Chapter 3: Fiery Rivalry
Taranee don't know for how long she had been in the dark dungeon. When she waked up she had conjured a fireball to give her some light.
The floor, roof and walls were entirely made of large stone blocks, the farthest side was a wooden door -locked and barred. The cold floor was covered with straw and Taranee thought she had heard a muffled scraping.
'Rats!' She had thought disgustedly.
Her fireball went out at that point and she was once again drenched in darkness. Minutes felt like hours as time dragged on and the questions she had asked herself turned into rhetorical ones.
Hunger had also begun to gnaw at her stomach but she ignored the growing feeling and created fireballs. One after the other went out after a while, like oil lamps without enough fuel.
Finally the door opened as the last flame started to flicker. Light flooded in but Taranee only gaped at the odd figure standing in the doorway.
The woman wore a short-sleeved red coat, not even reaching her knees, a thick, leather black belt with a glowing orange ball as a buckle braced her waist. Knee-high black boots and pitch-black leggings covered the being's legs entirely and from where she stood, Taranee could make out that the woman's skin was fairly pale but blackened by soot and ashes.
But the thing that intrigued Taranee the most was the hair; they were the fieriest red with streaks of yellow, orange, white and black. It moved in a flowing, calm way and then wobbled, flickered and swaggered uncertainly as if they were the essence of fire itself.
Merciless eyes suddenly turned kind when she saw the fireball, which had stopped flickering and grew bigger in her presence.
"Not bad," she said with a surprisingly clear and smooth voice.
With a gloved hand she gestured for Taranee to follow her into the fire lit hallway beyond. Together they walked toward a door at the far-end of the stone tunnel.
"I apologize for you being locked up back there," she said, "you see, we thought you were a spy."
"It's alright," Taranee said, even though she was starving.
"I am known as Ardelle," she said, "and you?"
"Taranee."
A wave of heat engulfed the girl when Ardelle opened the door, but she gaped again when she saw the landscape.
The ground was covered in boiling lava -deadly fountains spurting out of fissures, layers of smoke concealed the blue sky and the stone of the buildings were charred and black. The crackling sound of fire consuming anything in its way filled her ears.
Instantly they were surrounded by a bunch of odd-looking characters: they informed Ardelle about provisions, weapons, armor, defensives and much more stuff which would be important if you're going to invade a place.
Three people waited until everybody else has dispersed. There was really short woman wearing a red and black mottled cloak that could easily blend into the molten landscape, in contrast a really tall man with red hair and a red beard stood holding a rolled up scroll. He wore black leather aprons -the kind blacksmiths wear -and fine red silk clothing beneath it with thick boots, a red-hot blazing sword was dangling from a scabbard.
The last person was a woman -medium in length -and wearing a black robe with decorative red patterns, patches of black dust covered her brown hair.
"Good day, Lady Ardelle," they all greeted and the short woman handed the only human in the company a slightly battered looking bread roll.
The Lord of Fire nodded in acknowledgement, "Taranee, this is Salvos, a Fire Sorceress," she said gesturing to the woman, "Litherane, fire warrior," gesturing to the man, "and Merna, dwarven thief."
They all gave the girl an angry look.
Seeing this Ardelle whispered in her ear, "Go and look around Cineraayt, you can come back when I show them the attack signals -they don't trust you, yet."
"Where is Cineraayt?"
"Here," she replied with an amused smile.
With that she took the scroll from the warrior and opened it, so Taranee chose one of the barely visible paths threading through the lava.
Everywhere people were getting ready for the attack -sharpening swords, polishing shields, grooming and tacking up horses, some heaved big bags of provisions while young boys paid undivided attention as their older brothers told them the ruthless code of the fire people.
Obscuring her way further along the path stood something hideous; the creature's skin was rocky and glowing warmly like simmering coals, horns twirled from its head with two yellow slits for eyes. Blackened hands held a whip tipped with steel to rip bits of flesh from his victims and a sword sharp enough to cut a single hair with one, lazy movement.
For a moment Taranee stood stock still by the sight of the thing, then decided to move around it in a wide arc. This meant walking on the lava but the rest of the crowd was actually standing on it.
Before she could put her plan into action she heard a deep, rumbling voice, "Afraid of me, Fire Sorceress?"
"Yes," she answered nervously.
"I won't bite," it tried to say kindly, "Please, come closer."
Every instinct in the guardian's body said to… RUN! 'But why would he want to hurt me? We're on the same side here…' Once the thought grasp her mind, it wouldn't let go and she found herself obliging to the request.
When she stopped in front of him she asked respectively, "Forgive me for asking, but what are you?"
"I'm a demon," the creature said proudly. Apparently demons had fought alongside the fire lords for centuries.
"You are so young," he marveled, "but then again, Ardelle is young too."
"What's going to happen today?" she couldn't contain the curiosity bubbling inside her any more.
"We leave to attack the Amazons," the demon replied matter of factly.
"Why?"
"Because they follow water and we follow fire…do you see the rivalry? Lady Ardelle despises the Lord of Water more than any fire lord ever did."
"Because the Lord of Water follow water?"
"No, Lord Oceania is Ardelle's sister."
"Ardelle hates her own sister!" Taranee exclaimed in disbelieve, people with sisters often complain about how annoying they can be but surely they don't hate each other, do they?
"For betraying her."
"But how do they end up rulers of opposing faiths?"
"Let she tell you herself -I might leave out the crucial stuff."
The demon picked up a bow and quiver full of arrows, not decorated with patterns or jewels. The weapon was made to be used and for no other reason.
"Mages can't rely on magic alone to protect them," he said handing her the bow. Out of the quiver he pulled an arrow, it was made out of strong wood at the one end a deadly metal point waited to penetrate a target while on the other end two feathers was changing color each passing second.
"These arrows will always find a mark."
"Thanks," she thanked the creature and with the quiver and bow slung across her back she walked on again.
A shrub was burning next to the path, "Greetings Sorceress," it hissed.
"Hello…little shrub," she returned the greeting uncertainly.
"Not the plant!" the fire jumped over the bush and landed right in front of Taranee, "Me," it said.
"You talk!"
"Of course I talk," the fire snapped and crept closer to her. The flames licking at her skin, but it didn't burn.
"Such soft and supple skin…how easily the javelins would pierce it," the living fire crackled at the thought.
"That won't be a problem since I'm not going to fight!"
"You have no CHOICE!" The fire's size increased dramatically at these words.
"I think, I do," she said defiantly.
"But you have already accepted a weapon, are you going to pretend it to be an ornament?"
"The demon said I should use it for pro-tec-tion," this thing was starting to get on Taranee's nerves.
"Well, whether you like it or not -the armor at your feet is yours."
The human picked up the chain mail shirt; it glowed a warm reddish-gold and was made of some kind of a scale.
"Dragonscales, few people are able to see this scales, let alone wear them as an armor."
The unpleasant conversation was interrupted by a loud noise. Taranee turned around to see fireworks against the smoky sky.
"That's the signal our Lady will use when we can attack tomorrow," the Fire Elemental said.
"You can come back when I show them the attack signals…"
Without another word she turned around and ran back to where she started and arrived a few seconds after the fireworks was over.
"And remember," Ardelle was saying patiently, "once on the islands I want complete silence." She waved when she saw Taranee.
It made sense, since sound travel over water.
"Are our army strong enough?" the Fire Giant asked.
"Yes," she said breezily.
"You sure?"
His lord's eyes flashed dangerously, "Insolence," she screeched, "Do you not trust in the information Merna brought us? She is our best thief!"
"I never doubted for a moment," he said hastily.
"How will we get there by dawn tomorrow?" the thief asked.
To answer this great shadows fell across the landscape, glistening scales, dangling claws, long, pointy tails, bulky bodies, majestic wings beat the air as Lady Ardelle's transportation arrived.
"Still think we're not strong enough?" The Lord of Fire asked the warrior.
He could only stare, transfixed by the dragons as they landed on an open space, which was specially reserved for them.
"We strike at dawn," Ardelle yelled at all the troops who had come to get a glimpse of the dragons, "We shall incinerate Osh'n!"
To her great delight they all gave a deafening roar that trembled everything for a few seconds.
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Phew, between my sisters' (baby twins) screaming, my cat's annoyance with the bad weather and our neighbors making a huge racket I had a hard time finishing this chapter -anyway, hope it's okay.
x Fatal Fable x