Bring Forth a Fire (Book 1)

Thirteen - Lion's Den

Another vision came to me the very next night. I seemed to be floating above a long, low-ceilinged stone room. A large wooden contraption sat humming at one end, covered with gears, gauges and dials. Someone was struggling in a wooden chair at the front end of the machine, a silver dome on top of their head. A man clad all in black whacked the prisoner in the jaw to still them. Another one flipped a switch at the same time. The body shuddered, a scream ripping from him. The machine roared along with him, but it didn't quite drown it out. After a moment the vision shifted and I glimpsed a third man, his hand on a large red crank. It was Benedict Huntley, with a sinister and satisfied expression on his face.

I woke in a sweat, breathing hard. I had an inkling of what I'd seen, and it didn't bode well at all. I knew it would only be a matter of time before they either got through all the Elementals out there and came searching for more, or they moved camp and set up somewhere else.

That was little evidence. In fact, it was no evidence if no one took me at my word. My only hope would be that no one would dismiss me straightaway. If they were smart, they wouldn't.

||

It took me a few more days to muster the courage to tell Cath and Celia. I kept thinking of the expression on Huntley's face, as if he'd somehow known I was watching. I couldn't help dwelling on the fact that he had both my parents' blood on his hands, and was well on the way to dirtying them with countless others'.

"Mr Wellington's right about one thing," Cath said when I finished telling them. "It is dangerous. I wish we could do this without risking our lives."

I bit my lip. "I agree, wholeheartedly."

"Then it's no use bringing all of us, is it?" Celia said after a short heavy silence.

"Well spotted." Cath's voice came out as a forced lightness, but I knew she was going through the same thought process as I was. Safety in numbers, indeed. And yet, the more of us there were, the easier it would be for the enemy to spot us and pick us off.

"I...I want to go with you," she said before dropping her eyes. "I'm through with being useless."

"Celia..." Cath started to say, but Celia shook her head.

"If you're going to tell me it's not safe, I know. You've all done so much, and you've risked your lives while I've been kept out of the line of fire. I want to start pulling my weight, if we're going to win this."

Cath and I looked at each other.

"She's got a point," Cath said to me after a while, and then glanced at Celia. "Fighting words, Celia. Fine ones."

"Reckon the boys'll want to join us too." Celia's eye glinted in a way I didn't particularly like. "Once they find out they're going to be spending a lot of time with the girls they fancy."

"Pack it in, Celia," Cath snapped, her cheeks colouring rapidly. I felt my ears burning too, as Christopher's words ran through my mind again. I would walk through fire for you.

"Come now, Cath," Celia said, sounding far too chiding and mature for her age. "I've seen a lot of James round your house lately."

"James?" I said, raising my eyebrows as Cath's eyes caught mine. "He told me he fancied you, but I didn't know he was that serious–"

"Fine," she said sharply, cutting me off mid-sentence. "If you must know, he has asked to court me formally."

"I knew it." I smiled at her, and she rolled her eyes in reply. "And you've accepted."

"Yes. Let's get back on topic now, shall we?" She shifted in her spot uncomfortably, but didn't deny it. "So we're bringing the boys, then?"

"It appears so," I replied, thinking once again of Christopher. And after that, Sebastian. I felt a tiny pang of guilt. But then again, now that we were practically walking into the lion's den, I didn't see how it mattered.