dropped the pad, "It's hot!"
"Then why isn't it on fire?" said Autor in genuine confusion.
"I know that lamp," said Fakir, "Duck had one just like it at school. She told me the spirit that lived in it had one of Mytho's heart shards. It was a fire spirit. After she became a duck, we brought it with us to my house."
"Is it inside my drawing?" Malen asked.
"I don't think so," he answered, "but I do think we'll see her soon. She was very attached to Duck."
"There's a light, zura!" Uzura pointed a drumstick to the bank on their left. Something that looked like a cast iron lantern was hanging from a willow tree, its light going in and out like a beacon. Fakir and Autor brought the boat to a smooth stop beside it and Uzura hopped up and down to reach it. Fakir moved her out of the way and carefully reached for it himself.
"Duck!" a voice cried from the lantern as it flashed. Fakir flinched.
"It's all right," he said clearly, "It's me, Fakir. You remember me, don't you?"
"Of course, but where's Duck?" said the light, "She disappeared and now I can't find her, no matter where I look. Do you know where she is?"
"We're looking for her, too," said Fakir, "If you come with us, I know we'll be able to find her."
"Really?" said the spirit, "If that's the case, I'll be happy to come with you!" Fakir lifted the lantern off the tree and hung it on a hook on the bow of the boat.
"You will be our light on the water," he declared, "shining our way through the darkness. With your affectionate glow, we will find the princess."
"Yes!" she shone joyously, "I will!" Her light brightened with joy and she directed it forward as Fakir and Autor shoved off.
"Your light is so warm and kind," Malen smiled, "You must love Duck very much."
"I do," the spirit said wistfully, "Ever since I met her, all I've wanted to do is shine for her. She said she loved me too, and that made me so happy that I wanted to shine even brighter. But that day, when she collapsed in the library, I fell into despair. I thought I'd never see her again."
"Oh, she's very much alive, I assure you," Autor spoke up, "Otherwise, we'd never have made it this far. A story like this cannot progress if its heroine is dead."
"I'm so glad," she sighed happily. The red pendant on Uzura's drum glowed.
"Ohh," she said, "We're getting close, zura!"
Fakir looked up; far ahead in the gathering twilight, he could see a tiny red spark from what looked like a tower.
"That's it!" he said, "That's where Duck is!"
"Yay!" Uzura cheered and played on her drum, "Duck! We're coming to Duck, zura! Hooray!"
"Uzura, stop!" Fakir suddenly said urgently, "Get down and be quiet!"
"Oh?" she said in surprise before Fakir moved her next to Malen. He grabbed his notebook and wrote furiously by the lantern's light while Malen drew and Autor rowed.
"What's happening, Fakir?" he asked.
"Something's coming," his cousin answered, "Fire spirit, can you change your size at will?"
"Yes, I can," her voice radiated.
"Then please do," said Fakir as he wrote, "Because something big is headed this way, something's that's strongly attracted to you."
"Don't worry." The fire spirit floated above them in her girl form. "I will protect you." The part of her form that looked like a skirt transformed itself into a tutu and her "hair" formed a bun with a tiara. She floated in front of the boat on two legs and waited.
With a mighty swoop of gigantic wings and a big dramatic entrance to "Carmina Burana," an enormous white moth descended from the sky until it loomed over them like an alien mothership.
The fire spirit began to dance on the part that started out quietly and with each bobbing line of the choir sound, she leapt and led it further away from her new companions. When they modulated, she flitted from side to side across the water en pointe. Everywhere she went, the moth followed, as moths are wont to do with flames.
When the choir got loud, she began to spin on one foot while kicking the other out to the side. The water around her feet swirled with every turn, even thought she wasn't touching it, and it boiled underneath her. As the moth came nearer, she grew in size and spun faster with her hands in a circle and her foot to her knee. Flames came flaring form her tutu at random and licked at the monster's wings. She was just about to deliver the final blow when an arrow flew from nowhere through her flames. She watched in surprise as it not only got huge and caught fire, but shot straight through the moth's heart on the cymbal-crashing burst of music. With a roar of rage, the moth crashed into the river; the spirit disappeared and returned to the boat, which was in danger!
"Stay down!" Autor pushed Malen under the seat. She put her sketch pad in her waterproof bag with Fakir's notepad and held tightly onto Uzura while the boys tried to keep the boat from floundering. A man's voice called out to them.
"HOLD ON!"
A grappling hook came sailing over their heads and landed in the water on the starboard side; the boys seized the rope immediately and pulled their way to the tree the rope was tied to. Fakir saw a man standing on a limb in a cloak, but it was too dark to see his face. Just then, a huge wave engulfed the boat! They kept a tight grip, but then Fakir heard Autor scream "MALEN!" and saw him dive for her. The only thing he could do was keep pulling the rope and try to keep Uzura and the lamp spirit inside.
The cloaked man pulled the boat ashore; the second he had Uzura on dry land, Fakir ran into the water. He only got waist-deep before he saw Autor trudging up to him as fast as he could with Malen lying like a soaked doll in his arms.
"Get out of the way!" Autor shouted in a panicky tone. He went right past Fakir, knelt down, and laid her out on the ground to apply a dose of the good old-fashioned Kiss of Life. Uzura stood by Fakir and watched.
"Ohh," she said, "Fakir? Is Autor lovey-dovey with Malen, zura?"
"No, Uzura," he sighed, "He's helping her breathe." She thought for a moment.
"I don't get it, zura," she commented, "Who are you, zura?"
Fakir looked up at their mysterious rescuer, who was hunched over the lantern, reviving the fire spirit.
"It's all right, dear," the man murmured kindly, "You can wake up now."
The tiny ember in the lantern slowly became the familiar glow of the spirit again.
"Thank you," she said weakly, "Who are you?" The man stood up and handed the lantern to Fakir.
"You can call me Rey," he said and put down his hood. He had short, well-trimmed black hair, a close-cut beard, and dark eyes of a very familiar color.
"Malen." Fakir's attention turned to Autor; he'd revived Malen!
"You're all right," Autor sighed with immense relief, "Thank God." Malen carefully sat up with fear and confusion. She looked at Autor and remembered what happened.
"Thank you," she croaked as tears poured from her eyes. Autor held her closely and tried to calm her.
"Malen?" Uzura asked, "Are you okay, zura?"
"Yes," she smiled through her tears, "Thank you, Uzura."
"I'll prepare a fire," said Rey, "Perhaps you could assist me, fraulein feuer?"
"Of course," came the answer from the lamp.
"He's right," said Fakir as he knelt by his friends, "We should rest for a while, especially you two. Do you feel all right, Malen?"
"I think so," she nodded, "I managed to put our paper in the bag before the water hit us, so it should all be okay."
"What about him?" Autor nodded at Rey, "Do you think we can trust this man? Just because he saved us doesn't mean he's friendly."
"We can," Fakir answered confidently, "I don't know how I know, but we can definitely trust him. I'll help him set up camp. You two take a breather."
The young writer stood on the shore for a moment; a sickle moon was pouring its silvery light onto the surface of the water. You wouldn't have known there had been a disaster like the one they just had. He looked far off to his left, where the tower stood like a proud, dark citadel under the moon and stars. In his heart as well as his hand, he knew that she was up there, waiting for him to come for her.
'I'm almost there, Duck,' he thought, 'Just hold on a while longer.'
Clara faltered and stumbled to her knees. Mytho jumped back and waited.
"Listen, Clara," he panted, "Night has fallen and even you can't possibly go this long without a break."
"I admit you are right," she said, "Perhaps a rest period is in order."
"I was hoping you'd say that," said Mytho. A golden birdcage materialized around her.
"A spirit cage," she observed, "Very vigilant, little prince. No spirit can escape this."
"I give you my word as a prince," he declared, "This battle will not end until I've destroyed you. Thus, I promise to release you at sunrise." He turned to the still-scared and now emotionally raw children. "Come, children. You were all witnesses to my vow. Return to your families now and go with my blessing of sweet dreams."
It was all they could do to make their bows and curtsies and mumble their thanks as they dragged their feet out of the room. The child named Odette swooned on her feet, so Mytho picked her up and carried her out. He turned halfway back to Clara and the look he gave her said that this wasn't over, not by a long shot.
Author's Review:
I know what you're thinking: Why didn't he just cage her in the first place?
The answer is: The same reason you don't just cage a household pest; you have to kill it in order to eliminate the threat. That's also why he's not going to keep her in the cage forever.
I named Rey after Rudolf Nureyev, the world famous (now dead) male ballet dancer. He becomes a super-important character, so I hope you guys like him. He'll be speaking a lot of German phrases, in keeping with the Grimm/Andersen spirit (except Andersen was Dutch). He basically just called the fire spirit "Miss Fire." He likes to use terms of endearment, especially on the girls, as you'll learn in later chapters.
How did the fire spirit get in the lantern in the middle of nowhere? Fakir wrote her in. That's going to be my answer to pretty much every question in this story, because Fakir wrote it that way (and because I wrote it that way).
I changed a lot of the adverbs in this chapter because I realized I was throwing around the word "very" like a bajillion times and that's no good, especially since I saw this quote on Pinterest by Robin Williams that had something to do with not using "very" too much in writing. I didn't realize I was even doing that until I started typing up the chapter. I hope you liked how I fixed it!
Any more questions? Y'all know what to do! Peace out til next time!
