Larry approached the door, opening it just a little.

  “Sorry, we’re closed this evening for a private event; you’ll need to come back tomorrow,” Larry said.

  “Yes, I’m sorry to intrude. It’s one of your guests that I’d like to speak with. You wouldn’t happen to be hosting Trevor, the orphan from this very city, in there right now, would you?” I could hear Liam ask from the other side of the door.

  His tone didn’t sound hostile; however, being called out directly like that left no room for doubt.

  “No, sorry, never met him,” Larry said firmly.

  Liam chuckled a little. “I’m sorry, I suppose I should say—he’s not in trouble. I am alone; I simply need to pass on a message.”

  Larry was about to close the door when a hand held it open just a small amount, clearly stopping him in his tracks.

  “I see. Well, if he is in there, just know that the King has requested an audience with him. We wish to work with him, not against him.” Liam then let go of the door, which shut with a bang.

  I looked around at a group of shocked faces. “Wha—” I said, but was silenced by Liane.

  “Say nothing,” she whispered.

  “I think it’s time to call an end to tonight’s get-together,” Hari said, as Peter and the Matron nodded.

  Elder Peter and the Matron came over and shook my hand. “It was an absolute pleasure to catch up.”

  Martin just gave me a giant hug before giving me a heavy pat on the shoulder, whispering, “Don’t let them push you around, you hear? You are more powerful than I think you know.”

  They all left, with Gemma giving me a wave and a sympathetic look as they all left the inn, leaving the rest of us there.

  Hari looked around. “Is there a back door?”

  Larry nodded, pointing towards the kitchen. “What’s this about?”

  Hari just shook his head. “Liane, could you slip out back and scout the area, see what we’re dealing with? And Larry, I do not know, but we’ve already had one Lord attempt to take Trev through shady means—better to be safe than sorry.”

  Liane was gone in an instant. Jen had gone upstairs, I’m guessing to look out the windows.

  I saw Micca smirk. “Mr. Big Deal over here can’t even have a night of celebration without an invitation from the King, no less.”

  Both George and Darren laughed a little.

  “Bet you’d never have expected that to happen while we were at the orphanage,” George said.

  Darren snorted. “No, he’d absolutely have expected it. He was going to be the world’s best swordsman, remember.”

  I just shook my head. Crisplet was at my side, already looking very red and volatile while appearing to be looking off in the distance.

  It didn’t take long for Liane to come back, appearing next to Hari.

  “Nobody out there. I found the captain and followed him—he just went back to the manor. It appeared no one else was with him either,” she said.

  Hari nodded. “It appears they may really just want to talk.”

  I was just about to ask what to do when bells started to ring through the town—emergency bells.

  I had only heard these during testings every couple of years, and never during the night.

  “What now!” Hari practically yelled.

  Jen came running down the stairs, yelling, “Fire heading this way! Take cover!”

  Outside the inn there was shouting, and through the slats in the closed windows I saw the outline glow brightly, like it was almost daylight.

  Then, there was a familiar pressure.

  “Lily?” I said, almost bewildered by it.

  The glow outside subsided, but the bells were still ringing, and there was a lot of shouting.

  A moment later, there was a soft knock at the door.

  “Jen?” Hari asked, while Larry looked at us for instructions. “What was it?”

  Jen shook her head. “Giant fire in the sky—dragon size, maybe larger.”

  While they were discussing it, I heard a shriek from behind me before I felt a familiar nudge. Looking back, I saw Lily pushing me to the door.

  With a sigh, I walked towards it. Larry, Geo and Janette were completely frozen, eyes wide.

  Opening it, I was surprised at what I saw. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but a young-looking lady shorter than myself, wearing a dress that appeared to be made of flames, with vivid red hair, and eyes that looked to have fire surrounding her pupils, stood before me.

  The more I looked at her, however, the more she didn’t look like a lady, or even human. Her skin had translucent feathers—but these, like her dress, appeared to be both fire and feather. Her face had an almost ethereal beak to it.

  “Hello, young one! I am Alira. May I come in? There is someone I want to meet!” she said in an excitable tone.

  “Uh, sure.” I held the door open for her to pass. Behind her, all around the inn, I now saw guards and adventurers rushing forward—already at least a dozen, but more were arriving by the second.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Deciding we’d deal with that soon, I shut the door and turned around to see Alira practically skip towards Crisplet.

  Another nudge from Lily broke me out of my stupor, and I made my way towards them, managing to catch the one-sided conversation.

  “Hello, little fire elemental! You really are unique—Lily was telling the truth!” she squeaked in delight.

  I saw Crisplet look towards myself and Lily—probably just Lily—before turning back towards Alira and shooting off some embers.

  Alira sat cross-legged on the floor in the middle of the room in front of Crisplet, where they both seemingly started having a conversation that none of us could hear, well, besides perhaps Lily.

  Everyone’s eyes were transfixed on her, but occasionally they looked to me, as if I could do something.

  “Um, excuse me, Alira, I don’t mean to be rude, but—who are you?” I asked.

  She looked up at me as if surprised to see me there, before her eyes widened. “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t even introduce myself properly! I am Alira, Queen of the fire elementals and Phoenix of the north—and you must be Lily’s human, Trevor.”

  I was taken by surprise myself. “A phoenix?” I asked dumbly.

  “Yes, dear. I came to see your companion here. I’ll be with you shortly,” she said, turning back to Crisplet.

  I didn’t know what to say or do. I looked up at the others, who clearly were as shocked as I was, then I felt another nudge from Lily.

  “Oh—I’m sorry. I know what you want,” I said, pulling out one of the pieces of dragon I had cooked previously when she had not shown up, placing it on the floor.

  However, Lily didn’t eat it straight away. There appeared to be something spoken between her and Alira, because the phoenix focused her attention on the cooked dragon, before coming over and, with a talon that I swear was not there before, sliced off a small amount.

  She didn’t eat it so much as place it on her lips, where it turned to ash and was inhaled. Alira’s eyes went wide; the rest of the dragon was quickly devoured by Lily.

  “You were not kidding—that is most intriguing, young Lily,” Alira started, but was interrupted by another knock at the door, this one far more forceful than before.

  A loud, booming voice called from outside, “Is anyone alive in there?”

  I let out a sigh. No one else in the room moved; they had all been frozen in their spots by shock or fear since Alira and Lily had arrived. I had to assume it was Alira, as at least everyone in my party should be well and truly used to Lily by now.

  I approached the door, opening it a small amount and looking into the face of a man who was wearing full plate armour, a weapon in one hand, shield in the other, clearly ready to fight.

  “Um, sorry, we’re a little busy right now,” I said, before I went to close the door again.

  Apparently, this comment shocked him so much he took a moment to react, because the door was already shut before he knocked loudly again.

  By now Lily had made her way over next to me. I wasn’t sure if she was here to protect me, or just to get more food—it had been over a week after all—but I opened the door again.

  This time it seemed the man saw Lily, and leapt backwards, shield raised. “Run, boy! You’re in danger!”

  I shook my head. “It’s fine. She’s with me. Can I help you with anything else?”

  I knew how absolutely crazy this conversation must have sounded, but I really didn’t know how to approach it without seeming crazy, especially after Lily and Alira arrived in a very public and open manner, even making Jen think we were under attack.

  “With… you?” the man said, and I finally recognised his voice.

  “Captain Liam, right? Yes, Lily is with me. We’re kind of in the middle of something. If you’d like, you can come inside and we can talk after?” I looked up and saw at least twenty guards, all fully armed and ready to fight. Behind them was a wide array of adventurers, all with weapons in hand.

  “But they will need to stay outside,” I said.

  I held the door open, but he didn’t move.

  “If you want to stay out there, that’s fine, but I’m going to go back inside and meet the phoenix who came to talk.”

  I went to close the door once again and, just as it was about to close, I heard, “Wai—wait!”

  Liam was lowering his weapon and shield and started walking towards the door timidly.

  “Lily won’t hurt you unless you try to hurt me. Let’s go,” I said, hurrying him along.

  I don’t know where this newfound confidence came from, but it seemed to have done the trick, because after making a motion to his men, who seemed to set up a perimeter of some kind, he walked inside, where I closed the door behind him.

  On the floor, Alira still sat cross-legged, as Crisplet seemed to tell her something using very animated movements. Now and then a statue would appear, seemingly so Crisplet could set the scene, or show how he bravely fought things he never fought, like the Chironid or all the treants alone.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t lie to her, Crisplet.”

  Crisplet turned to me, shooting an ember at me before returning to the story. Liam had not moved from the entryway into the room, seemingly joining the rest of the crowd in being frozen in place.

  Another nudge from Lily and I pulled out another piece of food I had made, this time a smaller piece of drake. I had only one more cooked piece of dragon, and I didn’t want to give it all to her tonight, and especially not in front of Liam.

  The conversation with Crisplet went on for quite a while. In that time, Hari, Jen, Liane and Milo had all found their nerves, and Jen had taken Janette, Geo and Larry into another room, while Milo carried Micca, Darren and George upstairs, all of whom were struggling significantly with the aura.

  Hari had made his way over to Liam, and they were talking in hushed whispers. Liane, on the other hand, had just come up next to me.

  “You don’t feel the aura at all, do you?” she asked.

  I just looked at her, wondering what she meant. “You mean Lily’s?”

  “No, not just Lily’s. You don’t feel Alira’s either, do you? That’s why you could still move without a problem, right?” she clarified.

  I shrugged. “I guess. I didn’t feel anything different—just Lily’s usual presence, like a dull pressure.”

  It seemed Alira had also paid attention to our conversation, because she looked up at me. “That’s interesting. You don’t feel my aura at all?” she asked.

  I shook my head. A moment later, Alira glowed brighter. Where her feet touched the floor, it started to burn into the wood. Next to me, Liane fell to a knee, groaning under the strain, and likewise everyone else in the room dropped.

  “How curious,” Alira said, coming closer to me, every step leaving a burnt footprint on the floor.

  She circled around me, the pressure clearly dropping now as most began standing back up. She also appeared to inspect Liane, who was getting back to her feet next to me. “I don’t sense anything, but I can see why she’d want to keep you around longer.”

  Alira stopped in front of me, coming up only to my chin, where she appeared to be holding something in her hand. “Here, take this. It will be bound only to you, so if anyone tries to take it, they will burst into flames.” Her face lit up at that statement, like it would be very funny to see.

  She held a vibrant feather in her hand—one like her, that was both fire and material—with a multitude of different colours running through it. Flames of blue, white, black, purple, red, orange, and green all rippled through the feather.

  Once I took it, she looked me in the eye. “It will keep you safe, once.”

  A giant smile broke across her face. “And with your permission, I would like to visit young Crisplet again. He is also very unique, and I would very much like to see him grow,” she asked.

  “Uh, sure?” I said, not knowing what else to say.

  Turning to Lily, something was said between them, but it was not out in the open.

  Turning back to me, she grinned. “I should leave now. People always try to steal my feathers when I arrive, and I don’t enjoy that. It’s been a pleasure, young Crisplet. I hope to see you again soon.”

  With that, she walked towards the front door. I followed behind, not sure what to do, but wanting to make sure she didn’t get attacked leaving.

  Once she opened the door and stepped out, her flames lit up the surrounds, and I saw at least a hundred people gathered—guards and adventurers. As she grew brighter, everyone again dropped to a knee, or fully collapsed on the ground, leaving just myself in the doorway.

  Turning around, she waved. “Goodbye, Young Trevor—see you soon.”

  At that, she turned into an absolutely giant ball of fire that took off into the sky. I saw her true phoenix form—a giant fiery bird. Like the feather she gave me, her body rippled with all different colours of fire, both material and ethereal, lighting up the entire town as if it were daytime.

  Then, with a thrust of her wings, she was gone.