Leila regained her strength in the coming days. Sasha never left her side, and neither did Daerious. However, his reason was certainly not to heal her. Aurelie thought that it would make her angry that he watched her friend like a hungry predator, but it didn't â not in the least. Instead, his presence at Leila's side settled her nerves.
She blamed the secrets, but that wasn't really the reason. Every conversation Aurelie attempted to begin ended in Leila's silence. She also found an odd shiny scar on the back of her neck and that didn't help her suspicions.
Aurelie avoided thinking about it too much, and Leila made it easier by not calling for her. Guilt followed every suspicion, and so, she answered all of them with the death of Leila's father. That was the reason she had changed so much, how could she not? Maybe she blamed Aurelie for his death. The reason the Dragon King was there was, after all, for Aurelie.
It just didn't make sense. If Leila had been following her all along, or even her trail, wouldn't she have caught up to her at some point? Why had she waited so long? Were those Leila's eyes she saw lurking in the forest? Why wouldn't she reveal herself? Give it a rest, she lost her father.
Aurelie shook Leila's image from her mind. She wanted to be able to protect herself and everyone else in the inn despite all of this. That meant that she had to control her power and increase its strength. She arranged ten candles all around her and focused on them.
During the first two days, she had sat in her bedroom with closed doors attempting to play with the fire burning on one of the candles. She had gone through five that way before she had made things more difficult by trying to control two candles at the same time. It had been difficult but over the days she slowly began to master it.
Aurelie came to stand outside there where Leila and the hunter's blood had dried brown on the grass. She prayed for rain, but it never came, and no one had bothered to clean the stains.
Her thoughts felt like they were trapped in a maze with no way out. She was tired of training her magic, tired of the candles. The magic scraped at her insides to get out. She found herself walking to the pond where she had first met Kirin, something about the sound of the water made her feel calmer. She felt at ease next to it, like a ghost, without the crowds inside the inn.
Pressure rose in her chest. She clenched her fists as her head began to pulse.
When she looked at her hand, fire blazed within it. But it was not enough. Her magic wanted out. The fire rose in her hand, almost reaching her face.
She pointed her hands at the ground, and released the fire, letting it flow like running water to the floor. More, a voice inside her called. The fire rose from the ground and stood almost as tall as she was.
Black smoke rose into the sky, making it hard to breathe. Beads of sweat gathered on her forehead and cheeks and gathered soot. Her eyes followed the outline of the pond, fire trailing close behind. Before she could properly think the entire pond was covered with a ring of fire.
She pulled the fire towards herself. It crawled up her legs and wormed around her chest. The fire danced around her, charring her clothes. Her heart hammered in her chest, and her shaking hands were barely strong enough to rise now.
"Stop!" she cried. It refused. The vein in her temple pulsed. A sharp pain caught her behind her eyes.
"Aurelie?" she heard Daerious's voice coming from somewhere behind the fire.
"Daerious, stay away! I can't control the fire," she yelled back at him.
"Leave it, just get out!" he yelled back. She could see him now, on the outskirt of the fire, he moved in and out of her sight as the flames swayed.
"No, I can stop it!" she shouted back, ignoring her own weakness.
Her knees grew weak, and her vision covered in a slight blur. Not yet. Her body needed rest, but she refused to fall again. She was taking it too far again just like she had back at the tavern. No, not again. Not now, you idiot.
She closed her eyes, and extended her arms, pulling the fire toward her. When she opened them, the fire had spread further. Flames climbed up the trees sending thick smoke up into the air. Everywhere she looked there was the fire.
Warm liquid poured out of her nose. It was as if someone had opened a tap. She held her breath, and dropped to her knees, digging her fingers into the earth.
Get back here! There was a spark of connection between her and the fire, as if it was a living, breathing thing. She thought she almost felts its fear.
The fire obeyed, entering her skin once again. Thick liquid welled up in her eyes. She wiped at it and stiffened. Her finger was stained crimson.
Aurelie ignored it and pulled the fire to her once again. This time a sting ran through every inch of her skin, her body grew hotter than it had ever been, and sizzling burns appeared on her flesh.
Aurelie screamed.
The same smell of the hunter's burning body entered her nose. Food rose in her throat and filling her throat. She spat up and coughed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. A hot, stinging pain erupted on her hand. She looked down and saw that a line of her skin had torn away with the motion.
"Aurelie," Daerious's voice yelled from afar. The smoke choked her. She coughed, more bile rising in her throat. If she didn't get out of the fire, she'd be the only dragon in history stupid enough to die to her own magic. All she could see was flames and smoke.
A hole appeared right next to her, and a figure appeared right before her, a moving shadow. She could not see his face, panic rose within her. This would have been the best opportunity for her father's shadow walker to take her. The shadow man pulled her off the ground. Aurelie was too weak to fight. She pushed him away but ended up resting her hands against his chest.
"What are you doing?" Kirin's voice came from the shadow.
"I . . ." Her head fell against his chest. He carried her out with a steady step.
"What were you thinking?" he scolded, his eyes wide as he traced the damage.
"There wasâI," she tried to make a coherent sentence, but all thought had escaped her mind. "It' hurts," she whimpered. Her skin was on fire. It felt as if she were burnt to the bone.
Daerious ran up to them, and skid in beside her. "Good God, Aurelie." His expression mimicked that of Kirin.
The witches and wizards had already been outside trying to extinguish the flames. Orken stood closest to the fire, his body barely missing the flame with each breath that he took.
Aurelie sat up weakly. She couldn't just watch but she had no strength left in her, and her skin was exploding with pain. The grass was sticking into her fresh wounds, sending spikes of pain through her. She focused on the fire once again, pulling it into her skin. It burned, and more blood dripped down from her eyes. She could feel her flesh sizzling from the inside, but she did not stop.
"Woah!" someone shouted as the fire flowed through the crowd in a straight line towards Aurelie.
"Step back!" she heard someone yell.
"Aurelie, stop you're only making it worse," Kirin said. He was clear now. White as a ghost with eyes wild as the fire behind them, but clear. Smoke trailed out of his hair, his face full of black ashes, and clothes covered in soot.
"They can't stop it. I have to," she replied.
"You're moving the fire closer to the inn. Stop," he shouted, and shook her, causing a sharp pain in her blistered skin.
Orken stepped back, and raised his hand, it looked as if he was trying to carry a giant boulder. His veins were hardened in his arms and his face grew red, and his jaw clenched. "Sublovo." He groaned and bared his teeth. "Ros," he chanted over, and over.
The water lifted out of the pond as if in a container, sliding down the bottom of it and dripping down. The witches in the crowd began to assist him, following his direction.
"Sublovo Ros," they chanted, and his face relaxed. They levitated the water until it reached the center of the fire.
They released it. It hit the ground with a loud splash and ran over the grass toward them. The water boiled, and steam rose, mixing with the smoke but the fire kept burning.
"It's connected to her; there is no way we can put it out," yelled Orken and ran to Aurelie, dropping to his knees.
"You have to release the fire," he shouted at her, it sounded as soft as a whisper amongst the panic of the crowd.
"I, I don't know how. It won't listen to me. I tried," Aurelie yelled back with all the strength she could muster.
"You have tried to control it, now set it free. We can't extinguish it unless you release your power from it," he said with gaping eyes.
"Aurelie, do it," said Kirin, and shook her again. "Don't think, it's connected to you through your mind, it is yours. Set it free."
Aurelie looked at the fire and attempted to relax her body, cutting off all connection she had to the fire. She breathed deeply, and imagined the fire growing weaker, and losing the connection to her power. She felt herself becoming less strained, her jaw released and her arms slumped lazily to her sides.
"Try now," she said and grew still watching their next move, thick warm liquid escaping her nose.
Kirin bent down beside her; he traced her wounds with his eyes. All her skin was either peeling or bloated. "You'll be fine. Sasha will take the pain away soon," he said in a voice barely loud enough to be a whisper.
"It doesn't hurt that badly," she lied.
Kirin hovered his hand above hers, he looked unsure of what to do too. She turned her hand around â inviting him to touch her. He looked up at her, eyes strained with worry, and just like that, the moment passed. He stood up and walked away toward Sasha.
The fire spread faster now that it was not being controlled by her. Sasha stood with her arms open and faced the fire. She bent backward in what looked like a deep breath and wind swirled around, lifting her feet off the ground. She let out her breath and blew onto the fire, the flames blew back, and the trees shook. She walked after the flame until none was left.
People turned and looked at Aurelie with narrow eyes, then started to disappear back to the inn, muttering to each other.
Orken looked at Daerious who now stood right next to Kirin. He took one disgusted look at Aurelie and turned to face Daerious and Kirin. "You wanted a dragon, watch her. And for the love of Highfire, train her. This could have gone a lot worse. Remember who we are and what this place means to us." He spat and walked away.
Aurelie felt sick. Both from pain and the realization of what she had done.
"Are you alright?" asked Daerious, examining her wounds.
"She'll live," Kirin said before Aurelie could even say a word, and looked right into her eyes, shaking his head.
"What was that?" he asked her. "He is right, you know. We have no idea who might have seen it. Do we have to lock you up and treat you like a prisoner? This is the second stunt you have pulled in the last two weeks, are you trying to expose us?" he asked.
"Kirin, calm down," Daerious said, tapping his back.
"Train her, you need to learn how to use your fire," she mocked Kirin. "How am I supposed to do that if you do not let me? You have not been helping me. So, I have started trying to do it on my own. You've made it quite clear how important it is that I control my power, but how can I if I am not allowed to do anything?" she asked, somewhere along the way she started yelling at him.
"I never said you couldn't. However, this..." he said and pointed at the charred ground and trees all around them.
"You can't tell me that this was what you needed. You announced our location to half of Highfire. Do you think someone's going to walk by now and say, 'Oh my, someone must have had quite a barbeque?'" he asked, waving his hands, eyes looking mad. "No, they are going to run to the King and tell him about this place. How could you be so foolish?" he asked in frustration.
"I think that's quite enough," Daerious said and pulled Aurelie up from the ground.
She hissed in pain, Daerious' hands had landed right onto an open wound. "I'm sorry, it got out of control," she finally said.
"I'll be sure to use that line when people come to kill us. Don't do this again. You train when I am with you or the next time you'll be using your fire to melt the iron bars of your cell," he replied and stormed off towards the inn.
"Are you alright?" Daerious asked as Kirin moved away from them. Aurelie watched him go. Tears welling in her eyes.
"I will be when I kill him," she said, resting her head on Daerious's shoulder.
Daerious laughed.
Kirin whirled around. "I'm glad you find this funny, Daerious," Kirin told him with a chilling voice, which made Daerious laugh even harder. He rolled his eyes and waiting for them to catch up.
"I'm serious, I want to kill him," she said again.
"Get in line, this is him here. In the city his father is the King's right hand, imagine how he is there," he replied, and smiled.
"Good, then I can form a Kill Kirin Club."
"Is that before or after you burn the world down by accident?" he asked.
"Very funny." She pursed her lips.