
Chapter 5 - Sebastian
We caught three dozen deer, five full-grown boar, and reduced the pheasant population near the village to a level so low the wolves have already retreated to deeper parts of the forest.
Sebastian blinked and blinked again, unable to believe what was happening. As Fox twirled his hands, the raging sea of fire shrunk until it was no more than those ordinary waves that always crashed onto the riverbank.
No way. The only people able to do that were magicians, and Fox wasn't one. He couldn't be.
Sebastian took a deep breath, prioritising the danger they were in. The flames were still on the move; perhaps not as fast as before, but the heat was clawing at his already burnt skin.
And Fox was standing even closer; his hair a scary mixture between red and black.
He turned around and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Nick, send Billy! It's the only way we can save Fox."
At first, Nick stared at him with a fixed gaze; his mouth slacked open. But just as Sebastian feared that the blonde boy would ride off to save his own skin, he reversed the horse, slid down the saddle and whispered something to Billy.
A quick pat on the neck, and off he galloped.
Sebastian leapt aside as the white bolt rushed by. Now, all Fox had to do was climb onto his back before the flames got to him.
"Fox, get out of there. Now!" Sebastian yelled, hoping his friend would listen to him. And, by the grace of the Gods, not fall off the horse.
Alex grabbed him by the arm, forcing him along. "You too. Run."
"But Fox."
"Billy will take care of him."
He ran, not daring to look over his shoulder until the clip-clop of the horse's hooves appeared behind him. Billy let out a loud neigh as he passed them by with Fox bouncing wildly on his back.
They were still far from harm. The heat was catching up fast, and all around were just trees and shrubberies. This was how they would die; trapped in a cage of plants and wood.
"Seb, we have to follow those sheep." Alex tugged at his arm so hard something cracked in his shoulder.
He wrenched out of her grasp. The sheep were only going deeper into the forest. "Water. We have to find water. It's the only chance we have against fire."
"Then we take the swamp-road down to the river. It's the fastest." She raised her voice, pulling him along again. "Billy, go left."
As Sebastian jumped over branches half his size, the dry wood scratched his skin. The blood flowing down his limbs fueled his desire to live. Anything was better than getting burnt alive.
He dashed through the muddy bog that reeked of years of piled up rotting animals. The sooner he got home, the sooner Mother could tend these wounds. He would wrap his arms around her and never let go.
Before him, Nick was running so slowly that he was almost catching up on him. "No, come on, Nick. You have to hold on."
"No... I can't... I'm... I'm..." Nick panted.
"Billy! Halt," Alex yelled.
The horse obeyed immediately, allowing Nick to struggle onto him. With a quick push, he shoved Fox more to the back of the saddle. "I'll ride. I'm better than you."
"But I—"
"Do it, Fox." Sebastian ran past them. Now was not the time to argue if they wanted to live.
Just as Nick beckoned Billy to move, an explosion burst behind him, with flames shooting higher than the trees. A burning pigeon plummeted into the bog, splattering goo all over Sebastian's legs.
The horse shot forward, neighing loudly. The Goddess of Charity was in their favour. Had Fox been handling the reins, he would have surely plunged down.
With a shattering crack, the trees that had guarded Laneby longer than he had lived split open. Their tops blazing in green light. Ashen rain whirled down, along with thick clouds of smoke that made his eyes water.
He coughed but kept on going. Standing still was giving up on life. And he wasn't done with it yet. Not right before his eleventh birthday.
"I can help you," Fox suggested.
"That won't be needed. You did enough," Sebastian replied. He didn't want to see Fox's trick again. The punishment for practising magic was death, and Fox couldn't die. He was his best friend.
Alex let out a primal scream as an oak tree collapsed, not even a foot behind her. The fire swallowed it all within seconds, leaving nothing but ashes.
"Do something, Fox. I don't wanna die." Tears were streaming down her face, her voice reedy and thin.
"No, I forbid it," Sebastian persisted.
"But Seb..." Fox puckered his lips into a trembling pout. "I can really stop those flames. The Gods are on my side. All you have to do is run."
"You can't. You're not..." A magician. The words were stuck in his throat; too hard to say out loud. He staggered through the swamp, the heat catching onto him even faster than before.
Fox raised his hand nonetheless, the last strands of red hair turning black as he mumbled something; a prayer or incantation, Sebastian didn't want to know.
His skin stopped burning. As impossible as it may be, he had to talk to Father about this. They had to keep this a secret. This was Fox, the boy who had come to their house to play ever since he was old enough to crawl. Father would never raise his sword on him... would he?
At the end of the marshland was a small cliff overhanging the river. Nick steered Billy down the path leading to the beach to spare the horse's legs, but Sebastian and Alex leapt into the water.
He swam to the other shore. Now that Fox was no longer controlling the fire, the all-consuming flames raged on as they mounted the trees and destroyed them within seconds.
The sheep's bleating intensified until it too died. His body tensed. That could have been them if he had followed Alex blindly.
"Did you see me?" Fox rose his arms into the air as he got out of the water. Behind him, Nick was swimming alongside Billy, keeping the horse's head up. "I told the flames to stop, and they did."
For Fox's sake, Sebastian had to pretend all was well. He put his arm around his friend's shoulder. His shirt was riddled with holes from the cinders, beneath it scorch marks in yellow and black. "A foolish and stubborn muttonhead—that's what you are. But you saved our lives. You really are the best Fire Master in all of Laneby."
"Yes, I will tell Lord Brandon. He will be so proud of me."
"Maybe not," Nick said.
Fox cocked his head. "Why not?"
"Because I'm not sure what we will find." Nick gazed downstream to the bend in the river; his hand clutched to Billy's reins. "I don't wanna be pessimistic but... I'm not sure what we will find back home."
"What?" Fox squeaked. "I don't understand."
"Look at them. Those aren't ordinary flames, and they were coming from the west. From Laneby."
"What does it mean?" Alex drew the last arrow from her quiver. All the others were flowing with the river's current.
"I think..." Nick's eyes rested on Fox. "Laneby is under attack... a magical attack."
"You've been reading too many stories, Nick." Sebastian poured the water out of his dagger's sheath. Just in case Nick was right. "Let's find Father. He'll be around to explain what has happened. Maybe he and Master Harald were just experimenting with fireworks for my birthday."
"Yeah," Fox said, not entirely convinced. "They were just green fireworks. You really read too much, Muttonhead."
When Alex didn't take the first step, Sebastian took the lead. The meandering path next to the river would lead them to the village. From the bend, it was only a mile to Laneby. The curtains of smoke sure made it hard to see, but Farmer John's windmill would be greeting them soon.
Yet as the river turned, a fresh cloud of smoke washed over him. He coughed, his eyes pricking with tears. No windmill. No Father. Just ashes and dust everywhere.
"I'm scared," Fox yelped. "Everything hurts. I wanna hold hands."
"Be quiet." Alex smacked his hand away, her voice toned down to a whisper.
"Why?" Fox rushed beside Sebastian, grabbing his hand with a tight squeeze. "What's going on? I don't wanna be here anymore. I want my mother."
"Shhh, she will be with my father, and the rest of our families too." Sebastian didn't know if it was true. He just wanted Father to appear from behind the smoke curtain to rescue them all.
"Yeah, Lord Brandon is the best warrior ever," Fox mumbled, more to himself than to Sebastian. "Mother will be with him."
Sebastian leant closer to hiss a joke in his ear. That would lighten the mood. "You know, with the dark hair, you could almost pass as my brother."
He immediately reached for his fringe, gawking at its blackness. "Why is my hair...?"
"I don't know. Must have been the fire."
"It's not like I'm a magician." He shook his head, turning around. "They are evil, right Nick?"
"Hmm, yeah." He nodded softly, patting Billy.
Nick was supposed to be the rock of the group; not intimidated by or scared of anything. Sebastian had never seen him so tormented, holding onto the horse as if his life depended on it. He must be having the same thoughts: Fox was a magician. Unless Father showed mercy, he had to die.
Through the smoke, something stirred in the water. Sebastian covered Fox's eyes when he realised they were corpses. Two of them. Smouldering.
Sebastian concentrated on his feet. He did not want to know who they were, even if their grey hair did remind him of Farmer John and his wife, Susana. The field they always worked on lay just east of Laneby. By the increasing smell of burnt crops, their corn and potato plants were most likely gone; replaced by endless rows of ashes.
Fox shook his head, struggling to get loose. "Seb, what are you doing?"
"Listen to me. I'll let you go, but promise me you'll keep looking at the forest on your left, or your own feet, but not the river."
"Why?"
"Because..."
Fox usually hid behind his mother's back whenever there was a funeral in town. He would be completely terror-stricken if he too caught sight of John and Susana. But Sebastian couldn't tell him that, then he would surely look up and see the massacre.
"There are enemy soldiers in the water," Nick said, quickly crafting a convincing lie. "You don't want to see them. They're really ugly."
"Fox, do as they say," Alex added. "Not even a peek, you'll have nightmares for the rest of your life if you do."
"Is it the truth, Seb?"
"Yes." The Goddess of Kindness within him spoke. The other Gods of Virtue would have to forgive him for this lie. They would understand it was the only way to get Fox home. "Hey, and stop crying. You know that real men don't cry."
"Okay, real men don't cry." Fox whimpered. "Let me go. I can do this, Seb."
When Sebastian removed his hand, Fox set his gaze on the ground. "I will tell you when we no longer see them."
"Okay."
He had barely left John and Susana behind him when more corpses came into view. Was that Stable Master James that lay there with a black horse? And the path of fuming red hair further down... No... Not Amy.
His breathing grew fast and unsteady, scratching his throat as he inhaled more of the smoke. No. Laneby had to be safe. Even if the fire had hit the village, Father would have led everyone to safety.
He coughed, his lungs almost wanting to escape his body, to which Fox looked up. "You lied, Seb. Those aren't enemy soldiers. It's... that's..."
Fox pushed Sebastian away and lurched into the forest. Alex tossed her bow to Nick and ran behind him. She quickly wrapped her arms around him, into a lock. "Shhh, I know. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, but it's not Seb's fault—repel the God of Wrath."
"Let me go!" He kicked her in the stomach while a stream of tears poured down his scorched cheeks. "I want my mother! I don't wanna be here anymore!"
She put her hand over his mouth. "Be quiet. Whoever did this could still be close. They can't know we are here."
"But it's just fireworks." Fox sobbed. "Seb said so. Father and Lord Brandon must have been playing with fireworks. You don't have to believe Nick. He reads too many books."
"You don't have to believe me, but we need to get out of here. Seb, doesn't your father have a brother who lives in Sundale?" Nick asked. "We need to get to the capital, fast."
He nodded. Father never talked much about Uncle Tommy. Despite Sundale being only a three-day ride from Laneby, they never visited each other. Sebastian had never bothered asking why—it had never seemed important.
"No, we should go north to Doe Hill," Alex still kept Fox firmly in her arms, though he was still squirming to get out. "Lord Brandon is technically Lord of Doe Hill too. They'll help us too."
"We can't." Nick shook his head. "It may be closer than Sundale, but the town is a lot smaller and there's no guarantee that we don't have to cross the fire again to get there."
"What in the Gods' names are you two muttonheads even talking about!" Sebastian's eyes flicked from one to the other. "We haven't even gotten home yet. We'll find Father, and he'll tell us what to do."
Neither Alex nor Nick dared to defy him—which was a first. He breathed in and out, hoping to finally find a familiar sound in the distance. When a faint moan rose from the water, his eyes shot to Alex. She had heard it too.
"I am the better swimmer," she said. "You two look after Fox."
Before anyone could say or do anything, she dove into the river, clothes and shoes and all.
Sebastian ducked into the reed, praying to the Goddess of Kindness that the loud splashing hadn't attracted unnecessary attention.
He pulled Fox closer, burying his head in the nape of his neck to comfort him. Over breakfast, Emily had convinced Lucy to join her and Amy to entertain the stable boys. Father had pretended he didn't wanna hear by sticking his fingers into his ears and singing a song about chasing the Goddess of Lust away.
If the red-haired girl in the water was really Amy, then his sisters might be there too. No, this was all some misunderstanding, a nightmare even. They couldn't be dead.
Nick stretched Alex's bow. "Please, Gods and Goddesses, let me be more successful than during the hunting trip if I really have to fire," he muttered.
Sebastian looked up and held his breath when he could no longer see Alex among the many floating corpses. Laneby had been under attack; that much was certain now. Who or what or why, he did not know, but no fireworks could have caused this.
"It's Abby." Alex surfaced, carrying the severely burnt body of Nick's little sister. "She's alive."
Nick dropped the bow and sprinted towards them. He took Abby into his arms, rocking her like a baby. Her chest was slowly rising and falling. "I'm here, little girl," he whispered, brushing a strand of wet hair from her face. "It's over. You're safe with me now."
"Run, Nicky. Flames... so many of them," she muttered right before her eyes fell shut.
Nick desperately patted her on the cheek. "Stay with me, Abby, the flames have travelled elsewhere. They can't hurt you anymore."
"Did she... die?" Fox snivelled, unable to look at anything but his lap.
"No." Nick held his hand above her mouth. "But she needs to get to Sundale fast. I'll take Billy and ride."
"You're not." Sebastian stepped in front of him. "There could be others like Abby. I want to find my parents, my sisters. Maybe some people died, but not all of them. I refuse to believe that."
"Look at her." Nick gritted his teeth, tears welling up in his eyes. "There isn't any time to lose. She needs help."
"I agree with Seb." Alex was already standing back in the river. "You're not taking her yet. We have to look for other survivors. I want to find Ben and Charlie, and my mother."
"We'll cross the river," Sebastian decided. "We leave if we don't find anyone else."
"Fine," Nick said.
As Sebastian waded through the water, he only found people floating on their belly. He didn't look longer than necessary; they were dead anyway. It was easier just to glance at them, to keep them nameless and faceless for as much as his brain allowed him to.
He didn't care unless they were family, and so far he hadn't found them. His father was invincible; nobody was a stronger warrior than him. He must have dragged Emily and Lucy from the fire and run away together with them and Mother.
He almost believed it.
"Real men don't cry," he repeated as he scrambled ashore.
The tears came out anyway. The once so beautiful town of Laneby had been turned into a giant pit of smouldering ashes. There were no buildings, no trees, and even the rocks had disappeared underneath piles of cinders and dust.
The barn in which he and Fox had played not even a day ago was gone. All that remained were half-burned bones and fire-damaged swords. There had been a fight.
The silence was so deafening that Sebastian wanted to scream the lungs out of his body. Anything just so he would reach Father.
He wasn't only one. Fox was hysterically kicking the ashes on the ground, which caused the flames to appear and extinguish again. "Mother. Where's my mother? Why isn't she here?"
His head was spinning, dizzy from inhaling too much smoke. The only way to stop Fox was to pull him away and get back to the other side of the river.
Alex approached him, her eyes red from crying. "I found them. Ben... Charlie... Mother... all three of them. There are no other survivors, Seb. You have to take Abby."
He wrapped her into a hug, pushing his own tears away. He couldn't leave just yet. "Not me—you. You take Billy and ride west to Sundale."
"But you're Lord Brandon's son, Seb. It's your duty to inform the King of what happened here."
He wanted to protest. Tell her Father was already on his way to the King, that he wanted to keep looking for survivors. There were still so many people they hadn't found yet, like Emily and Lucy, his parents, and Nick's brother George.
"I counted the dead." Nick walked up to him, Abby's almost lifeless body resting on Billy's back. "Do you want to know the numbers, Seb?"
"Don't say two hundred and three." He took a step back, away from the heartbreaking sound of Abby's grating breath. "Not everyone died. I didn't see my family. Father..."
"One of your father's books described why magic got outlawed. Flames conjured by Fire Magicians move quicker than normal ones, and they burn so much faster. I don't know why the Gods have spared my sister's life, but you have to take her to Sundale. I don't want to lose her too. My brother... my parents... my grandmother..." Nick looked at the sky, biting away the tears that were rolling down. "Abby's all I've got left now."
"Seb, he's right," Alex sobbed. "Save her, please."
Duty before self—the oath of the Lords of The Greenlands. Sebastian placed his foot on the stirrup to heave himself onto the saddle. He let Abby lean against his chest to keep a tight grip on her as he held the reins. "I will ride to Sundale because that's where Father would go."
"But I don't want you to go. You have to stay with me." Fox was shaking with sobs, finding shelter in Alex's arms.
"We'll see each other again, in the capital." Sebastian forced a smile on his face, to assure Fox all would be well. "Remember what that merchant said about Sundale? It has the largest army in the Greenlands. Who knows... maybe soon we'll both be able to prove ourselves true men there."
Fox nodded softly, not sounding convinced. "If you say so. Tell my mother I miss her when you find her."
"Of course. And I'll tell her that Alex is taking care of you. She'll like that." One last time Sebastian glanced at Fox's tear-stained eyes, receiving a look of utter betrayal in return. Still he kicked Billy in the side. "Sundale, here we go, boy. Faster than the wind."
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