All the Best Mistakes part 2

Welcome to part 2 of the first longer short story I'm posting on the blog. I hope you've enjoyed reading part one.
Ideally I'd run everything I post by some "Beta Readers" but many of my friends who have offered to "Beta Read" stories of mine have been just as if not more busy than me. That means you guys are my "Beta Readers"...whoever you are.

What you're reading is RAW, barely edited. I write it down one day, type it up another and then reread it and tweak it one more time before posting. Self-publishing work in this way is not the best idea, but I'm young and stupid and figure I can get away with it. Should I succeed in writing enough on here (and otherwise) to publish as an eBook of Short Stories in the future I will be going over everything and attempting to Re-Edit it another time before sending it to "print" even if that print is in a digital sort of way.

I'd like to reiterate that it is perfectly fine for you, whoever you may be, to post one or multiple comments detailing any errors or suggestions you may have for anything I post. One cannot learn in a vacuum as well as one can learn from having a conversation with another person.

This is the last portion of "All the Best Mistakes" after which I will be posting some Flash Fiction pieces following the 15th and 1st update schedule.  Please read and enjoy.

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All the Best Mistakes Part 2

     Most people get stupid when they lack a necessity like food so I guess I'm in good company.

     I start back to the Inn as I finish eating the grouse. Stringy pieces of meat get caught in my teeth as I round the corner where I had last seen Vassa about where I gave her the baskets of food.

     Much of the market has closed. People have begun to return to their dwellings. There is quite a bit of ruined produce around the market, trampled under foot. I pick my teeth with one of the thin bones from the grouses' leg as my foot lands on something soft and squishie. I look down to see a trail of ruined berries like the ones I had traded for. Markets are so messy. My eyes follow the trail to two crushed baskets discarded in the main walking path.

     I freeze in place, staring at the crushed basket in the waning daylight.

     Why had Vassa tossed the food and baskets to the side? The market was not near the inn. Why had Harret not been with her when they had escaped together?

     Fear washes through my veins.

     I had left her alone.

     I had left Tura alone.

     I drop my leftover grouse and run.

     How do I get back to the Inn? What direction is it from here? What if Tura had called to Vassa for help and that was why the guard had dropped the food? Why had she not called to me?

     It takes me a moment to realize I'm no longer moving. I've frozen again...but a heat is building in my muscles as if i've run all day and they're ceasing up. I can not speak as the heat spreads from my limbs to engulf the whole of my body.

     I'm on fire.

     It hurts.

     "Come to me Utzi Star Eyes! I summon you with the will of my heart and power of my soul! Come to me Utzi Star Eyes and fulfill my will!" Her voice echos in my mind rattling the horns on my head.

     "Yes...." I breathe and everything is burned away.

     In a moment I am no longer in the alley between two mud buildings near the market. The heat becomes me and I feel power. Raw power flows through me.

     Where am I? Where? The Inn.

     The Inn.

     But I am also not at the Inn.

     For a moment I am in the alley, on the roof of the Inn, and somewhere in between. I glimpse at all the knowledge in the world both known and unknown. I see every grain of being that piles up to create the sand hills of life we move around in during our short lives. Our world, a grain of sand by comparison to to the star that gave birth do it. The star is of the hottest fire. Fire I feel flowing through my being. I know what bearings are. I know what a two hundred horsepower outboard motor is. I know what an epsilon solar stroke deep space sun skiff is. I know how to create complex magic circles and spells. I know how Tura summons me to the Inn after running and hiding on the roof because Vassa blasted in the heavy stone door to the room. I know Vassa killed Harret after separating him from our group. That Orum convinced Vassa to help him capture Tura in exchange for a position at Orum's side in the empire he wishes to create.

     I see all things, what makes them up and how to make them all BURN while I am in all places before I coalesce on the roof of the Inn at Tura's call.

     "Come to me Utzi Star Eyes! Come to me and protect me from those that wish to do me harm!"

     I see Orum and his army gather around the Inn and Vassa climb the wall to the roof. They all stop when I arrive.

     I stand in front of Tura, who seems unusually small. My body is wreathed in living flame, like the corona of the sun I have just learned about. My eyes glow as two angry stars. The horns on my head are far longer than before and curl in, almost touching, creating an obsidian crown. My tail is like a whip composed of lightning tipped with plasma and flame. Everyone looks so small.

    
 

    Vassa has frozen in place, she stares. Normally she is larger than I am but she looks like a scared scrub mouse. She calls to Orum with a trembling lip, "Orum! What do we do!?"

     Down below the Inn Orum barks a reply, "Attack! It's an illusion! A trick from the damn Shaman!"

     I see Vassa hesitate. She's been Tura's guard for years and knows the Shaman is powerful but she has never seen anyone perform a summon. I hope Vassa will realize this is no trick.

     She does not.

     The female guard swings her heavy Macuahuitl at my leg. The obsidian teeth of the wooden sword dig deep into my calf and my calf bites back. Fire pours from the wound like magma from a young volcano. It devours the weapon, Vassa's hands and part of her forearms. She recoils in agony as the fire from my leg returns to me. My leg is whole. I am unscathed.

     "Leave now Orum! don't make me let him loose!" Tura pleads with the Warlord. "My will is the only think keeping him from acting! You can all leave with your lives if you do so now!"
     Vassa has collapsed on the roof before me, her breathe speaks of an attempted moan that simply refuses to make noise.

     "This!" Orum bellows. "This is the kind of power a man can rule the world with! Come with me Shaman! Or I will take this power from you!"
     "No!"

     Orum proceeds to walk away from the Inn. he pauses momentarily to scream at his men, "Take out the Demon! Bring me the Shaman! Fire your bows and atlatls! Anyone who returns to camp without the Shaman in tow is already dead!"

     His men are scared, but they are more scared of Orum than me.

It is there mistake, but I suppose he is the devil they know, and I am not.

     "Protect me Utzi!" Tura calls out as the first spears and arrows begin to rain upon the rooftop.

     I feel a weight lifted. I'm free. I do as she orders.

     Spears burn. Arrows burn. Vassa finally screams for a moment before she too burns. The unspeakable heat of the sun is unleashed from me. The inn before me is destroyed as are all of Orum's men. Tura stands behind me on what is left of the Inn's roof.

     "Orum..." She breathes.

     I see him. He's running now, into the sandy hills outside the city. I follow. He too burns and the hills of sand in my path are glazed into a thick layer of black obsidian.

     The order is complete. All those who wish Tura harm are gone, cinders in the wind. As the two moons being to rise I feel a tug. I begin to fall apart like a log that has been in the fire all night. While I collapse in on myself I am there again, in that place where I see and know the places that were before our planet and the places that will be after our planet is gone. I see what she will have me do. I know why but it breaks my heart. I know there will be others with this power in the future as there have been in the past and if they should ever know my name they too could call on me. The hair was never needed.

     I feel cold. Everything is cold compared to the heat of the sun. The alley way between the buildings far from the Inn is very cold. I am in the alley once more. Alone.

     Shit.

     Tura's still at the Inn. I have to go help her.

     The twin moons continue to rise as I race through the narrow streets of Polis. I hear Tura call to me as I reach the outskirts of a land made of Obsidian.

     "Utzi!" She's climbing off the roof.

     I arrive just in time to catch her as she clumsily falls.

     "Tura...did...I...are you okay?"

     She looks up at me, following my voice. Her eyes are full of tears, attempting to focus, "Utzi. You protected me."

     "Yes...you called me to."

     She smiles, "I'm glad I got to see you for the first time with my own eyes. You were so pretty."

     "I..."

     "Utzi...I need you to do one more thing for me."

     "No." I know what she wants me to do.

     "Take out your knife."

     "No," I repeat as my hand removes my good knife from my belt. I am still under the spell of her will.

     "Utzi. You were like a star...your eyes. Are stars like that Utzi?"

     "Yes...stars are like that."
     "Are the stars out tonight?"

     I look up, "They are and they are shining bright."

     "And the moons?"

     Moonlight falls on Turas Face and I see how big and unfocused her eyes are.

     "Yes. The moons have risen. They're both full."

     "Use your knife Utzi."

     "No."

     Then...I stand alone. The last person who wished Tura harm is dead...by my hand.

     It was a mistake to stay in the Temple for shelter, to run away with the Shaman, Tura Two Spirit...to not trade my knives for food and to let Tura summon me when she was in danger. So much blood is on my hands...so many mistakes...

     All the best mistakes leave you with something you would not of had otherwise. Magic comes more naturally to me than before...but it comes at a cost...because it was all a terrible mistake.

END