He, Alek, Tarak, Henri and the other men, had left for Isamar at the same time she had headed out, and she hoped that they could convince the tribal councils in that land to join them and fight for freedom. They were a stubborn bunch who rarely took to strangers. She knew that even if the strange things were coming into their realm, they would be hard to convince to give their fealty to Dain and Kevaan. They had spent their entire lives in the solitude of the desert, trusting no one and having allegiances to only themselves. But they must sense something amiss, they must understand that only together will they destroy Fallon and his demons.
They rode on for another few hours, then stopped beside a small stream, in a clearing a mile inside the Dark Woods, to eat and rest for the night. Her backside was sore and her back and neck were starting to get stiff. Her stomach had also been letting her know for the last hour that it was empty.
They dismounted their horses and tied them off on the trees to the right of the small glen. They went immediately to the soft grass under their feet. Melenthia walked back and forth across the glen, as Sol and Tomaz created their haven for the night. She stretched, like her brother had taught her to do before every duel, and she could hear some of the vertebrae in her back pop at the deep movements. She swung her arms back and forth and realized, for the first time, how weary she was.
It took the two about twenty minutes to get everything just so, then Sol placed his hands over the pit they had made in the center of camp, closing his eyes and saying something under his breath. A small flame sparked on the wood, then a bigger one engulfed them all, the crackling and popping of the sap in the not quite dry wood, making music in the gray evening gloom.
She sat down beside it and stretched some more, sighing. “Do you not have flint with you, or are you just showing off?”
He looked at her for a brief moment, silent, then a small smile cracked his mouth under the beard. “I thought I would save time, as I can hear the complaining of your stomach from over here.”
She rubbed her stomach with one hand and smiled back. “Well, since you put it that way.”
“It is a simple spell, one I think you could pick up quickly.”
“You want to teach me how to light a fire with my thoughts? How is that going to help me with my training?”
“We must start with the simple before we can move to the more difficult. A baby does not walk just out of the womb, it first crawls.”
“Okay. Teach me.”
He took a couple of handfuls of dirt and threw it on the flames that were now dancing in the impending darkness. When he was certain it was out, he looked at her and said, “Close your eyes and breathe deeply in and out. Clear your mind of everything; all the people you care about, all the events that have happened up to now, any thoughts that creep in about what there is to do. Concentrate only on what you want; lighting the fire. Think about the flames, think about the warmth that will emanate off the glow.” He gave her a few minutes. He could hear her breathing, steady and calm. “Can you see the fire in your mind?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Can you feel the warmth of the flames on your face?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now repeat after me. Taba un feyla, un alla.”
She repeated his words.
“Not quite. Listen to the words and the pronunciation of them. That’s the key. You need to say the words right, but you also need the right inflection and the right pronunciation. Try again.”
She repeated the words again, this time speaking them with the inflections he had spoken. A small spark popped inside the campfire pit. It stayed for a moment, then went out. She opened one eye, then the other. She looked at the wood and frowned.
“Nothing. What did I do wrong?”
“Nothing. There was a small spark. I don’t expect you to burn down the entire forest on your first try. In the coming weeks, I want you to try that one on your own. With each attempt, if you really mean the words, the spark will get bigger and bigger, until you can light the fire without even thinking that hard about it.”
“Okay. For tonight, for my chilly bones and my empty stomach, do you think you could take care of it?”
He laughed. “My pleasure, Your Highness.”
Within a minute, the fire was once again blazing in the pit, Tomaz had just come into the clearing, carrying some more firewood and forest berries. He opened a knapsack and dumped a loaf of bread, some cheese, and an assortment of dried fruit, onto a cloth and pushed it over toward her. She looked down at the variety of items and picked out a couple of dates and a handful of raisins, ripped off a hunk of bread and cheese, and placed them in her lap. She started to eat even before the magician or the elf had time to pick their choices. She half smiled embarrassed when they looked in her direction, obviously amused.