Born Of Fire

Born Of Fire Chapter 56

Okay peoples, You met the challenge! So, as promised, here is the new chapter!!! Wrote this in just over an hour, so you will have forgive its brevity. <That's a new word I learned. It means shortness. :)  

On to the challenge! I'll raise it up ten? 80 votes, or one week! The choice is yours dear readers! Tune in after eighty votes for more Born Of Fire! Same Phoenix time, same Phoenix channel! <Hehe, Batman reference. If you did not understand said batman reference, you are too young to be reading my other story, Shadow. So grow up already!!!! Hehe, too much Red Bull, I'll shut up now... ENJOY!!!!

Spedro and Phoenix stood shoulder to shoulder within the cramped space, watching with a careful eye. For five hours they had stood, completely still, not letting even conversation break their vigil. The darkness rolled over the fields surrounding Lanaro like a thick blanket, hiding all kinds of dangers, beast and human alike. The interior of the city blazed bright with torches and bonfires, a shining beacon to all who might be outside. Spedro had moved blocks from the wall, hollowing out enough space for Phoenix and he to hide within, then closed it back upon them. Ahna had said that all the guards who had died on wall duty had fallen to their deaths on the eastern wall. So Spedro had created a wide slit in the wall, enough for them to watch the fields for movement, but not enough to see into unless you were right in front of it.

They stood, almost motionless, eyes glued to the darkness for the first light of a torch, movement in the fields, anything. Five hours had passed and nothing presented itself. Finally, Spedro reached out to either wall surrounding them, and pressed hard, arching his back with a groan. Phoenix looked up at his friend, eyes wide.

“What are you doing?” he hissed.

Spedro smiled. “Many hours within this small space, someone as large as me needs to stretch my muscles and crack my bones.”

Phoenix stared for another moment before smiling himself. Moving his head from side to side, his neck popped twice, and he sighed in contentment. “Aye, feels good to move the bones.”

Spedro shook his head. “I hate when you do that. All bones other than the neck, I am fine with. Every time you crack the ones in your neck, I am sure you will fall to the ground, dead.”

Phoenix smiled. “You are just jealous my friend.” Then he laid a hand on Spedro’s hard shoulder. “I would be too in your position.”

Spedro looked down at him, smirk on his face. Phoenix had bowed his head, shaking it from side to side, exaggerating his movements. “Me, jealous of you?”

Phoenix nodded, and Spedro continued. “You are a small scrawny little man, one that I can easily squash with my thumb.”

Phoenix looked back up, and broke out into quiet laughter. “With your thumb? Really?”

Spedro began to nod when an ear piercing scream broke out into the night, and something flashed before their viewpoint, hitting the ground with a thud, and the scream stopped. Without so much as a look at one another, the two flew into action. Phoenix turned from the outer wall and covered his face, while Spedro struck out with his palm, impacting the wall before them, shattering it. Phoenix was quick to recover, and jumped through the hole Spedro had made to find a body before them. A soldier, in full armor, lay on the ground; eyes wide open in the unbelieving stare that came before death, with blood trickling out of the mouth, dropping to the ground. Phoenix looked up and saw a dark figure staring down at them from the top of the wall.

“Spedro, he’s up there!” he shouted, and he and Spedro moved as one. Planting their feet, they both brought their hands up quickly, causing two large stones to erupt from the ground in tandem, launching them into the air, vaulting onto the wall.

Phoenix looked for the figure quickly, and spotted a man clad in black jumping from rooftop to rooftop across the city, putting good distance between Spedro and him. With a glance, Spedro nodded, while Phoenix closed his eyes and built his power. Spedro leapt from the wall, chasing after the fleeing man, and Phoenix‘s eyes popped open. Lifting a hand, he sent an orb forth at dizzying speed, and watched as it flew for the man. The man cut to his left, and Phoenix swung his hand to cause the orb to follow. The man glanced back to spy the orb, then burst forward with more speed, attempting to outrun it. He cut this way and that across the roofs, and Phoenix made the orb follow him every time. The flaming ball of death reached the man, and Phoenix urged it on, waiting for the splash of firelight that signaled the man would die. Just before it impacted, the man dropped to his knees, sliding on the tiles of a rooftop, and the orb sailed right over him. Phoenix smiled, having corralled the man correctly.

“Ember! Now!” he shouted, his voice carrying in the stillness of the night. The roof beneath the man’s feet suddenly exploded from beneath, and Ember rose from within the house. The man was catapulted through the air, and Phoenix waited for him to drop to the ground, to die on the streets below him. No such luck though, because as Phoenix watched, the man landed on another rooftop, and with simply a single roll, was back on his feet, running hard for the western wall. Spedro was still on his tail, but a misstep caused him to burst through the roof of one building, falling down to ground level, and effectively ending his part in the chase.

Lindani rose from her position on the western wall just as the man reached her, with the orb hot on his back. He didn’t even slow. Still in full sprint, the man placed his hands on her shoulders, and somersaulted over her, and over the wall. He disappeared from sight, while Lindani could not move from the surprise of what had just happened. Furthermore, the second orb Phoenix had thrown was mere feet from her chest, moving rapidly.

Phoenix gasped, grunted, and lifted his hand quickly, praying the gods grant him strength. The orb halted it forward flight, and flew straight up, Lindani watching it all the while. He couldn’t see it from this distance, but Phoenix knew she was glaring at him. Once she was out of danger, Lindani turned to peer over the wall. A moment later she turned back, and Phoenix could see her hands come up, and her shoulders shrug. He knew that meant that the man had not died in the fall, but had escaped. He sighed, popped his neck once more, then jumped from the wall himself, landing in the street to meet up with the others.