“I'm... okay…”
Yeah, right, he's obviously not! He tries to get up, but he's burnt, he's severely burnt! I can smell his burnt fur all over, it's horrible. I feel my tears start again, but I can't let go. Not until I've finished absorbing that fireball...
"Damn, I liked that wolf. Why did he have to do that? Does he really like you or what?"
I glare at Ayesha over my shoulder. I want to slap the hell out of her face for the look she is giving Liam. I'm so going to end her once I'm done here! I close my eyes, and mobilize all of my inner fire to get that flame back. This is my fire she used, my magic, my powers. You'd better come down, you damn flames!
Finally, it obeys. Her share of purple fire seems to evaporate, and I see the red flames coming back to me.
"Oh... You're really a fast learner..." she whispers.
I don't care about the impressed tone in her voice. I'd rather have her scared and get the hell out of here! I finish dragging the humongous fireball close to me, but I have to take a step over Liam to protect him.
“Stay behind me, Liam, and down!”
“I'm okay!”
Moon Goddess, I hate that he says he's fine when I can literally smell his injury, the smell of burnt flesh and fur, from where I stand. I know my mate's about as stubborn as I am, but I won't have it. This is my fight, my responsibility! Ayesha smiles, and prepares her fire again, her hands glowing with purple flames. She's ready, and I don't care either way. I just throw my large fireball at her, and she barely stops it with her hands, her feet sliding in the mud from the force of it. However, she still manages to completely dissipate it in her hands, and once again, we go back to exchanging fireballs for several minutes.
After a little while, though, my anger lessens a bit, enough to realize that she's merely toying with me. From her skills earlier, she shouldn't just be playing with fireballs. We haven't even used magic circles, or is it that neither of us have given the other the time? I can't tell. This is my first time fighting another witch, and it's so obvious I'm a damn newbie... I keep holding my ground, though, and the fact that Liam is lying down right behind me gives me more strength. I am not letting her get any closer to him, or to Silver City. In fact, we've moved a few steps deeper into the forest, and more trees have gotten burn marks from our exchanges. It's a miracle of some sort that we're not in the middle of a complete forest fire yet.
"Alright," she sighs. "You're really starting to get annoying, little one. I didn't plan to spend that much time on you..."
What does that mean? Does she have something else planned? Is it related to her accomplice Professor Vutha? Moon Goddess, I hope I didn't send Kelsi and Ben into something even more dangerous... I throw another fireball, and I'm now getting very confident with them, I can curve my shots, and call them back too. I throw another one; however, I miss her head by at least two inches. She smiles, but I did it on purpose. Just as she gets ready to fire, I call back my fireball, and it suddenly hits her from behind.
Ayesha is thrown forward, and shouts in anger or pain.
"You bitch! That hurts!"
"Does it?" I growl.
Damn, she deserved that one. She glares at me and gets back on her feet just as quickly. She seems really furious now, her eyes glaring at me, and her fire strangely changes to bluer shade.
"You little pest..."
She starts preparing more fire, it seems she's done with mere training or whatever the reason she was going easy on me for. I get ready to receive it, but to my surprise, I see runes appearing in her fireball right before she throws it. Wait, how does she…?
I don't have time to wonder. I receive the first fireball, and it literally explodes as it reaches my hand. I scream. It hurts so fucking much! The flames exploded like a hundred little shards, and my hand gets burned for real by her fire. I learned my lesson. When the next one arrives, I dodge it, and it explodes right above me. Holy Moon Goddess!
"Lesson number two," she chuckles. "A surprise is always nice!"
She throws more of her trapped fireballs, but I won't stand by. If I don't put everything I learned with little Mara into practice now, I may as well have learned absolutely nothing. I move my hands symmetrically, quickly, and when she launches the next ones, I raise my magic circle like a shield in front of me. Her fireball explodes, but this time, I stopped it. Moreover, I won't just stand still. I erase the circle, and move immediately to create my own fireballs, and just like Ayesha did, I incorporate some runes before throwing them. Her eyes grow wide, but just like me, she uses a quick magic circle like a shield, and they almost explode in her face, forcing her to retreat a bit.
"So you are really that good..." she chuckles behind her shield.
I glare. I'm not playing, and I don't need her validation either.
"Get the hell out of my city."
"No," she retorts immediately.
Then I won't restrain myself. Not that I was before, but...
We keep exchanging fireballs, most containing runes that make them explode or are made to weaken the other's magic circle, but as of now, I realize I've gotten to her level. Ayesha looks annoyed, but she isn't bragging, so I guess there isn't anything else she can come up with to stop me. I knew it... She looks too young to know a lot of tricks.
However, I won't settle with a status quo. I relentlessly attack her, and make her retreat farther and farther away from Liam and Silver City.
"You little pest..." she finally groans after a particularly violent attack of mine that weakened her shield and injured her forearm.
