Morah
Morah blinked the mud out of her eyes as she scaled the mountain. In her view, the only way to do this right was to come from above, alongside Anya. Hopefully the bird would know what to do when the time came.
'From what Dorin said, I should be close.' Supposedly there was a slight overhang which left Lonn's cave in its shadow during the day. She looked for it but there seemed to be three to choose from. 'That boy has doomed me again'.
Morah took a second to think, and decided to go for the one in the center, as it was the largest and would give her the best vantage point.
After a few minutes of crawling, she saw someone. From what Dorin said, this was Kurs, the only boy among them with a prominent mustache. He was supposed to be an easy target, but with only a wooden spear nothing was guaranteed.
The plan was to wait for Lonn to come out, as they could never know what the innards of the cave held. That was also the signal for Anya to strike, as Dorin said he shared his hatred of Lonn with her.
As the hours past, the mud had caked onto Morah's skin in the sun. She had to make a move soon, as the sun was dangerously close to setting.
Morah saw someone who could only be Ara rushing out from the ash forest.
"There's something in the sky above us," Ara said, pointing at the dark clouds in the sky.
"What's the plan this time, Ara." Kurs said to the other boys sitting around the fire. "We all know what happens if Lonn loses."
"I'm not here to fight. We're being hunted."
Laughter broke out amongst the group, to the point of belly slapping and gasping for air.
"What could possibly fight against us. It's almost dark, and after tonight we'll be back home."
Their argument continued to rise in volume, and Morah readied herself to dive down. She would use Lonn to break her fall, but she knew that she wouldn't be injured for long once they returned to the trial room.
Lonn appeared to separate the two at odds, and Morah heard a familiar bird call from above. 'Go time.'
Morah jumped from the overhang, placing her wooden stake below her and to the side so it wouldn't impale her as well.
"Watch out-"
Morah frowned as there was no going back now. Luckily Lonn was slow to react, and she managed to pierce through his shoulder, and they tumbled into the floor together.
A battle cry erupted from the group of boys around the fire as they grabbed their staffs. Morah felt battered from the fall, but she rolled away from Lonn's body as she heard the scream of Anya's dive.
Just as the shadow of the bird dropped her claws, Morah saw a staff fly straight towards Lonn, intercepting Anya. Morah winced as her companion tumbled away with a flurry of feathers where she was hit. She looked over to where it came from and saw Ara running after her with another staff. 'Crap.'
She grabbed the two extra stakes that were attached to her back, and tested her arms and legs to feel if anything was broken. To her luck, she felt fine besides maybe a cracked rib.
Ara thrusted towards her, expecting that she would be too hurt to move, but Morah easily dodged to the side. 'I won't win in a clash of weapons, that staff is too heavy.' Morah looked towards Lonn and saw him pulling the stake out of his body. She frowned since it looked like she had hadn't hit anything vital.
Morah began to stab and swing her dual stakes in a flurry as she rushed towards Lonn.
This time Ara was forced to dodge, as her weapon wasn't able to keep up with the quickened pace. "Protect Lonn!" She shouted.
The boys around the fire had already swarmed around Lonn, but now they turned their heads towards Morah who was running straight towards them.
'Out of the way.' Morah threw one of her stakes at them and it ended up striking Kurs in the face, and he dropped like a stone.
Prat then came running out, and Morah tried to strike him, but the boy was quicker than she anticipated. He swung his staff between the two of them, shattering her stake into pieces which pressed the handle of it into her wrist with great force. She felt it break, and despair began to set in.
"You will regret this." Lonn hobbled to his feet, and Morah saw Kari rush out from their cave. The sun had finally set, and their staffs came alive with fire.
The flames cast shadows on the faces of all those present, and they were silent as Kari examined Lonn's shoulder. Eventually she turned her gaze towards Morah, and her arm and leg suddenly turned into fire.
"Let me." Lonn said, as he put his good arm out to block her. Morah trembled as she remembered the burns that covered Rae. She was sure that was now her fate.
Their group surrounded the Morah and Lonn in a large circle of the flaming staffs. She was on her knees with her arms tied, and there was nowhere for her to run.
"Where is Dorin." Lonn pulled her chin up, trying to force her to look at him. She pulled away, but a kick at her cracked rib had her gasping for air on the ground. "We can do this all night."
"I'm pretty sure you already know." Morah spat out blood on the ground between them.
Lonn mused for a moment, before nodding his head. "What is his power?"
"I don't know." Another kick, this time from the back.
"Let me have a turn, Lonn." Kari said, the flames had grown to take over more of her body. Morah looked around and many of those present had begun to transform into flames, except for Ara.
"Is that what you want, Morah?" Lonn grinned, twiddling his ego between his fingers. "Or would you rather become one of my followers."
"I would never surrender myself to flame. Once you are completely one with fire, you can never come back."
The people surrounding them whispered to each other, and began to try and blow out the fires that grew on their skin.
"Lies." Lonn yelled. "She's bluffing."
"You are all children who know nothing-" Morah felt a burning sensation on her legs, before being sent flying into one of the staffs that had been dug into the ground around them.
"Shut up." Kari walked towards her, with a nod from Lonn. "I hate people who think they're better than everyone else."
Just as Morah saw the flame of Kari's foot lift above her head, she heard the familiar sound of Anya's dive. Kari looked back in confusion, as Lonn had disappeared from the circle.