From the Flames

Shalia stumbled back upon the sharp hit to her jaw. It felt like lightning had struck her right in the face and buried itself in her skull. That would be one hell of a bruise. A gash had also formed on her bottom lip and she felt a throbbing pain radiate.
A rain of oil showered the space between them with the sound of yet another clay jug busting. As the rust-tinted substance poured down from above, it splattered onto Shalia’s face and the front of her body that was already coated in dust, sweat, and drops of blood flung from the long blade.
As the barrier erupted into a wall of fire, Shalia jumped back a few feet with a yelp. Her green eyes widened as the heat washed over the two women.

They gazed at each other in anger, in hatred, in some mild horror. In knowing that this was not the end. Not yet.

Shalia felt one of her back molars come loose and as she moved it with her tongue to spit it out with blood, tasted some of the oil in her mouth. She gagged slightly at the taste but was taken by some surprise when the woman caught fire.


"No! The kill is mine, not yours!" Shalia cried out suddenly in Odon, pleading. Fire was always an opponent. A threat to her very existence the way this woman and her group were. A brutal reminder of Him. And neither she nor Noraura would have that.
Voah leapt out the window and her fate was dangling in the balance.

Shalia rushed to pick up the dagger, shoving it back into her waistband. She looked around to find where her spear had landed, and upon approaching it, she spotted a set of three packs under some clay ceiling debris. The woman had shaken her bags off and put them here following the fall. And if Shalia was lucky, the map would be somewhere in there. But she couldn't look right now and she sure as hell wouldn't give up the fight to get them to safety. She kicked some more of the clay and stone debris around it over the heap and hoped for the best. The oil had not touched it and the materials were formidable to fire. She would take her chances. She had to. Weighing the importance of war over vengeance…but to her they were one in the same.

Then Shalia turned with her spear and looked into the fire. She would have to cross through it if she wanted the quickest way to the woman--out the window where she had fled. No window was present on the side Shalia stood. No time to waste. She already took the time to collect herself, precious seconds burned away.

If she had less self-control, she might have angrily blasted the Brotherhood for creating such an obstacle, but the witch had to remind herself: know your enemy. They all had the same goal for this hunt.

The flames taunted there in the darkness like bright serpents snapping and hissing, the warm glowing light swallowed the room whole.
As much as it terrified her, she was too determined to falter now. The witch clutched the spear firmly in one hand, squeezing her eyes closed tight.

She was going to try something new.

Shalia spoke something quickly into the dark and her eyes shined brightly upon opening as if to challenge the fiery barricade. Along her frame formed jagged sheets of blue ice, coating her whole body like armor. Her hands and the spear were shrouded as well. She took in a deep breath before it closed over her head unsure if she could breathe in this, and finally rushed forward through the flames.

The ice crackled and clinked with each movement as the fire hissed louder. Even with the few split moments she spent within the inferno, the heat was intense and beat on the frozen formation to let it in.

As soon as she stepped out and continued to dash forward the ice dissipated. She let go of the breath and climbed through the window, coughing at the sudden change from smoke and dust into fresh night air. She gave herself little time to reflect on what she had just done and immediately searched to locate Voah if she hadn't been given a scorching demise.