Yet again I found my gaze could not be torn away from her and I watched, even more fascinated now after her sudden act of insight and kindness towards me, a virtual stranger. The flames were reflected in her amber eyes and they were taking on an even greater depth – too deep for a shy girl of sixteen. They were the flickering eyes of an adult who had endured pain and torment; who understood the world and what she had to do.
I had seen those eyes before. They were the eyes of the King, of my father, of Eaglen, yet here they were, encapsulated in a young Sagean girl.
The clearing settled as the fire grew higher and higher; warmth spread outwards, creeping slowly across the ground until it reached my toes, then my legs and as I leaned forwards towards it, my face, which glowed and began to burn.
Fallon, content with his handiwork, held his hands out to the fire, warming them. Autumn shifted closer and joined him. Immediately, the fire quite literally bent towards them both, becoming brilliantly orange and distorted. She pursed her lips as though about to whistle and blew gently, forcing the reluctant fire back like a chastized child. Fallon just chuckled as the fire sprung back, trying its luck again. His serious companion did nothing this time, but continued to stare into the depths of the fire, even as the falling leaves landed in a little ring around them.
The vampires, on the other hand, scuttled away from the flames. Kaspar hesitated for a few minutes, staying close by my side but it wasn’t long before he too succumbed to the burning heat and withdrew into the shadows.
It was mostly quiet for a long while, other than the occasional giggle from Lyla from the shadows – it did not take much imagination to know what her and Fabian were up to. Felix and Charlie occasionally whispered a few words to each other but their conversations were short. Alex eventually took out his guitar and retreated even further away from the fire and began strumming half-heartedly, competing with the crackling of the fire, Cain interjecting every now and then.
I sensed that everyone was lost in their own thoughts, just like I was: it was odd to think that the people sat around me were at the centre of everything that was happening to the dimensions, as things started to breakdown.
As are you, my voice said.
I scoffed in my head. Hardly. I don’t even understand the Prophecy.
Then maybe you should ask.
I contemplated its suggestion for a moment but decided I didn’t have the courage to ask – I felt such a fool with the Sage around. I turned around, wondering if I could quietly question Kaspar but as soon as I met his eyes he stood up.
He walked around the fire, grabbed one of the bags and reached into it, pulling out a handful of chocolate bars. He chucked a couple of them my way and gave the rest to the two Sage. Autumn ripped hers open and devoured it hungrily, making her seem more human than her vampire counterparts; seeing that, Fallon handed her the rest and with a wave of his hand, conjured an apple from midair.
Kaspar handed the beers around which Autumn politely refused and settled back down behind me. I moved back a bit and joined him, tired of the burning heat, taking a few sips of the beer.
‘How do you do that?’
‘Do what?’ Fallon asked, taking a second bite out of his apple.
‘Produce food from thin air.’
He took a third bite. ‘Magic.’
‘But how is that possible?’
‘Just is,’ he said, shrugging his shoulders.
There was a pause. ‘Then nobody starves.’
Fallon frowned ruefully. ‘We feed our own.’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked, knowing full well what he was implying.
‘We can only conjure what nature provides, and nature cannot provide enough to feed the expanding population of the world; of each dimension.’
My face cleared with comprehension but my mouth fell slightly open, aghast. ‘So millions of humans – innocent children – die whilst the dark beings wallow in wealth?’
‘I wouldn’t say wealth,’ Fallon argued, but I turned to Kaspar for back-up.
‘You said yourself that there’s no such thing as poverty for dark beings.’
He nodded solemnly. ‘But it’s more than that. There’s too much politics involved between dark beings and humans.’
I straightened up. ‘Clearly,’ I retorted, knowing that my situation reflected that perfectly.
‘Kaspar’s right,’ Cain said. ‘Co-operating is basically impossible. Mother’s proof of that. There’s no trust.’
My eyes guiltily slid to the ground and the box rattled. ‘Well maybe that is what needs to change,’ I ended, defeated.
‘I agree with Violet,’ a quiet voice suddenly said.
All eyes turned to Autumn as her gaze briefly met mine. Quickly, she hastened to explain herself. ‘The wealth could be more evenly distributed.’
‘But Miss Lee,’ Fallon begun. ‘Who do you suggest could implement such a change?’
I flushed. ‘The Dark Heroines? Isn’t that what the Prophecy said they would do?’
The clearing went silent and Fallon cleared his throat, glancing sideways at Autumn.
‘We’ll tell you the first and second verse of the Prophecy, but no more. You don’t know enough about the other dimensions to understand it.’
That stung but Fallon’s mouth was set in a line and I knew not to argue.
‘I’ve heard the first verse before,’ I said, still hearing the hallowing penultimate line in my head.
‘From Kaspar, I presume?’
Kaspar nodded and rested his head back against the trunk of the tree, looking resigned. His hands rested on the ground beside him and his nails dug into the earth, his arms tensed. My heart dropped, longing to know why he had become so withdrawn all of a sudden and almost instinctively I moved my hand as close as I dared to his, our little fingers almost touching. Perhaps he felt my warmth because his arm relaxed.
‘Just the second verse then.’ Fallon shrugged his shoulders and took a long swig from his can of beer. Finishing it, he crushed it in his palm, the metal disappearing beneath the crevices of his fingers. When he opened them again, all that was left was dust, which he scattered onto the fire.
Autumn glanced his way and then began to speak in her native tongue, Fallon weaving a translation in-between.
‘Her fate is set in stone,
Bound to sit upon the second throne.
Destined to betray her kin; she lives in his past sin,
Bathed in the blood of the black rose above.
No birth, no time, no choice,
So as martyrs, two innocents must die,