Dmitri felt warm, but it was the warmth of the sun. He opened his eyes; he was on a small road beside an open field. Gone was the church, gone was the snowy weather. There was no fire; there was no angel, no demon. Suddenly, he heard a wet snorting sound behind him, heard the sound of hooves clopping towards him. Out of alarm and reflex Dmitri spun around, performing the glyph for fire. A pair of horses was trotting towards him. He dove out of the way, twisting around and letting loose a stream of fire. It struck without mercy against the chest of a man at the front of the carriage being pulled by the horses. He fell back, chest blackened and scorched. A woman jumped up from where she was sitting in the carriage and leapt over the dividing board into the driver’s seat. She grabbed the reins and brought the horses to a standstill. Meanwhile, Dmitri, realising he had let loose magic against an innocent was aghast, he got to his feet and rushed over to the fallen man where he was grabbed by two armed men that had been travelling with the woman. The woman rounded on him, she was a middle aged, dark haired woman with a long green cloak on, her eyes were also green but they glared at Dmitri with the intensity to bore a hole through him.

“How dare you!?” she screamed, “You’ve killed one of my men! How am I going to make this up to his family? It won’t be me, that’s for sure. What about you men?” she looked towards the men holding Dmitri who shook their heads. “What about you three?” she asked the mounted men with her. However, only two were there, “Where is guardsman Mattief?” They also shook their heads, but pointed up the road to where a plume of dust was rising from a horse galloping the other way.

She made a frustrated noise and rounded on Dmitri once more who was struggling against his captors.

“You’ve just lost me another one. And when he gets into the city and starts spreading tales, I’ll not be able to hire anymore. Now get up, let me see you.”

Dmitri shook himself free and got up, amazed at the sheer intensity of the woman.

“I am Dmitri Romanovic, now get out of the way and let me help him; he doesn’t need to die here.”

The woman is visibly shaken at being spoken to like that. How dare anyone overstep their bounds and treat her as such!

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Now you listen here Dmitri, I am Lady Judith Mercer, First Merchant to the Lord Draycott, and I-“

“-are letting your man die.” Dmitri finished. “Now we both know it was an accident, so are you going to stand there and let him die or let me pass so I can help him?”

Judith was standing there, opening and closing her mouth in astonishment. Dmitri gently pushed passed her and walked over to where the man was lying coughing and rasping on the ground. The two remaining mounted guards had dismounted and were kneeling beside him; one of them had removed his saddle and was allowing the injured man to rest his head upon it. When they saw Dmitri coming towards them, they rose and started to draw their swords, but Judith waved them away, still opening and closing her mouth, trying to think of something to say but looking like a fish out of water. One of the guards nudged the other, “Oh my god; look, he’s rendered her speechless!” This finally snapped her out of it and she snapped at them angrily “Leave over, out of the way while Dmitri fixes this.” They all stood back as Dmitri kneeled to perform his art.

In a trance-like state, Dmitri waved his arms around in a circular motion in the air above the man. He drew the glyphs for earth and air around the wound, followed by a larger water glyph to encircle them both. The glyphs floated in the air for a time before gently sinking into the man’s chest. As they seeped into his blackened and charred skin, the burns seemed to evaporate. Slowly at first, but as the worst of it disappeared, the lesser burns followed soon thereafter. Soon enough, the man’s flesh was unmarked. Dmitri got up, brushing the dirt from his clothing. “It is done; it is as if it never happened. He should wake soon,” and turning back to his patient and seeing him stirring, he continued, “Yes, see, here he is now, he is awakening.” Dmitri kneeled back down beside the man who was just opening his eyes. They widened further after seeing Dmitri and recognising him as the cause of the trouble. He started to scrabble backwards on all fours but was stopped by Judith as she rested a hand on his should.

“It is alright.” She soothed, “he has fixed you.”

“But I, I-“ stammered the man.

“Yes, yes you were. Look at your clothes, they are all charred and burned, but you are unharmed. He hit you directly in the chest with a ball of fire, but you still live and breathe. It was an accident, but he made amends and has healed you. I think we owe our thanks to this man.” And turning to Dmitri she said, “Dmitri, you are a strange one, I would be delighted if you would come with me into the city and tell me just how it came to be that you are here.”

Dmitri nodded his head in acceptance and followed her back towards the carriage.