The Brimstone Doctrine Chapter 6: Saffron I duck just in the nick of time, quickly folding in on myself, pulling my limbs to the center of my body, and throwing all my momentum forward. I miss the Full's claws and roll straight into his legs again while he's still mid-lunge, and this time my aim is right on target. He goes down, hard, in the same pile of mud I'd encountered earlier. But unlike me, he lands on his back and doesn’t have time to react before his head smacks the ground. In a daze he begins to slowly pull himself back up to sit, And I don't waste a second of his stupor. I run forward and launch myself straight at him, sending us both rolling. We stop when we hit the trunk of a tree. The Full ends up on top of me and quickly shoves his knee into the soft, lower part of my chest, just beneath the sternum. I inhale sharply and he flashes a terrible grin, adding more weight. The amount of fights I’d been in were innumerable. It pained me to think that the bulk of Serrin’s childhood consisted of me telling him to run and then coming home an hour later covered in blood with a body to bury (or multiples, hey, It’s happened). Typically I was a contender, but there’d been a handful of fights I’d had to run from, causing Serrin and I to go into hiding for weeks at a time, often without food. I try not to think about how much I’ve hurt him, damaged him, and that despite it all he still loved me. I especially didn’t want to think of how he’d feel when he woke up this morning and I wasn’t beside him, and when Oravin would tell him I wasn’t coming back. I’d become pretty skilled at ignoring pain of all kinds over the years, but times like this made it hard. I’d fought Fulls before too, there were plenty of them that had tribes established just outside the Human lands and everywhere around them, but this one was over two feet taller than I was and outweighed me by at least a hundred pounds, and I wasn’t exactly the epitome of small. All his weight on my chest hurt like utter hell. All of a sudden there’s rustling from the bush where the little halfy resided, and a flash of blonde hair slowly creeps its way into my peripheral vision. He was peeking out, exposing himself, leaving himself wide open for detection. Idiot. IDIOT! The Full forgets his efforts with me for a moment and snaps his head toward the bush. He saw it too. The halfy squeals and retreats back into the cover of the branches, and the Full gives another twisted grin. He begins to raise himself up, and my entire body floods with relief at the release of some of his weight. Although I was smaller than him, I was the smarter fighter. I knew this because he’d just committed the number one offense, the one thing you never do in battle: ignore your opponent. In one quick move, I sock him in the windpipe. Instantly both his arms fly to his throat and the rest of his weight comes off of me as his momentum is thrown to one side. I pounce at the opportunity, propelling myself straight at him. His head smacks the ground again and this time I’m on top. As hard as I can I punch him in the nose, and I keep it up until blood is running into his mouth. He opens his mouth up wide and what comes out isn’t a howl, but a scream- a loud one. Fearing the rest of his tribe would close in if he kept it up, I mash one hand over his mouth and pinch his nose closed with the other, twisting it sharply. He wrenches his eyes shut and bows his back, pain evident in the troubled features of his face and in he muffled screeches he produces under my hand. Panic sets in quickly for him when he realizes he can no longer breathe. His eyes grow wide and he squirms violently beneath my grasp, using both arms in a desperate attempt to pry my hands away, to no avail. Tears begin to gather in the corners of his eyes and he moans some more, thrashing side to side to try and buck me off or find an opening for escape. When he can’t get anywhere with that, he stays still and looks up at me with an empty gaze. Very slowly, he nods his head to me. I’d won. I move my hand away from only his mouth and he immediately falls into a fit of gasping and coughing, sputtering blood everywhere as he does so. After he’s recovered enough to speak, he utters just one word in a quivering, but steady voice. “Seeda!” The demon word for stop. “Seeda! Seeda!” Before I let go of his nose I lean in close, locking eyes with him. This time, I’m careful to use demon. “If you call the rest of them here, I’ll kill you,” I tell him, and then I get off of him and let his nose go. “Get up and run.” He jumps backward as far away from me as he can and then shakily gets to his feet when he feels he’s far enough. He doesn’t have to be told twice: he charges away and plunges into the deep woods. I watch him until I can’t see him anymore. Suddenly the little halfy runs out of the cover of his bush and wraps his arms around my torso. “That was so cool!” He chants, smiling up at me. “How did you do that? You’re so strong! How can you-” He stops and snaps his head to the side and looks toward the area where the devious mud puddle resided. Coming out of the woods were dozens of Fulls, each with a different size and appearance. The halfy squeals the same way he did earlier, and runs behind me. Oh, son of a Human biscuit. "So, what do we do now?" One of the shortest of them asks, looking directly at me. Red hair the same color as his eyes hung loose just over his shoulders. He had a short, scruffy beard to match. "Uh, what?" I respond. "Well, you made our leader flee into the woods for his #life," Another one of them with a much deeper voice explains as he steps out from the cover of the trees. "Don't tell me you don't know what that means." I think for a long moment and find that I don't. Mom had prepared me for so many scenarios but not all of them, and If I didn't say the right things they'd know I wasn't a Full. I had to tread carefully and play it smart, or I could kiss making it into Narath goodbye. So I quickly create a plan B, tilt my head to the side, and set a hand over my hip. The halfy behind me grabs fistfulls of my shirt and squeezes them tight, like I'd been his protector his whole #life. "I'm sorry," I say, matching the Full’s accusatory and brash tone. "I'm a Homeland demon. I'm more concerned with finding Humans to torture than understanding the tribal rituals of you Natives." Lies. All lies. But hey, they were good ones! "It's not a ritual," The one with the beard growls, narrowing his red eyes to slits. "It's tribal law that when a Full is killed or forced out of his territory, the one that causes it inherits his tribe and territory. Simple as that. You drove Eli away with his tail literally between his legs, so congratulations, new leader. You got a name?" Despite the shock of his revelation, it spills out of me automatically. "Herron," I reply. The Full with the deep voice gives me a smile, and it was kind of unsettling. Very unsettling, actually. "Not your alias," He tells me. "We've all got things to hide, that's why we have them. But we only use them around Humans or halfies or Fulls in high ranking. When we're with each other there's nothing to hide. Plus, what happens in the tribe stays in the tribe. That's code, and code is law." I don’t say anything, or give him my real name. I know better. “Well, fine,” He tells me. “If you insist on keeping secrets from your tribe, I don’t care. But you’ll have to learn to be more trusting eventually. I’m Gallegher. And that’s, you know, my real name.” He wraps an arm around a smaller male Full right next to him and shakes him so hard he loses his balance. “This here’s my baby brother, Terezzi,” Terezzi glares at him. “I’m older than you, you idiot.” He says, and somehow the tribe seems much less imposing. “Ah, who cares about specifics? You sure you won’t tell us your real name, squirt?” He says to me. Squirt? I think for a moment. I didn’t want to reveal my real name. What if one of them knew my Father? Or worse, what if they knew Nevvy? But at the same time, I had a cover to uphold. I could mask my scent as much as I wanted but if I wasn’t believable, I didn’t stand a chance. So reluctantly, I say my real name for the first time in what seems like years, and what probably was years. "It’s Saffron." It felt foreign. "Pleasure to meet ya!" Gallegher says, offering me what appeared to be a genuine smile. He shakes Terezzi again and Terezzi punches him in the side. “Now if you'll allow me- I should really finish our kill. We've got a score to settle with that little blonde behind you. Hey Hakku, you still got that dagger I lent you?" "Yup." Another Full at the forest's edge answers, tossing a short silver blade to Gallegher. He catches it with ease, and twirls it around and around in his right hand as his red eyes train their focus on the halfy behind me. I prayed he had enough sense to stay still and quiet, but of course, he didn’t. He screams at the top of his lungs, runs out from behind me, and charges back underneath the bush. "Come on out, you pest!" Gallegher chants. "I just want to play!" When he gets no response, he begins walking toward the bush, kicking his feet into it’s underbrush. My heart skips a beat when after only a few seconds, he collides with something that isn’t brambles and there's an audible squeal, again. He grins wildly. "There you are." He growls. In one deft swoop, he plunges an arm into the bush and drags the little halfy out of it by only his hair. He throws him to the ground afterward. "Think you can steal our food and get away with it?" Gallegher yells. "Stealing from another tribe is punishable by death. We're all hungry out here. Just because you don't have your own food doesn't entitle you to take what we've rightfully earned!" "I'm sorry," The halfy says tearfully. "I didn't mean to, I was just-" "You didn’t mean to. Ha!" Gallegher mocks. "There's no excuse for half-breed scum like you. Lights out, Goldie-locks." He growls, raising his dagger and readying it to plunge. In an instant, every hair on my body seizes and stands on end, nothing but pure adrenaline igniting in my chest and coursing through my veins. When he lunges forward, I snap my entire arm downward and twist my hand, feeling the heat gather and take its shape. His dagger collides with a sword of my own, and It's small metal blade snaps in half, the top segment falling to the ground with a soft “thud.” "Leave him alone. He hasn't done anything wrong." I say. Gallegher looks at me, dumbfounded. Damn it! What had I done? “You’re a Manipulator!” Gallegher exclaims, dropping the rest of his dagger, forgetting about the halfy altogether. “I thought they were a myth! Our leader is a Manipulator!” I open my mouth to respond, but Gallegher rushes up to me and shoves a filthy finger into my lips. “Shh,” He says, grinning. “Don’t speak. Let’s just enjoy a moment of silence for how much cooler you are than Eli was. Terezzi! Can you believe how cool this guy is?” Terezzi rolls his eyes. “Can’t believe it. Hey pal, you should probably boil some water for your mouth. He never washes his hands.” “You shut up! I wash them at least once a day!” These were the Fulls Mom had warned me about? I didn’t sense the threat, at least not with Eli gone. Maybe they were different the further you got from the Human Lands. Suddenly there’s a gentle hand on my back. Gallegher drops his finger from my mouth, stands up straight, and quiets down immediately. I turn around and come face to face with an old, heavily wrinkled female Full. She smiles at me warmly and winds her arm into my own. Where had she been all this time? Did she see everything? “Gallegher, keep everyone in line for a moment. Our new leader and I are going to go into the next clearing to chat a bit.” “Yes, elder Mary.” Gallegher replies. Elder Mary lets her arm out of mine and takes my hand instead. “Come on.” She commands, leaving no room for argument. She pulls me toward the woods, and for some reason, I let her. AUTHOR NOTE: Sorry for the extended hiatus! College and work #life are crazy. I will make a greater effort to update more regularly. As always thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the story so far! What's waiting in Narath?

The Brimstone Doctrine Chapter 5: Saffron I don't know what time it is when a howl from below tears me from my sleep, but the sun hadn't risen yet, and it was raining softly. I hadn't noticed last night, but it was much warmer here. I quickly decide that I needed to get moving again, and that I'd be better off going on foot below than continuing to fly. I had a better chance of avoiding detection by the Fulls if I stayed terrestrial. There was more coverage and I didn't have to be in Narath until early tomorrow morning at the latest when the boat was projected to hit shore, so taking the extra time to be cautious was worth it. I crawl off of my branch and get a good hand-and-foot grip on the tree's thick trunk, sliding down it carefully until I reach ground. I stand and begin setting off West after brushing myself clear of dirt and dead leaves (which clung to my pants like they'd been slathered in Human paste), staying as close as possible to where the foliage and underbrush were thickest, forming little fireballs in my hands and burning my way through where I find it's too dense to pass. Another howl sounds from about a half-mile ahead of me a few seconds later, and and I stop dead in my tracks. It had sounded like some type of wild dog, like those I had witnessed back in the Human lands. It must be the alpha of a pack of them, beckoning them to join him for a kill somewhere. I take a deep breath and steel myself, resuming my steady pace forward. There was nothing to worry about if I didn't interfere with the pack or their kill. I decide to change course a bit and take a wider path in an effort to go around them. The foliage is even thicker this way, and I find myself having to make my fireballs larger the deeper in I go. When I hear the howl again it's even closer, no more than a couple yards away. Afterwards several other quieter howls sound from further away and from all directions, like the alpha was signaling the rest of his pack not just to join him, but to move in and close on whatever it was he was after. Uh oh. I break into a sprint, taking my path even wider, hoping to somehow still avoid intercepting them. After I've gathered a good quarter-mile distance from where I had been, I look over my shoulder and see nothing in pursuit of me from behind. I breathe a little sigh of relief but don't slow down, and just as I refocus my attention to the path ahead, one of my boots gets caught on a protruding tree root and I come down hard, face first, the bottom half of me landing directly into a pile of mud. I curse as I slowly push myself up half way, hissing at the sharp pain that radiated through my ankle with every small movement I made. I lower myself back down and wrench my eyes closed, waiting for it to subside when suddenly I hear a soft and uncertain "H-hi," from directly beside me. I raise up again, snapping my eyes back open and looking to my left. It doesn't take me very long at all to see a young Full lying flat on his stomach underneath a large berry bush. His eyes were three times as large as any others I'd ever seen before and they weren't red- instead a bright blue- and he had hair so blonde it was nearly white. His scent floods into my nose and it was almost sweet versus sour and metallic as a Full's always was. He was small, very skinny, and looked to be shorter than me by a solid foot. "You wouldn't by any chance be one of the beasts trying to kill me, would you?" He asks, fear evident in his voice, large eyes widening even more if it were possible. "I'd ask if you were okay but if you're one of them I really don't think I should. And you look like one except for your eyes!" The first thought that runs through my mind is that I really, completely failed at avoiding the kill, and then after getting another look at the boy and seeing the intricate inked design on his right arm peeking out from his jacket sleeve, it hits me. He was a half-breed, a halfy, just like me. Before I can think anymore or say anything, the sound of heavy footsteps reaches my ears and I spring up to my knees, the pain in my ankle completely gone now. The little half-breed gives me a dumbfounded look as I crawl to the side of his bush. "Scoot over and don't say a word." I tell him, and he obeys, shifting his position to accomodate me and nodding repeatedly. I slide in beside him just as a massive Full about eight feet tall emerges from the brush, all red eyes, sharp scent, and bright purple hair. He looks around, sniffs the air, and then opens his mouth as wide as possible, bellowing out a deafeningly loud howl from the top of his lungs. Culprit aquired. The alpha: an alpha of a tribe of Fulls. And I was sharing the same air with his prey. I seemed to have a knack for getting myself into these situations. Well, I only had one shot to get out of this, and when the Full begins to walk slowly toward the bush with a knowing expression, I decide to take it. I leap out from underneath the bush on all fours, propelling myself forward into my target: the Full's legs. I'm off by a few degrees and only end up hitting him just below his left knee, but it's effective enough to catch him off guard and cause him to stumble into a nearby tree. I quickly shoulder-roll to my feet and when I turn back around, the Full had recovered from his stumble and was now facing me square on, the trembling halfy beneath the bush completely forgotten. In a throaty snarl his lips curl upward to reveal pointed fangs, and I follow suit and do the same. He narrows his eyes to slits and positions himself sideways, both arms out in front of him with clenched fists ready to strike. I'd pulled it off. I was believable! "Shara." He rumbles, telling me to fight. "Shara." I reply, and he lunges forward with his long, black claws without warning, aim trained on my throat.

The Brimstone Doctrine Chapter 4: Regent For what seemed like the hundredth time in the two hours we'd been sailing, I throw up over the rail of the ship. Kell stands at my side and pats my back as it happens, steadying me when I'm able to stop leaning on the rail for a moment and stand on my own. "You okay?" She asks. "I don't think I've ever seen someone puke so much." I shoot her glare. "I grew up on land. I'm not exactly used to ocean travel. I hate water." Kell smiles a little. "I know, earthworm, I know," She says, gently grabbing my arm. "Come on. You'll feel better if you lie down for a while." She leaves no room for protest and pulls me along as she walks briskly to the center of the ship where a door is cut into the deck. The ship must have a lower level. She lifts the door up by a little handle and opens it to a flight of stairs. She motions for me to go down first. "After you, sicky!" She chants. I reluctantly move forward, taking the first few steps and then stopping to lean against the wall when the vertigo strikes again. Kell comes down after me and pulls the deck door closed behind her. She then links her arm with mine and pulls me from the wall, bearing the brunt of my weight as she guides me down the rest of the stairs and to a long hallway at the left of them. After a few seconds of walking, we come to a little table where a very small man with silver hair and blue eyes like Kell's was sitting crossed legged in a chair. He was reading some kind of Human book that had "World Atlas" printed on the cover. "Hey, Cleo," Kell greets, her voice monotone and lacking any and all enthusiasm. "We need a room, please. We'll share." Cleo looks up from his book and raises his gaze to Kell. The corners of his mouth lift into a half-hearted smile and his thin lips reveal a set of perfect, pearly white teeth. "Kellisandra," He says, almost purring as the name leaves his mouth. "It's been a while." "It's Kell," Kell snaps, letting go of me to cross her arms over her chest. "And after this I'd like it to be forever." Cleo chuckles a little and shakes his head, now shifting his eyes to me. He looks me up and down-and unlike the boy when we first got on deck-he's unfazed. "Regent Servinand," He says, broadening his grin. "I had a feeling we'd be seeing you here. You're looking a little green, though, my dear." I nod, and Kell's arm finds its way back around mine again. "Leave her alone and just give us a damn room," She growls. "We didn't come down here to chit-chat." Cleo smirks and shakes his head a little, and he climbs out of his chair and stands. When he does so he comes even with my elbow, and I'm overtaken by a brief moment of shock. I stood at only 5' 2" when I didn't slouch. "This way." He mutters, and takes us past his table and down the hall further until we reach a massive metal door at the end of it. He twists it's knob and opens it to yet another long hallway, this one adorned with hundreds of doors in either side, a different number painted on each. "Ladies first," He says, motioning for us to go in. Kell leads the way and pulls me inside the door with her. As soon as we're in, Cleo enters himself and closes the door gently behind him. He moves forward past Kell and I and steps in front of both of us once more, continuing to walk down the hall. He doesn't ask us to follow him so we don't move, and after a couple more seconds, he stops at a door with the number "213" painted on it's front in thick blue lettering. He opens it and holds it open for us. "Here you go," He says with flourish, his voice taking on a high pitched trill as the word "go" leaves his mouth. "Last free one we have. Of course for you, Kell, if its too cramped for the both of you my room is always open to share." In a flash Kell's arm is drawn back and she punches Cleo, hard, in the side of the jaw. His entire body is thrown sideways with the impact and he falls to the floor. "Eat embers." Kell growls, stepping over his body and into the room. I follow suit and once I'm inside, she kicks his arm out of the threshold and slams the door closed. She waits until we hear Cleo pull himself to his feet, step away from the door, and walk back down the hall in the direction of his table before she speaks. "I can't stand that guy!" Kell bursts, clenching her hands into fists at her sides. "How do you know him?" I ask. Kell sighs. "To make a very long story short, his younger brother was the guy I told you I killed before. Let's just say they hated each other's guts and when I killed Mallory, Cleo suddenly fell in love with me. He's not even cute and let's be serious, could you date someone two feet shorter than you even if he was?" I shake my head and laugh, but paired with the rocking of the ship, it made my dizziness and nausea worse. I use one hand to hold onto the wall and the other to pinch the bridge of my nose in an attempt to lessen the awful sensation. "Here." Kell prompts, stepping forward and touching my shoulder, pointing to the bed that was in the corner of the room. I obey and let her lead me to it's side. I slowly lower myself to sit on the bed's single sheet and hard mattress with a sigh. Kell gives me a little bit of a smile when I'm settled and steps over to the sink, picking up a small, filthy rag that had been sitting in a stiff heap on the counter. She runs hot water over it for a solid minute and wrings it out three times. Then she switches the tap to cold and wets it again. Once she's finished she turns off the faucet and returns to the side of the bed. "Lie down," She commands. I do as she says and pull my legs up into the bed, letting them lie straight out in front of me, my arms propping up my top half. I look at Kell expectantly, waiting for her to use the cloth on me, but she doesn't, not yet. "All the way, Earthworm." She tells me, pushing me down by my shoulder to lie flat on the mattress. She then draws the cool rag over my entire face, focusing on my temples. After a few minutes she folds the rag in half longways and sets it flat over my forehead. The coolness of the cloth made it easier to cope with the rock of the ship, and lying down relaxed the swirling of my stomach and my head. After a couple of minutes Kell takes the cloth away and tosses it into the sink from her position on the bed with one quick move of her left hand. She had expert aim. "Give me your hand." She commands. I obey and she presses her thumb firmly into the inside of my wrist with the rest of her hand pressing into the outside of it. She squeezes periodically and after only a few seconds, the nausea begins to melt away. I can't keep a sigh of relief from escaping my lips, and Kell doesn't stop herself from noticing. "Better?" She asks. I nod. "Where did you learn that?" I question. The work of her fingers freeze a little at the inquiry and it takes a few long seconds before she gets them moving again. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked-" "No, no, it's okay. Sorry. I was a medic back at home, but-I-I-learned this from my mom when I was little. My dad wasn't a water type either and he reacted to sailing worse than you do." "That really must be bad." She laughs just lightly, and wears an expression of amusement with subtle hints of sorrow. She brings her eyes up to meet mine, and I'm able to see the tears brimming in them before she lets go of my arm and wipes at them before they can fall. "Yeah, he-he was something else alright," She tells me, speaking incredibly fast. "You, uh...you really are feeling better now, right?" "Yeah. I think it worked. Thank you." "You're welcome. And uh, I really just want to go to sleep now. I can take the floor, but could I share with you? This sounds crazy but you remind me of my mom and I just want to feel-" Her words stop when the tears start again. This time, three of them slip down her cheeks before she can stop them. I pull myself up into a sitting position and pull down the single sheet to slip under them. After I'm settled, I pat the pillow next to mine, giving Kell a small, genuine smile. She gratefully moves up to the head of the bed and slips under the covers beside me. She was shaking and her breaths were falling in rapid, sporadic intervals like she was cold, but it had to be close to eighty degrees in the room. "T-thank you." She whispers, turning on her side with her back facing me, like she was embarrassed. "No problem." The bed was was uncomfortably small to begin with, and sharing made it twice as bad, but I don't say a word about it. It takes a good ten minutes for Kell's breathing to even back out, but her shaking doesn't stop. At one point I give up half of my sheet for her and pull it up over her shoulders. She gives a little laugh, and that puts me a bit more at ease. "Thanks, earthworm." She says in response, and the tone of her voice is grateful, but something about it suggested that there was more to it. I don't ask. All I knew was that maybe, just maybe, I could trust this girl as much as she seemed to trust me. I turn on my side too after Kell's soft snoring reaches my ears. I stare at the peeling white paint on the wall until I'm pulled into sleep. When I close my eyes I can see the map in my mind. I know exactly where to go, exactly how far I have to run, where the quicksand pits are and where the Full territories are established. It was exactly two miles from our landing port to Narath, and I had to run it all without stopping. I exhale and finally drift off, both anticipating and dreading the first hint of morning light, but I decide that the potential reward is well worth the risk, so I try to be positive. After all, there was no looking back.

The Brimstone Doctrine Chapter 3: Regent "There she is! After her!" I run and run, dodging trees and weaving through the thick foliage and underbrush to get as much distance between me and Radar as possible. He and his tribe were fast, I give them that, butwith their smallest member outweighing me by close to a hundred pounds, they'd never catch me. "Regent, don't you dare go any further!" It was Radar's voice. After a few more seconds, I make myself stop and turn around to face him, hooking my thumbs into the belt loops of my pants. I scuff my boot in the dirt until he finally catches up, doubling over in front of me panting and bracing his hands on his knees. I smirk. He was so certain I was afraid of him it was laughable. "First demon I've ever seen get winded." I say. He looks up at me through slitted red eyes, his mouth curling into one of his crooked grins. "Have I told you recently that I absolutely just can't wait to marry you?" He growls. If it was possible, his eyes narrow even more, and he drops his tone by several octaves. "We'll have so much fun together, you and me." I do my best to hide the presence of the chill creeping up my spine, folding my hands in front of me to control their shaking. I had to admit, there were occasions where he was terrifying, but I would never let him know. Instead I smile at him too, and mimic his attitude. "You've mentioned it a time or two," I reply. "But let me remind you, I told you no each time you asked to share blood." "Oh, and you think you have a choice?" He asks. "Oh, I know I do." I retort. "And just how do you figure that? You need me." I smile wider, backing up a few feet, locking eyes with him one last time. "I don't need anyone," I reply. "Especially not you." Before he can react, I turn and dive into a small opening in the thicket, and take off as quickly as I can, leaping over sticks, weaving past vines, and avoiding puddles of quicksand and mud. I hear Radar curse loudly in demon and I smile again. "Go in! All of you! Get her!" He screams. My heart was beating out of my chest, so much so I could hear it and feel it in my throat. After a few minutes of running, I instead begin to hear the water. Relief washes over me. I was close, so close to being free, but I wasn't in the clear yet. I keep running and running, thanking God that Radar's men hadn't caught up. I was considerably lighter than they were and a lot smaller, and the combination made me faster than them too. It was working very much to my advantage thus far. With growls of frustration coming from behind me, I knew they were having trouble getting through the brush. I look over my shoulder quickly and see one of the biggest of them with his foot stuck in some thick brambles. Two of the smaller ones were gathered around him trying to help, and they were only succeeding in making it worse. I laugh and focus on covering the last few yards to the beach as quickly as possible. After what seems like an eternity, I reach sand. There were hundreds of others too, bolting out of the woods and straight into the water, desperately trying to reach the ship, just like me. I speed to the sea's edge, and inadvertently, I freeze. Every hair on my body was standing on end and screaming for me not to go in. No. There was no time to hesitate. It was the only shot I had. I charge into the ocean without a second thought. The water is chest level in less than ten steps, and all the pressure it put on my chest made me struggle to breathe. I couldn't panic. I COULDN'T panic. I had to press on. I ignore the feeling and after taking in a hulking breath of air, I dive in, propelling myself forward into water well over my head. It didn't matter how much I tried not to think about what I was doing and no matter how hard I kicked my legs and flailed my arms, I couldn't make myself swim forward. Now I had no bottom to push off with, and the shore was too far to retreat to. The panic quickly sets in full force. I pant, flailing and fighting to keep my head above water. It doesn't work and when a strong wave passes through, I go under completely. I struggle to resurface, but again, nothing works. It was futile. I wasn't built to swim. It was a simple fact I hated to admit. Fuzziness creeps into my eyes right before a pair of arms wrap around my torso and pull me back to the surface. I gasp and take in hulking gulps of air to recover, coughing up mouthfuls of water in between. Once my lungs are clear and my breathing evens out, I look beside me to see my rescuer, hoping it's anyone but Radar or one of his men that somehow braved the water to get to me. What was I thinking? They would have yanked me back to the shore right away, or not bothered with that at all and just let me drown. It's a girl with long blonde hair and ice blue eyes, a water type for sure. She gives me a big, friendly smile. "You okay?" She asks. I nod. "I think so. Thank you." I pant. Another big smile is her response. "Just get behind me and hold on to my shoulders. The ship's not that much further. Hold on tight." "Alright." I reply, still dazed. I do as she says and instantly she goes under the water. She tears through it with ease, gliding through the current like it was nothing. It frightens me, but I'm able to hold onto her and still keep my head above water as she pulls me along. At one point I look back over my shoulder and see Radar and his tribe on the shore, watching. They wouldn't come into the water, I knew that. They could swim about as well as I could, and with their armored battle suits it'd be impossible. I was safe, at least for now. The girl doesn't come up for air until we're at the side of the ship where the entrance ladder is. Once it's our turn to board, she pushes me in front of her and I grab onto the first step. "You can climb, right?" She asks, giving me another grin. I shoot her a glare. "Yes." I reply, hauling myself up to the third step straight from the water. I look back at her again and give her another look, this one of triumph, and she nods her head in assent with raised eyebrows. I scale the rest of the stairs quickly and when I'm at the top, I collapse onto the deck of the ship and try to process the past five minutes. The girl tumbles onto the deck seconds later and takes a big breath. She looks over at me. "My name's Kell. Nice to meet ya." She tells me. "Nice to meet you too. Thanks for, uh, saving my #life back there." I don't tell her my name. It was too much of a risk. "All in a day's work!" She exclaims with gusto, pulling herself up to sit with her legs stretched out in front of her. "Now where's the food on this beast?" A boy with short, sandy brown hair and equally brown eyes who had just hauled himself onto the ship's deck as well stands up with a groan. He shoots an angry look in Kell's direction. "We all just took the biggest risk of our lives and barely made it here in one piece. There are bodies floating down there. Shouldn't we be in some state of mourning for them? Not everyone was as lucky as we were to get here alive." Kell stands up and faces the boy with her entire body. She was really quite tall now that I saw her out of the water. I look over the ship's edge and sure enough, body upon body rocks with the tide below, stretching all the way from the shore. A good amount of blood rocks with them. I'd been so focused on making it to the ship that even when I was rescued, I hadn't noticed. "I think that means we get all the more right to celebrate, bub," Kell spits, pulling her long ponytail over her shoulder and wringing the water out of it. "The weaklings shouldn't have tried to make the swim if they were just going to drown." Weaklings like me? I'd be one of the floating bodies too if it hadn't been for Kell. "I'm sure they didn't intend to drown," The boy retorts. "They intended to try." "Whatever," Kell chirps, tossing her ponytail back behind her. "We're alive and they aren't, so you see how far trying got them." "You saved her," He snaps, pointing a finger at me. Before The boy can say anymore, Kell turns to me excitedly and reaches for my arm. "Come on, Regent! Let's go find some food." She quickly pulls me to my feet. "Regent?" The boy repeats, scanning me up and down knowingly with a pensive look on his flushed face. His eyes then grow wide in alarm. "Let's go." Kell repeats, turning and walking briskly to the other side of the ship, pulling me along beside her. When we reach the other end of the deck, Kell sits down against the rail bordering the ship's edge. I sit beside her. "How do you know my name?" I ask quietly. She chuckles like a child keeping a secret from her parents and looks over at me, her eyes live with amusement. "You seriously don't know?" She asks, smirking. "Uh, not really..." I say. I did know, but i couldn't reveal it. Maybe her parents knew mine, or by some government system or log she knew my name and my face. She looked to be older than me by a couple years, so it was possible. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm almost sure it was your face in the number one spot on the world's most wanted criminal list last week," She continues. "Regent Sarvinand. Daughter of top government agents Syndy and Lyle Sarvinand. One-hundred-two years old. Human equivalent: fourteen. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Olive skin. Wanted for brutal murder of two government agents. Will be taken dead or alive, preferred dead. Really sucks at swimming." I shoot her a pointed glare, and she bursts out laughing. "Kidding! Kidding!" She says, throwing her hands up in front of her chest defensively. "But not really." "I didn't kill them," I growl. "They broke into my house in the middle of the night and tried to shoot my parents and one of them-" Kell cuts me of by clapping a hand over my shoulder that rattles my entire body. She smiles warmly at me. "It's okay," She tells me. "You don't have to explain. The government is full of slimy liars that don't care about anyone besides themselves. We all know you're innocent. Well, that's not true, you're still a fugitive, and that guy back there-oh, nevermind. What I'm trying to say is you don't strike me as the murdering type." I nod my head in affirmation of her statement. "We're all running from something," She goes on. "That's why we're here. Whoever didn't make it wasn't meant to leave in the first place, or at least not fit to." "Why did you save me when there were so many others?" I ask her. "Once I knew you were a government case and I saw what you'd been charged with, I knew you were innocent. I know murderers, and you're not one. So when I saw you in the water I recognized you and I thought you deserved a chance to be free. And, well, you were also the first person I saw drowning, so I helped you, and just you. I had a debt of one #life to pay anyway." I look at her questioningly, and she waves her hand in dismissal of the statement. "Oh, I actually killed a guy once. Long story. His fault. I figured if I saved someone else later on it'd cancel it out. You're welcome." She explains. "Thank you." I say, and I leave it at that. "So where exactly are you planning to go when we land?" She asks. "I don't know." I answer. I do know, but I wasn't in the market to share my trust yet. "I guess none of us really do," Kell replies, "But we'll figure it out." I nod again. After a few more uneventful moments, I look over my shoulder and into the water. A little girl in a pink dress and boots was floating face down beside the ship's propeller, the curls of her hair billowing out in a shroud all around her tiny body. My throat begins to get tight. Suddenly a bell tolls three consecutive times and from somewhere close a man yells: "Lift anchor!" Kell touches my shoulder again, and this time it's much gentler. "No looking back." She says simply. I nod to her, turning forward to face the deck again, taking in a deep breath. I was meant to live. I was meant to have a new beginning. I was meant to make it into Narath and become what I always dreamed I'd be. I close my eyes, leaning back against the rail, and I hear the loud firing of the ship's engine, the whir of the propellor below following quickly afterward. Soon we're moving, and with the victorious smell of the sea in my nose I drift off underneath the freshly forming stars, leaving everything up until this moment behind me. I was ready. I was born ready. No looking back.

The Brimstone Doctrine Chapter 2: Saffron Once the Full stops focusing on his jaw and eye, he gazes into the thick fog and I watch what thin lips he has curl up into a wide snarl when he finds my eyes. It makes even more of his horrifyingly yellow teeth visible. I swallow hard. A thin line of blood was trickling out from the corner of his mouth. He works up a mouthful of it and spits on the ground beside him, refixing his snarl immediately after. “Oravin, you slime. What business do you have protecting that little bastard?” He rumbles. My throat burns with the sudden heat rising in my chest. Oravin squeezes my shoulder again and I purse my lips and set my jaw to hold it back. “He’s one of the trainees from the eastern base,” Oravin answers. “He’s headed north on a mission and he just wanted to drop by a new recruit for us on his way.” I look over at Oravin, his face calm and unmoving, showing not a hint of the lie he had just told. I had always been in sheer awe of his cunning. He was the best bluffer and swindler of all the Fulls I’d ever met. It came to him with such frightening ease that it was often unsettling, but he’d always done his best to protect me. The Full throws back his head in laughter at Oravin’s words. A woman’s tone still erupts. “Please,” He replies. “That sniveling brat? Don’t make me laugh. He’s elementless. How do you propose he’s going to learn to fight with us when he’s afraid of his own shadow? Thing acted like he’d never seen a pair of red eyes before. It was hysterical. You should have seen his face.” That’s because he hadn’t. I had made sure of it. This time, I‘m forced to let some of the smoke escape through my nose to control the smolder in my lungs. There was so much I could say, but if I said just one more word, the plan would be in shambles and what little chance my brother had of living peacefully here would be over in an instant. So I stay quiet and concentrate on keeping the combustion in my veins at bay. By now my body had sensed that the threat was gone (at least for the time being) and my wings retract. “I’ll be training him myself,” Oravin fires back. “So you needn't be concerned with him whatsoever.” The Full smiles and draws his tongue over the corner of his mouth to collect the blood that had reassembled there. “And as for your little friend there,” The Full continues, raising a clawed finger in my direction. “With eyes like that and hair that color, you know as well as I do that he’s got an element. Probably multiple ones. Plus he’s the first to ever greet me in English. He’d fetch a fortune-” “And exactly what proof do you have of that?” Oravin interjects as I silently curse myself for forgetting to use demon lingo earlier. Mom would skewer me! "He’s lived in Florida with the Humans his entire #life. What language do you expect he knows?" There was that unsettling feeling again. “His markings are genuine." “They don’t have to be fake to be meaningless,” The Full responds, spitting again. “And you’re hiding his wings in your fancy smog.” At that, Oravin breathes back in his black fog and the air around us gradually clears. He swallows and then directs his attention back to the Full, who was scanning me up and down. “I only covered him to keep him clear of you in case you decided you wanted to try and eat him too. Like you need anymore voices in that damned throat of yours.” Oravin tells him. “Well, I usually don’t go after kids, but with that one I can’t say I didn’t try. You see where it got me,” The Full says, motioning to his face. “He's a feisty one. I’ll buy your story. I’m tired of arguing.” He turns around and begins walking back to the door of the base. Right before going in, he looks back over his shoulder and locks eyes with me. “Be cautious, whatever you are,” He tells me, smiling. “I’m betting you know he has trouble with the truth, but I’m not sure you know how much.” With that he’s back inside, the door creaking closed behind him. Oravin gives the closed door a look I can’t decipher and then turns his attention back to me. "Are you alright?” He asks. “Fine,” I reply. “He just caught me by surprise and I couldn’t do anything inside.” “You’re lucky I came up with a good excuse for you,” He tells me, grinning. “Guess it wasn’t totally false. You are going north, after all." I nod. “But Saffron, are you absolutely sure you’re ready to do this? You really think you can make it into Narath?” He continues. “It’s my only shot.” I reply. “I’m not just going to be a sitting duck until the Humans bomb our bases again.” “You’re a medic, Saffron. That's the one thing you’re truthfully branded for. You aren’t allowed in direct combat. It’s against every military rule there is for you to be even remotely powerful. You can be executed for that." “I know.” “And you’re still going to try?” “If I hide it until i get there I'll have a chance. They cant kill me for it in Narath and it’s the only opportunity Serrin has." Oravin gives me another look I can’t read, something between surprise and amusement. I try to ignore it. “Thank you for everything,” I say. “And I mean it. Thank you.” “You’re welcome, kid. Anytime.” He responds, back to normal. “Please keep Serrin safe and don’t tell him where I went. Don’t tell him I love him. Don’t mention me at all. I’ll be back for him but I just don’t know when. Don't tell him that either." “Done, done, done, and done.” I nod at him again, because there’s nothing left to say. I’m about to bring out my wings again, but before I do, I stop myself. "Um, could you black out the base, please?” I ask. “Sure.” Oravin replies, turning and breathing out his fog again, engulfing the entire building in it. I expel my wings and then lift off the ground, flapping them rapidly to gain as much altitude as possible. “Good luck and be careful!” Oravin shouts when I’m about a hundred feet up. “Maybe I’ll come visit sometime!” I give him a wave before tearing off as fast as I can to the west, to what I hoped would be a new beginning and a new #life. It had to be. The incident with fhe Full had been too close. I had to act my part harder, be everything I needed to be, because Serrin's #life depended on it. After over two hours of flight, I find that I’m exhausted. I land on a tall, sturdy tree and make a nest on a thick branch. One more night out of place wouldn’t hurt. I turn on my side, exhale, and let the monotone hum of the wind lull me into a light sleep.