Snippet

In the Fire Light

My shriek was cut short amid the burning flare of red light. I knelt in the ashes, watching in muted horror as everything I loved shriveled away in the fiery inferno.

    “This didn’t have to happen, Damara. You could’ve just said yes,” the guttural voice of the creature made me wince.

    Tears built in the corners of my eyes as rage and grief melted into one.

    “I will never accept a monster.” I'd meant for the response to be gutting, but it escaped my lips as no more than a whimper as the ash settled on my brow and fiery hair.

    “What monster? I see only a liberator,” Veron set a bloodied hand to my shoulder as he spoke. “A liberator and his queen.”

    Lips pursing and spine stiffening, I ripped my shoulder away, feeling fresh blood ooze as his talons drew across my skin. I rose to shaky legs, my lips trembling and my heart hammering.

    “A liberator protects the innocent,” My voice was still faint, and trembling with emotion, but I held my ground, remembering the handsome, young boy who had once spoken with this creature’s voice. Glancing back at the burning home, I thought of the bodies I knew were inside. I’d caved before, and had had only my brother to speak what I knew needed to be said, this time it was all on me. “A king serves his people, a warrior fights only when needed, and a friend does not forsake his own.”

    Tears were streaming down my face like the blood that ran in rivers down my arm.

    “Forsake…is that how you see bettering yourself? I left to become something great, and yet you rejected me!”

    “You were great, what you became is a monster.” My voice rose, gaining strength. Veron’s fists clenched and his jaw tightened, but I wasn’t finished. “You had been a brother to me, you had worked alongside me. You spat on all of that; you abandoned me!”

    “Abandoned! You worm–”

    “So you love me so much you kill and destroy all I’ve loved then proceed to insult me!”

    “Kill and destroy all that you loved! You were all I had, and you were all I loved! I left to become someone worthy of you, and yet when I return you call me a beast and walk away!”

    “I would’ve married you! Before you left, when we were friends of a kindred heart, I loved you, and hoped that one day you would take me as your bride! Then you came to me and told you were leaving. You ripped out my heart! My home and family were not the first things I loved that you took from me! The first thing was the boy you were, transforming him into the monster you are. But this,” I gesture with a shaking palm to my burning home, “will be the last thing that you ever take from me!”

    With that, I jumped one of the burning timbers, ripping off a chunk. Veron roared and raced for me, flames bounding from his raven wings. I held the flaming wood in my burned and bleeding hands, ready to strike him down.

. . . . . 

    If you'd like to see more posts like this then please subscribe, and if you'd like to receive my free novelette about a Jewish boy in Russia before WW1 join my email list. Just click here to do that. Comment down below if you liked this post! Thank you for your support!