Avis Apothecary… The tincture was still in my pants pocket, laying on my floor.
I’d told her I’d come clean up and work off the debt, and she’d said she would leave the broom out. Guilt wormed its way into my chest, and I thought of the tincture we didn’t even use. Swallowing hard, I decided that tonight after my shift, I would sneak back into the city and return the unused tincture. It was the least I could do. She’d probably already cleaned up the glass, but I could repair the window with cardboard.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I quickly set about my work. People from the village slowly trickled in until it was supper time and we were nearly full. Hipsie was making her famous spicy maple stew and the smell alone drew everyone to the place. Because we worked off of a barter system, I had to keep meticulous notes on each person and what they ordered and what they were offering for it in return. Hipsie had running agreements with people, such as the farmers that supplied her ingredients, and she kept them fed and boozed up. Others offered time, repairs, tools, clothing, favors; it really ranged, but it all worked out. My father dug the drainage ditches around the entire tavern one year to keep it from flooding after a rain. That fed him for months. I worked for my meals and earned my dad some too. It seemed like it would be more complicated, but it all worked; however, it required me to know everyone and what they did or had to offer.
Just as I was taking notes on Konan’s order, the normally boisterous tavern went stony silent. An eerie feeling washed over me and I spun, swallowing hard when a half dozen Gilded City guards walked into the tavern, swords drawn.
I swayed on my feet, knowing without a doubt that they were here for me. They’d found out I’d broken into the city last night and now I was in trouble.
“Fallon Brookshire?” One of the guards walked right up to me. His hair hung halfway down his back and was tied into a thick braid. On his chest was the golden flame insignia of The Gilded City.
I couldn’t speak—there was no point in running, so I just nodded.
“You’re wanted for questioning in The Gilded City,” the guard with the black braid stated.
“What’s this about?” Konan suddenly stood and took a place beside me.
Konan was a laborer like my father, but with a hotter temper and a lot more ale in his system. He was also built like a horse and towered over the guard.
The guard looked irked at his question. “This is not your concern. Sit down or I willmakeyou sit down.” The guard raised his sword and pointed it right at Konan. The edge of the sword suddenly flared to life with orange flames and the entire tavern gasped, myself included.
Holy Fae!
I’d heard rumors of those that could conjure fire with their mind, but never had I seen it.
“She’s just a child!” Mrs. Tinley stood and approached the men, stepping to my left as Konan boxed me in on my right. “What authority do you have to haul her off to the city for questioning?”
The lead guard looked at Mrs. Tinley with absolute hatred. Chills slithered across my skin like a snake.
They hate us.
“I come under the authority of Queen Solana, under whichallfae are ruled. Even magicless vermin like yourself.” He growled and his men advanced towards me.
“Stop!” Hipsie’s voice boomed throughout the space and we all spun to look at the old woman, who was now approaching the guards from the kitchen. She raised her twelve-inch butcher knife in her hand.
“You came to question her?” Hipsie asked. “Then feel free to do that, but you will not take this child from Isariah without a fight.”
My fellow villagers suddenly pounded their fists on the tables in agreement and stood, coming out into the main walkway and creating a crowded space that would make it harder for the men to reach me.
The gratitude for what they were trying to do swelled in my chest. It was so incredibly sweet, but my people were magicless and these men were not. I’d seen a small glimpse of what Ariyon could do and it terrified me.
The guard with the black braid laughed. “You think I care that I’ll have to cut down a bunch of worthless—”
“I’ll go!” I shouted. “Just please don’t hurt anyone.”
The guard nodded to me and the other warriors raised their blades, the same orange fire erupting from them. “Let her pass and no one gets hurt,” a guard with a shaved head announced.
The tavern patrons looked at each other as if unsure what to do.
There was movement within the crowd and then suddenly Hipsie pushed her way to the front. Now she stood beside me, and Konan scooted to the other side of her but didn’t sit down. Hipsie reached out and wrapped her fingers around my cloth-covered wrist.
“You will take this child from me only in death, do you understand me, pretty boy? She is Isarian and will not be leaving with you,” she snarled.
My heart pinched at the way she was defending me. To be honest, I was terrified of going with them but also terrified of finding out what happened when those amber flames touched a person. Magic fire, I had heard, burned differently than the real stuff. The guard moved then, so quickly I almost couldn’t track it, and he lunged out with his sword, headed right for Hipsie’s chest.
Something instinctual burst to life in me, as if opening the door of a feral caged animal for the first time. I snaked my free hand out and grabbed his sword blade midair. The edge cut through my gloves with ease and into my fingers and palm, but I ignored the pain. I was good with pain; pain was all I’d ever known. The orange fire singed my skin, burning through my gloves, but I ignored that too. Instead, I held his blade two inches from Hipsie’s heart, and a wild rage unleashed from deep inside of me. Suddenly, the flame on the blade extinguished, and then the blade itself began to turn black and crumble until it fell from my fingertips in a pile of ash.
People gasped and backed up as I held the guard’s gaze, trying to rein in the murderous fury I felt in that moment. “Hurtanyof these people and you will not live to regret it,” I said in a voice I barely recognized. It was low and filled with so much anger I hardly sounded normal.
