Falling Ashes (43 page)

Xara shook her head and swept across the room, her red cloak flying. She opened the door to the stasis chamber with a big push.

‘Uh … thanks,’ said Jack, edging around Victor, who was still holding his nose. ‘I’m sorry. I can fix it for you-’ He reached towards Victor who flinched away.

‘Dun touch be!’

‘Okay, okay!’ Jack backed into the other room with his hands in the air.

‘I can hear us coming,’ said Xara.

Jack turned to look at the stasis chamber, and gasped at what he saw. It was a large, round room with a shallow pool in the middle. Floating face-up in the middle was Xara, her white hair around her head like a halo. The ripples from the water reflected around the room.

The only part of Xara that was above the water was her mouth and nose. She floated peacefully, wearing nothing but a white bathing suit. At first, Jack had thought she was completely naked as the swimsuit blended perfectly with her luminescent skin. It was an eerie sight, like a pale dead body floating in a river.

‘Why are you in water?’ Jack asked.

‘To block out all sound,’ she said as her projection flickered. ‘My concentration is waning from the noise we have created upon entry.’

‘How do I get you out?’ asked Jack.

‘I am in a deep sleep,’ said Xara. ‘You must pull me out of the water and wake me slowly. It may take several minutes.’

‘Cant you just … wake up? I mean … you know you’re here, right?’

Xara gave Jack a pitying look, as if he were far too stupid to understand the mechanics of how these things worked.

‘I am dreaming,’ she said. ‘In deep concentration. Only an exterior source can wake me.’

‘Right, and that’s me?’ asked Jack.

Xara nodded.

Sighing, Jack walked up to the pool and jumped in with his boots on.

‘Gently,’ said Xara. ‘Do not disturb the water too much.’

Jack walked through the pool as gently as possible. The water came up to his knees, so he caused a generous amount of splashing.

‘Now what?’ he asked when he reached Xara’s body. Jack had to admit that it was the most bizarre thing he had done in a long while.

‘Lift me out of the water,’ she said, flickering worse now. His presence in the water was disturbing her concentration. The employees of the Realm were bound to notice her wane in concentration. Not to mention the disappearance of hundreds of projections once she was woken.

Jack lowered his arms into the water and slowly lifted Xara out, one arm behind her neck, the other in the crook of her knees.

‘Like this?’ he asked, turning back to Xara’s projection, only to discover that it had vanished. ‘Oh.’

He was alone.

Jack placed the real Xara on the edge of the pool and tried to wake her up as gently and with as little stress as possible.

‘Um … Xara? Wake up.’ He tapped her face a couple of times.

Jack could see her pupils darting around behind her closed eyelids. It was working.

‘Hey,’ he shook her a little. ‘Wake up.’

Xara’s eyes flickered momentarily, before she sat up with a huge gasp, as though she hadn’t had a proper breath in ages.

‘Are you okay?’ asked Jack, slightly alarmed.

‘Yes,’ Xara breathed, her robotic voice returning. ‘Will you hand me a robe?’

Jack looked around the circular room, finding a blood-red cloak hanging on a hook by the door. Jumping out of the pool, splashing her as he did so, he grabbed the cloak and handed it to a shivering Xara. Jack couldn’t help but notice that her white bathing suit was slightly see through. She was beautiful, in a strange way. Tiny and pale, with white hair; she was like an angel of sorts.

Jack looked away, slightly embarrassed as Xara pulled the cloak around herself.

‘They will have noticed my absence,’ she said, standing up and squeezing the water out of her long hair. ‘We must go quickly.’

Jack nodded and followed Xara out of the stasis chamber. They ran past Victor, who was sitting miserably in his chair, blood caked on his face. Xara left a trail of wet footprints along the corridor, her hair creating a damp patch on the back of her robe.

She could run, fast. Despite Jack’s longer legs, he had trouble keeping up with her.

‘What do we do now?’ asked Jack as they began sprinting down the steps. Employees of the Realm stared at the soaked, barefoot,  Xara running through the building. Not many people took much notice of Jack. Perhaps they assumed he was trying to stop her.

‘We join the others,’ said Xara.

Jack grabbed Xara’s wrist and spun her to face him. ‘We can’t join the others just yet. The guard will notice us leaving.’

Xara’s red eyes studied Jack’s face. ‘You stay. I’ll go.’

At that moment, a thunderous explosion sounded outside, rattling the windows and shaking dust from the ceiling. Xara closed her eyes and seemed to be concentrating hard, and Jack knew she was projecting herself outside the building.

‘They’re here,’ she said, her eyes snapping open. ‘The Fire-Mage has come as predicted.’

‘That … that explosion was her?’ asked Jack.

Xara nodded. 'She is trying to penetrate the shield created by Ethel Jenson,’ she said without a hint of panic, or emotion.

Chapter Thirty-Three

The Attack

AVALON REDDING

Hawthorne and I rose and fell with each beat of his wings. We were hundreds of meters in the air, staring down at the Realm Headquarters. I could hear the faint sound of sirens from the ground below. They knew we were coming.

I should have been more careful. It was a little girl that had spotted us in the forest, but what was I supposed to do? I could hardly threaten a child.

Regardless, the Realm was on full alert. Over one-hundred guards were lined in front of the doors.
Idiots
, I thought. Did they really expect me to walk through the front gates? It was clear they had no idea that I was floating a mile above them.

Fae was only a few meters away from me, with her quiver slung over her shoulder, and her bow in her hand. She gave me a nod to signal that she was ready. I knew, at this moment, that the others were on the ground, waiting for my signal.

It was time.

I created an enormous fireball in my hands, larger than my own body. It hovered for a few moments above us, like a second sun. I guided it with my hands until it hovered above the realm. It blazed ferociously, the strongest ball I’d created around Fae to date.

I held my breath as I let the fireball fall towards the earth. I watched it grow smaller and smaller each second before …

Crash
!

The fireball exploded on something around the building. An electric blue, and semi-transparent, dome flickered into visibility for a split second.

‘They’ve got a shield!’ I called to Fae.

‘Break it!’ she bellowed back.

I did as she said, sending fireball after fireball plummeting towards the ground. Each one hit the dome with an almighty bang.

The guards on the ground seemed to panic, running in every direction. They couldn’t see us high in the air; Hawthorne and Shadow blended with the clouds perfectly.

Great cracks appeared over the surface of the shield as though it were made of glass. The fireballs were destroying it!

‘It’s working!’ Fae yelled happily.

She whooped and cheered as I sent a rain of fire towards the ground, pummelling the shield mercilessly. It didn’t stand a chance. Within a minute, it flickered and died.

‘That was too easy,’ I said, my eyes narrowing on the Realm. My heart burned with hatred for every man and woman that worked for, or supported the Realm. With a shiver, I realised that I had become the very thing they’d depicted me to be. Violent and rebellious.

They deserved it.

The Realm had taken Helena, wiped her memories, and sold her into slavery. They’d done it to countless humans, and I would put a stop to it.

I thought back a few months ago, when I’d been upset about my parents setting the human-market alight. Even such a short time ago, I’d been opposed to such violence. What had changed?

Perhaps I had been away from Jack’s good nature for too long. Maybe Fae’s aggressive nature had influenced me.

Whatever the cause, I didn’t care. I wanted revenge.

Hawthorne flew me over the Realm Headquarters, above the great glass dome ceiling. I couldn’t see inside; the glass reflected the sky above. But it would shatter easily. 

Summoning all the fire I could muster, I sent a great snake of flames towards the glass dome. The resulting crash was enough to blow the hair back from my face. The ceiling shattered into a thousand pieces, shards of glass flying in every direction, raining down upon everyone inside.

Now the way was clear, and I sent fiery rain upon the giant opening. Screams could be heard from inside, and I knew the building was filling with smoke. I felt no remorse.

Fae joined me, shooting arrows blindly into the broken ceiling.

‘Hey, Avalon,’ Fae said, her attention momentarily distracted. She was squinting towards the ground. ‘Do you see all those people?’

I looked down and was surprised to see swarms and swarms of people running towards the Realm. Hundreds of them poured out of houses and businesses, as though the beginning of the attack had summoned them. They surrounded the Realm gates; their tiny, pinprick faces staring up at me.

‘They’re not from the Realm,’ said Fae. ‘They’re outsiders.’

‘Do you think they’re protesters?’ I called back to Fae.

‘Maybe they heard you were coming and decided to help,’ she replied hopefully.

‘Well … no time to waste then.’ I said, digging my heels into Hawthorne’s sides, sending him into a steep dive. As we plummeted towards the ground, I ignited my hands in preparation. We pulled out of the dive at top speed, Hawthorne’s toes skimming the grass of the grounds. I took the split-second opportunity to send fireballs crashing into the wall of guards, setting their clothes alight.

Fae dived too, an arrow drawn in her bow, ready to be released. Shadow landed upon the ground with force, making the very ground quake. A guard launched himself at Fae with an enormous leap, to which Fae released her arrow, shooting it directly at his heart.

I watched as it sliced through the air towards him. I closed my eyes, unable to watch the inevitable penetration of his chest, but the scream never came.

Opening my eyes, I saw the same shield around the guard that had protected the Realm. A dark skinned girl had jumped forward and produced it just in time, saving her ally. I sent a continuous wave of fire at the shield, blasting it away.

Suddenly, a blow to the side of my body threw me from Hawthorne’s back, and I landed on the ground with a thud. The smell of the grass filled my nostrils before a mass of red pinned me to the ground. I’d been tackled right off Hawthorne’s back.

He pinned my wrists to the ground, a devilish smirk on his face. I did the first thing that came to my mind. I spat in his eye.

The Realm Official howled with pain and held his face, blinded by the molten lava, and I knew he’d never see out of that eye again.

I scrambled to my feet and jumped on Hawthorne’s back, threading my fingers through his fur for support. Hawthorne spread his wings and leapt from the ground, but was instantly weighed down by several Mages grabbing him by the legs. We spun, out of control, and hit the ground again. Hawthorne couldn’t handle so much weight.

Hawthorne snarled and snapped at the Mages who grabbed him, narrowly missing a guard’s fingers. I managed to dislodge one by kicking him in the face, but I was hesitant to shoot fire while they clung to Hawthorne, as I didn’t want to burn him. 

I was saved when a large man punched and fought his way to my side. It was Dagon, and he could hit
hard
. Guards and Realm-men went flying, and were soon nothing more than a blur of colour.

A guard with a short, black goatee began to rub his hands together, sparks flying from the friction. I knew what he was going to do; I’d seen a Mage like him before. He was going to electrocute Dagon.

I sent a jet of fire towards the guard, who was blasted from his feet, his uniform alight. He immediately began to roll on the grass, trying to douse the flames. Another man removed his cloak and wrapped it around the first to put the flames out.

Red cloaks and grey uniforms surrounded us, and were closing a ring around me, Hawthorne, and Dagon. I threw my hand down to Dagon, who refused to take the offer of help.

‘Get airborne!’ he demanded. ‘Attack from above like Fae!’

‘You’ll be killed!’ I shouted back, sending another guard flying with a well-aimed flame thrower.

‘Go!’ Dagon ordered, slapping Hawthorne on the rear end as though he were a horse.

I kicked Hawthorne in the sides, and we took off. I saw Fae, shooting enemies in the legs, the arms, the hands, disabling each and every one of them. They quickly vanished, however, and I was led to believe that a Teleporter-Mage was whisking the injured out of harm's way.