Fire Starter Read online

  "I don't believe her. She was probably sent by her father to watch us, in case I start another large fire."

  "And who is her father?" Verge turned his head to look at Belden.

  "Master Saadi, of course." Belden snorted.

  "Is he?" Verge spun his legs over the side of the bed and sat up. "How do you know?'

  "They both have white skin. I just know."

  "I had no idea." Verge thought about that for a moment. "So, even if she is his daughter, I don't think she knows. Do you know who your parents are? I certainly don't know my parents." Verge looked at Belden before he shook his head. "Maybe it was you or maybe it was me who melted the candles in class. It doesn't matter. Casi needs help and I am going to give it to her. So, lose your anger. She will learn quicker with your help and I will feel better if you are not projecting so strongly."

  "Why are you helping her?'

  "I like her, and besides …" Verge stopped talking.

  "Besides what," Belden prompted.

  "Besides if we do her a favour, she will return it some day when we need a favour."

  "Why would she do that?" Belden tried to take the anger out of his voice.

  "Because she is a very important person and knows humans and Jlaantei in high places." Verge sounded very adult as he offered that information.

  "How do you know, and like who?'

  "How many humans have four Jlaantei guards at any one time? How many humans have a Jlaantei guard at all? How many humans are allowed to teleport anywhere in the palace? How many humans get invited to meetings with the Queen and King of the Jlaantei?" Verge almost looked smug while he waited for Belden to think those questions through.

  "So you think I should help her learn to put out fires?" Belden waited for Verge to nod.

  #

  "Yes, light the four sticks at once." Casi waited as her guards followed her instructions.

  She sat in the same spot as yesterday, but Belden still had not arrived. She glanced at Verge, who sat quietly beside her. He watched the guards set fire to four sticks from the small fire they started earlier, when they realized Belden wasn't coming.

  "Don't worry about Belden," Casi told Verge.

  "He might show up." Verge sounded disappointed.

  "I can keep practicing without him." Casi smiled to let Verge know she was not disappointed with him.

  They watched in silence as the four sticks were finally lit and the guards hurried to place them, burning end up, in the ground four paces apart, marking the corners of a square.

  After the guards moved back to stand behind Casi she began to concentrate.

  She built a small twister using air but this time instead of pushing it towards one of the four burning sticks she moved it to the centre of the square. She continued to concentrate. The twister grew in diameter until the outside edge was just close enough to the sticks to make the burning ends flare up from the movement of air.

  "That is what happened with the boats," Casi muttered to herself. She watched the flames burn brighter. She knew she was frustrated, but this time instead of keeping a tight reign on her temper, she let it go.

  Her flash of anger helped the twister. She watched it grow to twice its size. It not only blew out the fires; it pulled the sticks out of the ground and held them in the swirling air.

  Casi forgot her anger as she watched the sticks spin past with each revolution of the twister.

  "Casi," Verge whispered, "you had better slow down the twister. Slow it down before it takes out the trees and gardens and wall."

  Casi blinked and concentrated. With a thought, she slowed the twister, and released the energy into the air, which slowed it further until the sticks fell to the ground. Finally, the twister disappeared.

  "Wow!" Casi took a deep breath and released it to calm down.

  Two of the guards retrieved the sticks.

  Casi looked at the burnt end of each stick and realized they were not even smoking. "We did it." Casi hugged Verge. "Did you use your echo effect to make the twister larger?'

  "No." Verge pulled back from Casi's hug. "It was all you."

  "Good work," Kensell told Casi. He studied the sticks the guards held out. "The fires are out."

  "Yes." Casi couldn't help but smile. "I think the wind has to be fast to remove the oxygen which forces the fire to die down." She shrugged her shoulders. "I am not sure."

  "Just like blowing out a candle," Verge agreed.

  Casi stood and hugged Kensell. She laughed and released him. "I did it. I did it."

  "You still need more practice," Kensell suggested, "they were only little fires."

  Casi laughed again. "Of course. Now I can experiment with bigger fires."

  #

  So, she can put out little fires. Belden watched Casi from his hiding place behind a thick bush. While she hugged her guard, Belden shifted his position to ease his legs.

  What is she, an alien lover? Why is she so friendly with her guards? Why does she tolerate them hanging around all the time?

  Why is Verge still sitting there helping her? Belden shook his head, because he did not understand why Verge liked her. Yes, she is powerful. Yes, she can teleport not only herself, but also others, wherever she wants. So what? He will be able to do that once he gets to her age. So will Verge, and he will probably be a stronger weather controller then her, when Verge gets to her age.

  Belden thought of why he should not help her. What if she gets so good she can put out fires as soon as he started them? Maybe that is why she wants to learn. What if she learns to start fires like him? Where will that leave him? What will he do?

  Then he had another thought. What does it matter? There will be two of us who can start fires. There will be two of us who can stop anyone attacking us. There will be two of us who can travel the stars and … and what? Start wars or stop wars?

  If she can stop him starting fires then Master Saadi will not have him mind wiped because she could control him. So, it is better to help her.

  Verge is smart if he already had that figured out.

  Belden stood and stretched, to take the cramps out of his legs, before he eased around the side of the building and hurried back to the classroom wing, so he could use that corridor to get to the kitchen garden.

  "Here you are," Belden tried to act innocent as he stopped near Casi and Verge. He studied her guards, but they seemed relaxed, so he moved closer and sat next to Verge.

  "Casi can put out fires," Verge informed Belden.

  "Good," Belden smiled at Casi. "I will start the fires and you put them out."

  "Only little ones," Casi suggested.

  "Verge, could you stand some sticks in the ground so I can light them?" Belden asked Verge.

  "We will," the closest guard interrupted. He nodded to two of the guards who grabbed sticks from the pile and forced them into the ground.

  After an hour of Belden starting small fires and Casi putting them out, the guard who always stood close to Casi spoke. "I think we should eat before you continue."

  "Once more, Kensell, before we call it quits for the day. I have another idea to try."

  Belden wondered how she could tell the guards apart. They were all tall and had the same grey hide, and remained silent as they watched everything Belden and Casi did. Even their beaks were the same width and length. He could not find any distinguishing features that set one apart from the other. But, that was how he felt about all the Jlaantei. He didn't trust them, because it was Jlaantei that had hurt his Chillmannu friends in the past.

  "Could you light the next four sticks?'

  Belden then remembered it was Casi who was trying to find the Jlaantei who were killing or capturing the Chillmannu. Not the guards who had the responsibility to keep the peace. So, he thought, another reason to help Casi.

  "Belden?"

  Belden bought his attention back to Casi.

  "Could you light the next four sticks please?"

  "Certainly." Belden concentrated and a ring of
fire sprang out of the ground. The sticks were consumed and the fire still burned.

  "What have you done?" Casi sounded angry.

  "Put it out." Belden kept his voice calm to stop Casi from over reacting.

  He watched her concentrate. Instead of a twister, she built a bubble of thickened air high above the flames. Then the bubble spun faster and faster before she lowered it to hover inches above the ground in the middle of the circle of fire.

  She did something to expand the bubble until it smothered the fire, but it didn't stop there. It continued to spin in an ever-increasing circle, pushed over three small bushes, then with a whooshing sound Belden tumbled away from where he sat. Everything went black.

  #

  "That was unexpected." Casi commented to Kensell before she teleported the other guards back from where they stopped tumbling.

  She found and teleported Verge back from the middle of a vegetable garden where he had landed. When the guards and Verge were standing without help, she cast around for Belden.

  "Look at the wall!" Lear pointed.

  Casi and Kensell turned to look. A section of the wall had fallen. Through the gap, she could see blocks of stone scattered on the ground. Not one block fell inwards.

  Guards and servants rushed from all directions to see what had caused the wall to crash.

  "We need to look for Belden." Casi tugged Kensell's arm to get his attention. "I can't sense him."

  Kensell ordered all the guards to look for Belden while he stayed beside Casi.

  Finally, one guard found Belden unconscious under a bush.

  "Oh." Casi watched as a guard carried Belden's limp body towards her.

  "Hospice, I think," Kensell suggested. "I didn't know humans grew lumps on their heads."

  "He must have hit something when he was blown away. And if he regains consciousness, watch out. He will probably be sick." Casi lead the way back into the palace towards the hospice.

  #

  "Come on, sleepy head, time to get up." Casi smiled at Belden, who still looked a little pale. The lump on his head was much smaller, but it had started to change to purple around the raised area. "The healer said you are fine now, and can get up. He also said you could go back to school tomorrow."

  "What for? We will be in trouble for starting fires and �" Belden mumbled.

  "No we aren't." Verge bounced onto the end of the bed.

  Casi smiled. "Get up. We are going on an outing. It will do your headache the world of good."

  Kensell dropped his lower beak and snapped it shut. "I could carry him."

  "Carry me where?" Belden pushed himself into a sitting position.

  "We are going to visit the ocean. Fresh air should do you good. We just have to watch you don't bump your head again."

  "What about the accident?" Belden frowned as he bought his hand up to his head to feel the bump.

  "That was two days ago," Verge informed Belden. "Even the wall is nearly fixed."

  "Wall?" Belden looked at Casi. "What wall?'

  "The wall I accidentally blew over when I put out the fire."

  Belden looked at Verge, then back at Casi. "You blew over a wall? I missed that part."

  Kensell nodded once "Yes, Casi can now put out fires. She succeeded with your help."

  Casi held out his clothes. "Get dressed. We will wait in the corridor."

  She grabbed Belden's arm as soon as he walked out of his hospice room. "Hang on, Belden. Verge, give me your arm." Casi also grabbed Verge's arm. "We will wait for you outside the shed." She teleported the three of them to the beach.

  #

  Belden tried to look around but the glare of the sunlight made him squint.

  Casi pulled a folded up straw hat out of her pocket, unfolded it and passed it to him, which he was grateful for, once he put it on and realized it shaded his eyes and head. "Now what?'

  "We wait for the guards. They won't be long." She seemed relaxed and happy.

  "Here they are." Verge pointed to the four guards. They walked out of the small wooden shed on his left.

  Belden noticed the guards each wore a lettrotrong, which explained how they arrived so quickly. He took another look at the lettrotrong. He now understood the wide belts used Jlaantei technology. It allowed the wearer to teleport around the countryside instantly, just as Casi could do with her mind.

  "First, we look at the wharves, and then we do whatever we want." Casi smiled at everyone.

  Belden followed Casi around a burnt-out building. There was not much left except for a few timbers, which held half the roof up. The rest was burnt rubble.

  "See there?" Casi pointed out the wharves.

  Belden looked at the deep blue water, and the wharves. "What exactly am I looking at?'

  "Come out onto the wharf." She walked onto the wooden planks, looking back to make sure he followed. "See, down there in the water?"

  Belden could only make out a dark shape. He looked at Casi to see if she would tell him what it was.

  She didn't, so Verge finally asked. "What is it?'

  "The remains of the hull of a ship. The ship was set on fire and burnt to the water line, before the remains sank to the bottom." Casi looked at the rest of the empty wharves. "There are eight more hulls sunk at the eight closest wharves. All set on fire and all destroyed."

  Belden watched her look at Verge, before she looked back at him.

  "I tried to put out the fires, even called a storm, but they all burnt before the storm arrived. This is why I needed to learn to put out fires. This is why I needed your help. If there is another fire I can put it out before we lose more ships."

  "The Jlaantei can build more." Belden looked around but there was no one else in the area.

  "Why did you need the ships," Verge asked.

  "To keep a promise to the Ty. Have you heard about the Ty?'

  "Yes, you rescued the large animals that came with the invaders. Did you really fight invaders?"

  Trust Verge to ask the right questions. Belden knew he was as eager as Verge to learn more about the Ty, the large intelligent animals that sailed from the southern continent with the invaders, who were indigenous to Mannuholm, the same as his friends, the Chillmannu.

  "I had lots of help. My guards," Casi smiled at the four Jlaantei guards who stood back but listened to everything she said, "Majim's guards and the King's guards helped too. So, your help was appreciated, and we are all grateful to you. Both of you." Casi smiled at Verge and Belden.

  "What was the promise?" Belden could not remember hearing about a promise in class.

  "I promised I would get the Ty back to the southern continent if they didn't fight. Now we have lost so many ships, we have to work out new plans to get them home. There are only three ships still seaworthy and I need to protect them, so I wanted to learn how to put out fires before someone else gets the idea to burn them."

  "Can we help you get the Ty home?" Verge asked.

  "You can, but we are still working out which ones want to go and which ones want to stay here."

  "Can we meet these large animals?" Belden realized Verge was getting excited.

  "Yes, if you want to." Casi moved back down the wharf. Verge followed and two of the guards walked behind them.

  "Did she really rescue the Ty and stop the invaders," Belden asked the two guards who remained with him.

  "Yes," one answered.

  "Do you think she will let me help too?" Belden felt good about having something to do beside study.

  "She will be happy you volunteered," the other guard said. "Come and tell her."

  "Are the Ty really intelligent? Can she really talk to them?" Belden thought he should learn what he could about the large animals he had heard about in class, even if it sounded unbelievable.

  "They are large, and they do talk to Casi. You may be able to hear them also, but we don't have your talents," the guard explained.

  "Do you two know if we are going to get our minds wiped?'

  "Casi won
't allow it, and we won't let it happen." The guard dropped his lower beak and snapped it shut.

  "Has Master Saadi done it to anyone that you know of?'

  "We would not allow it to happen," the guard repeated.

  "I am happy to hear that." Belden smiled at the guards before he hurried after Casi.

  THE END

  About the Author

  Diane J Cornwell started writing novels in 2007. She hopes to have many more novels created in the coming years. Currently she is revising three novels and planning another. When she finished her current characters stories in five planned Sifi novels, she has plans to branch out into murder mysteries and more.

  Discover other titles by Diane J Cornwell.

  Broken Faith - Novel

  Broken Lands - Novel

  Connect with the Author Online:

  http://www.dianejcornwell.wordpress.com

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  Fire Starter

  About the Author