Saturday, May 14, 2005

   Chapter 3: The Three Walls (part 2)
This time, as she held the wand, the jewels started to glow, each in their own color. Sparks began to fly from the violet ones beneath her fingers. They burned scars into her hand as she watched, stunned. Fala wanted to let go but she couldn’t, as the small pains grew worse. Her anklet suddenly seared hot, burning her and forcing her to forget the small spark-burns. It seemed to tighten; the silver felt as though it was roasting the flesh between it into nothingness. The pain spread until her body felt emerged in fire.
Fala wanted to scream, but she only managed to do it with her mind and heart. She tried in vain to stretch her senses—make her roar of anguish heard to the world as her whole body burned. Then, suddenly, she felt although all her energy had been torn from her. Fala crippled to the ground unconscious, the wand held limply in her hand, and naked. The clothes had been burned away, and not even ashes remained.
Both Blues and Mr. Lustte had their hands clamped over their ears and their eyes pressed shut. As the terrible reverberation faded from the air, they opened their eyes and let their hands drop. Blues, shocked and embarrassed all at once, ran forward to Fala’s side. He pulled a blanket that was used to keep dust off the fire-wands from its stand and covered her exposed body. The blanket, spelled against destruction by heat to keep it from catching when the fire wands acted up, did not burn away like her clothes had. When his skin brushed hers, however, he pulled back quickly. Falamarana was so hot that Blues could see the air around her.
“What happened?” he asked Mr. Lustte, looking back at him where he stood, frozen by fear, surprise, and shame.
“I don’t understand,” the old man croaked, “I thought only the Ring Warden could work the wand.”
Blues did not respond, but he gestured at Fala’s ankle, where the heavy anklet pulsed with its raw energy. Mr. Lustte looked at him with questioning significance.
“Did you know?” he asked. After a pause, Blues nodded.
“Predicus told me.”
Mr. Lustte sighed in response. “I’d better go and get Fala some clothes. I also believe I will need to explain to a whole lot of people what the noise was.” Blues nodded, hoping silently that Mr. Lustte would leave. As the door swung shut, he reached over and put his hand on Fala’s shoulder.
At first, the pain was unbearable—Blues felt as if he had pushed his hand to a hot iron. He fought the urge to pull away, and gently shook her. At first, there was no response, but then Fala’s eyes flickered and opened, peering straight up into Blues’. He started in surprise, fighting the instinct to pull back when he saw how she had changed.
In her eyes, the places that were supposed to be black and turquoise, it had changed to a wild, incandescent blue.
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