Flame Caller (5 page)

“
Thea’s going to train me
again. Do you want to come with me?”

Sammy smiled weakly. “I’ll be there in
a little bit. You go on ahead.”

Xander nodded and stepped forward.
Pulling her close, he kissed her gently on the forehead, feeling
the heat that radiated from her skin.

“
I’ll see you soon,” he
said before hurrying away.

Sammy watched Xander disappear around
a building before turning her gaze back to the wall of water that
surrounded the island. She knew Xander assumed Thea distracted her.
She only wished it were that simple.

Hovering behind the curtain of water,
a giant reptilian eye looked down on the island and stared intently
at the wayward Fire Warrior. Sammy shrunk from its gaze and felt
her temperature rising, as though her skin would burst into flames
at any moment.

She had seen that eye in a hidden
chamber behind her father’s throne room. It had frightened her so
badly then that she had fled, never looking back. Despite knowing
the threat it posed, she hadn’t seen it again outside of her dreams
since. To see it hovering behind the water left her heart pounding
in her chest.

Sammy was so intent on watching the
eye that she didn’t hear the tarp being pulled aside behind
her.

Alicia stepped into the bright light
and stared at Sammy. The elderly woman followed her gaze toward the
wall of water and furrowed her brow in confusion.

“
Is everything alright,
dear?” she asked, turning back to Sammy.

Sammy jumped and let out a slight
scream of surprise. She looked to Alicia just as the grandmotherly
Wind Warrior looked back at the waterspout. Despite looking
directly at the spot where Sammy had seen the eye, she clearly
didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

Sammy nodded and looked back to Alicia
with what she hoped was a disarming smile. “I’m fine. It’s just
been a really long day, you know? I probably just need to go rest
for a little while.”

Alicia smiled. “It’s been a hard day
on all of us, love. Why don’t you go lie down for a while? Let me
know if you need anything at all.”

“
Thanks,
Alicia.”

The older woman disappeared back
inside and Sammy exhaled a breath she didn’t realize she’d been
holding.

Turning back toward the waterspout,
the eye was gone.

The flat of the blade struck Xander
across his shoulder. He dropped his own sword and stumbled
backward, cringing as he grabbed his wounded shoulder.

“
That really hurt,” he
yelled to his sparring partner.

“
Then block me next time,”
Thea demanded. The middle-aged Wind Warrior narrowed her eyes. Her
perpetual frown deepened as she stared at the twenty-year-old
man.

Xander turned his back and rubbed his
shoulder furiously. He could feel the welt forming underneath his
white shirt. He lowered his head, letting his dark hair fall over
his eyes, concealing the tears of pain forming in their
corners.

“
Pick up your sword,” Thea
said, pointing to the thick wooden weapon resting on the marble
tiles between them. “We’re not done yet.”

“
Yes, we are,” Xander
replied. “We’ve been training for an hour. We’re done.”

He looked skyward, following the curve
of the wall of water surrounding their narrow island. Sunlight
sparkled off the glimmering walls, bathing the floating island in
warmth. The marble buildings surrounding the pair of dueling Wind
Warriors formed a virtual arena, flanking the two in finely carved
pillars and smooth marble building exteriors. Under normal
circumstances, Xander would find the remote island a virtual
paradise.

“
We’re not done until I’ve
dismissed you,” Thea said, quickly shattering the illusion of a
wayward paradise.

“
Listen,” he replied,
turning sharply on his instructor. “I have a lot on my mind right
now. Can’t we take this up later?”

“
No,” she retorted. “You
wanted this, remember, and I clearly told you that you wouldn’t
appreciate my style of teaching. Either you can train like a man or
you can run away like a boy.”

Xander huffed angrily but didn’t
respond.

“
You more than anyone
should appreciate what we’re doing here. The Fire Warriors that
killed your parents won’t stop until we’re all dead. We’re all that
remains of the Wind Warriors. The seven of us are all that are left
and we’re the only thing keeping the Fire Caste at bay. You know
the prophecy?”

“
Of course,” he
growled.

“
Then say it.”

Xander glowered at the woman,
immediately regretting his decision to have her train
him.

“
Say it.”

“
Earth gives way to the
sea, the sea bows before the wind, wind feeds the flame, and the
flame burns the world of man down to the earth.”

Xander had seen the Fire Warriors in
action and knew how precarious their position had become. Seven
Wind Warriors against a thousand Fire Warriors seemed like an
exercise in futility but he refused to give up and let the Fire
Caste destroy the world.

Reaching down gingerly, Xander picked
up his sword and took a few practice swings. His shoulder was stiff
but he’d felt far worse before during his training. He assumed his
position on the far side of the marble courtyard and hefted his
sword into a ready position.

Without a word, Thea advanced on
Xander. Her sword flashed out in an unwavering jab toward his
chest. Instinctively, he knocked the wooden blade aside but was
unable to change his block into an offensive swing before Thea was
attacking him again. He could feel the usual panic seeping into his
mind as adrenaline flushed through his body. There had yet to be a
sparring session with Thea that didn’t result in him floundering
defensively against her onslaught.

A twist of her blade turned Xander’s
parry aside. She used her momentum to swing downward, striking his
thigh. The pain was exquisite as the leg buckled and he dropped to
a knee. Xander looked up in time to see her shifting her blade and
preparing to strike him while he was down.

The wind around the pair immediately
grew from a gentle breeze to a driving gale. The air billowed
beneath Xander, lifting him from the ground, and shooting him into
the air less than a second before Thea’s blade drove into the spot
where he had been. He twisted in the air, buffered by the blowing
wind. Flipping over Thea’s head, he dropped toward the ground
behind her.

Thea dropped into a crouch, ducking
beneath his off-balanced swing. Swinging her blade in an arc, she
struck his legs. The strike broke his concentration and the gusting
winds dissipated. No longer held aloft, Xander dropped heavily to
the ground, driving the wind from his lungs.

Before he could cough in frustration,
the dulled blade of Thea’s sword was pressed against his
throat.

“
I told you no powers,”
she reprimanded.

Xander struggled to catch his breath
and could offer no response other than a muted groan. Her blade
withdrew and Xander was able to roll over onto his side as he took
hitched breaths.

“
It looks like we’re done
for the day,” his instructor said disdainfully. “Your girlfriend
has arrived.”

Xander smiled weakly before rolling
onto his back. He heard Thea’s footsteps withdrawing from their
sparring arena as a softer set of footsteps approached. A thin
shadow fell over his prone form as Sammy’s body blocked out the
glaring sunlight.

“
That looked brutal,” she
joked.

Her blonde hair had been loosened from
the tight ringlets she had worn for the funeral and her long hair
hung in a wave over her shoulder. As his eyes adjusted to the
shadows, Xander could see a teasing smile beneath her small button
nose.

He chuckled but it quickly turned into
another groan. The laugh seemed out of place with the turmoil of
emotions inside him but he was glad for the distraction. He forced
a smile to go with the soft chuckle. “Don’t make me
laugh.”

She offered her hand, which he gladly
took. Her hands were uncomfortably warm in his.

Sammy’s blue eyes sparkled as she
looked at Xander. After a moment, they flickered over his shoulder
toward the departing Thea.

“
I just don’t know how to
make her like me,” Sammy said. “I mean, after everything that’s
happened, she still doesn’t trust me.”

Xander shrugged. “It’s not her fault.
You’re a Fire Warrior and we don’t exactly have the best
relationship with the Fire Caste. They are actively trying to kill
us right now.”

“
You think she’d remember
that I betrayed my own kind just to save all your lives,” she
responded defensively.

He looked into her sparkling blue eyes
and felt his heart leap in his chest. Since they first met in his
college class, Xander felt an irresistible pull toward the young
Fire Warrior. Though he hated to admit it, Patrick and Sammy were
both right about their odd relationship. The longer they spent
together, the more he knew something practically spiritual existed
between them, pulling them toward one another.

By all accounts, they should be
enemies. A Fire Warrior and a Wind Warrior seemed an odd pairing.
Because of Sammy’s betrayal, however, instead of enemies they were
both outcasts, hunted by the Fire Warriors who wanted the Wind
Caste dead so they could begin their rule.

Xander slipped his hand into hers
appreciatively. After all he’d been through over the past few
weeks, he wasn’t sure he could have survived without her by his
side.

“
I’ll never forget all
you’ve done for us,” he said. “No matter what, I’m glad you’re
here.”

Sammy smiled, her irritation
temporarily forgotten. “So what would you like to do
today?”

Xander looked over his shoulder to the
departing Thea. “Not training. That was a terrible idea on my part
and I’m already regretting it. No more training for the
day.”

Sean adjusted the video camera on the
tripod until it pointed at his dilapidated couch. He stepped back
and took a seat, making sure he was fully visible in the
viewfinder. When he was satisfied, he turned on the record
feature.