Chapter 18- Flashback 4 - An Ability is Tested

Shortly after Sihtric and Nyra are reunited, there's the fire at Father Beocca's house. Nyra rushes in to save Thrya and Sihtric follows, killing the fire setter. They do not burn.

It was the day of King Alfred of Wessex's funeral and Father Beocca and his wife, Lady Thyra had gone to the palace for it as Beocca was one of Alfred's main priests and close advisors. After spending a couple hours at the funeral, Lady Thyra decided to go home. However, as she walked home, a man who was extremely Anti Dane, and who had previously harassed her, began to follow her.

While Lady Thyra did manage to arrive at her home safely, and managed to bar her door, the man kept threatening her. When he realized he would not be able to easily barge it, he began to drive his blade into the door. This scared her and so, she hid. The man then broke down the door and entered the modest home. He called out for her while setting clothes on fire with the flames from the hearth and dropping them throughout the home. He kept taunting her even while the structure began to burn.

Outside, Sihtric and Nyra were taking a walk after leaving their two young sons in the care of Abbess Hild, Finan and Osfeth. They hadn't been reunited long and were enjoying having a bit of time together. As the couple neared Father Beocca's house, they noticed flames. Nyra and Sihtric had seen Thyra earlier, shortly after she'd left the palace who had told them she was going home and since neither saw her outside, they began to fear the worst.

It was then that Nyra recalled the dream she'd had following her marriage of her Lady Syrax promising that, though she was dead, Nyra and her family would never need to fear the flame. While she'd only ever tested the ability in very minor ways such as placing logs directly onto a fire or holding her fingers in a flame, she knew that this was the time to see if the ability was entirely true.

Nyra turned to her husband and asked him, "Do you trust me?"

He then replied, "Of course I do. You know that."

"Then believe me when I say that the fire will not burn us. If Lady Thyra is still alive, we are the only ones who can save her."

Sihtric then nodded to his wife and then yelled at Finan who had just arrived to help fight the fire and said, "We're going to try to save Lady Thyra! Send someone to get Father Beocca and keep working on putting out the blaze!"

After that the couple ran into the burning building.

Upon entering the structure, they saw a man laying on the floor mocking Thyra. Sihtric realizing that this was the man who started the fire, quickly killed him and moved his body away from the spot even as his wife was prying the floorboards up. Once they had opened the crawlspace enough, they did see that Lady Thyra was still alive but had her blade in hand.

"Don't do it Lady Thyra! We're here to get you out!" roared Sihtric over the blaze.

"Come, take our hands, we will get you out. Someone should be getting Father Beocca as we speak but we need to leave now!"

Lady Thyra looked at the pair for a moment in complete disbelief. They were completely surrounded by fire and yet neither was even touched by the flames. She did not understand it at all but decided not to question the miracle too much and, as such, took their hands, allowing them to help her out of the crawlspace.

After that, Sihtric pulled her into his arms completely, carrying her like a baby and with his wife at his side, partially wrapped around him, rushed through the wall of flames and out of the building.

Outside, Father Beocca had arrived and was crying out tearfully for his wife. He had to be restrained to not rush into the blaze in an attempt to find and rescue her when, all of a sudden, the image of beings walking out of the inferno appeared. In the contrasting light of the bright blaze and the dark night, it was initially hard to tell who or what the beings were. Then they got closer. No one could believe the three individuals had actually survived! Yet, all three were breathing and two of them looked completely untouched by their ordeal.

Sihtric looked for a safe place to set Lady Thyra after taking her out of her engulfed home even as his wife began to notice the looks of absolute disbelief on the faces of those around them.

"Father Beocca, Lady Thyra is alive. We got to her just in time. Her attacker, on the other hand, is not and was left within your house," said Nyra softly to the priest.

Finan then walked up to the small group, "How is it possible for you to have walked into a burning building and remained untouched?"

At his question, Lady Thyra, Father Beocca, and Osfeth, who had just arrived, turned to look at the young pair.

Nyra responded. "I am the blood of Old Valyria, I have the fiery blood of dragons running through my veins and a Dragon Lord in my own right. In the land of my ancestors, we had blood mages, dragon riders and those known as the unburnt, and others that were a combination of those. Our ancestral deities are known as the 14 Flames as they are fire and dragon Gods. In ancient family tradition, dating back to the old Empire, a dragon egg was placed in my cradle at birth. Most eggs do not hatch and many riders later claim a riderless dragon. However, mine did hatch, merely days after my birth, and was a lovely golden color female dragon that I would later name Syrax, after the God. She would remain with me until she neared the size of a horse before being moved to the dragon pit, much to my irritation and I would become the youngest dragonrider in an age at the tender age of seven. The bond between dragon and rider is considered very sacred in the religion of the ancestors and the pair should never be separated for long. However, as a punishment, before I was banished for life from Westeros, the land that had been conquered by my forefathers with their dragons, my golden lady was chained in the deepest cavern within the pit and then sealed inside completely so that we could never be together again. Years would pass with the bond between us straining at the distance even as my Lady slowly starved. The night after Sihtric and I wed, I dreamed of her and she told me that she had been freed by the Gods and had entered their domain. She also told me, through our bond, that the Gods had used her death as a conduit to grant Sihtric, whom they had deemed worthy, and I and all of our descendants who remain true to our family, the gift of being unburnt. In the years since, I have experimented a bit with the gift such as placing my hand within the flames of our hearth but never something like tonight. However, knowing that Lady Thyra was inside and that we were her only hope to escape, I asked Sihtric to trust me, just as I trust my Gods and my Lady Syrax. It goes without saying, now, that the gift is real as otherwise all three of us would not be here now!"

"I am a Christian and, while I do believe that there is only one God, I can also say that I have never seen an actual dragon nor do I know what powers they might possess. If you say that this miracle relates to them, then I will accept that and will thank and praise God that you are here and care enough to use your gift to save my wife. Thank you both," said Father Beocca solemnly while embracing his wife.

"I will never forget the kindness that both of you have done to me by saving my life this night and I will ensure that my brother knows that you both are heroes in my eyes. Thank you both," Lady Thyra said softly.

Before the night ended though, the group had decided that the only ones, outside of themselves, that they would tell the truth of it to would be Lord Uhtred and Abbess Hild with the children being informed at a later date once they had grown up.