The Blaze Ignites by Nichelle Rae Read Free Book Online Page A

unable to speak.
    “You will be soon enough—by choking on your
own blood!” he said, reading my thoughts. Ortheldo was right;
Hathum had taught his people some mind magic.
    Wouldn’t that be lovely? a thought,
which was more like a voice— my voice—seemed to say in my
head. My conscience was slipping. My clawing at his leg lessened.
Slowly I started to fade. Hathum’s been looking forward to a
battle with me for 3,000 years , the voice said again. You’re
very brave to dare disappoint him.
    I heard Jonoic take in a sharp breath. Just
before I faded completely, he stepped off my face. I opened my
mouth, blood and teeth pouring out, and I took in wave after wave,
gulp after gulp of sweet, cool air. Even though my broken ribs made
it the most agonizing experience of my life, I breathed. The world
rushed back to me, as did the pain I was in.
    Now what are you doing? my thoughts
went on. I suddenly realized it was my magic relating these things
to Jonoic. What was it doing? Why wasn’t it hiding in that green
“other world” Ortheldo had talked about? If Jonoic looked
deeper…
    You don’t want to kill me? my thought said to
Jonoic. Well, you’d better think of something to do quickly because
you have no proof of who I am, so you can’t take me to Hathum. What
do you think he’ll do to you if you bring a random girl to him with
no proof that she’s The White Warrior?
    Jonoic managed a nervous smirk. “He said he
wanted you whether you were the White Warrior or not.”
    Probably because he thought I was beautiful,
right?
    “Yeah,” Jonoic said, his voice shaking
slightly..
    But look at what you’ve done to me now,
Jonoic.
    Jonoic’s smirk melted. He looked at me with
wide, terrified eyes and started breathing heavily, pulling at his
collar. If it wasn’t for the rain, I was sure he would have broken
into a sweat.
    Didn’t think of that, did you?
    “Shut up!” he screamed and took a step back,
placing his hands over his ears as if I were speaking out loud.
    What’s the matter, Jonoic? Are you afraid
Hathum will skin you alive? Or perhaps carve out your heart and
have you boil it in your own blood for his supper? Maybe he’ll have
a little dessert made from your testicles, too.
    “Stop iiiiiiiit!” He screamed like a little
girl and pulled at his hair as hard as he could.
    Imagine what it feels like to have strips of
your skin ripped off the very bottom of your feet, my thoughts
hissed.
    He screamed like a madman as he drew his foot
back for another blow to my face. I closed my eyes and waited for
the strike. Suddenly a clap of thunder sounded. I opened my eyes
just in time to see the shadow of a cloaked person sail over the
stone wall and over my body in one leap. It tackled Jonoic
to the ground.
    I lay helplessly and watched the two shadows
roll away from me. The cloaked figure that had jumped the wall was
the first on his feet. He was already at a running start as Jonoic
got to his knees. He kicked upwards into Jonoic’s face, the impact
so hard that Jonoic’s head went flying back. He landed on his back
in the mud.
    The cloaked figure stormed towards him and
slammed his hands down onto Jonoic’s chest. To my awe, he picked
the mammoth man up clear from the ground and threw him into a
nearby tree. Crumpling to the earth, Jonoic lay still, unaware that
the cloaked figure was at him again. The cloaked figure took up
Jonoic’s shirt and drove him back into the tree, holding him there
for a moment as he pounded his fist in his face over and over
again, smashing the back of his head into the tree trunk each
time.
    After a few minutes of this—yes, minutes —Jonoic slid down the bark and sat limply at the
tree’s base. The cloaked figure took a single step back, then
placed his feet wide apart with one foot in front of the other. He
brought both fists up, holding his arms straight out towards his
opponent. Gold magic formed around his fists and illuminated his
face. It was my brother!
    How did he get