Fire and Hope: part one

Posted On May 25, 2021

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,

For I have put my trust in you.

Show me the way I should go,

For to you I entrust my life.

Rescue me from my enemies, Lord,

For I hide myself in you.

Psalm 143: 8-9 NIV

The sky was raining fire.

            Drehnedon, the kingdom of the fire-wielders, had attacked at last, and now here Radin was. Standing behind a rock, apart from the action. Watching it all unfold, utterly unable to do anything. Black shapes moved beyond the clouds, blocking out the sun in the early morning sky. Splitting shrieks made him grip his ears, teeth clenched in pain.

               The people of Endos fought back bravely, but he could see that they had no chance. They were all going to die.

                He was going to die.

            “RADIN!” a voice screamed, and he turned frantically to see his sister, Chloe, dashing towards him, tears streaming down her face. She grabbed him around the middle, burying her face into his chest as she sobbed convulsively.

            “What is it?” he asked, trying to get a look at her face in the dark shadow of the rock. Chloe looked up at him, struggling to control her tears.

            “It’s mother,” she managed. “She’s gone. I can’t find her anywhere—and I’m so afraid…” Chloe turned to look at the battle, the fire that streaked from the sky reflecting in her blue eyes.

            “Hey,” Radin said, “I promise, mother will be alright. I promise, we’ll all get through this together.”

            “But—” she swallowed hard, and they both turned in time to see a fire-wielder plummet to the earth, letting loose an inferno that burned trees and men to the ground. “Oh, Radin—”

            “Shh.” He put a hand on the top of her head, trying to feel the bravery he wanted her to see. “Let’s go to the shelter. I’m sure mother is there.”

            Her lips trembled, but she nodded and gripped his hand. Radin ran with her away from the rock and down into the valley, where black grasses bore evidence of the horror which marked this day. Dead bodies lay like pale ghosts on the ground. Radin tried to keep Chloe from seeing, but she let out a dry sob as they left the field and entered the town. The black, noxious air turned their lungs to dry ashes, and coughs ripped at their throats.  

            Men roared as they loosed arrows into the sky by the hundreds, but the fire that rained down kept them ducking under their shields and cursing loudly. “We need to retreat!” a soldier yelled, but even as he spoke, an arrow silenced his words.

            “To the shelter,” Radin hissed, gripping his sister’s arm as he led her behind houses and through dark alleys, trying to avoid making any noise. “Don’t let anyone see you.”

            But Radin himself stopped in his tracks when he heard the terrible shriek.  For a moment, there was no sound but the throb of his own heart in his ears. Pressing his back against a wall next to Chloe, he watched with dull terror as he saw huge black beasts touch down on the ground, hissing and spitting fire. Their riders were clad in black metal and shook spears in the air.

            “Erethno-delleminari!” a rider yelled, and in an instant, the village was being overtaken by the fire-wielders.

            Radin felt frozen in his fear. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t bring Chloe to safety—he was so afraid. He wanted to curl up into a ball and wait for death’s cold hand to bring him home.

            “Help,” he whispered desperately, but his words were not heard. He was alone with Chloe. There was nothing he could do.

            But as the dull hum of the battle seemed about to crush Radin, a cold breeze touched his smoke-stained skin. He tried to take a deep breath but could only go so far before the coughs came. As panic shook his body, a voice met his ears through the roar of the battle. Though people cried and fought and fell on all sides, for a moment, Radin felt nothing but peace.

            I am with you.

            Radin could hear the words as clearly as if they’d been spoken into his ear. He closed his eyes for the briefest of seconds. Then he opened them, and he knew what he had to do.

            “Chloe,” he whispered fiercely. “I need you to be brave. We need to go and find mother, now.”

            Chloe was sobbing freely, but she nodded and gripped his hand once more. Radin looked down both sides of the village’s streets, and seeing a pause in the battle, he ran.

            As he passed house after burning house, he felt overwhelmed with sorrow. All the people who had been lost—all the men, the boys. The young soldiers who had been recruited for such a time as this, the families who huddled in dark shelters, waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones. The sadness of it all hurt his heart. The thought of his brother Daniel, a soldier in the king’s army, brought tears to his eyes. He was surely dead—none would survive this war.

            “Radin!” a husky man’s voice shouted. Radin turned his head to see a tall man, bloodstained and tired, coming towards him. Radin paused, feeling torn.

            “What, Malachi?” he asked, and Malachi came close and put a heavy hand on Radin’s shoulder. His face bore bright red burns.

            “Radin, boy, we need you. We need every boy and man we can get—or we won’t have a chance to make it through this day alive.”

            Radin’s mouth fell open. They wanted him to fight? Him, only fourteen years of age?

            “I—need to get Chloe to the shelter—”

            “We’ll get another to bring her, lad. You know how to shoot an arrow, yes?”

            Radin nodded dumbly. It was true, he could shoot well. But what about Chloe? He looked down at her, his mouth moving but no words coming out.

            Chloe squeezed his hand. “I’ll be alright, Radin,” she said, her ash-stained cheeks showing the evidence of her tears. Her eyes shone like bright jewels in her darkened face. “I’ll find mother, and we’ll all be alright.”

            The look on her face said otherwise, but Radin was grateful for her brave words.

            “I’ll do it,” he said, and suddenly he found himself holding a bow and quiver of sharp arrows. Malachi nodded at him.          

            “You are a strong boy,” he said. “I trust you will make it through this day alive.”

            Radin gulped. He hoped so.

---

Radin had ridden a dragon once before. But that was nothing compared to what he would do on this day.

            Dragons were stealthy creatures and were known for their unique ability to hide in the skies. Dodging fire and arrows and sweaty men alike, Radin followed Malachi to the dragon pens. “Here you go,” Malachi said. “We don’t have near enough archers for the skies, but you will at least be able to take a few fire-wielders down before the battle is over. If we’re lucky, we’ll all live to see tomorrow.”

            “Alright,” Radin said, and mounted the dragon’s hard leather saddle. The scaled beast turned its luminescent eyes to Radin, and he stroked her snout tentatively. To his surprise, it was freezing cold, and left his hand feeling numb.

            He turned to Malachi in confusion. “What….?”

            “Ice dragons,” Malachi said—but as he spoke, another fire-wielder touched down on the ground and began spurting flames. He grunted and pulled out his sword. “Fight hard, Radin,” he said, and then ran off to battle the fire-wielder.

            Radin felt more afraid than he ever had in his life. His hands trembled as he spurred the dragon into the air, his heart pounding so hard it hurt.

            I’m afraid, his heart whispered.

            I am with you, the voice responded. Radin forced his fear back into the box in his heart, then soared into the sky. As the fire and smoke shrank into the distance, Radin marveled at how something so destructive could look so small and insignificant from above.

            As he flew still higher, the air grew cold and Radin’s breath drifted around him in frozen clouds. His dragon seemed to pale, blending into the morning sky. “Good girl,” he whispered, patting the dragon’s back.

            Just as he had been apart from the action when he hid behind the rock, now he was apart from the action here, in the sky. He could see it all from above, the fiery pillars of houses ablaze, the black smoke the roared into the heavens. The people, who fought so valiantly. From here, Radin could clearly see how futile their efforts were. The fire-wielders were everywhere. The skies were full of them, and still more came from the north. Ready to burn the world to the ground, all for their lust of destruction. Their love of inflicting pain.

            These thoughts filling his mind, Radin secured an arrow on his string, pulled it back, and let it fly at a fire-wielder who hovered in the air below him. It missed the mark by several inches, and Radin cursed himself for wasting a valuable arrow. He pulled out another, willing himself not to miss the mark this time.

            But the missed shot had caught the fire-wielder’s attention. Looking up, the wielder saw Radin. The wielder rode a black, scaled beast with bright red eyes. Dark cloak folds billowed around the wielder, and hard metal armor enclosed his body and arms. A mask hid his face.

            “Rellethni drem syeljia!” the wielder cried. Though Radin could not understand its language, he knew that he had to shoot now.

            He pulled back the string of the bow as the wielder rose to meet him; and the moment he let it fly, the wielder let out a terrible shriek and fell to the ground. The black beast crumbled into ash and blew away on the morning breeze. Radin felt a burst of hope in his chest as he pulled back another arrow, aiming at another wielder. This one too fell to the ground, and the beast crumbled.

            “Rellethni!” a wielder hissed, coming upon Radin with a fierce attack of flame. “Ertenjai!”

           Radin’s dragon let loose a stream of frozen air, but that did little against the fire. Radin screamed as his skin was scorched, and his pant leg caught fire. He frantically tried to beat it out but lost his balance as more fire erupted out of the wielder’s hands and seemed to fill Radin’s vision. Terrible pain seared through his veins as he slipped off his dragon and began to fall through the sky, screams and coughs ripping through his throat and lungs.

             I’m afraid. The words came once more from himself, out into the smoke-clouded morning air. Panic was all he knew.

            All seemed to still as he saw the ground coming into view, the battle hot and loud all around him. And he knew that he was going to die.

            He closed his eyes and waited for the end.

            I am with you. Do not be afraid.