Chapter Four: Fire

The night air was a kind relief from the sweltering heat. It flooded into Hadalei and chilled her skin. The crisp glow of Eros, Petra’s sun could be seen over the trees. Terrian marched ahead, her skirts swaying in the lantern light. They wove their way between the dense forest of tents until they reached one made of blue cloth. She turned lightly on her heals to face Hadalei with a comforting smile.

“After you dear,” she said softly, spreading the entrance flap. Hadalei cautiously dipped into it, wondering where her trust in these mysterious people was coming from.

The dark tent swarmed with light as Terrian lifted her outside lantern within. The tent was small but interesting. Vined flowers and plants crawled from clay pots and arched across the low ceiling. Dripping flowers tickled their ears and foreheads and grasping rubbery leaves touched their hands. The walls were lined with shaky-looking shelves that housed the pots and a myriad of books. A small mattress was smashed into the corner, tussled with blankets and a thin pad stuffed with heather and down was placed next to it, filling the back portion of the tent. A small oak desk with parchment, ink, quills, compass, magnifying glass, trinkets, and a few pieces of jewelry was near the entrance.

“This is for you to sleep,” Terrian said, gesturing to the thinner mat with the same finesse as her mother.

Hadalei nodded with apprehension and knelt upon it, measuring its softness. It was a fair-enough mattress, she decided quickly, generous for the suddenness of everything. She felt suddenly as though she were intruding.

“Thank you, Terrian,” she said in a meek voice.

“Here, wear this,” the bright-eyed girl said, withdrawing a blue-tinted sleeping gown from a chest next to the desk.

Hadalei took it and Terrian turned to matters on her desk so she could change.

“It must be frightening for you,” Terrian began, sitting on her mattress when Hadalei was done changing.

“Just unnerving is all,” Hadalei said, admiring Terrian’s beauty again.

“Well, of course. I don’t know if it means much but you are in safe hands. We aren’t you going to hurt you. If I were you, it would help to hear it from someone my age,” she said. Hadalei trusted that sweet, mellow voice.

“I tried that already,” a dusty voice said from the entrance to the tent. Both girls swiftly looked to see Jonathan leaning against the fabric. “Evening,” he cooed with a smirk.

Hadalei covered her indecently-clothed self with the clothes she had removed. Jonathan eyed her curiously, his dark hair hanging low over his brows.

“You okay?” he asked in a voice that sounded like it genuinely didn’t care.

“Sure,” Hadalei replied with equal cheek.

Void of emotion or words, he turned, his retreating figure gone as the flap swung down, blocking out the night.

“What’s his deal?” Hadalei asked, folding up her clothes.

“He’s from Gaia,” Terrian replied simply like it was an everyday matter.

“What?!”

“Earth, Terra? You’ve never heard of Gaia? Its Petra’s sister world. Jonathan was brought here when he was young. He joined the Sovereignty to help protect his home about ten years ago. Quiet gentleman. He doesn’t give the greatest first impression but he means well.” Terrian undid her corset as she spoke, relieving her body from it’s binds.

“I’ve heard of Gaia- I thought it was a myth. That’s fascinating. You two aren’t--” Hadalei found herself curious before she could stop herself.

“Oh, goodness no!” Terrian seemed flabbergasted at this thought. “No, I’ve set my eyes on the prized Sir Dalton Galavan. Why? Interested in Jonathan? You’re mighty good at hiding it.” She winked her sparkling eye.

“No, I think he’s a pig!”

“I do hope he doesn’t wonder why he’s never caught a lass.”

“Never?!”

“Don’t seem so surprised. You sure you think he’s a pig?” Terrian mused with a chuckle. “No bother. Perhaps we should retire. Goodnight Hadalei.”

“Goodnight,” Hadalei replied, thinking about the mystery of Jonathan as Terrian doused the lantern.

Vivid dreams swallowed Hadalei that night in fiery swarms. Images raced through her mind, faces: her kind mother, stern father, the village leader banishing her… Jonathan. Piercing blue eyes. Her heart felt like it had been stabbed by a rose thorn. Those eyes.

She woke, a heavy sweat shelling her rapidly cooling skin. Shivers tucked her spine forward and her forehead met the blanket covering her knees. Jonathan’s heavy eyes burned into her sight wherever she looked. She couldn’t shake those stains.

Glancing up at Terrian’s bed, fear struck her like the peak of midnight on a grand clock. She rose in an instant, gathering her sight in the impending darkness. Her pupils waxed, ruling out her hazy, gray eyes. Terrian was missing from her tent and beyond the pale fabric of the tent, a diffused red flickering roused the sleepy shadows.

She grabbed her waistcoat and shot her arms through. It kicked against the back of her knees as she ducked from the tent. She held the coat tightly around her torso, her breath stifled by fear.

A crowd of people met her eyes, running and yelling. A crackling fire raged against the large tent that belonged to Terrian’s parents. Its wheels crackled and folded under. The tent fell with a bellowing crash and embers exploded from within like little fireflies rising into the caliginous night.

Sleep had shielded the ruckus before but now, fully awake, the sounds pounded against Hadalei’s ears. She grimaced and scanned the crowd for someone she knew.

Terrian burst pell-mell from the crowd at astonishing speeds towards her with an empty bucket. Ignoring Hadalei, the desperate girl tumbled into the crowd of tents behind her own. Hadalei ran forward between the tents, closer to the scene. Curiosity drew her in. It appeared to be impossible to control with only buckets to douse it.

Suddenly, someone caught her shoulders. Jonathan’s wild blue eyes dug into her with a strict intensity. His sodden hair was tousled over his face and his chest was bare to the dawning morning air.

“Where is it?” he demanded frantically, giving her shoulders a slight rattle, plastering a look of bewilderment on her face.

“Terrian’s tent,” she replied, gripping her coat tighter.

She was finding it difficult not to look at his alabaster chest. She instead pretended to be amused with the wisps of her hot breath curl in the air. He was tall and thin with a light layer of muscle. Marks from his bed were pressed into the white surface, streaking in long arcs.

“You must never leave it! Go fetch it! Now!” he yelled over the roaring fire. With an unexpected shove that caught Hadalei off guard, Jonathan yelled, “Go!”

There was such an accusatory tone in his voice that made Hadalei feel a lack of hope for even friendship with the mysterious boy from Gaia. She glared at him for only a moment before breaking away from the ice gaze. She stormed to the blue tent, wishing she had never wandered across him in the woods. She regretted rushing out so foolishly into the road.

Tripping on the edge of the caravan, she tumbled into the tent. Her head slammed on the corner of Terrian’s desk, forcing her body into a fetal position on the ground. Her hands rushed to the site of impact and found hot, rushing blood. A gasp held her trembling lips ajar as her eyesight flittered in and out in hazy clouds. She felt the tent narrow. Ahead, she saw the gleam of the Star of Donner, facetted to the thread-sized silver.

Her hand reached for it as her consciousness slipped away. The thin chain snaked between her delicate fingers and the orb fit into the creases of her palm. A flicker of flame leapt around the back of the tent, staking dread in Hadalei’s mind as she fell into the darkness.

Written: February 27, 2008 | Posted: February 28, 2008 | Edited: March 1, 2008 | © All rights reserved, Singular Angel