Wind Warrior by Jon Messenger

forgotten our master’s plans.
Perhaps I overstepped my bounds. I meant only that Sammy walks a
dangerous path.”
    “ Then it’s your job to keep
her safe, Abraxas. Our master won’t accept any harm coming to
her.”
    Lord Balor stood from his throne and walked
around behind the raised dais. He brushed aside one of the hanging
tapestries, revealing the stonework wall behind it. He ran his
fingers along the wall until they found a small, recessed gray
stone amidst a sea of others. A grinding noise filled the room as
he pressed the innocuous stone. The rest of the stonework before
Lord Balor parted, revealing a secret passage that led deeper into
the volcanic cavern. Heat far more intense than that within the
throne room washed over the pair of Fire Warriors as they stood at
the precipice.
    He turned away from the opening and faced
the General again. “You told my daughter that either the Wind
Warrior dies or she would. I make you the same promise, General. If
any harm comes to Sammy, I will give you a quick death, which is
more than our master would grant you. Keep her safe or don’t bother
coming back.”
    General Abraxas bowed again, though his
expression held nothing but contempt for the Lord.
    Lord Abraxas stepped through the secret
passage and the stonework closed behind him.
    Abraxas dropped the pretense of piety and
walked back to the dais. He climbed its narrow steps before turning
toward the empty room. With a flourish, he collapsed into the hard
throne. A wicked smile spread across his lips as he surveyed the
room and imagined the Fire Caste prostrate before him in
reverence.

    Sammy watched through the narrow crack
between the throne room doors. Her eyes widened as her father
disappeared through the hidden doorway behind the hanging tapestry.
Even from the great distance, she could practically see General
Abraxas’ contemptuous snarl as the warrior took his seat on Lord
Balor’s throne.
    Ignoring the General, her gaze fell back
onto the tapestry that now concealed the secret opening in the
rock. She had lived in the castle for nineteen years, leaving only
in her attempt to kill Xander, and yet had never seen that opening
before. Whatever lay beyond, Sammy felt irrevocably drawn to it. It
pulled on her in much the same way Xander had when they first met.
It was a surreal feeling, as though forces outside her and beyond
her control were pulling her through her own life like a
marionette.
    “ What are you doing there?”
a Fire Warrior guard asked as he approached her from
behind.
    Startled, Sammy spun quickly toward the man.
When the guard realized he was addressing the daughter of Lord
Balor, he quickly averted his eyes and his stern expression
softened.
    “ Forgive me, Lady Balor. I
didn’t realize it was you.”
    Sammy cleared her throat, uncomfortable with
being addressed as part of the Fire Caste royalty.
    “ What can I do for you?”
she asked, her mind drifting again to the secret passage and
whatever lay beyond.
    “ I was ordered to escort
you to your quarters.”
    Sammy looked longingly over her shoulder
toward the crack between the doors before sighing. She nodded
wordlessly and followed the guard away from the throne room
doors.

 
     

     
    The wail of fire sirens split the silent
night’s air. Sean pulled back the apartment’s curtains and looked
outside. In the distance, flickering flames illuminated the
relatively dark town. The swirling red, white, and blue of fire
trucks and police cars converged on the scene in a dense roar of
sirens. As he watched, another fire truck rushed past his apartment
complex.
    A knot formed in the pit of his stomach as
he looked out the window. The fire was clearly coming from the area
of town in which Xander lived. With everything else happening to
his best friend, it didn’t seem at all far-fetched to believe that
Xander was somehow involved.
    He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket
and dialed the number again. The phone rang over and over with