Born Of Fire

Born Of Fire Chapter 46

Though it hurt to do so, Phoenix joined in on the laughter, clutching his bruised ribs.  Spedro’s booming laugh echoed a moment later, and Ember’s clear peel rounded it off. Lindani raised her back from the trunk of the thick tree, and stood on the thick limp with her arms spread as to not lose her balance. Tiptoeing forward, she came to the end of the branch, then jumped off, falling ten feet through the air. Ember looked up and raised a hand from the her spot at the base of the same tree, sending a sharp gust at toward her friend as she fell. Lindani’s descent through the open air slowed drastically, and her feet touched the ground with barely a sound. 

Smiling, Lindani crossed the open field between Phoenix and herself, coming to a halt before him. “Why do you fear the stone?”

Phoenix raised an eyebrow, considering it was obvious. He chose to humor her though, and replied in kind. “Because it is flying much too fast, and I cannot control its movements.”

“Speed is nothing. In your mind the stone may be moving quickly, but in mine it may be moving slow.”

Smirking, Phoenix moved a bit closer to the woman before him. “And since when do you posses such gifts to control the speed of an object?”

Lindani sighed, fake exasperation playing over her face. “You can control your orbs once you release, correct?” Phoenix nodded. “Then do the same here. You still posses the power to control the element, and it does not differ.”

A small amount of anger flared up in Phoenix. She had no understanding of his plight, but chose to chastise him. “Oh, so you control more than one element as well Lindani? You know what it is like to know to call fire instead of stone? You know nothing of the difference between the two.”

Lindani laughed nervously, obviously unsure of whether her mate was being lighthearted. A small alarm went off in Phoenix’s mind, and he laughed along with her. She noticed his laughter and hers became real, as though he had played a wonderful prank. Phoenix pondered her words and motioned for her to move back, to which she complied. Gesturing to Spedro, he waited until the man brought a large stone from the earth and punched it, sending it straight for Phoenix’s midsection. 

Phoenix closed his eyes and reached out in his mind, feeling the stone. In the seconds before it would slam into him, he considered what Lindani had said. Reaching out his left hand, he felt for the stone as he would a released orb, and was surprised when his mind brushed the power within him. His eyes sprung open, and he jerked his hand to the left and up, his eyes widening when the stone followed.

His mistake became evident just then, it had taken too long for him to reach his power, and the stone slammed into his shoulder, spinning his body twice in the air, then he slammed to the floor. Lindani gasped, and ran forward, kneeling at his side. Ember leveled her hands with the floor and a blast of wind burst from her hands, lifting her body and propelling her headfirst to Phoenix side while he lay facedown on the ground. Spedro did not move, holding his hand over his mouth.

“Phoenix, speak!” commanded Ember, shaking his prone form. 

“Say something, anything, please,” Lindani pleaded, rolling him over to his back. Eyes wide open, Phoenix stared at the sky, seemingly unseeing. A moment passed, and Phoenix blinked. He gasped, pulling much needed air into his lungs. Unable to see anything other than the fact that Phoenix was moving, Spedro burst into laughter. Both women turned on him with a snarl, and Phoenix sat up. 

Spedro walked forward, taking his time in crossing the distance between them. Phoenix looked up at the larger man, using his hand to block out the glare of the sun. “Please tell you me you knew?”

Spedro snickered. “I felt it. That is the only reason I let it hit you so hard.”

Phoenix  extended a hand and Spedro grasped it, hauling him to his feet and brushing the dirt off of him once he was steady.  The women followed them to their feet, and Lindani was the first to speak. “Are either of you going to tell us what happened here?”

Spedro turned to them, and nodded. “We will. Once we have eaten.”

Lindani began to protest but Ember silenced her with a hand on her shoulder. “They are tired. Let them rest.”

Lindani nodded begrudgingly, and followed her mate and brother back to the camp.

Another pig turned above the fire that night, and Phoenix sat enraptured as Spedro told the tale of the Bachtalay, all while spinning the handle on the spit. 

“At the beginning of time, before the Yaagalay, or Bahdvalay, or even the Piaslay, we humans dwelt in caves. Fighting the animals, foraging for our food. A man dwelt in these caves, fighting harder than the rest, as he was the first leader of the first village.” 

Spedro settled onto a log, still turning the spit. “He was in love with a wild woman, one of the many who had not seen the benefits of becoming one with the village. On numerous occasions, he had begged her, but she would not give up her ways and become domesticated. So he used to travel daily to see her, through the winding tunnels of the caves, to the one she had chosen for herself.”

Spedro stuck the pig with a knife and twisted it, exposing the perfectly white meat inside. He removed the animal from the fire, and lay it on a clean plank, then began cutting into it while he continued. “One day, while he was walking through the tunnels, a large animal, the likes of which no longer walk the earth attacked him. He fought valiantly, but the animal felled him.”

Placing the food onto four plates, he passed on to each of them, and sat himself with the last, taking a large bite before continuing at the pleading of the others. “A man cannot even eat in peace!” Spedro scratched his head, pretending to be lost in thought. “Where was I?”

Phoenix gave him a look which said ‘continue, or you will be in pain.’ Spedro laughed, then snapped his fingers. “That‘s right, the animal. Well, the animal felled him, and he felled the animal. When the animal hit the floor of the tunnel, dust came from the roof. A cave in was imminent, and the man knew it. Bleeding, broken, and almost dead, the man stumbled through the tunnel, searching in vain for the woman’s cave, hoping to see her one last time before he died. Finally, yards from the mouth of her dwelling, the worst happened. The tunnel began to shake, and a large piece of the roof fell onto his legs, pinning his already dying body to the ground.”

All the others leaned forward, waiting to hear what happened, and Spedro smirked, seemingly enjoying the fact that they were all on the edges of their seats.  With a wave of his hand, he continued. “The man died in that tunnel, with the woman he loved clawing desperately at the monumental stone pinning him to the ground. He whispered softly to her, using the last breath in his lungs. ‘do not mourn me, I go to whatever lies next with the image of you burned into my mind.’ The man died, and the story says that he awoke in a white place, the dwelling of the gods. A huge brown man appeared from the mist, and knelt toward him.

"The brown man said, ‘you died for love. There is no greater sacrifice, and no greater show of purity than this. Go. Back to the woman you love, but not empty handed. I give you this gift, use it wisely.’ When the man awoke, it was as if he never left, with the woman still trying to pull the stone from him in vain. The man bade her back up, and she obeyed. He gripped the rock with one hand, and shoved it off of his legs, freeing himself. Checking his body for wounds, he found none, not even the scars from he had received as a young man. He was the first Bachtalo, and all who posses my power are descended from him, except Phoenix of course.”