Page 26 of Flameborne: Fury
As morning turned to afternoon, every few minutes I’d find myself drifting back into those memories, my body thrilling, until it seemed my very bones hummed. If it hadn’t been so frustrating it might have been funny. I could imagine sitting around the fire with my brothers in years to come, trying to relay the story of my final trial, and explaining that the biggest battle I fought in the first few hours was against my own horniness.
Voski would never let me hear the end of it.
But as the day wore on, the weather worsened. The windgrew stiff and shifted direction time and again. The ominous cloud cover was thick and dark, meaning once the sun began to descend we’d lose light quickly and have no stars by which to navigate.
I still hadn’t found any sign of a camp, or appearance of an enemy.
I grew nervous. Had we flown off course? Had I already missed whoever had been sent out here for me to find?
‘Akhane? Do you seeanythingthat might be an enemy camp, or sign of people? Because all I see is trees and grass and rocks.’
I estimated that we’d crossed the border over an hour earlier—there was massive, flat rock that protruded from the earth right where the border of Vosgaarde gave way to the Pyre swamps.
‘Nothing,’she said wearily.
I bit my lip. What if we’d gone too far? What if I was supposed to have patrolled the border? What if there was a group of men out here waiting to be discovered, and I’d happily flown right past them while fighting off thoughts of stripping Donavyn naked in the stable?
My confidence wavered. Twilight was falling, which with this cloud cover and the storm blowing in over the sea, meant the evening sun wouldn’t penetrate at all. It would be dark in minutes.
But what were my options? Akhane was tired. We had to stop. I couldn’t circle her all the way back to—
I’d reached for her mind to ask her to look for a clearing she felt was safe to land, when a tiny flicker of light on the ground caught my eye and I froze.
‘Akhane, did you see that?’
‘I did.’
‘It disappeared though—’
‘I think it was a flash between the trees.’
‘Circle back—we need to stay on the side away from the sun until it’s true dark. Stay low and to the west. And when we see it, land far enough away that you won’t be heard by anyone on the ground.’
Akhane didn’t answer, but I felt her resolution and focus as she banked, circling around, flapping slowly so her wings would create less noise as she flew away from where we’d seen it, then banked again and came back on the same line, only lower in the sky.
At first, I was worried we wouldn’t catch it again, but then,“There it is!”
Akhane banked immediately, diving. I gasped and grabbed for the neckstrap, but she was only positioning herself to land in a nearby gully. Minutes later, I was on the ground and Akhane crouched under the overhang of the gully side. She fluttered her wings and shifted on her feet, agitated.
‘Akhane, you don’t have to worry. I’ll sneak up there and count numbers, try to figure out what they’re doing. Then I’ll come back. I’ll be safe!’
‘I know, Little Flame. Only please, be careful. If you’re discovered, they won’t pass you.’
I gulped, but nodded and patted her leg. Then I dropped my bag on the gully floor. This area near the sides was covered in stones and little brush bushes. But there was a thin creek that weaved through the center, and many trees overhanging the lip to keep Akhane away from eyes if someone approached from above.
‘I’ll leave the bag here and send you what I see. Can you help me remember it all? Is that allowed?’
‘I would do so if we were at war, so since you’ve asked, yes.’
A little shudder rippled through her body and that incandescent light under her scales surged.
I frowned.‘Akhane, what—?’
‘I’m well, Bren. Go! If we get out of here early enough, I can fly us back to a cave I saw on the way. We’ll want shelter tonight, I think.’
I nodded and turned, taking a deep breath, then began the traverse through the gully, until I could find a place to climb to the level of the trees. But I met my first challenge under their shade. No sunlight reached the ground, so I struggled to navigate. It took some minutes of creeping through, looking for gaps in the canopy to find a view of the mountains, until I could be fairly sure I’d found the right line and could choose a new landmark to follow.
It seemed to take forever. I crept through the trees long enough that I wondered if I’d gotten my line mixed up and was heading in the wrong direction. But just as I was about to turn back and find that gully again, I caught a whiff of smoke. Leaning around the stand of trees in front of me, I caught a flicker of orange light. Fire. Low on the ground. Elated, and heart racing, I examined the undergrowth for a quiet route through the dry bushes so I could draw nearer, just as a voice rose nearby and froze me in my tracks.
