Tales from the Striga Realm: Playing with Fire

Chapter 7

"Fire lilies." Liv concluded. Her and the others had recently moved into a cozy Douglas fir by a nearby field after the debacle of the morning previous was settled. "The seeds were very likely carried here by migratory birds; either way, I've been seeing quite a few of these since we got here."

"All I know", Tori interjected, "is that if I see another orange flower around here, I'm going to hurl the biggest pellet anyone's ever seen." No doubt, roses, tulips, lilies-flowers of all sizes and kinds had been popping up since they arrived, and yet, all of them were the same bright orange colour. If one didn't know better, they would say all of Fogo was on fire.

Grayson, for his part, had a different kind of flame burning in his soul. Ever since that morning, all he could've thought about was Coella; her eyes, her voice. In his mind, it was almost as if she was an angel straight from Strigolis. At this point, he could've cared less about the gentle bickering now going on between Liv and Tori about flowers. He didn't even notice the silhouette in the distance with it's bow and arrow, aiming readily at him.

Viscose, of course, had taken no interest in Liv and Tori's debate, so he had stepped outside to join his brother. It was the rustling of leaves that alerted him to the shadow, and Viscose wasted no time; within moments, Grayson's reverie was interrupted by a shove from Viscose and a yelp of "Move!", and within moments, he had leapt from his spot and scrambled towards the hollow with Viscose in tow; the arrow whizzed through the branches and missed it's mark.

Grayson stood at the front, wings spread in front of Viscose, Liv, and Tori, preparing for another attack. Instead, there was silence, followed by the appearance of the archer. She had the same plumage as Tori did, and her black eyes were shining with anger. "Where are you, devil's spawn?" She questioned, her voice in a frighteningly menacing whisper. "I know you're here. Come on out and show yourself, you cowasillia. You can't hide forever."

It was around this time that the archer began to search the hollow carefully, so as not to disturb anything. With each passing moment, the four hidden owl-shifters grew anxious; Viscose, in particular, squirmed in an attempt to bolt. It wasn't until the archer inched closer to his nest that he really began to move around. That was when she stooped down and picked up a small parchment drawing of Grayson, Viscose, and their mum-Viscose's most prized possession.

Within moments, Viscose burst forward in a mix of anger and fear and yelped, "Don't touch it!", not realizing until he said it that he had given himself-and probably everyone in the hollow-away. But the archer's reaction was not what anyone had expected. Instead of leaping at Viscose, ready to kill, she stood with a look on her face-one of pain mixed with fear and deep sadness, the kind worn by those who have experienced tragedy.

"Yelling at her would make you no better than your father, Viscose." Maris' voice at last rang out. "Her name is Monica; she is fourteen years old and the Kingdom of Caccia's lone survivor. Your father and his army destroyed Caccia and killed everyone there including her family; everyone except her." Maris then hopped over to the now trembling Monica and whispered soothing words to her, all the while putting her wing around her.

"Then why try to shoot my brother while he's not looking?" Viscose spat, now in full on defensive mode. "That would make her no better than Ruther himself. Why try to commit such an act?"

"BECAUSE I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE!" Monica choked out, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Stand down, Viscose," Grayson said as he revealed himself at last, Liv and Tori following suit, "you're only making it worse." He then approached Monica, with a pace that was nothing short of gentle, and said in a matching tone, "What did my father do? How did he hurt you?"

In a slight squeak, Monica asked for a sheet of parchment, and Tori grabbed a sheet out of her backpack and placed it in front of Monica, wasting no time. Within moments, Monica began to scribble furiously on the parchment, a picture of a burning forest starting to form. "He burned everything to the ground?" Grayson asked, horrified at what he was seeing before him.

"You didn't know?" Asked a clear voice behind them, and the shape of a small owl-shifter with brown feathers speckled in white, long, featherless legs, bright green eyes, and a shining steel sword strapped to each wing made itself noticeable. "It was awful. That covarde came with soldiers carrying torches and weapons, each one appearing more horrid than the one before them. When the torches were at last dropped, the soldiers killed everyone in packs of hundreds: males, females, even shiftlets-none of them were spared."

Within moments, a sudden silence filled the room. Grayson, for his part, felt absolutely revolted upon hearing of his father's crimes, and sad, too, that the owl-shifters of Caccia had to suffer such a fate. "Estrella," Maris began uneasily, breaking the silence, "these are Ruther's sons, Grayson and Viscose; his stepdaughter Tori, and his cousin Liv. Everyone, this is Estrella; she is a member of the Strigonian Order and a good friend of mine."

"Ruther's sons, hm?" The one called Estrella inquired. "Well, you guys are not in a good spot. Ruther's incredibly disturbed about your escape; in fact, rumour has it he's sent Veri and her most faithful lackeys to find you." Before Grayson could speak, Estrella added, "Rest assured, I'll do my best to keep her away, but you'll have to be extra vigilant as well if you want to stay safe."

"Well, that's only the half of it." Maris interjected. "Unless my friend Mackle is playing games with me, Kent was not too pleased when he heard that you rescued his sister last night. Seems he was dead set on making sure she was gone for good-no pun intended. Now, however, he wants to make sure you go down with her, Grayson, so unless you're planning on taking swimming lessons anytime soon, you'd better be incredibly vigilant around your family and Coella." She then added, in a slight chuckle, "Shouldn't be too much of a problem, since she really seems to like you.", before proceeding to leave the hollow.

"Guys, they have a point." Liv answered promptly. "Now that Ruther know's we've left and we have an angry, traitorous brother on our heels, we're going to have to stay alert. Monica," she said, turning to Monica as she spoke, "now that we've gained your trust, can we trust you to keep us safe and sound?" "You have my word." Monica replied, nodding.

"And I shall keep Veri off your scent as much as I can." Estrella added. "Perfect." Liv replied. "What about you, cous-"

But when Liv turned to ask Grayson his plan, she instead met an empty space. Grayson was already gone.