Flamethroat

With trembling hands, Korra Waterson unfastened her cloak and pulled it from her shoulders. Jack snatched it from her and draped it over me like a blanket. I pulled it tightly around myself. Words failed me. My mind was still reeling. Helena.

‘You’re going to give me the name of the man who bought her,’ Jack was saying. His voice was distant and muffled.

Flamethroat Valley. A man from Flamethroat Valley purchased Helena at the Human market.

‘A foreign man. Dark skin, curved nose, heavy brow,’ Alastor rattled.

‘A name,’ Jack growled.

‘Martinez!’ Korra cried, ‘Martinez. He’s a regular. He buys the young girls! We don’t know where he lives. We don’t ask.’

‘My parents,’ I said suddenly, my voice strangely stable. ‘You arrested them. Where are they?’

Korra and Alastor looked at each other.

‘Those who conceal educated Humans are charged and released. We don’t know where your parents are,’ she said.

Flamethroat. My parents would be in Flamethroat searching for Helena and trying to steal her back from the man who had bought her, I knew it.

I got to my feet and stared down at Alastor and Korra with such ferocity that they recoiled.

‘I am going to find my sister. If she is damaged beyond repair in any way, I will not rest until the entire Realm has burned to the ground. Do you understand?’

Nodding feebly, Korra and Alastor cowered. They did not wish to burn alive and I was sure they could feel the heat emanating from me. Their top lips were sweating.

Jack stepped away from Alastor and Korra and placed a gentle hand upon my shoulder, ‘Let’s get out of here before someone finds us.’

‘Not yet,’ I told Jack.

‘Why?’

‘If we leave them they will raise the alarm.’

‘What are we meant to do?’ Jack said. ‘Tie them up? Kill them?’ He scoffed as thought this was unthinkable.

‘They would kill us in a heartbeat,’ I said without a hint of amusement in my tone. Jack saw that I was serious. His face fell.

‘You’re joking, right?’

‘They erased Helena’s memories,’ I said, my voice breaking mid-sentence.

Jack’s eyes were wide and searching. His pupils darted across my face. As a Healer, it was very hard for Jack to deal with anything regarding death or pain. He generally disliked violence unless the situation called for it and was a very compassionate and forgiving person. I, on the other hand, was not. Revenge blazed in my eyes.

‘No,’ said Jack. ‘You can’t.’

‘Who says?’ I challenged.

‘Me,’ he said, pointing at his chest. ‘You’re upset and I understand that-’

‘No you don’t,’ I said hotly. ‘You don’t understand at all.’

Jack took a deep breath and backtracked. ‘This is not the way. There must be another option.’

I turned away furiously, my gaze falling upon the syringes that lay on the table. I picked one up carefully. Jack licked his lips nervously as I studied the syringe. Meanwhile, Alastor and Korra’s eyes darted between us fearfully, awaiting their fate.

‘No,’ Jack held out a hand when I took a step towards Korra.

‘Why not? They have done it to hundreds of Humans, they said so themselves! They did it to Helena.’

‘Erasing their memories won’t bring Helena’s back.’ Jack edged slowly towards me and I held the serum close to my chest so he could not confiscate it from me.

‘They will forget we were here,’ I said.

‘They will forget their whole lives,’ Jack corrected.

I stared at Jack disbelievingly. ‘Whose side are you on?’

‘I’m here to stop you from doing something stupid,’ Jack said in a calm voice.

‘Stupid is it?’ My breathing was heavy.

‘You don’t know what state Helena is in just yet. The serum might not be permanent,’ Jack reasoned, holding out his hand and waiting for me to give him the syringe.

‘I’m not waiting to find out,’ I said, my chest rising and falling as the anger surged through my veins.

Before Jack could stop me I had lunged at Korra and wrestled her to the ground.

‘No!’ He yelled, trying to tear me off The Realm official, but it was too late.

I jammed the syringe into Korra Waterson’s forearm. She shrieked in shock as the green liquid was pushed into her arm. A glazed look spread over Korra Waterson’s face instantly and I knew it had worked. She went limp and strangely calm.

Alastor Newman scrambled to his feet and made a break for the door, but I was too quick for him. A jet of flames blocked his only way out.

Jack grabbed my arms and wrestled me to the floor.

‘Get off Jack!’ I spat, ‘Get off!’

‘I know you want revenge,’ Jack said hoarsely into my ear. ‘I know you are hurting, but taking their memories will not bring you satisfaction.’

‘I think it might,’ I said through gritted teeth, trying to wriggle free of his grip.

‘Please,’ Jack begged. ‘Don’t be like them.’

This angered me even more, ‘They are getting what they deserve.’

‘You are using their methods. It’s wrong.’

‘If we don’t do it, they will lock us up,’ I said, tears stinging my eyes.

Kate Bloomfield's books