There hadn't been any suggestion of what was coming, simply an immediate, glaringly bright light appeared nearby with an explosion of wood crackling and heat. The entire column recoiled instinctively as the blazing light and scorching heat seared themselves into Varali's entire being.

Just a couple of blinks later Varali could see a massive tower of flame, much larger than she could hope to control, and Varali felt her breathing quicken. She'd heard stories of the powers that a High Speaker could conjure, and knew that they could invoke a tower of flame at least this large with just a single Phrase, but these beasts couldn't do that. Had they gotten help? From Someone in the Wilds? But the barbarians' Words of Power didn't bring magic like this, and no Speaker would ever side against the Holy State for the sake of these beasts. Maybe some heretical construction from an apostate in the Wilds, but even that didn't make sense. They stuck to themselves–Varali caught herself lost in confused thought.

She was shaken from her stupor by the realization that the flaming pillar was moving, gaining speed and rushing towards the main body of the troop. Not only was the pillar moving, wind was beginning to swirl around it and push it further and faster. The body of fire was swiftly transforming into a whirling, roiling firestorm with wild licks of flame striking out and bringing the air to a stifling heat, even 20m away, where Varali was.

The front lines of the troop were taken unaware, but immediately began retreating, some carrying a stunned or injured comrade. The rest of the company readied themselves for battle, facing outward for the inbound attack

"Focus! It's time to annihilate these treacherous pests!" Varali spoke aloud, to her own surprise. She stepped forward and began Speaking. "Viil Vaata rool'kataar'ana!" (by the blessing of the gods, I take control of flames). Varali stretched her hands forward and began to attempt to wrest control of the flames from whoever had created them.

There was a sizable amount of resistance, but not as much as she would expect from so great a magical working. With a grunt of effort, Varali began to attempt to pacify and weaken the flames. Success was slow to come, but it was working as the dozen or so other Flamespeakers in the convoy began to work their magic as well, and a fierce smile began to spread across Varali's face, and she couldn't hold herself back.

"Now you'll see, you scummy, blighted bastards! Even a sneak attack like this–!" Her sentence was interrupted when a stone the size of two fists together smashed into her right shoulder. Blinding pain shot through Varali as she heard the crack of the bones in her shoulder and breast and she immediately lost control of her Calling and crumpled to the ground.

Tears involuntarily flowed down her cheeks as she tried to stand up. Her breath caught as Varali attempted without success to shrug off the agony coursing through her. She could feel that her collarbone was not where it belonged and her arm wouldn't move how she wanted. It HURT. Sobs choked her throat and, in that moment, she no longer felt like the tireless avenger of her parents' deaths, but like the fifteen-year-old child she was. Varali was so tired, she needed to sleep, she wanted to go home, to walk through the door to her father's kind face and soft bread, to see her mother's stern mouth involuntarily smirk at some dumb joke Varali had made, or to be told "No, it's alright carin, that's an adult problem, and you're still three months away from adulthood."

The reality set in. Varali was officially an orphan, her parents were dead, and her home was festering with the smell of rotten corpses. Without conscious thought, Varali was sitting up, her agony and rage serving to hone her focus somehow, and again she spoke the short Phrase, "Viil Vaata rool'kataar'ana!" As best as she could, Varali raised her left arm and began pushing the flames away. There was a slight give, but, looking around, every Speaker that had been working on dissipating or redirecting the flames had been similarly struck by a flying stone.

"PULL BACK! STOP YOUR CALLINGS AND RETREAT!" Yoharr's voice cut through the din.

Varali didn't listen. She needed to push this creation to the side, to show that she was better than the scaly pests and their magic. Again, she repeated "Viil Vaata rool'kataar'ana!" and she could feel that whoever had been controlling this magic initially wasn't any longer. They didn't need to, as the wind had fed the flames and the firestorm continued lashing out and forward.

"NO! WE NEED TO WIPE THEM ALL OUT! DESTROY EVERY LAST ONE OF THE CARRION BRINGING ROTTING VERMIN!"

Varali crawled forward, hoping that proximity would allow her to better begin controlling the flames that began to scorch her face. Being a Flamespeaker didn't proffer any greater resistance to the scorching heat that still approached and Varali imagined she could hear her skin crackling under the duress of the heat.

"Varali, stop. You need to stay with everyone else."

Silence.

"Please, Varali, pull back."

A tugging at her collar while Varali struggled, ignoring Fen's insistent bleating and speaking in her mind. Varali didn't notice when Hyaltur approached her and lifted her up roughly and began hauling her back towards the retreating troop. Once she realized that she'd almost certainly lost the opportunity, the wracking sobs again began wrenching Varali's frail body.

Over her sobs, however, she did hear a brief conversation:

"I never seen keelish do something like that… Too smart for keelish."

"Nobody has in a long time. We ain't enough to take care of these, specially at night."

"No. Get me our Windspeakers, we need to send a message to the southern garrison, see if they can head 'em off. I'm not dying here for this."

…

[Ashlani POV]

That… went surprisingly well. We hadn't needed to flee through the jungle as I'd expected. The whole reason that Ytte had created the walls was as a tripping hazard for the effectively blinded humans as they'd chased us into the jungle, but our surprise assault had been perfect.

The explosion had been perfectly timed, doing a good amount of superficial damage but killing none. I hadn't wanted the ambush to be either revealed or to incite a greater lust for our blood, since once they realized there were only twenty of us, they would be able to make quick work of any they got their hands on. I had anticipated the more hot headed among them to break an ankle or two trying to chase us and tripping, but we weren't so lucky. The salvos of stones being thrown had been devastating, though. Focusing on the Speakers had been immensely successful, and most would need some healing before they could move anywhere.

The screaming, impotent rage from the young girl was astonishing, and I'd been amazed by the vitriolic hatred, but, after a brief moment's thought, I was sure that I had directly led to the deaths of some or all her loved ones. The anguish and fury cut into my conscience, but thinking of the dead bodies of my swarm littering the ground at her feet, I strengthened my resolve to continue on my path–protecting my own and growing in strength. In the back of my mind, revenge popped up again, but… I couldn't hold onto the thought. The rage was still there, if I stoked it, but time was passing and the anger at the unexpected occurrence was simmering…

I shook my head, taking myself from my musings, because, in the end, it had been quite the successful ambush.