Page 49 of The Anointed's Paladin

There was a small door ahead of us, which led us up a long, winding staircase. It was dark and damp and narrow. I could feel my shoulders brushing against the sides. It kept going, up and up, and I couldn’t stop picturing the thick, solid rock of the mountain all around us. I had a sudden, intense urge to get out of this staircase as quickly as possible. My breathing hitched as I forced my huge frame forward. Was the passage narrowing? What if it got smaller and smaller and I could no longer fit?

To my relief, a small door appeared around the next corner, and I barreled through it, taking a deep breath of the marginally clearer air. We were in a wide, square room. Opposite to us was a large, round archway that rose over a tunnel. The floor that way started to slope upwards, which was a hint that we were finally starting to headout.

21

Shouldn’t have asked

Talon

We set up camp in a room we found. A small stream had found its way inside, trickling down the walls and collecting into a number of small pools on the far side. Nidori tested it and said it was good to drink, so we settled in.

She sidled up to me after a few minutes. “So, are we starting a fire tonight?”

I shook my head. “It’s too enclosed here. We’d choke on the smoke.”

“Ugh,” she said, face falling. “This cave stinks. There’s no plantsandno fires?”

“Here.” I held up my palm and summoned a flame. It hovered above my hand, sending dancing shadows throughout the dim room.

Nidori’s face split into a wide smile. She clambered onto my arm. “Can I touch it?” she whispered.

“Give me a sec,” I said, cooling the flame. It settled into a slower liquid blue. It was mostly just light in this form.

Nidori stretched out her hand, dipping it into the fire. “It tickles,” she said, turning her hand over. “Wow. I can’t believe you can make fire whenever you want. Wait.” She looked up at me. “How big of a fire can you make? Could you make one bigger than a horse?”

“I don’t really need to make ones that big. But, yes, the biggest one I made was bigger than a horse.”

“Wow, really? Tell me all about it! Were you fighting a big monster?”

I laughed. “Nothing nearly so exciting. I was a dumb teenager. I hadn’t hit my growth spurt yet, so people didn’t find me scary. We were visiting the coast, and I met some of the local kids. I was trying to impress one.”

I felt a pang as I relived the memory. He had been taller, with dark hair and freckles. It was the last time I remembered being shorter than most people.

“So, you made a really big fireball?” asked Nidori, wrinkling her nose.

“The biggest one I could. It was about the size of a carriage. And I launched it right into the sea.”

I could remember the terror that coursed through me as I realised I’d probably made it too big. The heat that blistered around me, starting to turn the sand into glass. I’d hurled it as far as I could and made a geyser of steam. And we’d all run, hearts pounding and bursting with nervous laughter.

“I’m still trying to understand why you’d make a fireball to impress someone you’d just met,” said Nidori.

Kaine plopped down next to us. “He was trying to get laid, darling.”

“Laid?” asked Nidori.

“In bed with someone. To have sex.”

“Really?” Nidori turned back to me. “With afireball? Did it get him to lay you?”

“Kind of,” I said sheepishly. “He was impressed. We, um, kissed a bit. But then his dad found us.”

It had been my first and last kiss for a long time. I’d grown two feet taller that summer and two feet wider—and started to see the blood drain from people’s faces when they looked at me.

“Youhaveto show me that one day, Talon,” Nidori said. “I’ll even give you a kiss for it.”

“Sorry, little bean. It’s really not safe. I was lucky no one got hurt that time.”

She pouted and climbed off my arm, walking away to her little pack. I released the flame, letting it die out.

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