Page 21 of Within the Flames
"I'm sorry, Macey. Please forgive me," Jared begged. "I had no choice. It was this or die myself and the world needs the Wardens."
"I did consider returning to the selkies, but then Amber visited me at night. We..."
Macey clapped her hands over her ears, hoping to block out the sounds of their voices. Her tears were falling thick and fast as what they were saying broke through her defenses, shredding her heart to pieces over and over again. Each time she managed to remind herself she was just being tested, something else would break through her defences and shatter it over and over again.
If the lampads couldn't help her, then she was going to be left broken and shattered. A shell of her past self.
"Macey, don't listen, you're nearly there." Luc's voice was soft and reassuring.
She looked up to find the daimon's figure in the flames. His expression was one of pity. She hoped it was just another part of the magic and not something he could actually witness and react to.
She said nothing, knowing she couldn't or she would fail.
Some things were more important than her broken heart. And this was one of them.
She took a deep breath, almost searing her throat in the process because the air was so hot, and ran, ignoring the voices, holding her heart pieces together as best as she could. Letting go was not an option. She felt like she was about to fall apart and that would have meant the end of not just her, but of Flint as well. Even if he was with Amber... no. He wasn't. It was all just a trick, an illusion created to throw her off her path. If she didn't complete this quest, he might never recover, and without their Fire Warden, their fight against the Mahoun and his siblings was looking bleak. This was more important than just her.
She squeezed her eyes shut when more people appeared in the flames. Nessie, shouting something about being Macey's mother. Yes, she already knew that, it wasn't news. Didn't mean she had to accept it, though.
Suddenly, something tripped her and she fell to the ground, screaming as her hands touched the scorching earth. Flames licked on her skin, blisters forming immediately. It hurt, hurt so much, but the physical pain also helped block out the mental agony she was still feeling.
She jumped back to her feet, noticing that she was almost at the end of the fire tunnel. She stumbled the last few metres, her hands hurting like hell. Maybe this was hell. The fire certainly fit. She had trouble believing that she was really still underneath London. Maybe there had been some weird portal that they hadn't even noticed. Maybe it had been the archways that had led them into the strange cave full of naked people. She grimaced. Compared to this fire torture, that hadn't been all that bad.
As soon as the fire stopped and she was standing in cool, fresh air, she came to a halt, looking at her burned hands. They were red and covered in tiny blisters, some of them oozing already. This was going to need some attention soon, before she got an infection.
"Who are you, what do you want and why aren't you dead?"
A booming voice suddenly came from all around her. It was neither male nor female, but something in between.
There was nobody to be seen. It was another cave, bare and empty, not particularly big. Behind her, the flames were slowly flickering out, revealing the long, dark tunnel she'd come through. Well, thanks. They couldn't have stopped burning while she was running through it, could they.
Macey was getting tired of caves. Really, really tired.
"I'm Macey, I'm the Water Warden and I'm looking for the lampads," she said in a clear, confident voice. Not like she felt at all, but her diplomatic training was kicking in. She'd been trained to react calmly in difficult situations.
"How did you enjoy the fire, little water being?"
The voice was mocking her, but Macey refused to give in.
"I'm here for your help," she called out. "A friend of mine, the Fire Warden, is injured and needs help. If you don't want to help me because I'm representing water, fine, but please help him!"
Silence greeted her words.
"Hello?" she asked. Still, no response. The voice had disappeared.
She took a deep breath and tried to block out the agonising pain in her hands. There was another tunnel leading out of this cave, so it seemed as good an option as any. Waiting for a few more seconds for the voice to return, she moved to the tunnel entrance and peeked inside. There was only darkness, except for a single flickering flame at the very end.
"Hello?" she called into the tunnel, her voice echoing slightly.
Unsurprisingly, nobody answered. She sighed. These lampads really didn't like visitors.
Gathering her courage, she began to walk into the tunnel. It was even narrower than the ones before and she was almost glad that her men weren't with her. They wouldn't have fit.
The flame came closer and closer. When Macey finally stumbled out of the tunnel, she was in, guess what, yet another cave.
This one was bigger than the last, and illuminated by hundreds of flames floating in the air, not just the one she'd seen from afar. There were no people though, just the flames.
"Hello?" she called out for the third time.
