Burn the World

Maryam stared at the body on the funeral pyre, the heat washing across her face. "I promised you they'd pay," she said quietly. The fire cast shifting shadows on her face as tears poured from her eyes and memories drifted across her mind.

The first time they met. She'd been an apprentice with the local witch, locked up in the tower all day, every day. Samleth had been the first new person she'd met in a while, when the bounty hunter had shown up at the gates, requesting assistance from the witch. Her mentor, Shayla, had extorted him for a good sum of money, but he'd been desperate for the bounty. Sam had explained that the person he was hunting was a mass murderer, who had slaughtered at least two villages with their exploding devices and they had to be stopped. This didn't prompt any sympathy from Shayla, but Maryam had felt a tug in her heart at his words. She'd done her best to assist him, giving him as much information as he could, despite the disparaging looks from her mentor. Sam had been grateful, thanking her profusely before setting out on his way.

Kneeling beside the sticks, Maryam bowed her head. "I promised you the world would burn for what they did to you."

The next time they'd met, he was coming to tell them he'd caught the killer. He'd brought her roses to thank her, and when he handed them to her with shy smile, she blushed. Their relationship had grown from there. He'd come by the tower regularly, and when Shayla had released her from her apprenticeship, they'd traveled together to the town they'd decided to settle in. Sam had gotten a job with the local lord as a traveling guard and Maryam had settled in as the local apothecary. She'd kept the witchcraft part of her business quiet, as it was more common for witches to be outliers on the town and she didn't want Sam to get fired. But eventually, the secret had come out.

Maryam looked upwards at Sam's silhouette against the flames, almost choking as the smoke poured into her lungs. "I've taken my revenge Sam. They regretted what they did to you."

She'd been dragged to the square by a vengeful crowd when her secret was revealed and put on trial. There had been a mysterious batch of murders and they were trying to blame her for them. Sam had been gone at the time, on a traveling trip with the lord, and so she'd faced the crowd alone. Eventually, they simply chose to exile her from the town and hadn't even let her go by her house to get her things. She'd been forced out of the town with just the clothes on her back. Camping out at the side of the road, she'd waited for Sam, hoping he would be safe.

Maryam got to her feet and tucked her cloak, with the edges now smoldering, closer around her. She'd already determined that once their revenge had been taken, she would go be with him

Sam had come back in the night, without her seeing him. She found him the next day. His throat had been slit and he'd been covered in bruises. A note pinned to his chest. "This is what you get for protecting a witch." Maryam had built the funeral pyre that day, then gathered her magic around her and gone into the town. She'd walked through the streets, her shields protecting her. Those who attempted to stop her met solid walls of air. And they tried to stop her. Many people were shoved aside in the street as she walked past them. She'd gotten to the very square where they'd accused her murder. There, she worked her magic. They didn't have time to blink as waves of fire rolled away from her. The houses around her caught fire with ease, the intense flames turning the air around them white hot. She stood there, impassive, as the screams began. "This is what you get for hurting my husband," she whispered, before turning and walking away. There was no chance of the townspeople being able to calm the fires. She made sure of that.

Now she stood before his pyre as the flames slowly licked closer. Taking a deep breath of the smoke-filled air, she began to cough, but still climbed up to lay beside him. Resting her head on his shoulder and her arm across his waist, she waited for the fires to claim them.