I heaved a sigh and held my hands in front of me, my palms facing the fireplace. I concentrated hard. A warm tingling sensation started in my heart, and soon pulsated its way through my veins. It was a wonderful feeling. It was as though all the built up stress was being released. I concentrated on directing the warm, tingly feeling to my hands. If I let my concentration slip, fire would simply rupture from any random place on my body. A second later a burst of fire had shot from my palms and directly into the grate. I smiled as the logs ignited immediately. That was one of the bad things about a Fire Mage’s Power. We could ignite anything without even trying. Though I suppose in this case it was a bonus. Any other Mage would have to sit before the fire, and coax it to life.
I stood up and heaved a sigh of relief. I was much calmer now. It had been a while since I had discharged that much fire from my body. The release felt wonderful.
I turned back to Jack, and he was smiling at me. “You really do worry too much.” He rolled his eyes and led me through the door again.
It took about an hour for Jack to lead me to every fireplace in the manor, and for me to light them. By the time we got to the last one, I was quite tired. Emitting that much flame seemed to be taking a toll on my body, yet I felt somehow relaxed. I supposed this was because it was the first time I was actually using my Power for a purpose, whereas I usually repressed it.
Jack announced that it was almost supper time for the Manor, and suggested we head into the kitchens to lend a hand with final preparations. I spent the next ten minutes standing against the walls of the kitchen, being bustled by the staff, who snapped and yelled things to each other.
“Why is that still cooking? It should have been done five minutes ago!”
“Watch where you’re going, I’ve got a platter full of plompies here!”
“Don’t add that! The Master is allergic!”
I wasn’t sure what to do or who to help so I simply stood to the side out of the chefs way as they bustled about. A few seconds later and Jack joined me huddled in my corner. He had a cheeky grin plastered to his face and was licking his fingers sheepishly. One of the chefs had just finished swatting him away from a rather delicious looking desert that was to be served to Master Forsythe.
“They hate it when I come here during supper time.” He chortled as the flushed chef rolled her eyes and continued with her work, satisfied that Jack wasn’t going to steal any more food.
I smiled at him rather nervously. It seemed he hadn’t planned on actually coming down to help the chefs at all. He nodded his head towards the exit and I followed him out. Once we were away from the claustrophobic kitchen I let out a sigh before my own stomach grumbled angrily. Jack laughed.
“We’ll get some grub when the kitchen clears out.” He promised, “Would you like to see the stables?”
I nodded and Jack informed me he would meet me by the back door through the kitchens once I had retrieved my coat from my room. I never really needed a coat to stay warm, but I didn’t tell Jack this as I hurried off. The sun had set now, and snow was still falling lightly outside.
I hurried to my room, unlocking the door quickly, and shutting it hastily. I turned slowly and looked around. I couldn’t see the fox anywhere. Perhaps he was still hiding like I had ordered. I retrieved my bag and opened it. To my shock it was empty apart from my usual belongings.
I looked under the bed and in every draw. I looked at the window, which was tiny and far too high for him to reach, not to mention it was locked. He was gone, there was no other explanation. Cursing myself, and hoping he hadn’t wandered into the Manor by himself I grabbed my coat and quickly hurried to meet Jack by the back door.
When I stepped outside my boots crunched against the snow. Jack was shivering, his coat wrapped tightly around him.
“Maybe this was a bad idea.” I smiled.
“N-no no. It’s okay.” He waved it aside and led me along a path which brought us to a rather large stable about a hundred meters from the manor. Jack ushered me through a high wooden door and into the straw-strewn stable. It seemed to be quite warm in here for Jack took of his coat and hung it across a banister. He smiled at something in the middle of the room, and as my gaze followed his line of sight I saw the curly red head woman named Camryn throwing a rug over the back of a chestnut horse. At first I thought my eyes had deceived me. But a second closer look confirmed what I thought I had seen.
“Jack-” I began unsure, “Are they-?”
“Pegasi.” He confirmed with a smile and a glance at me.
I looked around the stable. There they were, horses in a range of lovely colours like black, palomino, chestnut, speckled grey, purest white, and deepest brown. Yet it wasn’t their lovely shiny coats that made me stare in awe. Protruding from every beasts back were thick hawk-like wings that were constant with the colour of their coat. The feathers of their wings were so huge I was sure the length of one would equal my height, maybe more. Though the horses were no larger than your average cart-pulling steed, their wings were so alarmingly big and muscular looking I was sure they must be dangerous.
“I thought they were impossible to train, let alone catch!” I breathed in awe. I had heard rumours of these creatures, but never seen one before. I thought they only lived in the wild.
Jack smiled as Camryn bustled about, rugging up the Pegasi for the cold night. “I think we’re the only manor in the area to have a trained herd.” He confessed.
“They can be deadly.” Camryn eyed us sceptically.