I was desperate to remove the shackles. A strange sensation began to spread across my skin. It was very weird until I realized it was heat. I hadn't felt anything except the heavy, damp cold of the Liminal World in a long time. Where was the heat coming from? If the desert was hot, I would have been feeling it a long time ago when we first entered the wasteland. The shackles around my hands and feet were apparently excellent conductors of this heat because they began to burn my skin. My eyes were watering with pain. The air around me began to ripple. Like the mirage around me was being revealed. It was the most uncanny feeling. Shouting came from ahead and that's when I began to scream. If there was anyone here, I had to give it my all. I screamed until my voice was raw.
"Shut up back there," The driver shouted, and I could hear fear in his voice. What was up there? A strong blast of heat swept back across the caravan. I was screaming now out of pain. The shackles were going to sear my skin. But then the scene began to ripple. I could see things I hadn't seen before. There were figures everywhere. I just hadn't been able to see them before. They were strange. They looked like people, but they were extremely tall and slender with dark hair and features. Something about the eyes wasn't quite right. They were too bright. I met the gaze of a young-looking male figure and saw a strange reflective light in his eyes, almost as if they were lit from the inside.
I cried out again and the caravan stopped suddenly. The blasts of heat were almost unbearable. The cart toppled over and I fell hard on the sandstone street. Someone wrenched me out from under the cart. It was the demon, Lord Morningstar's Servant. He pulled me towards the front of the caravan. I could hardly see past the blinding light in front of the line of black-cloaked riders. As my eyes adjusted I could see that it was a wall of flame. Not a single flame, but many individual flames burning high. they were positioned so close to one another that they became almost a single unit of burning fire. I felt that if I stared too long I may be changed in some inexplicable way. I averted my gaze.
The demon grabbed me by the shackles and pulled out an awful curved blade which he held against my throat. Why now?
"You won't hurt me," I shouted, trying to sound brave. "I know that your master needs my blood."
"You've heard correctly. But don't think I will spare you. Lord Morningstar would have preferred to do the deed himself, but it matters not whether you are dead or alive. Your blood is just as potent no matter when it was spilled." He snarled. It was odd because he seemed to be talking to the flames rather than me. As he spoke, they flashed and flared higher. It was almost a response.
"You're bluffing," I said. I wasn't sure, but I tried to hide the waver in my voice. He pressed the blade fast across my skin. I could almost feel its piercing sharpness. When suddenly the flames shot up into a blaze all around us. We were surrounded by a great ball of flame. The heat was unbearable.
The demon paced around. We alone were inside the circle. Some of his riders had fled. We watched as they escaped on the road we came in on. He growled under his breath. "Fools."
A voice responded from inside the flames. "You are foolish who have dared to enter the city that has been forbidden to you." It was at once a roaring scream and an ethereal echo. It resonated inside every cell of my body.
The demon responded as if he knew this voice. "I was taking what was rightfully mine to my master. Who are you to stop me?"
The voice came back, now a keening cry, "Our claim to this land predates you and your master. Will you deny it?" The flames reached out and licked at the demon, coming only inches from my face.
"Will you stand in my way for this girl?" He shouted back, unleashing an inky black force against the blaze. A stinking smoke came from where the black tendrils met the flame and there was a haunting shriek like the flames were in pain.
"We will." came the resounding reply. I felt the heat build before the ball of flame exploded into a force greater than I'd ever felt. The demon released his grip on me and I fell hard. I saw the fire rushing toward me, then everything went dark.
12
The Lightbringer
When I woke up, the first thing I felt was cool silk against my skin. I moved my head, but the pain in my neck flared as soon as I moved. Next to me, sat a woman. She was one of them. The tall strange people with oddly lit eyes. She pressed a cloth to my face.
"Take it slow, little one." She soothed me. I opened my eyes to the room around me. I was in a grand room with windows open to the air and silk hanging all around. I gingerly moved my fingers and toes. "That's the way." She encouraged.
"Where am I?" I asked. I seemed to be safe, but the last thing I could remember was being caught in the middle of a firefight between a demon and those flame creatures.
"The City of Smokeless Fire at the Great Palace. You are a guest in the home of the Djinn."
"The Djinn?" I asked. They must be the fire people?
"Yes, and I'm certain the Lady of the Palace will want to speak with you." She said.
The main chamber of the palace was as grand as I could imagine. There sat a man and woman, though I knew they weren't quite human, at
