Young Flame

Kerry and I search through the main road from above. We watch the numerous stalls and pedlars leaving free space amongst the tiled street as they accost the many travellers passing through the city. Far down one end, having long since passed us, was a rather pure haired albanic ordering a group of five guards to destroy and scare off the illegal merchants blocking the entryways to the brick and mortar stores.

It is strange to see, no matter how many times it occurs. I don’t know why they even bother trying to get rid of them, the pedlars are always back not even five minutes after they leave. It is an exercise in futility. Surely the city guards and the Cano family member ordering them around could be doing something more worthwhile.

Kerry and I sit on the hard roofing tiles as we scout for today’s prey. I’d come to an agreement where I will help with their hits under the condition that I do so with my safety as the lead consideration. I’ll help them scout and cover their retreat, sometimes even causing a distraction, but I will never put myself directly in danger.

Even if I hadn’t made myself clear, I doubt I’d ever wind up at the forefront, anyway; The swift fingers I’ve seen from the others is nothing short of amazing. Especially Kerry, I’ve seen her swipe so many coins now without the owner ever the wiser.

The twins remain as quiet as when I’d met them. They are short but by far the fastest runners. The trick they pull where one turns a corner and hides while the other twin is already further away lets them escape from pursuit better than anyone else. Apparently, it was Leslie that came up with the idea. In my time with the group, I’d seen her pushing the twins to play pranks on people. She seems enamoured with the idea that Demi and Medi could enact the best of tricks, but they are hardly receptive to her ideas. The twins prefer not having to interact with anyone if they can get away with it, even the others in the group.

“Why do the guards even bother?” I ask.

Kerry follows my line of sight. “Because they are paid to.”

Confused, I tilt my head at her.

“The shop-keeps pay the Cano to get rid of them. It used to be effective before most of the city guard got conscripted for the invasion. Doesn’t help that there’s a lot more traffic through the city now than ever before. Every dog and his wife want a slice of the gid coming through,” Kerry says.

I hum at that, looking over the visitors passing through the city. Few stop for the pedlars from what I’ve seen. If anything, they get robbed more often than a trade happens. Why would they anyone travel through Kelton? Couldn’t they find a way around the city to reach the border?

“Hey, why do people even —”

“Look, I think we have our new targets.” Kerry points down the road.

Three people in identical dark grey uniforms are walking down the street together. I can tell why Kerry thinks they’ll be perfect targets. They wear well-made uniforms and are unarmed. If we aren’t quick, someone else will rob them first.

Kerry jumps to her feet. “I’m going to get the others. You watch them and meet us at Point A.” She runs off as soon as the words leave her mouth.

I turn my attention back to the trio down the road. They’ve stopped to talk with one of the stall traders. It is odd to see travellers willingly stop by them, usually the pedlars only make trades after bugging people enough that they pay to be left alone. They don’t stop for long. Soon continuing towards me.

In the next few minutes, I watch as they stop every so often to talk to pedlars. Not once do they buy something. As they come closer, I can see that while two of them have white hair pure enough for high-class traders, one has grey hair that rivals Ash’s. It is strange to see someone with such a dark colour hair openly exposing themselves. But it has the benefit of scaring off many of the traders despite their appearance of wealth.

They move slower than most, but I need to meet the others soon. Hopefully, they won’t be robbed before they reach us. I drop to the roof of an adjacent building and do the same to reach the alley below. The dirty streets pass by as I run to meet up with the others.

They are all waiting for me by the time I reach Point A.

“Two men, one woman. Unarmed. They stop every few metres to talk, so we have maybe ten minutes before they reach us,” I say. Usually, it’s best to keep the descriptions brief, so we can set up quicker. Not so important now, considering the targets are taking their time, but it can be important when the targets are in a hurry.

“Good work,” Ash says. “Let’s go with Plan 4. Leslie and I will distract while Kerry, Demi and Medi will come from behind. Solvei, are you okay to cover our retreat?”

I nod in confirmation. Usually it just requires me to throw something at any chasers to split their attention enough to give the others time to run. I’ve never needed to go to the extremes that Leslie tends to. She favours being brutal and has the swing strength to back it up. I don’t have that same strength. At most, I’m ready to scare them off with my flames, but I have avoided doing so up to this point.

I carry a few rocks with me as I climb onto the roof of a building with good sight on both the main street and the alley Ash and Leslie will most likely use to escape. I’ve seen the amount of effort Ash puts into these plans. He has gone through with both me and the others the best ways to approach our targets and the best escape routes when they become aggressive. A lot of thought goes into making these thefts successful without too much danger. The results say everything about how well it works. Nobody has been hurt in the week I’ve been here, despite the risk they put themselves in.

A commotion in the street drags me out of my thoughts. Leslie and Ash have started their fake brawl right in front of the targets. Ash goes to throw a punch, which Leslie dodges and shoves him into the first of the similarly dressed Albanics. The man catches the boy and keeps him upright, before the woman tries to stop Leslie from throwing the next punch.

The last man in the group hardly notices Kerry pass by him, swiping his wallet and continuing on as if nothing happened. The twins are less sneaky, snatching the coin off the other two and immediately sprint away, both distracted trying to stop the fight between Ash and Leslie. Two resounding shouts of indignation ring out as they turn to their robbers. A shove from Leslie and Ash sends them stumbling.

The first man takes a second to realise his wallet has already disappeared before his shout follows suit. He chases after Ash and Leslie as they run down the alley below me. I ready my stone to throw. Pulling my arm back before launching it towards him as hard as I can. But the man does something odd. He stops chasing them, instead pulling something from his hip. The man either ignores or fails to notice the rock as it clatters on the ground in front of him. He holds the object up at arm’s length from his face.

A crack echoes through the air, like the sound of thunder. I don’t see what happens, but only a moment later screams fill the air. I look at Ash, now sprawled on the ground, howling and clutching his leg.

I don’t know what is going on. Ash got hurt? How? I look back at our target. The strange small pipe with a handle is being held above the man’s head now. He looks right at me as the crack cuts the air again. A sudden impact assaults my shoulder. It feels like a bat slams into me.

On instinct, I throw out my flames towards the man who somehow can hit me from this distance. With my flames blocking his sight of me, I throw myself off the roof and run for where Ash fell. Leslie already has one of his arms around her shoulder and is dragging him away.

As my flame dissipates behind me, I turn to see if the man is aiming that thing at us again. He isn’t, but I am still unnerved by what I see. The man is grinning.

Why would anyone grin after I attack them with my flames? Even if my flames didn’t come close to him, it is still odd. It makes me nervous. The man doesn’t move. He just keeps his eyes on me and grins. His two partners join him after only a moment. The woman yells at him with fury, but he continues grinning as he turns to talk to them.

I hurry to catch up to the others and find Kerry has appeared and is taking Ash’s other arm.

“Ash, you’re gonna be okay. Just push through this until we’re safe.” Kerry struggles to keep her words from warbling. Tears run down her face as she pushes forward, struggling with Ash’s weight.

“Kerry, I’m not gonna die. I got hit in the leg is all, barely a scratch.” Ash tries to hide the pain he’s feeling, but he cannot stop the wince every time he nudges his leg.

As I catch up, I cast a glance backward once more, expecting them to be chasing close behind and ready to burn them away, but I’m surprised to find they have gone.

“They aren’t following,” I say.

Leslie looks over her shoulder at me. “Nice scaring ‘em off. Don’t think we could’ve got away if you hadn’t.”

After seeing the unnerving smile of that man, I somehow doubt that I scared them off. “We should hide as soon as possible.”

“Already way ahead of you. Can you make sure nobody is hiding in the building on the right?” Leslie says. I nod and run off to make way for them.

I push open the old rusted door and enter what looks like an abandoned bookstore. Bookshelves cover the floor of the small room, filled with decaying books and cobwebs. There is no sign anybody has been here in a while, the floor is layered in dust.

I step back outside and usher the others in, closing the door behind them. I turn to see Leslie lowering Ash to the floor. It looks like he passed out. Tears trail down Kerry’s cheeks as she tries to put pressure on his thigh. Crimson blood puddles around them as it gushes out of the wound in his leg.

“He’s losing too much blood. I can’t stop it.” Kerry tries in vain to push harder against his leg, unable to stem the flow of blood.

“What can we do?” Leslie asks.

“We need a tourniquet, now!” Kerry’s voice cracks as she yells.

“What’s a tourniquet?”

Kerry scrunches her face in frustration before her eyes land on me.

“Solvei, get over here.”

I don’t reply. I just do as she asks, approaching beside her at Ash’s side. The blood moves a bit too much like water for my liking, but while touching it does sting a bit, I don’t feel the soul-crushing agony that water brings.

Kerry grabs my hands and brings them to his wound. It’s so small, but so much blood is pouring out.

“Now I want you to put your finger in his wound and burn it.”

“What! I can’t do that!” I flinch away from Ash, the image of Gloria’s burning body flashes in my mind.

“Please, we don’t have time. Just do it.”

Kerry’s lip wavers as she pleads to me, staring into me with tear soaked eyes.

I don’t know why she wants me to burn him, but I know she doesn’t want to hurt him. I lower my hand back over his wound and press my flames inside.

I can only be thankful he is not awake to feel me burning away at the wound inside his body. My flames pass into the wound as directed by Kerry, but I soon find something in his leg that I know definitely shouldn’t be there. A small bit of lead and copper is stuck within.

My flame isn’t hot enough to melt those metals yet and I don’t want to try inside his leg either. Also, I’ve still haven’t figured out how to make my flames physical, so I can’t use them to pull it out. I have only one option and I don’t know if it will hurt him any more than he already is.

“There is metal stuck in his leg. Should I pull it out?” I ask.

“Do it, quickly.”

With Kerry’s affirmation, I brace myself for what I’m about to do. I push a finger into his wound and try to remove the shard without hurting Ash any more than I need to. I can see the metal piece easily with my flames, but I can’t get a good grip on it.

My hands are shaking. I realise my breathing is haggard, so I force myself to calm down. I shove in a second finger and squeeze the shard between my fingers and drag it out as quick as possible. Blood gushes out faster than before. My entire arm is coated and blood soaks my knees. The stinging grows everywhere it touches, feeling like a thousand tiny pins stabbing into me.

“Burn it, burn it. Hurry.” Kerry’s voice reverberates in my head. Her shouting next to my head only pushes me to move faster.

I push a finger back into his wound and try to fry the flesh. I can’t help but remember the way Gloria’s skin bubbled the last time I burnt bodies like this. It feels wrong.

But, despite how horrible it feels, the blood slows. I finally understand why she wants me to burn the wound. My flames inside his leg give me a perfect idea of what is happening. I can burn the small blood pipes in his body closed to stop him from losing more. Now that I know, I can stop myself from hurting him. I can only lament that I didn’t know to do this at the start.

I make the heat of my flame as small as I can force it. I localise the burning of his flesh only to the points I can find the tubes of blood in the wound.

Soon, his bleeding stops entirely, but you can’t tell by looking at him. Ash’s clothes are soggy with his own blood. Looking down at myself, I realise my own clothes aren’t in a much better state.

I take a step back from Ash and Kerry as she holds him tight. My fire burns over my clothes, not hot enough to burn through the flame resistance, but enough to incinerate the dirt and blood clinging to me.

Ash looks pale. Far more so than I thought a person could be. Not wanting to step back into the puddle of his blood and dirty myself again, I keep my distance and let Kerry watch over him.

We wait in silence for the next fifteen minutes before Kerry finally speaks. “I… I think he’s gonna be fine. Leslie, can you help me carry him? We can’t stay here.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“And Solvei,” Kerry pauses, looking at me with puffy red eyes. “Thank you. You saved him.”

“I’m glad he’s okay.”