#nikela

She brushes the edge with her fingers and he jerks away. “If you’d brought us along, this wouldn’t have happened.” She frowns at the cut and glances up at him. “I don’t care what the prophecy says about you being an all-slaying hero.”

Fire lights on her fingers.

“What are you doing?” His eyes are wide and now he looks the young age he is. He seems older in the worn leather, armed with his sword, leading them through the empire. He’s younger then most of them, though, and it’s showing. “Aren’t you going to call Falli?”

“No. This needs more immediate care.” She puts more energy into the fire, so it encases her hand, and she presses it to his side.

He screams.

His skin bubbles under her, blood boiling as the wound seals itself shut. He’s thrashing under her, and her other hand is on his stomach, pinning him with force so she doesn’t burn anything she doesn’t have to. She slides it down the full length and again once more to be safe.

She pulls away with bits of blood and flesh stuck to her palm. She flicks them off. “Falli will be back from town soon. She’ll have something for the pain.” She stands and mentally routes a path to the stream so she can wash her hands and rid her mind of the feeling. “Don’t do something like that again. We can’t afford to have you die.”

He’s the one prophesied to free them, after all.

There were no back-ups to a seer’s prophetic hero. No back up plans. Just the one boy and the one chance.

He’s breathing heavy, hand hovering protectively over his wound. He looks scandalized as he stares at her. Like she’d disrobed him for pleasure instead of aiding with his wound.

She tilts her head, twists her lips to hold back the icky feeling in the back of her throat, bile rising. “What? Did you think my fire was all destruction and pain?”

“It’s fire,” he says.

“It’s warmth. And if I hadn’t done that, you’d have bled out before the others got back.” She turns to leave but pauses. They were on the outskirts of forest and she was the only one present. “I’ll help you get back to camp. It’s not far.”

She can handle waiting to wash herself. The memory of his skin bubbling under her hand would remain after she wet them with icy water, so what was the rush?

She swallows the lump in her throat as she helps their hopeless savior up and limps with him to camp.

He’s been a hindrance so far. Self-sacrificing. He’s smart, but he’s also developing an ego. Thinks that he’s infallible because he’s propheted to take back their kingdom from the invasion.

Hopefully today has taught him otherwise.

He’s not their guaranteed victor. He can fail and they can all lose. But he is their only chance at unshackling their empire from the neighboring kingdom. The only one who can wield the goddess-forged sword with his skin intact.