Young Flame

“What are you doing there, girly?” Arthur asks as he approaches from behind.

I am currently angling, using my finger in place of the rock bait as I have grown accustomed to doing. Every so often I twitch my finger along the surface of the sand, only displacing a small amount each time. Practice taught me that the worms are more likely to be attracted to sudden smaller movements. The only thing needed is patience. I’m not sure whether the worms are hesitant to bite or if it takes a long time for them to notice, but it can take up to half an hour to catch one.

'Angling', I try to respond to the man, but the noise I make is definitely not coherent. My tongue, in its unusable state, is particularly irritating when trying to communicate. Instead, I motion to my finger touching the ground and then press against my lips, gesturing for him to be silent. I only hope that his heavy footsteps or the loud thud of him sitting down beside me doesn’t scare off any sand-worms.

Luckily, Arthur understands me well enough to keep quiet while he observes. It has been a few days since I met the trio. I don’t really have any reason not to take them up on their offer to travel with them.

Well, besides the fact that one of them almost killed me when they first saw me.

And probably their intimidating size.

And the open aggression between Arthur and Barrett.

But It’s not like I have any more family to go back to. I can try and look for another tribe somewhere, but that will be extremely difficult and dangerous. First, I don’t have any of our maps, so even if I try to find one of the common áed campsites, I am likely to completely miss it. Second, it is a rare thing to encounter another tribe at one of those locations, anyway. I might be waiting over a year for another tribe, especially this far southeast. Finally, and the most worrying reason is that I still have a reason to believe that the group hunting áed knows of any location I have memory of.

So of course, I am stuck with no real choice but to follow these three giants.

Arthur’s oppressive height looming over me makes me tense up as the minutes pass, so I am relieved when the worm finally takes the bait and bit my finger. Without my angler line, I’m forced to endure the slight pain of the worm biting into my finger. My blade snaps down and cuts through the middle of the worm with nary a delay.

The worm takes a few moments before its wriggling stills. I pick at the worm’s head to extract its teeth.

Arthur rose to his feet with sudden haste, startling me. I fall onto my side and pull myself away from the man as quickly as I can.

“Death-worm. Shit, girl, that’s a death-worm.” Arthur looks down at both me and the head of the sand-worm still attached to my finger. It only takes a moment before my arm in his hand. I never had time to back away further.

“Quick, girl, we need to amputate!” he exclaims, grabbing for the sword-sized knife at his hip.

Has he gone insane? Amputate? What is he talking about? No, I was stupid to trust him in the first place. I swallow my fear at his looming figure and ignite my arm in flame. Arthur flinches back, the fur on his hand now burning. He swats his hand against the side of his leg a few times until he puts out the fire.

“The fuck girl!? You’ll die if we don’t get rid of that poison!” He admonishes while cradling his hand.

He takes a step towards me again and I push away as far as I can on the ground. I hold my knife up towards him in the hopes it’ll be enough to stop him from coming close. Poison? I have no idea what he’s saying. He takes another step and I struggle to keep my distance.

I flare my entire body in flame, trying to threaten him not to come closer. It seems to work as he stops moving towards me.

“What’s all the commotion?” I hear from behind me. Glancing back, I see Gerben approaching us with Barrett following close behind. Not wanting to have any of them to my back, I scramble off to the side so I can keep them all in my line of sight.

“She got bit by a death-worm. She needs treatment now!” Arthur declares.

Gerben stares at Arthur for a long moment, only sparing a glance my way before replying. “Arthur. She is an áed, literal fire given life. How could she have been poisoned?”

“Huh?” is all Arthur can say.

Laughter from Barrett cuts into his confusion. “Wow, you didn’t even know that? Weren’t you the one bragging about your knowledge of áed only a few days ago?”

Arthur looks angry and ready to give Barrett a piece of his mind, but before he can open his mouth, Gerben cuts in.

“Why must you two always act like children? Now, Arthur, you scared the shit outta the girl. I think you owe her an apology.”

“Ah, yeah, sorry girly. I’ve seen too many men die to those little demons.” Arthur says after calming down.

With the giant man no longer hostile, I feel myself drip in relief. I pull back on my flames, taking control of my form once again.

“Wait, so if áed are completely fire, then why does our little one here still have a leg missing? Shouldn’t it be easy to, I dunno, conjure another with her fire?” Arthur says.

I shake my head to indicate that’s not how it works. I would need my binding with fire to be a closer rank to Elder Enya to change my form willingly like that. For now, I am stuck with only my stub until I consume enough fuel to energise its regeneration naturally.

“Same way we can’t just slap some butchered meat on our wounds to heal it, the world doesn’t work that way,” Gerben says.

I don’t know about the meat thing, but at least he understands. I nod at his statement to show my agreement.

Looking down at my finger where the sand-worm should still have been, I find that it has charred black while I was trying to defend myself. Disappointed in the ruined state of my snack, I quickly swallow it. The lower body of the worm is still in good condition though, and I want to thank Gerben for protecting me from Arthur’s overreaction again.

I hold it out to him, motioning to eat. He’ll love the taste, it's one of the sweetest in the desert. I’ve grown so tired of the taste myself, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be bad for him.

He takes a hesitant look at the lower half of the worm, before refusing me. “As much as I appreciate the thought, I would die if I ate that.”

Huh? He would die from eating a worm? I look down at the limp worm. Is it the poison thing he was talking about? The idea that something as harmless as a sand-worm might hurt a giant like the man in front of me is unthinkable.

“These little things are the biggest reason us ursu don’t travel into the desert too often. One bite from a death-worm is enough to kill a grown man within an hour.” Gerben says.

Even with his clear fear of the worm, I couldn’t see it as anything but a tasty treat. Chomping on the worm, I notice the uncomfortable expression on Gerben’s face. Okay, it makes me feel a bit better to know I can make them feel as uncomfortable as their size makes me feel. I silently promise to store some away, who knows when it might be useful?

“We’ll be stopping in Raetamen for a couple of nights until we can catch a ride to Fisross,” Gerben announces, most likely for my benefit.

Ahead of us are a number of structures like the shipwreck I’d seen a while back. Actually, no, they’re nothing alike, but I have nothing else to compare these buildings to. The town is a collection of large cubic stone structures placed along a long path. Most of them are similar, but they are all tall, reaching a Gerben and a half high.

I’ve been told this is a small mining town. I don’t know how they consider this place small; it is huge. There has to be over twenty buildings here and each one is big enough to house an entire áed tribe.

The mine itself is along the left side of the road. A tunnel dug right through the rock, leaving a wide opening into the ground covered in black dust.

Many ursu — as Gerben calls his race — lumber in and out of the mine with large wheelbarrows filled with coal. They take their coal loads down the street ahead of me. I salivate a bit at the sight. It has been so long since I’ve had a proper meal and having so much in front of me stirs my hunger. My Inner flame writhes within me.

Gerben leads us down the path opposite the coal mine. Taking us further away from that tempting feast.

I want to go over there and gorge myself to satisfaction. If I wasn’t being held on Gerben’s shoulders, I might have fumbled my way over even with all the huge ursu around. I try to get my ride’s attention by tapping the top of his head, I still can’t speak, so I am left hoping he might figure out what I want.

“We’re heading to the saloon, but you’ll be able to eat later. We are lucky enough to make it in time for the weekly Bratchina.” Surprisingly, Gerben knew what I wanted to ask. That’s amazing!

“Thank fuck. I’d drop dead if I had to eat pemmican for another week.” Barrett says from behind me.

“Yea, I know what ya mean. I’ve been starving since the last proper meal,” Arthur says.

Is that the first time those two have actually agreed on something? I’m surprised they’re even willing to agree, considering they fight simply for the principle of it. I can understand it though, that meat and fruit rock hadn’t been all that good, and there is nothing as filling as a good chunk of coal.

We approach the largest building so far, which sits oddly separated from its surroundings. It lay in the centre of a large clearing and the stone paving lines the ground around it. The building is missing the front wall all the other structures have. The large open floor has many tables and chairs scattered. Along the back wall of the inside, there is a large shelf filled with wooden barrels from floor to ceiling. The ceiling is twice as high as Gerben, so it hovers far over my head even while I am held on the ursu’s shoulders.

The three ursu head straight for the rear wall, pouring what looks like water into wooden mugs they pick up from the side table. I fidget nervously as Gerben brings the glass to his mouth, which just so happens to be rather close to where I am sitting. He downs it in a moment before pouring another.

Gerben carries me to a table where he finally puts me down into a seat. The seat is much too big for me, I am raised high over the ground, and yet I’m still unable to see above the table.

Looking around, there are a few other ursu drinking, but most tables are empty.

“Ah. Good to finally get a decent drink.” Arthur says as he sits down beside the other two ursu, who nod along with him.

I’m not sure what we are doing, so I sit quietly, hoping we would go get the food they mentioned soon. It is awkward, sitting here not able to take part in the conversation the men are having, but also not having the courage to walk off by myself. I don't know what ursu are really like. Wandering around might get me in trouble if the others are as aggressive as Arthur.

When the three ursu finish their drinks, Arthur and Barrett grab their packs and walk upstairs, out of sight. Gerben grabs his pack and picks me up in his other arm. He carries me through a door in the back wall of the building, into an enclosed room. Barrels, like those out in the main area, fill the room. There are far more of them in here, stacked tightly on top of one another.

In one corner of the room, an ursu is working over a large tub of water. Nervous about the liquid sloshing beneath their arms, I jump off Gerben and make some distance. Do they really need to have so much water around?

Ignoring me, Gerben approaches the ursu. “Good afternoon administrator, it’s incredible how clean you keep this establishment considering the landscape. I’m impressed.”

The ursu stops their work and turns to Gerben. A satisfied smile appears on their face as they speak in a surprisingly feminine voice. “Ah, it’s nice to know that some notice. Thank you. Is there something I can help you with?”

I drag my eyes up and down her body. She doesn’t look much different to the men, the only difference I can tell is a lighter shade of brown around her face and down her neck. Her fur also looks softer and not as rough as the trio I came with, but that might just be because of the desert sand.

“We picked up a bit of a stray out in the wasteland.” Gerben gestures at me. “Do you have any rooms for non-ursu for the night?” he asks.

“Sorry, no. We’re at the edge of civilisation, I've never even heard of another race coming this far west.” She says, looking over at me. “She’s tiny! What’s such a young thing doing all the way out here?”

The giant ursu woman with still dripping hands starts coming towards me. As I back away from her, keeping my balance by holding the barrels to my side, I can't help but feel like this situation keeps repeating. Are all ursu so impulsive or is it just the ones I’ve met?

Fortunately, Gerben stops her by putting an arm on her shoulder. “She’s an áed.” Is all he says while pointing at the woman’s dripping hands.

“Really?” she seems amazed, looking me up and down while drying off her hands. “She’s not made of fire, though?”

Unfortunately, Gerben doesn’t stop her this time now that her hands are dry. I am picked up under the arms and raised to her head height. My struggles against her grasp are ignored as she continues to question Gerben.

“Poor thing, how did she lose the leg? Are you sure she’s an áed? She barely even feels warm.”

I should burn her, then she will know for sure. The thought of willingly letting my flame burn brings the picture of my mum and uncle to the forefront of my mind. Their lectures echo in my memory, wiping the thought away. It’s better to show I’m strong by controlling my flames than to let them out.

“Well, we found out she was an áed when we accidentally forced her to drink water. The steam coming from her was quite something.” Gerben says. At the lady’s incredulous stare, he hastily continues. “What? We found a young kid collapsed in the middle of the desert. Who wouldn’t think to give them water first?”

The woman’s eyes land back on my missing leg. “So, what happened to her leg?” I want to answer for myself, so I make a cutting motion with my hand towards my leg, showing her I cut it off myself.

“Not sure. She was like that when we found her. I assume she lost it when she lost her tribe.” Gerben says.

These two just continue to speak as if I’m not here, and the comment about my tribe flares the ache in my chest once again. Do I want to follow these people who manhandle me against my will and speak as if I don’t have a voice?

Well, I don’t have a voice, but that’s beside the point. They can easily ask me yes or no questions, but they seem to prefer making assumptions rather than asking. Do they think I’m dumb?

Regardless of how they think of me, I’m stuck here for now, so I might as well follow through. It can’t be worse than endlessly wandering the wasteland, right?