# Soul of Fire - Chapter 1

Author: Kolare
Tags: Dragons, Novel, On going story, Unicorns

In which we meet Molly, Arthur, Balthiss, Emoss, Silvia, and Erin (who is being born.)
In which the best laid plans of dragons go awry...

Chapter 1

Silvia buried her face against the ragged stuffed toy. It might have been a rabbit in an earlier&nbsp;

life or perhaps a bear. Its color was just as hard to determine. She lay upon the pale threadbare&nbsp;

sheets and pulled the remnants of the blanket closer. On the other side of the thin wall she could&nbsp;

hear the banging and the screaming as the two adults fought.&nbsp;

"Where do you get off, Molly, pulling that kind of stunt?"

"Stunt? STUNT? You call this a stunt? It takes two to tango and two to do what we did, Arthur."

"You told me you were on birth control, you never said anything about another kid! When were you&nbsp;

going to tell me, when do I get a say in this?"

"How dare you. You sure don't seem to mind when you wake me for this at two in the morning, or when&nbsp;

you are gone for months at a time. And keep your voice down, Silvia is in the other room."

"No. NO. This isn't happening tonight. I don't care how far along you are, we're getting that taken&nbsp;

care of."

"Don't you dare raise your fists this time, Arthur." Silvia shook as she heard the now familiar&nbsp;

sound of a hard fist hitting drywall and breaking boards. She knew the sound all too well, it&nbsp;

seemed to her that it was one of the more common noises her father made.

"You already have one, what do you need another for? Why are you doing this to me?"

"Me doing this to you? Bastard. Like you have to listen to people whispering behind your back about&nbsp;

how you are an unfit parent. Like you have to gain weight and carry a child. Like you get up every&nbsp;

morning throwing up, shaking from chills, only to try and eat something because your own child&nbsp;

needs nourishment. Yes, Arthur, I thought about all of that when I decided to become pregnant&nbsp;

again, with YOUR child, and how it would make your life miserable, how you w-"&nbsp;

Her mother's voice was cut off by a sharp slap, this time of skin on skin. Silvia tried desperately&nbsp;

to stuff any part of the toy she could into her ears. Only a few days, she promised herself, he was&nbsp;

only ever home a few days...

It was the quiet of his voice that scared her the most. "Enough. I'm going for a drive, a drink,&nbsp;

and a smoke. Probably in that order. When I get home, then we are going to settle this."

Other familiar sounds followed: The heavy, oil stained work boots of her father trod down the hall&nbsp;

way, his keys ringing against the little metal bowl on the inside of the door where he tossed them&nbsp;

every time he came home, and the rattle of the whole front of the apartment as he slammed the door&nbsp;

hard enough to crack the pane of glass in the upper half. Silvia knew that her father would be gone&nbsp;

for at least the next two hours. It always took him a while to get drunk.

"Light." She whispered. A pale silvery light flickered around the lone silver charm on the bracelet&nbsp;

of her left hand. It wasn't much, but it allowed her to see where she was going. She slipped off of&nbsp;

the cot she lay upon and snuck carefully out of the broom closet sized bedroom and into the hall.&nbsp;

In all her nine years she had never heard Molly and Arthur fight like that. She was worried about&nbsp;

her mom.

Her tangled mousey hair stuck out in wild curls in every direction. The tiny light threw her shadow&nbsp;

large behind her, making it seem as though a medusa were lurking in the shadows. Silvia, at her&nbsp;

advanced age, knew there were such things as monsters. After all, one had just left. She crept to&nbsp;

the door of her parents' room and looked inside.&nbsp;

Her eyes glossed over the queen sized bed, the battered dressers, even the sliding glass doors that&nbsp;

lead out to the balcony (which overlooked the apartment pool), as she only had eyes for her mother.&nbsp;

The two were spitting images of one another, albeit separated in age by twenty years. Mother and&nbsp;

daughter both shared the same grass green eyes, but only her mother's were presently casting tears&nbsp;

down her cheeks and into the carpet. "Mom?"

Molly was kneeling on the floor, hands and arms limp beside her. She seemed to be asking the&nbsp;

ceiling fan for guidance. "Yes, baby?" her slender hands came up to try and wipe away the tears.&nbsp;

All she managed to do was wipe salt water across her cheeks. She would have better luck stopping&nbsp;

the wind. Her gaze went from her daughters face to her wrist. "Honey, douse the light. You know we&nbsp;

can't... not on this side." She looked fearfully out the sliding glass doors, before pulling&nbsp;

herself up and shutting the curtains.

"When are we going back?" Silvia tapped the little charm and whispered, "Extinguish" and the light&nbsp;

obeyed.&nbsp;

Molly laid her head upon the glass, eyes searching somewhere between her reflection and the moon.&nbsp;

"I don't know, baby. I had to come back. This child is part his. He has a right to know." She&nbsp;

rested her hand upon the swell of her stomach. She looked every bit of her nine months pregnant.&nbsp;

Silvia swept the room with her gaze and found the hole that Arthur had punched in the wall. "He&nbsp;

doesn't want another baby." She sounded older than she had a right to be.

Molly pushed away from the glass. "Guess you heard all of it, then." As Silvia nodded, she let the&nbsp;

curtains blot out the night. "Kiddo, if you learn anything from all of this..." her gesture took in&nbsp;

the room but Silvia guessed she meant more than just the furniture around them, "Anything at all...&nbsp;

Just keep in mind that love doesn't always turn out this way. Okay babe?"

Arthur drove as though on autopilot. Even years after this night, he could not tell you why he&nbsp;

picked this particular bar over any other to stop at. Understandable, it was hardly recognizable as&nbsp;

it was. Rather than a chance meeting or an unplanned stop, he had been here before. Many times, in&nbsp;

fact. He parked the battered old Ford in what felt like a good spot (one he had parked in many&nbsp;

times, it allowed him to back out easily while too drunk to drive) and pulled his billfold out of&nbsp;

the center console. There were three or four other cars in the lot, all parked several spaces away&nbsp;

from any other cars. The street lights on the cross streets flickered rhythmically but never&nbsp;

managed to penetrate the cross street.

The front of the bar was all brick, not a single window allowed the light from inside the bar to&nbsp;

spill to the street. A partly functional sign over the door called it " ARRYS' BILL &nbsp; &nbsp;S", once it&nbsp;

must have read Harry's Billiards, but the other letters were only a hollow on the sign where there&nbsp;

had once been glass neon tubes.

The bouncer in the tiny entry vestibule did not even look twice at Arthur, but nodded to him curtly&nbsp;

behind three hundred pounds of sculpted muscle and mirrored shades. The black T-Shirt he wore&nbsp;

claimed his other job was in "Attitude Adjustment". Once the outside door closed, the only light in&nbsp;

the small room was a pair of dim yellow bulbs that cast the whole room into odd orange relief. It&nbsp;

made the bouncer look even less human. Arthur passed through quickly.

Once through the second set of doors the lighting got worse, if possible. Music pulsed and thumped&nbsp;

from somewhere. Too quiet to make out distinctly and yet just loud enough to be present. Providing&nbsp;

a topic of conversation if needed and cover for the silence if not. Every few moments the soft&nbsp;

click of a cue hitting other billiard balls could be heard as games of unhurried pool were played&nbsp;

in the far end of the bar. The brighter light there did nothing to cut the gloom.&nbsp;

Decades of cigar and cigarette smoke lingered in the air. It was dense enough to take the edge off&nbsp;

of the light and give anything more than twelve feet away a slightly fuzzy outline. Empty tables&nbsp;

and chairs (each table with its own ash tray) were liberally sprinkled through the room, but not in&nbsp;

any easily identifiable pattern. The entire back wall was taken up with the god to which patrons&nbsp;

sat and sacrificed their hard spent hours. Alcohol of a dizzying and frightening array lined glass&nbsp;

shelves backed by the largest continuous mirror Arthur had ever seen. Artfully placed track&nbsp;

lighting illuminated the shrine, casting particular pools on the more exotic and expensive liquors.&nbsp;

A counter of stained and heavily stained wood marked the location where supplicants came forth to&nbsp;

pick their poison. Almost lost between the two was a man who stood just over five foot two. Black&nbsp;

spiked hair that faded to a slight graying near the temples dropped suddenly into a forehead that&nbsp;

might make a battering ram jealous. Dark eyes flanked a nose that looked like it had been broken&nbsp;

badly and set worse at least once. If the rest of the face was ugly, the pocked and scarred jaw&nbsp;

line was worse. His lips were lost behind a cigar the size of a roll of quarters. Blue smoke&nbsp;

trickled from his mouth as his hands moved across the bar. Heavily scarred fingers covered in&nbsp;

coarse black hair over olive skin belied a life of hard work.&nbsp;

"Arthur. Been a while." Before Arthur could take a ripped and patched bar stool, the bartender had&nbsp;

placed a thick coaster down and dropped a frost rimed glass filled with something a shade darker&nbsp;

than liquid gold. "Just get back? Did you finish hauling for that job out in Denver? Thought you&nbsp;

would be gone at least another week."

If Arthur seemed surprised that the bartender knew his schedule or his preferred drink, he didn't&nbsp;

show it. Neither did he pay any attention to the sole other occupant at the bar, a man with a row&nbsp;

of empty glasses before him and his head down against the wood. "Yeah, I lost a tire on the way&nbsp;

back too. A damn re-cap blew in the right rear. Just your regular train wreck of a week." He&nbsp;

mechanically picked up the glass and took a long drink. "Balthiss, right?"

The bartender grinned even wider. "Yeah. I'm flattered you remember me. I would have thought you&nbsp;

would be home with the wife, you know, getting reacquainted." Something between the leer and the&nbsp;

tone of voice let Arthur know exactly what he thought Balthiss was talking about.

"Yeah, real insult to injury there." Arthur looked down at the now empty glass in mild surprise.&nbsp;

When had he finished the drink? It mattered little as by the time the glass had touched the&nbsp;

coaster, Balthiss had replaced it with a full one.

"Do tell."

"Molly is pregnant again. Nine months along now. How the hell did I miss the signs? I mean, I've&nbsp;

only been gone two or three months..."

"You seem concerned, Arthur." Balthiss reached down and picked up a whiskey glass and chipped part&nbsp;

of an iceberg into the glass before straining a generous pair of fingers over the rocks. "On me."

"Thanks." Arthur chased the beer with the whiskey and sat playing with the ice for a moment.

Balthiss picked up something from his side of the bar, hidden down by the odd bits and pieces of&nbsp;

equipment that a good bartender acquires in their line of work. A turn of the wrist and a small bit&nbsp;

of slight of hand later, he had it cupped in his palm as if lighting it off of the end of his&nbsp;

cigar. Instead, he drew smoke heavily into his lungs then exhaled it in a strong jet against the&nbsp;

object in his hand. As the smoke hit the bauble it flared a coal-red. The glow lit his face&nbsp;

briefly. "If it were me, I would be angry..."

Arthur looked anywhere but at Balthiss's hands. "I am."

Whatever Balthiss was holding gave off a soft pulse of light. It stayed red now, even when he&nbsp;

stopped bathing it in smoke. Balthiss rubbed it momentarily against his lip, then began to polish&nbsp;

it with his thumb. "Hot under the collar, so to speak..."

Arthur worked the buttons of his collar loose and pulled at the fabric. "Yeah."

Balthiss squeezed the stone then whispered to it, lips close enough to brush the stone while he&nbsp;

spoke, "Is it even your child?"

Arthur snapped the glass to the table so hard a fracture shot up the side. "I don't think it is my&nbsp;

child. The timing is all wrong. I'm away from home so often, how could she have gotten pregnant?"

"How dare she..." The words were even less audible than the last, but they had their intended&nbsp;

effect.&nbsp;

"HOW DARE she do this to me." Arthur dug through his pockets trying to find a pack of cigarettes.&nbsp;

When he failed to turn up anything more than a book of matches Balthiss pulled out an all black&nbsp;

packet and drew out a black cigarette. He offered it to Arthur who took it, his hands shaking.&nbsp;

Balthiss produced a little silver lighter that took some coercion to light. Somewhere after the&nbsp;

sixth or seventh attempt he managed to light it for Arthur. "After All I do for her, she goes and&nbsp;

gets herself knocked up. Like I can support her and the one we already have."

Balthiss looked from Arthur to the lighter with some small satisfaction then flipped it over and&nbsp;

pressed the bottom of the lighter. A sound like a shutter click followed the motion and he&nbsp;

murmured, "Freeze."

Arthur froze, cigarette leaving a smoke trail as he had started to gesture with it. Balthiss could&nbsp;

see he was really building up to a rage. He turned to regard the only other visible patron.&nbsp;

"Emmoss," he tossed an unshelled nut at the dirty hair on the bar. The nut hit the other man and&nbsp;

rolled off the bar. "Get your lazy lump off my bar. It's time. Do you have enough Power to do it?&nbsp;

We are only going to get one good shot before the Brotherhood guesses what is going on."

"Wot, doan' 'Oi get to droun' my sorrows too? Why's it always got to be 'Emmoss, do this', an'&nbsp;

'Emmoss, get your lump up and bewitch this...'", His accent was thick either from his birth place&nbsp;

or his blood alcohol level. It was hard to tell.

"Shut it. You've got about two minutes before that cigarette burns down far enough to get his&nbsp;

fingers and you'll get to deal with stunning him on your lonesome."&nbsp;

"Foine. Dunno why it can't be you, though."

Balthiss pulled a particularly warped bottle from under the bar. "If you want to get paid, you'll&nbsp;

just get it done." He tapped the bottle as he spoke. "Then again, I can just pour this out..."

"NO!" Emmoss jumped up and moved down the remaining length of the bar at a jog. "Don' be 'asty,&nbsp;

Bal. Just ... we're glacial, mate. I'm doin' it now, see?" He approached Arthur from behind and&nbsp;

pulled the collar of his shirt a little lower. &nbsp;"Ah, 'e still has the mark from th' last time.&nbsp;

Should be cake." Emmoss leaned down as if to kiss Arthur on the neck but stopped before he touched&nbsp;

him. He exhaled against the skin and a trickle of smoke rolled out of his lips. A flick of his&nbsp;

tongue and Emmoss sent smoke rings against Arthur's neck. Instead of breaking apart and fading out,&nbsp;

the rings collided with Arthur and sank in. "Possession is nine-tenths of th' law..." He laughed&nbsp;

and fixed Arthur's shirt. "Now, do 'is memory and we'll send 'im back. I'll hitch to him when th'&nbsp;

time is right and we'll 'ave the kid." The smile the two shared showed far too many teeth.

Molly put the last of the dishes into the sink. Silvia sat at the table finishing a glass of milk,&nbsp;

playing with the water left behind by the cold glass. She twisted her fingers and gestured away&nbsp;

from herself and her charm glowed as the water fled before her. Without turning around Molly called&nbsp;

to her daughter, "What have I told you about using wild magic this side of the Veil? Hmm?" She&nbsp;

turned just in time to catch the guilty look on Silvia's face.

"Sorry mom." She put the glass down, empty now.

"Oh baby. I'm sorry. Listen, we can go back tonight. How about that?" her gaze flicked to the hall.&nbsp;

Her eyes counted the locks on the door and made sure each was still in place.&nbsp;

"That sounds fine. But let me get bun-bun first." Silvia hopped down from the chair and raced into&nbsp;

the back part of the apartment to get her stuffed toy.

Molly pulled a pair of long silver hair sticks out of the junk drawer in the kitchen. She put her&nbsp;

hair up into a bun then slipped both in place. A violet gemstone hung from one, twinkling in the&nbsp;

kitchen light. "Don't forget your shoes, Silvie." She exited the kitchen and passed into the&nbsp;

bedroom. She went to the sliding glass doors and unlocked them, pushing them apart and stepping&nbsp;

back. The night was muggy and warm. The air currents battled briefly as the colder air in the house&nbsp;

lost the fight to the night breeze.

"Right, I'm ready mommy." Silvia was clutching her stuffed rabbit and a pair of well worn shoes in&nbsp;

one hand, the other she slipped into her mother's hand. She felt Molly start briefly. "Mom, you're&nbsp;

cold."

"It's nothing baby. Now, hold on tight." Molly closed her eyes and held up her free hand. She&nbsp;

lifted a finger as if she were going to ring a door bell, then drew her hand downward.&nbsp;

"Translocate."

A number of things all happened at the same time. The hair stick with the gemstone began to glow&nbsp;

with a nimbus of violet light. As her hand moved through the air, it left behind a smudge of violet&nbsp;

smoke. Between the outlines of the smoke a slightly different version of the apartment was visible,&nbsp;

but outside the smoke the same apartment they were in could be seen. Molly let out a soft sigh of&nbsp;

pleasure. They were going home. She gave a sideways flick with her hand as if she were throwing&nbsp;

aside a curtain and the rend in the Veil opened wide enough to pass through. Molly squeezed&nbsp;

Silvia's hand and smiled. "Almost there. I can smell the garden from here, can't you?"

Balthiss plucked the lit cigarette from Arthur's fingers and blew on the glowing ember. It winked&nbsp;

out like a candle flame. "Humans." he shook his head. Treating the cigarette like a pen he drew a&nbsp;

mark in ash above both of Arthur's eyes then poked him in the middle of the head with the&nbsp;

cigarette. The lines sank into his skin as Arthur's eyes lost a little color, becoming slightly&nbsp;

glassy. "There. He'll be blind to the Veil again and the memory block is ready. Now, let's get this&nbsp;

meat stick back into his t-"

A small brass rod began to vibrate on the bar. A number of red and green lines lit up along the&nbsp;

side of the rod. They scrolled across the rod like a ticker marquee and caused Balthiss to curse so&nbsp;

explicitly that the spot on the bar under the rod caught fire. "We're late. Maybe too late. She's&nbsp;

translocating. She was supposed to stay until the next day. I'm going to kill that idiot magus."

"Bal, 'e told you, 'is view of the Winding Path is obscured. It were a best guess."

"Not good enough. We're going to lose the kid." He picked up the remote for the TV in the corner.&nbsp;

"Deal with Meat Boy. We might need him still. Get him on the way. I doubt he'll get there in time&nbsp;

to stop her, but it's all or nothing now. We can't let that child get back to the Hidden World." He&nbsp;

pointed the remote at the TV and snapped, "Astral Occularis." The picture changed from a sports&nbsp;

game no one was watching to a view outside the apartment in question as though seen through a round&nbsp;

lens like a fish eye.&nbsp;

Molly and Silvia started walking towards the rip. Molly put her hand out and caught the edge. She&nbsp;

rested her weight against it briefly. A flicker of pain from her pelvis gave her pause. The&nbsp;

contraction stole her attention briefly. Her brow furrowed and she pushed it from her mind. She had&nbsp;

to concentrate to keep the rip open. She didn't want to stay in the apartment any longer than&nbsp;

necessary at this point.

Arthur got back into his truck. He couldn't remember how much he had had to drink and he reeked of&nbsp;

smoke. He rammed the gear shift into reverse and laid down two fresh black lines as he spun the&nbsp;

truck into the street. The only thing he could remember from sitting there and drinking alone was a&nbsp;

growing feeling of rage and a curious nagging feeling that there was something he had to&nbsp;

desperately get back home to stop. As the truck lurched to a stop facing the right direction, he&nbsp;

slammed the gear shift into drive. Tires screaming, he launched the truck down the road.

Molly stood up and smiled down at Silvia. "Sorry, Mommy just had a cramp, that's all." She pulled&nbsp;

gently on her daughters hand and took a step through the rift.&nbsp;

The view on the television was now showing the bedroom, the rift, and the two humans. Balthiss&nbsp;

snarled and snatched the brass rod off of the counter. He cocked his arm back and threw it as hard&nbsp;

as he could at the TV. The brass rod elongated as it flew, turning from rod into javelin. It hit&nbsp;

the glass and pushed through it as if it were tough plastic. "BARRIER!" Balthiss screamed, just as&nbsp;

the view on the TV winked out.

"Whelp, guess we won' be able to tell if that worked unless Mr. Meat gets there."

Balthiss turned very slowly to Emmoss. "If I didn't need you to possess Arthur, I would be killing&nbsp;

you right now."

Emmoss jerked away from the bar and Balthiss. The dark beady eyes had burned away and left gold&nbsp;

orbs in their place. "Bal, your mask..."

Silvia's view was not nearly as obscured as her mothers, having been on the side and facing the&nbsp;

edge of the rift. Her gasp caused Molly to quicken her pace. She didn't see what her daughter saw:&nbsp;

the form about the size of a beach ball that had been until that very moment loitering outside on&nbsp;

the balcony, invisible, suddenly become visible as it ejected a slender brass object. As the brass&nbsp;

pierced the ball, it burst like a soap bubble and foul smelling greasy smoke dispersed into the&nbsp;

night air.

Molly's momentum had half carried her through the rift when she collided with the barrier. For a&nbsp;

brief moment nothing happened. Then in painful slow motion she saw an ugly red pulse flash across&nbsp;

the barrier. In her mind it was slow enough she could see the symbols etched onto the barrier and&nbsp;

even could tell the properties of the barrier. It gave her a fleeting idea of who or what had cast&nbsp;

the spell. Those thoughts were driven from her mind when the pulse hit her. There was pain and&nbsp;

suddenly she was knocked back from the rift. She staggered but tripped on the carpet and fell&nbsp;

heavily. Her only thoughts were for the safety of her unborn child. Unfortunately for her, such&nbsp;

narrow focus cost her the attention she was using to keep the rift open and it snapped shut.

"MOMMY!" Silvia's scream split the night. She looked briefly at the barrier, hanging red and ugly&nbsp;

where the rift in the Veil had been a moment before, then back to her mother. The carpet was&nbsp;

becoming wet beneath her feet. "Mommy, what, no!" Silvia threw her arms around her mother and began&nbsp;

to cry.

Molly wrapped her arms protectively around her belly as the pain moved from her behind, down to her&nbsp;

pelvis. She felt her water go and knew what was happening. As she had joked about with her doctor,&nbsp;

this was not her first time in the rodeo. "Silvie," she kept her voice as quiet and calm as she&nbsp;

could. "Get the phone. Call an ambulance."

Silvia pulled her right hand free, the charm dangling from the bracelet on that wrist. "L-

levitate!" She pulled her hand towards her, still sobbing softly. A thumping and bumping sounded&nbsp;

down the hall as something hit the wall and seemed to bump and drag against the wall until it found&nbsp;

the open bedroom door. A wireless handset phone arced through the room and fell beside Silvia. She&nbsp;

snatched it up and dialed 911.&nbsp;

"Well, 'es there. They, 'owever, are not." Emmoss was seated at the bar, a far away and vacant&nbsp;

expression on his face. Now and then his fingers twitched in what looked like spastic little jerks.

"Get my rod. Start going through Arthur's memories of before you slipped in. Maybe something was&nbsp;

missed."

Emmoss nodded, then furrowed his brow. "'Old on. This is odd, yes, 'ello, I see you... who..."&nbsp;

Emmoss began to smile again. "Wonderful. Seems we got a noisy neighbor who is currently giving our&nbsp;

Mr. Meat a right 'orrible time about what 'e musta done to Ms. Meat. Seems an ambulance was&nbsp;

called... and picked up the missus. She is 'eaded now to St. Pearls. Got your rod. 'Ere, I'll send&nbsp;

Arthur. We can take a short cut." He shook himself hard like a dog does after a bath. He ran his&nbsp;

hands through his dirty hair then slipped them into his coat. "Unless you 'ave an objection."

"No, by all means. After all, Arthur has my focus. If I tried that with Wild Magic, we might end up&nbsp;

in the wrong place entirely."

"Did I tell you about the time I tried that? Wound up in Belgium. Spent a week 'iking until I could&nbsp;

get back to Civilization..." Emmoss drew a pocket watch from his coat. A pale green flickered to&nbsp;

life around the watch as he drew a line in the air with his finger. "Translocate." The other side&nbsp;

of the line opened onto a roof somewhere. "And I 'ad the 'ardest time getting all the pine tar out&nbsp;

of me coat. Must have 'it every tree on the way down that bloody mountain..."

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/r17E2YPm