Her head hung low not daring to look up. Several moments passed before she said anything. “It’s not working.” She sighed in defeat.
Divina’s hand trembled as it gripped Philippa’s arm, and then she replied. “L-l-look.” She only managed to stutter the word.
Philippa opened her eyes and before her sat a furrow that had been gouged deep into the earth. It was three feet wide and almost as deep and where it hadn't been blackened by intense heat of the conjured flame, it still glowed a lacklustre red hot. “Was that me?” She asked in whispered tones.
“The f-f-fire c-c-came to you.” Divina heard reverent awe in her voice. “It travelled like a bird made of the purest flame. It’s talons tore through the earth as it circled around. It burned away the demon's body until there was nothing left. ”
“I did that?” Her word we’re still filled with disbelief.
Divina let go of the girls arm and presented the bundle of rags and human flesh. “Okay. You’re ready to do this.”
“I am? But I didn’t mean to—”
She off cut the young girl, “You are ready. You’re going to do what you did before but this time we only need a small amount of what you did before. Just pour a little of that controlled power into the sigil I’ve drawn and it will follow the flow of magic through the sigil until the process is complete.”
“You mean, um, it will follow it?” Understanding gave Philippa a little confidence. “Like when we would divert the river water in the spring to the fields, by digging a shallow ditch?”
“It’s exactly like that.” Divina felt pride in her new student at the wisdom she showed, and yet felt a rotten dread that she might be pushing this clearly gifted girl too hard too fast. As she gave the beating heart into the young girl’s hands she continued the instruction. “Say the word of power again, but this time focus on the sigil. Be careful. Too much power could burn the heart away entirely.”
“And I’ll die.” The words were matter of fact.
Divina gave her a level look and Philippa knew it was now or never. She knew she couldn’t live with the reality of never. That meant the demon taking form again and once more causing untold pain and suffering. A demon she had helped into this world.
“It's a fine outcome either way.” Philippa’s thin smile was less than convincing.
Philippa took a deep breath, placing the heart in an open space on the floor. Yet again she attempted to block out the myriad of tactile distractions all around. She quietly muttered the word this time and filled them, as she had before, with her exhausted will. All the pain and brokenness of the last days washed into that spell.
Unknown to the untrained girl who cast it, a spell fuelled by raw emotions like the ones she used at this moment held a long time. Village feuds were made of the same kind of substance. Those kinds of family rivalries often begin as small disagreements that would take on a life of its own growing exponentially. Feuds go on living among its torchbearers for hundreds of years long past the time when no one can remember the reason the feud had begun in the first place. It was potent magic.
A thin line of flame sprang out from the handheld pyre before her. It wound its way along the ground like a snake slithering towards her broken heart. It engulfed it, wrapping its power around the relic. Charring the cloth covering with fine black lines as it worked its way along the ink-drawn runes of channeling. And then it ignited as bright as a star.
With fear Divina rushed forward to stop the process before it was too late. Before she found herself incinerating her own heart.
“No!” The younger girl gritted her teeth. “I can do this.”
The fragile flame, obeying the will of the girl, inched its way in seven rings around the human-heart that had been made demon-fragment and with each pass the sigil at the end of the cloth band glowed just a little brighter.
Divina looked from the relic to the girls bloodied arms that reached out towards the ball of ink stained rags. She noticed that seven similar rings of flame had wreathed their way around the girls arms making its way towards her chest. She had never seen anything like it. Then, without warning, there was a flash of brilliance as the seventh seal ignited. The ghosts of light danced in her eyes and when her vision cleared, Divina saw the young girl still standing. She had retrieved the demon relic, blackened and smouldering, and was now clutching it in her hands.
“Are you hurt?” Divina said, noticing that the burning flames, that had been touching her skin seconds before, had left thin burns in intricate woven patterns and sigils upon its surface. She noticed that the lines mirrored that of the relic and could see similar angry red scorch marks surrounding her torso wherever the tattered rags she wore left her skin exposed. She winced in sympathy, but at the somber look on Philippas face, thought better of making any further comments.
“You should look after this,” Philippa said and then presented the heart gently and almost with an air of ceremony to the action.
The Paladin, wearily looked back at the newly formed done-relic. She sighed and accepted it. She could feel the part of the fractured psyche of Askathstral trapped deep within the object, already clawing to get out. Wishing to rejoin its whole in the mortal realm. She shuddered to think of what it was like inside a demon relic. Her imagination raced for a moment and then she smiled at Philippa.
“Good idea. That was great work. You’ll make an excellent apprentice yet.” She stowed the demon-relic away in her satchel and it only, distantly, thrummed with dark power. Chittering rang out of the forest again. The creatures were far too close. Looking wearily around at the burning tree line she said. “We should go.”
As they turned to leave, words laced with a little remaining demonic power floated up, mixing with the burning sounds that had now spread to the forest.
“Ahhhh. I will always be a part of you witch-child.”
Divina recognized the demon’s final trick. Askathstral had poured the last vestiges of power it had into one more glamour. Nothing more of the demon’s skull remained as it crumbled into ash and dirt. “We are one now and forever. We will be together. You are nothing without me.”
And then she realized that the spell wasn’t meant for her. Divina span toward the girl looking on in horror.
“Divina has s-s-showed me that all is n-n-never lost.” Philippa’s voice quivered, fighting the influence of the demon that had once before imposed control over her for so long.
“Ahhhhhh. My child. Together, we can both be whole again.” The spell was a potent one. It lingered in the air. Tugging on the girls free will with greasy, long invisible fingers.
And then the young girl took an uneasy step towards the spot where the demon's skull.
“What are you doing Philippa?” The Paladin's voice was filled with concern but she had nothing left in her to stand by herself, let alone overcome the demons' spell, however weak and waning it may have been. Philippa ignored Divina, stepping closer still. Her eyes were fixed on what Divina could occasionally see as a fleeting spectre of Askathstral. Another glamor, like the voice, created by the spell.
“C-c-can we s-s-start over?” Philippa took another step.
“Ahhhhh, Of course. Together we can do anything.” The small spot where the skull had been suddenly began to bubble like a boiling, viscous liquid.
“Will you forgive me?” Her shoulders slackened and her gaze became distant.
“No! Philippa. Fight it!” She cried out and watched helplessly as a black ichor once again began to rise from the tainted patch of dirt.
“Ahhhh. Leave the thunder gods whore here to burn.”
“Y-yes, of course.” agreed Philippa taking another step forward.
“Ahhhhh. Come to me and we will do things you never imagined possible.”
Divina began desperately to push herself up. She took several weak, crawling motions towards her apprentice for several agonizing moments before her muscles crumbled and she collided with the ground again. “It lies, Philippa! You can beat it! Don’t give in!”
Phillippa was now standing within arms reach of the demonic spectre. “A-A-Askathstral?” She stammered sweetly.
“Ahhhhh. Yes my child?” The eager voice rang out from nowhere.
“Do you think that we can restore what we had? Maybe redeem it?”
“Of course, my child. Kill the Paladin. Take the heart and take me far from this place. I can easily show you how to redeem yourself.”
Philippa now stood face to face with the illusion. It glinted in the darkness and firelight. She lifted her right hand in a gentle motion almost looking to cup the cheek of the demon shaped illusion.
And then Philippa smiled. It was a smile of cunning and predatory knowing. A chilling, wolfish grin that didn't suit her face. It twisted her features somehow and showed Divina a little more of whatever she truly was.
She let out a cold mirthless laugh. Something wicked and Fae-like. “The idea of redemption never sat well with me.”
With those icy words, flames leaped in an all consuming torrent from the blazing buildings into the waiting hand of the girl. She called out in the ancient elemental tongue of the primordial gods. Rampant fire channeled by the newest follower of Audrashni. Unbridled power engulfed the echo of Askathstral burning up the memory. Whatever the remnants of the demon howled in those moments, they were lost amongst the roaring gout of shining flame. There was nothing left of the demon, just a black spot in the tortured earth, where Askathstral’s severed head had once been.
Divina watched those flames as long as she could until it hurt her eyes. And then the flames subsided leaving the furious outline of the girl.
“You had me really worried.” The Paladin lectured, as Philippa helped Divina to her feet. The young girl said nothing in reply but gave an apologetic, wry smile.
One of the ancient timbers that edged the outskirts of the town fell with a sharp crack. It toppled to the ground and a couple of the smaller buildings across the town square collapsed under its own weight, sending splinters of burning wood shooting in every direction.
“We really should go now.” Divina suggested again suppressing the panic she felt.
Philippa positioned herself under Divina’s uninjured arm and they both began their weary way towards the town’s main entrance. Flames grew and consumed the way forward but Philippa was not impeded.
Instead she guided the pair towards a small alley that sat between two small buildings. Saying, “Wait. This is the best way.”
Divina thought that the buildings might have once been family homes. They had not fully succumbed to the uncontrolled blaze but they couldn't escape a dark trail of suffocating smoke and burning hot ash, as the flames followed them into the small alleyway. The pair blinked away stinging tears, coughing all the while. Hearing the flames now taking the buildings around them.
“Stay low.” Divina encouraged and the two stooped as much as they could, despite their injuries, to where the air was a little more clear.
Several stifling seconds later, the two girls emerged into the cool air of a patch of dead wood trees that had been untouched by the flames. They both gasped lungfuls of oxygen enjoying the feeling of the cold night air all around them. Their respite was short lived and it didn’t take long for the perusing flames to erupt behind them forcing the girls to push on into the chittering darkness of the forest, now aflame.
“Here, this way.” Philippa began to lead the way again, this time across the dense forest floor, but the paladin tugged her arm back sharply, stopping her in her tracks.
“Stop.” Divina commanded. She looked around the forest and her face sank. “I’m sorry Philippa. We’re too late.”
She stepped in front of her self-appointed ward and drew her sword left-handed, holding it in a low guard.
“What do you mean?” Philippa looked bewildered and perplexed.
“I'll hold them off.” She shifted her hand on the blade's grip trying to find the . ‘You try to get as far as you can.”
“What are you talking—?” Her half asked question was answered and an empty chill filled her stomach.
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