The Land Set Aflame

Chapter 14: The Master

Svenden had had plenty of practice running in the woods, from his youth in the woods of Thalowy and his service with the king's army, so the underbrush and the tree trunks and the fallen logs didn't concern him. But he knew even he couldn't match the elemental's supernatural pace through these familiar woods.

Not with his human legs.

As the elemental pulled away from him, his mind went to the ring on his index finger. It suddenly felt like it was biting into his skin, and the tingle of magic went up and down his arm. He could just remove it now, and make this chase easier on himself. No one would see.

But, he shook it off. It wouldn't work: he didn't have enough time.

He broke through the last patch of brush at the edge of the forest, and stopped suddenly as his eyes caught sight of the elemental, standing still only a few dozen paces ahead, with another person standing beyond it.

There were purple lights dancing in the air, blending in with the oranges and yellows of the elemental, and the colors were already beginning to swirl around each other. The elemental seemed to rise upward into a pillar as the purple encircled it. The flame slowly took on a humanoid form, with long tongues of flame forming hair and a long, billowing dress made out of fire.

Melser's dancing girl?

"What the...?" Svenden said in surprise as the maelstrom of purple magic overtook the elemental. He tried to look past the elemental, to the person standing beyond it. "Leofric?" he guessed.

The person looked up in surprise at the voice, and Svenden could immediately tell that it wasn't Leofric Banin. This was an older man, with graying hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a weather-worn face with soft, gray eyes and high, sharp cheekbones. He was draped in a brown cloak and had a satchel over one shoulder.

"Oh, hello there," the man said casually, smiling warmly as the elemental began melting into the purple storm.

Callyndia came around the corner then, off to Svenden's right, and she pulled up suddenly, to watch as the purple coils began to recede towards the ground. "Wait!" she called to the strange man, "Stop it!"

The man turned to her and smiled kindly. "It's far too late to stop it now," he said. At that point, Svenden noticed that the man was holding out a chunk of glossy black rock between the thumb and forefinger of one hand, and the purple light was actually being pulled into the rock.

"She's not a rogue elemental!" Callyndia objected, "You can't just—"

"Oh, I know very well what it is," the man cut her off as the last bits of purple magic vanished into his stone. He held it up to look at it, and Svenden could see a vague purplish glow inside it. "Though I object to your use of the pronoun 'she'. Disgraceful, what that boy has done with my little pet. It was not his decision to make."

"You're Abdus Garrafey," Callyndia said.

Svenden recognized the name of Leofric's old mentor, but he didn't understand the connections that Callyndia was drawing. And, he'd assumed Master Garrafey was dead.

"And you're Callyndia Sablesong," the old man responded, "The nymph's daughter." He chuckled once, derisively.

"What are you doing with her?" Callyndia asked.

"I told you about those pronouns, child," he said as he tucked the stone into his pocket, "Just because a lonely boy makes it look like a pretty girl, does not make it a pretty girl. It is an elemental, a creature of fire. Of my own creation, by the way. It belongs to me."

"So, you're the guy who taught Leofric the dust ritual?" Svenden asked.

"Ah, the simpleton is all caught up," Abdus said, "Tell Leofric I said hello."