The Firelands

Chapter 15 - The Wist Tree II

8th day of the Second Month, Love's Moon

4:00 am

The Wist Tree

Kalen groaned, his eyes opening to slits. He was shivering. Snow had fallen over him, blanketing his body and his hair was still trailing in the stream. Water had soaked all the way up to the roots.

Slowly he shifted, his body stiff with chill and aches.

Why was he on the ground? His eyes drifted around – oh yes, he was at the Wist Tree, at their spot.

Where was Zerron? Why had he let Kalen lie in such a stupid place? He was always—

"Kalen?"

A soft call through the trees had Kalen's eyes snapping wide as memories flooded back. The dragon, the fires, Dixon, Zerron – oh gods, Zerron.

"Kalen, where are you?"

Kalen sat up, ice in her hair and clothes shattering as he looked around – the sound like gunfire to his hyper-sensitive ears. That voice!

He scrambled to his knees, forcing his stiff joints to work and Dixon stepped from the shadows.

"Kalen," he said, smiling. "There you are. I've been looking for hours. I didn't know there was a Wist Tree in these forests. Running to the one place that can hide someone's presence, let me guess, your mama told you to come here."

Kalen just stared up at him. He didn't know what to do, whether to run or fight.

Dixon was over a hundred years old. Kalen was merely eighteen. He was a baby in comparison; he wouldn't win a fight... but Zerron!

To his surprise, Dixon crouched down in front of him and smiled.

"Oh don't look like that, Kalen. You know I love you, I don't want to hurt you."

Kalen's fear instantly turned to rage. "Hurt me?!" he snarled, "you didn't want to hurt me?! Do you even realise what you did to Zerron?!"

Dixon's face hardened slightly. "Ah, so you saw that. Kalen, I did have my reasons."

Kalen just stared at him. "Reason?" he breathed, "you have your... reasons."

"Zerron just wouldn't ever let you go. All those years ago, when I first met you. You shouldn't have been with humans. You should have been with me, with other vampires. But Zerron, no, he didn't trust me. He always stayed close by, even when I taught you things that had nothing to do with humans, he was there."

"Because he knew you knew what you were!" Kalen snarled, rising to a crouch, "Oh gods, I should have listened to him! You're the reason my village has been burned to the ground, aren't you?!"

Dixon sighed. "Kalen, you must believe when I say this, I did not originally approach you any harm in mind. When you were little, all I saw was a vampire child who wasn't near his own kind and I had to help. How else were you supposed to learn to be what you are? Those humans were messing you up! You were becoming too like them!" He shook his head. "Originally, I honestly just thought you were an unfortunate vampire who had been taken in by another breed – it's happened before after all – and I taught you because I wanted you to learn." He smiled slightly. "How old are you now? I last saw you when you were sixteen, so you must be eighteen now. The perfect age to start learning Lift. That's what I was going to teach you when I passed through the village this year... but then the rumours started. The Knights were in the east, they were still alive, after all these years, it turns out they hadn't been killed in childhood, thirteen years ago, they were still alive. Scouts were sent out, hunting, seeking... and when they narrowed down whom might be the Knight of Water... your name came up. I couldn't believe it, but my orders were the same. Either kill the Knight or bring him back. Killing you was the kinder of the two options should you truly be of The Fireland. But Kalen, I do not want to hurt you."