Attack

  "Damien!" Faye's sharp voice brought him out of his reverie. He was working on balance with her in the training room, and he was balanced in the middle of a thin pole stretched across the room about four feet off the ground when he had started drifting off and loosing focus. He jerked toward the sound of her voice, and then began loosing his balance. "Whoa-" Damien called out just as his foot slipped and he fell to the ground.

  It had been three days since Faye's experience with the fire, and she had just been acting as if nothing had happened. She held out her hand to Damien, who was lying on the floor groaning, and hoisted him to his feet. "You need to learn to concentrate." Faye sighed.

  "Well I'm sorry." Damien scowled. "You had me up on that pole for about an hour. What did you expect?"

  "Damien, you were up there for about five minutes." Faye scoffed and threw his boots at him. "Now put your boots back on."

  "You put your boots on..." Damien grumbled as he pulled them on and began lacing them back up.

  Just then, a loud sound blasted through the tunnels. Damien clasped his ears and Faye jerked upright. The sound lasted for about fifteen seconds before the sound slowly died down.
  "What was that?" Damien asked sharply, but Faye was already running out the door. "Faye!" Damien dashed after her down the hall. "What's going on?"
  "We're under attack!" Faye screamed back at him. "That was the war horn! We use it in case of emergency."
  "What?" Damien yelled as Faye careened around the corner. He followed and found a large group of people gathering there. He immediately spotted Derek and rushed to him.
  "Derek!" Derek turned and Damien grasped his shoulders. "What's going on?"
  "The Hand Guard is invading! We're evacuating!" The group of people began running down one of the halls.
  "Wait!" Derek stopped. "Where's Rosa?" Derek's face went momentarily blank, then horrified.
  "She said she was going to the roof." Derek whispered.
  "What are you two doing?" Faye screamed at them. The group was pulling away, but Faye ran back. "We have to get out of here!"
  "We have to go get Rosa!" Damien yelled. The war horn blasted through the tunnels again and they had to yell to be heard. "She's on the roof!"
  Faye's shoulders deflated and she looked anxiously at the rapidly receding group of people. "The roof where I taught you how to connect?" she asked softly. Damien nodded. "OK. You guys go with the group and get out. I'll go get her."
  "No, Faye, let me come with you!" Damien grabbed her hand, but Faye shook her head.
  "No, you need to just get out. You don't know the passages, and I can go faster without you. Go, now! Before they leave!" Faye pushed them to the group.
  "Faye-" Damien hesitated, but Derek grabbed his hand and pulled him away. Then the two of them were running after the group of people, leaving Faye standing alone.

  Faye watched until the boys were out of sight before she turned and dashed in the other direction. "Please don't let them attack from the roof. Please don't let them attack from the roof." Faye muttered under her breath as she ran. She knew these tunnels well, and before long she was pushing open the door that led to the pass up to the roof.
  She ran up but no one was there. "Rosa!" she screamed. "Where are you?" She ran to the middle of the space, and saw Rosa huddling up behind a rock. "Rosa!" She ran over to her. "Come on! We have to get out of here!"
  Then Rosa screamed and pointed behind Faye. Faye whipped her head around, but before she could see anything, a blast of power sent her flying through the air.
  She flew about ten feet before hitting the ground and skidding to a halt about a foot away from the edge. She shook her head, clearing it, and slowly looked up.
  About twenty men stood there, one of them holding Rosa with his arm around her throat and the other around her waist. The man in the middle took a step forward. He looked about twenty four and he was dressed in full metal armor.
  "Fayela, it's so good to see you." he said softly.
  "I can't say the same about you, Amis." Faye growled. "Let her go."
  Amis sighed. "Now Fayela, you know we can't do that. She's a prisoner of war. The only way we could ever let her go would be if there was a trade..."
  Faye struggled to get to her knees. "Are you suggesting I give myself to you in return for her freedom?"
  The boy holding Rosa laughed. "Of course not. That would mean you have a choice of whether or not you're coming with us." Faye looked at him closely. He was just a little older than her,
  "Drago." she whispered. The color drained from her face, but she made her voice remain strong. "So you're the king's puppet now?"
  "Fayela, you will do better to be more polite about the king." Amis chided lightly. "Now Drago, if you would, please go retrieve Fayela."
  "My pleasure." Drago smiled, and pushed Rosa into the arms of someone standing nearby. "Come here, Fayela." Drago took a few steps forward.
  "Get away from me." Faye drew her sword and finally made it to her feet.
  "Fayela, I much preferred you on your knees." Drago smiled, and then he looked at Faye's lower legs. Suddenly her legs were engulfed in pain, and she screamed and fell. Her legs were bending awkwardly, almost as if there were no bones in them at all.
  Then Drago moved his eyes to her face, and her legs straightened and the pain went away. Faye was panting as Drago took the last few steps. She pointed her sword at him, and he stopped. "Stay away from me."
  "Fayela, haven't you learned anything?" Amis sighed. "Her shoulder, if you would, Drago."
  Drago looked at her shoulder, and she felt it come out of socket. She breathed in sharply and her sword slipped through her fingers. Drago bent forward and grabbed her under her shoulders, hoisting her up.
  "Let go of me." Faye growled, trying to break free of his grip.
  "Stop struggling." Drago snarled.
  Faye closed her eyes and focused on the concept of fire. She felt it building up, about to burst and start an actual fire, but then something cold and hard was snapped around her neck and the power slipped away.
  "We'll be having none of that." Drago laughed. Faye reached up and touched her neck, and found that there was a metal circle tight around her throat. It wouldn't move when she touched it and was exactly the size of her neck.
  "What is this?" Faye whispered.
  "It was your mothers." Amis smiled as he reached down and picked up her sword. "The king used it to keep her under control." Faye growled. "And this was also hers, wasn't it..." He slid the sword into an empty scabbard at his belt.
  "Give that to me!" Faye yelled at him.
  "Fayela," Drago sighed, "you're a woman. You have no right to carry a sword." Faye screamed in outrage and fought against his arms.
  "Enough!" Amis yelled. "We have what we came for. Kill the other one and we can leave."
  "No!" Faye screamed. The man holding Rosa pushed her away from him and then drove a sword into her chest. Rosa squeaked, looked at the sword sticking out of her chest, and fell to her knees.
  Just then, Damien, Derek, and Burne burst up off of the path leading to the roof. "DAMI-" Damien heard Faye scream just before the group of men vanished, taking Faye with them.

Burne

  "Are we done?" Damien panted. "I don't usually get tired this quickly..."

  "I know." Faye came over to check on him. "Using your power wears you out when you first start. It'll get easier."

  "When?" Damien laughed. Faye shook her head and helped him up off the mat. 

  "Come on. It's time for lunch. Burne, you want to come?" Faye offered.

  "Yeah sure. I need something in my stomach." Burne grumbled as he joined the two of them. "What do they have today?" he asked as they left the training room and started down the hall.

  "I think Aran shot a couple of deer this morning." Faye said over her shoulder to Burne.
  "Then we better hurry. We don't want to miss any of it." Burne frowned.
  Faye, instead of picking up the pace, only laughed. "As if anyone would dare eat some of your food. You remember what happened last time."
  Burne grinned, and Damien asked, "What happened?"
  "Well, Aran shot about twelve hawks a couple of months ago, and everyone knows that they're Burne's favorite. We'd been training, so by the time we got there, there wasn't any left." Faye explained.
  "So what'd he do?"
  Faye started laughing harder than ever. "He set fire to the dining hall."
  "It's not like it was on purpose." Burne said softly, with a smile in his voice.
  "Did anyone get hurt?" Damien asked, concerned.
  "No, everyone was fine. Though we did need to get new tables for the hall." Faye laughed. "Although we aren't really sure how he did it."
   "So don't eat my food." Burne gave Damien an odd look. Just then, they entered the dining hall. It was filled with people, and Damien was suddenly self conscious.
  "Shouldn't we get cleaned up before eating? We're covered in sweat." Damien asked nervously.
  Burne laughed out loud. "Damien, people rarely take baths here. There isn't a whole lot of clean drinking water, much less clean bathing water. And people who are sweaty usually just change clothes and call it a day." They approached the line where food was being given out.
  "Then shouldn't we put on clean clothes?" Damien asked pointedly.
  Burne smiled harshly. "I usually don't because it prevents people from sitting near me." Damien grabbed a tray and stalked over to an empty table in the corner. The table had black scorch marks on one end and it was set apart from the rest of the tables.
  "People don't sit next to him because he smells? I thought it was his sunny disposition." Damien grumbled. Faye laughed and began to walk to the table.
  "Are you coming?" she asked, tilting her head.
  "Umm..." Damien glanced over at the table where Rosa was sitting alone. "I think I should probably go sit with Rosa..."
  Faye sighed. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow." Then she turned on her heel and began to leave.
  "Wait!" Faye turned, her face looking slightly hopeful and expectant. "Don't we have practice this afternoon?"
  Faye's face hardened and she shrugged. "I'm giving you the rest of the day off." Then she turned and went over and sat with Burne. He was already digging in and didn't look up when she sat down. She didn't say anything, just sat there and stared at her food.
  Damien sighed and left to go to Rosa's table.

  That night, it was late when Damien got back to his room. He had shown Rosa the roof where Faye had taught him to connect with the ground, and he was tired from all the walking. He leaned against the  wall outside his door, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Then his eyes flew open. He could smell smoke. He looked around for the source, and he could see the smoke seeping from under Faye's door.
  "Faye!" he yelled and pounded on her door. He didn't hear a response, so he grabbed the door and flung it open. Everything, even the stone walls were on fire. Damien concentrated and made them die down enough that he could run through the short hall to the room beyond. He ran in and made it to the room, and he could just barely see through the smoke. But he saw Faye curled on her side on her bed, her hair splayed around her as everything around the bed burned.
  "Faye!" He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. She didn't wake up, so he scooped her into his arms and ran for the door. He ran straight through the flames this time, and then burst through into the hall. He saw that part of Faye's sleeve was burning, so he set her down quickly and he beat at it until the flames died down.
  Then he lay down next to her and breathed heavily. Suddenly her body started convulsing and Faye was coughing hard. She sat up and Damien beat on her back until the coughing ended. She turned and looked at him with wide eyes.
  "What happened?" she asked quietly.
  "I think you set your room on fire." Faye looked at the doorway to her room where the flames were slowly retreating, and then she looked down at her arm where fire had eaten through her sleeve and left an angry red burn about the size of a child's hand on her arm.
  Then she turned back to Damien and sighed. "Please don't tell anyone about this." she whispered.
  "Why not?" Damien asked.
  "Because its been years since I haven't been able to control myself," Faye breathed, "and I can't stand it if people think I'm a ticking time bomb again." A tear escaped the corner of her eye and she wrapped her arms around herself. "Because I thought I was stronger than that."