The boy had run for as long as he could. He was simply too exhausted to run any more so he collapsed onto the forest floor. He was tempted to lean back against a tree but he knew better than that; even in the full light of day he had no desire to disturb a tree elemental from its slumber.
He pulled a small white mouse from his pocket and the mouse twitched and squeaked and tried to leap from his hands to the ground. “Shhhh…” he whispered and then spoke for the first time, “I can fix this.” The mouse stopped struggling and the boy sat her on the ground and took off his coat.
There was a hidden pocket sewn into the back of the lining and the boy lifted up a flap and pulled out a slim bundle of fabric. He pulled on a small ribbon and unrolled the parcel with a flourish. The mouse leaned in closer as the boy began to pull out little packets of dried herbs.
He broke off a few small pieces and then crumbled them between his fingers, turning them into a fine powder. He clenched his fist around the powder and used one hand to return everything neatly to the pouch and then concealed it once again in the hidden pocket of his coat.
Careful not to open his hand he pulled his coat back on and knelt back down next to the small white mouse. He held open the palm of his empty hand and she climbed back up into it willingly; but then it’s not as if Amber had any other options, being as she was currently trapped in the body of a tiny mouse and her life was quite literally in the hands of a seven year old boy.
The boy started walking again and his ears perked up when he was able to detect the faint gurgling of a nearby stream. The boy hadn’t made any more efforts at speech so the mouse gave a little squeak of fright when he spoke. She almost jumped out of his hand and into the water but he caught her just in time.
“You need to drink all of this,” he said as he sat her down and scooped up some water with his hand. He kept his hand formed in a cup shape as he began to carefully sift the powder onto the water, stirring it with his index finger. The mouse inched forward whiskers bristling and sniffed the liquid before scurrying back.
“Do you want to be human again or not?” the boy asked, frustrated.
Slowly the mouse inched back towards the boy’s outstretched hand and took a small drink of the liquid. “More,” the boy commanded and the mouse took another begrudging sip.
The mouse began to convulse and twitch, bending back so far that for a moment the boy feared its little spine would snap. Steam began to come out of its ears and then the boy screamed as the tiny mouse burst into flame.
“No!” the boy shouted, reaching his hands towards the flames, but the heat was intolerable. Tears sprang to his eyes as he was overwhelmed with guilt. “I’m so sorry… I thought… it should have…”
And then the fire was just gone. It didn’t burn out slowly, it was just extinguished. The boy’s eyes opened wide as he witnessed the ears shift, the fur and tail disappear and the nose shrink back to reveal a set of full lips. Gone was the mouse and back was the girl, and her beautiful green eyes were filled with rage.
“You set me on fire!”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know how that happened.”
“Why are you so big?”
“I don’t…”
“AND WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?!” Amber screamed pulling her hair around to cover herself and putting out her hands protectively.
The boy turned his head away blushing crimson all the way up to the roots of his hair and he began to dig around in his pockets until he found a small handkerchief. It was covered in tiny white lace and given his appearance, surprisingly clean. He peered between two fingers as if to shield his eyes and she jerked it angrily out of his hands.
“Turn around!” she yelled at him.
Even at full volume her voice was still so quiet he wouldn’t have heard her if he hadn’t already been listening. Amber was filled with equal measures of embarrassment and indignation and her hands were shaking as she twisted and wrapped the fabric around her body.
The boy was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn’t know they were being attacked until he felt the sting of a dozen tiny arrows bite into his skin almost simultaneously. The tips of the arrows were laced with some sort of poison and he fought fruitlessly to keep his eyes open.
The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was an army of tiny soldiers racing towards him, all aiming bows directly at him.
“You should be dressed in the finest of silks,” a voice spoke from behind Amber and she jumped almost losing hold of her makeshift gown.
“Get away from me,” she threatened as her frightened eyes took in the overwhelming numbers of armed soldiers.
“Such harsh words from someone so beautiful.”
“What did you do to the boy?” Amber asked looking over at his unconscious form.
“We didn’t kill him,” the man smiled and Amber wanted to punch him in the face even if he was the best looking man she’d ever seen. “Yet.”
“What do you want from me?”
“From the moment I saw you emerge from the flames I’ve only wanted one thing.”
Incendiary the Fire Elemental Series 