I could feel the hole in my side nagging me — stinging at my nerves like some jester in my brain’s court. The heat of the weapon continued to linger amongst cold words.

  “-and you were trying to poison him, you witch!” “How do you figure that? You think you didn’t hurt him with that stunt? I just pulled a half-dozen glass shards from him-” “Better than dead!”

  I lay against a cold stone floor. Meager brick walls lay at all sides but one. Light bounced from the barred side, across the walls, and annoyingly into my eyes. I could barely see a small flaming tail poking out from within the small brazier —but one source of my incalculable discomfort. Nausea hovered in my throat, and my hands responded to my commands as strangers. At least I could tell I wasn’t bleeding, given the heavy pressure from a hastily tied bandage.

  Sluggishly, my elbows dragged themselves into an advantageous position, barely managing to hoist my upper body off the ground. Marilleth rushed over from where she was bickering to help me. “Leonn, I am so glad to see you’re alive. By the time I got to you, you were pale as a snow hare. What happened to make that wound...” My chest rose, trying it’s best to fill with air, before another sharp blade cut its way in.“The wound’s slender but its deep. A long-” “Shut up!” The demand echoed hard against the cold stone. I flinched as it entered my ears, and Agnes stood silent with words falling out of her half-open mouth.

  “Why are we in a cell?” I finally choked the words out among shallow breaths. Both of them eyed each other, waiting for something I was unaware of. “We’re in holding.” Agnes cut in, saying it sharper than she meant, as her left boot struck the stone. Marie sneered at her lackluster answer. “A cell under the Kastvassen manor. We wouldn’t be here if someone didn’t drag you through a riot.” “I didn’t drag him through anything-” “Oh so what would you call that, huh?”

  Each verb parried another as their voices jumped out of their throats. I blinked, trying to keep track of which thrusts left their mark. It reminded me of the old days, slinging steel against my brother.

  “How... Long?” I uttered, half under my breath. Marie jumped at the question, “It feels like we’ve been in here for half a day.” “I’m glad they let me treat you before throwing us in here. You’d have been reduced to a corpse with that blood loss.” Lightning sparked in between them, as Marilleth belted another retort. “Need I remind you how he lost all that blood?”

  Once again their tones wrestled for control, as the air turned bitter. It was rhythmic in a sense. Accusation, defense, parry, riposte. I pressed my palm against the bandage, its pulse drumming in sync with my chest.

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  The world folded inward around me. I could taste the ash in the air, and the smell of blood forced its way through my nose. I felt a thousand blades pierce me, though no threat lay in sight. Each word between them amplified the war inside my head, and scraped against the stone walls with the sound of a grindstone.

  “Cut it out...” the words barely even left me, a whisper drowned in the clash. Consonants left like arrows in a volley from their mouths. Every word brought heat from their lungs into the open air. My fingers twitched, moving on their own to try and strangle the conversation.

  “Stop...” I pronounced. Louder, yet still lacking. An unprecedented ravine stood between them. They glared at each other, too focused and unaware to notice how the air began to shimmer.

  The world folded again, reducing itself to nothing as my heartbeat drowned out every sound in the room.

  “Enough!” Flame emanated as a lion’s mane from the base of my neck. The searing heat sent both Marie and Agnes to either end of the cell. I felt the way my face twisted as it came out. Utterly... revolting. So unlike me you would think I’d been replaced with a double.

  Silence became the loudest presence in the room. Agnes shielded her eyes from the light, and Marie stared on while her hands trembled. “I-im sorry... I...” my tongue caught on my words as I tried to spirit away any memory of the incident. My hand sought my scalp, clutching my now aching head.

  I braced my body against the wall, willing my legs into motion as I rose from the cold floor. My head spun, caught in a whirlpool of anemia and rejection. My legs buckled under me, having given all they could. Agnes arrived rather immediately, anticipating the fall. Marie responded shortly after, and I found myself held up between the two. My arms lay sluggishly across either of their shoulders. A moment of conflict resurfaced, subdued by the memories of fire.

  “Damn it. I can’t even stand...” I hung there, a bridge over the ravine between them. “Marie, we need a way out of here. You’re shrewd... what do you think?” Agnes opened her mouth, “I don’t think-” “Agnes. To hell with your differences, let’s just survive right now.”

  The clock inside of Marie’s head continued to tick away. Then, a flash of light caught her eye. “Leonn, can you still use your fire? It should be strong enough to melt the lock if you put everything into it.” I gauged my own limits for a moment, feeling out whether it was doable as impaired as I am.

  “Let’s do it.” Both of them carried me over to the lock. “Set me down, you don’t want to be touching me when I start.” They looked at each other once again, setting aside their conflict as they synchronized to lower me without injury. I hovered my right palm against the lock. “Burn.”

  The beast obliged as it had before. Steam evaporated off of my mostly uncovered chest. Agnes lightly brushed my shoulder, before hissing and pulling her hand away. It wasn’t enough on its own. I pulled myself away from the white-hot lock, internal components completely destroyed but holding relatively firm. “Marie, kick the door.” She turned to me, “Wait, really?” My stare reaffirmed my demand. The lock bent the air around itself from the immense glow. Marie sighed— then lifted her boot with a sense of purpose.

  I will be doing a triple release this week. After all, I've got a colossal backlog. This week, expect another release on Wednesday and Friday. Same time as usual.

  every week. Writing has given me purpose and direction, and you're the feedback in the loop.

  follow up top! Big numbers make the RR algorithm go crazy.