Page 121 of The Dagger and the Flame
Bibi’s voice cried out beneath the grumbling of the sky. ‘Sera! We’ve been so worried!’
Sera nearly cried with relief at the sight of her friends, sopping wet and up to their ankles in the squelching mud. When she reached them, she turned to face the monsters, commanding them to kneel at the base of the tower.
One by one, they obeyed, their shadows still straining towards her.
Val stared at them over her shoulder. ‘This is the stuff nightmares are made of.’
Sera huffed. ‘You have no idea.’
Her friends looked her over, no doubt noting the bloodstains on her clothes, the smears of ash on her cheeks, in her hair. Theo’s gaze snagged on the tourniquet. ‘What happened to you?’
‘It’s a long story.’ And there was no time to tell it. ‘Hand me a satchel. We need to start climbing.’
‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ said Val. ‘You look pretty beat up.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ said Sera, grabbing a satchel full of powdered Lightfire. ‘You two take the first tier. Your ankle is still weak and Bibi’s balance is…’ she trailed off.
‘Non-existent,’ supplied Bibi. ‘No arguments here.’
The first tier was less than fifteen feet off the ground. A kinder fall, if there was to be one.
Theo frowned as he grabbed the next satchel. ‘I’ll take the highest tier.’ He raised his hand before Sera could argue. ‘I want the bragging rights.’
‘All right,’ she said gratefully. ‘I’ll take the second.’
‘Race you!’ Theo was halfway to the first tier before Sera even shouldered her satchel. She tipped her head back, watching in muted wonder as he scaled the first tier and then the second, angling for the topmost trough without a breath of hesitation. He simply addressed the challenge as if he’d been climbing towers his entire life. As if he cared more about this city – and its people – than himself.
Sera followed him up the tower, scrabbling for a foothold on the slick stone. She glanced back at the monsters as she climbed, unnerved to find them all watching her with a mixture of anguish and impatience.
Below her, Bibi gave Val a leg up, both girls grunting as they hauled themselves towards the lowest tier. It occurred to Sera that their plan was a hell of a lot more reckless in a thunderstorm, but it was way too late to turn back now. Witha throng of hungry monsters at their feet, no one had even bothered to suggest it.
She turned her attention to the climb. Hand over hand, then foot over foot. Up and up she went, reaching the first tier with remarkable speed. She hauled herself onto the wide stone beam and hurried along the trough. Most of the flames here still flickered, shielded as they were by the two higher tiers above. But the rain was coming in sideways now, doing its best to extinguish them.
The sky boomed, and Sera flinched. Lightning forked into the far side of the square, sending a curl of smoke up from the burning grass. Rivers of rain poured down the tower as she made for the next scaffold, heaving herself up towards the second tier.
She was distracted by a howl from below. The monsters were growing impatient, no doubt addled by the storm and the frustration as they watched her retreating figure. Every step up the tower took the Lightfire further away from them. She had to move quicker, even as the storm rallied against her.
A glance below revealed Val and Bibi had made it onto the first tier, and had a jar of Lightfire in each hand. Above Sera, Theo was a shadow in the dark, shimmying up the narrowing tower into a hulking storm cloud.
Saints protect him. Sera reached the second tier and dragged herself onto the stone beam. She knelt at the trough, red-faced and panting, as a scream ripped through the night. She looked down to find Bibi swinging her satchel at a monster coming up from below. Three more had already begun to climb, the rest of the herd now circling the tower like they were thinking about tearing the whole thing down.
There were just enough of them to do it.
Shit.
Sera had climbed too high.
While Bibi faced off against the monster, Val unscrewed a jar of Lightfire and walked along the trough, dumping the powder on all those dying embers. Sera sucked in a breath, conscious of every crawling second. Either their plan would work or they would die.
No.She refused to watch her friends die. She refused to fail.
She held her breath and prayed to Saint Oriel of Destiny and Saint Calvin of Death, to Saint Maud of Lost Hope, to Lucille Versini and to Mama and to whatever damn force had decided to split the sky open and pummel them with rain.
We will live, her heart cried.You will let us live.
That handful of seconds felt like hours, but when the powder met those dying embers and set them alight again, the resounding crack of magic was so mighty even the sky paused to take a breath. The thunder stilled and the clouds parted, as though the moon wanted to watch too.
The trough erupted in Lightfire, the flames surging so high that Val fell backwards, shattering the empty jar. The monster on the scaffold fell too, leaving Bibi swinging at nothing. By the time the creature hit the ground, it was a person again, its shadows dissolving in the glow. Bibi grabbed her jar and tipped it into the other end of the trough, the Lightfire dancing – then joining together – in a glorious hiss.
