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The view from a wild wyvern’s back was one of Tommy’s favourites. There was something about the distance, the ability to piece together the big picture and know that he was a tiny fragment of the greater whole, the awareness that at any point his control of the creature might slip and lead to his death that was somehow grounding.
Tommy never felt more settled in his own skin than when he was hundreds of meters above the earth with nothing but an ornery tonne of fire and scale between him and falling to his death. Only Tommy’s beast mastery kept the wyvern from breaking free of his control and dropping them into the burning forest below. It was a mental wrestling match, keeping the wyvern restrained, but it was one Tommy revelled in.
Evan rode behind him as they flew together over the Queen’s Wood on a quest handed down by Queen Athena and her consort themselves.
“Do you think a dragon started the fire?” Evan asked. He extended one arm, and a stream of pressurised water shot from his palm, dousing the fire directly beneath them.
“Doubt it,” Tommy said. “This looks like it started from a central point and spread outward evenly.”
“And if it was a dragon there’d be lines of fire with unburnt ground between,” Evan said, catching Tommy’s drift immediately. “You’re right. Would’ve been cool to fight a dragon, though. It’s been a while. Last time was that lightning dragon.”
“You mean the one that trapped you in a dream using mind magic?” Tommy asked. He hadn’t known Evan then, but he’d heard stories at the time and Evan had told him the details one night after he’d woken up screaming and clutching his chest from a nightmare.
“That was one time,” Evan said. “And I’ve learned counterspells so next time I’ll be ready.”
Tommy smiled and shook his head at the sound of his lover’s disappointment. “I guess that’ll have to be our next quest, huh?” He guided the wyvern towards the fire’s epicentre.
“Next quest, huh?” Evan asked, a flirtatious edge that made Tommy want to turn around to get a look at Evan’s open and smiling face with his devastatingly blue eyes and rose petal birthmark. But any distraction might cause his control over the wyvern to slip, so he forced himself to keep facing ahead while Evan doused the fire directly in their path.
“Evan, I’d gladly spend the rest of my life completing quests with you,” Tommy said.
“Uh, same,” Evan said.
And it was even harder for Tommy not to turn around now because the only thing better than Evan’s flirtatious face was his bashfully flirtatious face.
The wyvern roared and Tommy reminded himself to focus.
“You good?” Evan asked.
“Yeah,” Tommy said through gritted teeth. “Just got a little distracted.”
“Oh?” Evan asked in that tone of his.
“Evan,” Tommy warned.
“Fine. Fine. I won’t distract you,” Evan said. He sent a burst of water out ahead of the wyvern, dousing a plume of fire rising from the woods below. “Just try not to get us burned to a crisp.”
Tommy shook his head and focused on guiding the wyvern around the bursts of fire that were rising higher and with more frequency the closer they came to the epicentre. He’d never seen a fire like it before, almost like it was alive and that living being was a child throwing a fit. He had a feeling that this was going to be a lot more complicated than just putting the fire out.
“The fire just keeps restarting!” Evan called over the roar of flames shooting towards them.
Tommy wrangled the wyvern to swerve out of the way of a flame burst. “So, it’s magical,” Tommy said. “Do you know any mages powerful enough to cast a spell of this magnitude?”
“I mean, there are a couple,” Evan said. “But none of them would bother setting an empty forest on fire.”
“Could they be targeting the nearby villages?” Tommy asked. Part of their goal was to extinguish the fire before it reached the edge of the Queen’s Wood and started threatening the people who lived at the fringes of the forest.
“Why would they do that?” Evan asked.
“I don’t know,” Tommy admitted.
“It’s probably a spell amplified by some kind of locus. We’ll need to find the source to put it out,” Evan said. “Can you get us to the ground?”
“I can,” Tommy said. His mental hold on the wyvern was slipping. More complicated flying like he had to do to evade the flame bursts, drained his magic faster than normal. “Only one problem with that, Evan. If we go down there, we’ll burn to death before we can find the source.”
Evan laughed – actually laughed – at the idea that walking into the middle of a blazing inferno would kill them. Then again, Tommy had heard rumours about Evan’s power long before he’d met the elemental mage. But it wasn’t often that they actually got the chance to complete quests for the Queen and her consort together, so despite being lovers, Tommy had yet to witness the full extent of Evan’s powers. Most of what he’d seen was Evan using small scraps of magic around the house for boiling water or cooking or occasionally extinguishing fires Eddie accidentally started while trying to cook.
“Don’t worry, I got your back,” Evan said. “You focus on landing; I’ll keep us from catching fire.”
Tommy shook his head and spoke to the wyvern with his mind Descend. The wyvern tried to fight the command, but Tommy pushed every last drop of his will into the word. The wyvern, sensing a stronger mind, submitted.
The wyvern folded its wings and dove towards the densest area of flame.
Heat built.
Sweat broke out over Tommy’s skin, then dried. His skin tightened, felt as though it would crumble away. “Anytime now, Evan,” Tommy said, lips cracking and bleeding as he spoke.
A hand rested on Tommy’s shoulder, almost unbearably cold. The cold spread along Tommy’s back, up his neck, cupped his cheeks until every inch of him was coated with a rime of ice. The ice spread from Tommy to the wyvern.
But the cool only lasted so long. The flames licked away at Evan’s magic at the descended nearer to the source of the inferno. Steam rose from the wyvern’s head.
The ice pushed back, replacing itself as soon as it was burned away.
“How long can you keep this up?” Tommy asked as the wyvern touched down amidst a roar of flame. Tommy released his magic on the beast, and it rose up into the air, with a fierce flap of wings that momentarily dispersed the flames.
“Not sure,” Evan said, sounding slightly out of breath.
“You good?” Tommy asked. Now that he was finally able to gaze upon his lover’s ice-covered face, he could see the strain Evan was under continuously using his magic this way. Tommy only wished that he had skills that could actually help Evan in this situation, but besides his beast mastery Tommy wasn’t good for much besides brute force. Tommy took hold of Evan’s hand with his, the other going to the hilt of his broadsword.
“I could do this all day,” Evan said with a grunt as he started moving through the flames towards the true centre of the inferno, dragging Tommy with him, fingers interlaced.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Tommy said, squinting to try to catch a glimpse of anything through the fire and smoke that raged and swirled around them. “Can you see anything?”
Evan squinted in a way that Tommy couldn’t help but find adorable before raising the hand that wasn’t holding Tommy’s. A blast of wind burst from his palm, momentarily carving a path through the flames before the blaze closed around them again. Tommy thought he caught a glimpse of a figure in that brief moment. “Was that a person?” he asked. He wracked his brain trying to think of any fire-type beasts that could take the shape of a human, because there was no way in all the hells that a person could muster the sheer amount of power required to set half a forest on fire.
“Yeah,” said Evan, frown deepening and then his eyes widened. “Wait, Tommy. I know what this is!” He started running through the flames towards where they’d glimpsed the figure.
“Care to fill me in?” Tommy asked, panting.
“It’s a phoenix rebirth,” Evan’s eyes glimmered with excitement. “This is crazy. This kind of thing only happens once every thousand years or so. The last time it happened an entire town got turned to ash.”
“That sounds like a bad thing, Evan,” Tommy remarked, deadpan. He wasn’t sure why seeing a person through the flames would lead Evan to that conclusion, though Tommy would be the first to admit that his phoenix knowledge was lacking since he focused on learning more about the most common beasts and phoenixes were amongst the most rarely. He couldn’t think of a time when one had been confirmed to have been sighted during his lifetime. His dad had said he’d seen one once but Tommy’s dad was a liar, so he hadn’t put any stock into the drunkenly told tale. “Especially when we’re trying to prevent a bunch of villages from being burnt down.”
Evan’s enthusiasm was not to be deterred and nor would Tommy want it to be. “This is history Tommy!”
“That would be great if we weren’t standing in the middle of said history,” Tommy said.
“You love it, and you know it,” Evan grinned.
And Tommy couldn’t help but grin back, because it was true. This was exactly the kind of thing that got his heart racing and his excitement pumping and made him feel most alive. Sharing the experience with Evan was just the icing on top. “Fine, it is pretty cool,” Tommy admitted, “but how do we stop it from killing us?”
Evan looked at him with fond exasperation, which was usually Tommy’s role in their relationship, so the role reversal was somewhat of a refreshing mix-up. “Tommy, you’re a beast master. A phoenix is a beast. Talk to it.”
Tommy blinked. He was so used to being the transportation for the people who actually got things done that it hadn’t occurred to him that he actually had the skillset to solve the problem. “Right,” he said.
“You forgot, didn’t you?” Evan asked with that cheeky grin of his.
“No comment,” Tommy said.
Evan seemed about to say more but suddenly, they stepped out of the wall of flame in a column of clean air. At the centre, lay a child who looked no more than three years old. She was naked and curled up in a ball sobbing, hair the colour of a dying flame tangled around her. With each heave of breath, the flames at their back fluctuated, seeming to strength each time the child wailed.
“Is that the phoenix?” Tommy asked, pointing. “I thought they were supposed to look like big fiery birds.”
Evan shook his head like Tommy had something ridiculous. “They can transform,” he said. “Like dragons.”
“Except it takes dragons hundreds of years to master a human shape,” Tommy said.
“We don’t know how old she is,” Evan ventured closer to the sobbing child, tugging Tommy along with him. “For all we know she could be the same phoenix that destroyed that town a thousand years ago.”
Tommy shook his head, trying to square the idea that this tiny child could be a creature with more than a thousand years of life behind her.
Evan knelt beside the sobbing little girl. He removed his cloak with its embroidered stag sigil, laying it over her gently, making sure not to touch her.
Tommy knelt also, feeling awkward. As much as he loved his interactions with Evan’s niece, Jee was the exception not the rule when it came to Tommy’s experience with children. Of the two of them, Evan was the one who had a way with children, not Tommy.
“Hey, sweetie, can you tell us your name?” Evan asked. “I’m Buck and this is Tommy. We want to help you.”
Nothing happened.
The child continued to sob, and the flames continues to fluctuate beyond the invisible barrier that kept this part of the forest clear and unburnt.
“You try,” Evan said.
Tommy opened his mouth but before he could say anything, Evan interjected. “With your magic.”
Of course. Tommy shook his head and closed his eyes and reached for the little girl with his mind, half expecting to not be able to make a connection, just like he couldn’t with humans or elves or dwarves. But he could feel the child’s mind, brushing up against his, ablaze with fear. Ragged with it until the fear had swallowed up all sense and reason that she might have had. It reminded Tommy a bit of the first time he’d gone to war and his powers had awakened when his mind had touched the minds of all those terrified war horses as they screamed their way through battle, only their training keeping them in line. Only his own training and the press of his fellow soldiers around him had kept Tommy from turning tail and fleeing himself.
Tommy may not have had the first clue about how to soothe a frightened child, but he knew how to calm the mind of a frightened beast. He reached out mentally, a soft yet firm touch of the phoenix’s mind. He pictured stroking her hair like he’d seen Evan do with his niece once when she had a nightmare and wouldn’t stop crying, trying to convey to her his desire to comfort and calm her.
He tried to exude peace, like he did with horses.
Gradually, the phoenix’s aura of fear lessened. Who? the question nudged against his mind, a hint at how powerful a beast the phoenix was. He might be able to soothe her and speak to her using his powers, but Tommy doubted he’d be able to control her like he had the wyvern.
I’m Tommy. What’s your name? Tommy asked, pushing the question from his mind into the phoenix’s.
The child stiffened. She slowly brought her hands away from her face, staring at Tommy and Evan with eyes like burning embers.
We want to help you, Tommy continued. I know you’re frightened. I know you feel lost and alone. But it’s okay. We’re here. He reached his hand toward the phoenix despite his fears that her touch might singe his skin clean off. But he couldn’t let his fear getting in the way of helping a creature who was clearly so much more afraid than he was.
Tommy? the phoenix said. She slowly sat up, tears sliding down her cheeks still but she seemed more in control of herself. For the first time, she seemed to register Evan’s cloack, wrapping it closer around herself. Where am I?
The Queen’s Wood, Tommy said. You’ve just been reborn.
The phoenix child nodded with understanding.
Can you put the fire out? Tommy asked. If it spreads any further, people could get hurt.
The phoenix’s eyes widened and for the first time she seemed to take in her surroundings beyond just Tommy and Evan. She frowned, flinching back from Tommy. I’m sorry!
Hey, it’s okay, Tommy held up his hands in what he hoped was a placating gesture. I know you didn’t mean it. But can you put the fire out?
The child frowned, then nodded, closing her eyes.
“What’s happening?” Evan asked.
“She’s putting the fire out,” Tommy said. “She’s so frightened, Evan.”
Evan nodded. “Makes sense,” he said. “She just died and then she woke up alone in the middle of the woods as a child. I’ve read that phoenix’s have a hard time remembering things after they’re reborn. Of course, she’s scared.”
And Tommy couldn’t help but pull Evan in closer to him and place a kiss on Evan’s brow, right above his birthmark.
“What was that for?” Evan asked.
Tommy wasn’t sure he could find the words to describe how lucky he felt that a man with so much warmth, kindness, and compassion had chosen to love him. “No reason,” Tommy said.
“Liar,” Evan said, but he didn’t press the issue, instead snuggling closer to Tommy’s side, eyelids drooping. No doubt the excessive magic usage was catching up to him.
Slowly, the fire extinguished around them, the roar of it dying down, the air clearing of smoke. The heat dissipating until there was nothing but the burnt out husk of forest around them for as far as Tommy could see. Evan released the ice spell, sagging against Tommy with exhaustion.
Are you going to kill me? the phoenix asked, her smouldering eyes flashing to the sword at Tommy’s hip.
Tommy shook his head.
Then what will happen to me? she sounded so scared and through their connection, Tommy knew it was because she didn’t want to be left alone to wander the wilderness. The phoenix’s memories flashed into his mind, her cycling of death and rebirth and the never-ending loneliness that came with being one of her kind.
Tommy knew something about loneliness.
And his loneliness was nothing next to the phoenix’s for his had only lasted forty years before he’d found Evan. Hers spanned millennia. Thousands of years separated from comfort and companionship, joy and love.
Tommy met Evan’s eyes.
“What is it?” Evan asked.
“She’s so lonely,” Tommy said. The telltale sting of tears pricked his eyes.
Evan’s smile spread like dawn across his face, brightening. “I’ve always wanted kids,” he said.
“Are you sure?” Tommy asked. “She’s not human.”
Evan nodded. “Human or not, she needs a family, right?” he asked. “We can be that for her.”
Tommy smiled and kissed Evan’s brow once again before opening his arms to the phoenix. Come with us. he said. You don’t have to be alone anymore.
And the little phoenix child threw herself into his arms and Tommy held her close while Evan wrapped his arms around them both. He felt his heart – already so full of love for Evan – grow, expanding and he knew it would grow further until it was big enough to wrap around the little phoenix and hold her close and safe until she was big enough to strike out on her own, but never alone, not while Tommy and Evan lived.