Heverly turned the page and sighed, trying to blink the sleep from her eyes.
"Ugh, I can finish this tommorow."
Harriel, her father, stood from his chair and walked over. He bent over a hand on her shoulder, "You're right, you could finish this tommorow. That's not the point though. You signed a contract as part of getting into the Accadamy. You've got to stick to that, no matter--" a banging at the door cut him off. He looked out into the darkness, it seemed strange somehow, though Heverly couldn't say how. "I'd better go see who could be coming at this hour. Might be an emergency"
Heverly sighed again, turning to the open book. He's right, she thought, no matter how hard it is, I need to stick to it.
As she read on, she heard her father answer the door. "Yes? Darrius, Flendar? What's going on? Why are you all here?"
"Didn't you hear Harriel? Your wicked king isn't around to protect you anymore. You Asmodeans aren't welcome."
A chorus of agreement sounded outside, "Yeah! Get out!" There was a crowd here. Heverly looked up, concern on her face What?
"You have one last chance. Renounce that evil god--" Heverly got up and started walking toward the door. A flickering light filled the hallway.
Harriel cut off the others, "This is ridiculous. You get out of here before I call the guards.
"They're not going to come." Heverly stepped around the corner and looked. there they stood, she could see five or six elves all seeming to post at the door from her angle.
"I told you he wouldn't. Lets just do what we came for."
The elves stepped forward, pushing Harriel in further. Heverly began to shriek. She grabbed onto her father tight as the men dragged them both into the center of the room "What about the girl?" They began ring up her father.
"She's old enough, let her decide? Well, what'll it be?" they asked as they dragged her away
Heverly kicked and bit, trying to reach her father again. "Right, get rid of her." The right hands shivered had m get back to her father, where she was tied as well.
"Asmodeus is the god of fire, right," one of the men screamed into her face while brandishing his torch, "Let's see if he can save you from this." His smile grew large in the flickering fire light.
* * * * *
Heverly stirred among the ashes all around her. She could still feel the heat from the fire, trying to swallow her. It had taken much from her, her father, her home, her hearing--sometime during the inferno she'd stopped being able to hear the today if the flames. But it had also given her so much. The fire had tried to swallow Heverly, but somehow she'd pulled it into her. The inferno burned inside her and she smiled a vicious smile as she climbed out of the ruins around her. No one has started to watch that the job was finished. Cowards. That night in the cover of darkness Heverly left, for where, it didn't matter, all she knew was that one day, when she could control that fire within her, these people would burn.
* * * * *
Heverly had danced her way across Talingarde, bilking men out of their money as she could. She never used the same name or face twice. But now she was headed home. The fire within her stirred in anticipation, and she cooed comfort to it, settling the fire down again.
She arrived at the perfect time, the day before a feast day. As she approached the boarding house, she froze. The man walking towards her was Darrius. And he was staring at her. He recognizes me. I must kill him now before he ruins everything. She prepared to strike, maybe risking everything, but maybe saving her plans, when she noticed the look in his eyes. She had seen it in many men before. He did not recognize her. He wanted her. She laughed as she danced out of sight.
The next morning everyone gathered in the church. Everyone except the new stranger in town She went and barred the doors, locking everyone in. Then she shared the fire within.
* * * * *
She thought she'd gotten away with it. Until she came out of her boarding house a week later, and a few towns away, only to run straight into sir Richard Havelyn. "You're under arrest. Come with us." She tried to run but she was surrounded. Only a few elves had survived the burning but enough to have been able to point out Heverly as the woman they had seen lighting fire after fire as she danced around the burning church. She had made the same mistake they had on the night they burned her. Now, Heverly was on her way to Branderscar.
