Page 50 of Soul of Thorns
My teeth chatter. I’m thankful Caelynn has seemed to get herself under control, but terrified of the shift in calls from the wraiths below. I lean back just enough to meet Caelynn’s dark eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers.
“What do we do?” I ask, breathlessly. “Can you hide us?” My voice cracks as I ask Caelynn the only thing I could imagine may help us. I don’t even know if she’s capable now.
“It won’t matter.” She whimpers. “We can’t hide from them now.”
I wince at her answer, but determination solidifies in my chest. It might be hopeless, but I won’t give up.
Only one possible action remains. Run.
I pull Caelynn by the waist and together we sprint down the pathway, away from the fire wall, just as the swarm of wraiths reaches our camp. My feet pound on the gravel as fast as they can carry us.
Roaring pain carves through my back as a wraith’s magical claws slice through my jacket reaching the soft flesh below. I stumble. Caelynn snarls, holding me up with one arm while the other blasts an arrow of shadow magic at my attacker.
A dark puff of magic bounces off of him, sending him bounding into three wraiths behind him.Only a few thousand left to go.
“Can we get to the cabin?” I ask.
“That magic won’t save us this time, Rev.”
I know she’s right the moment the words leave her mouth. Is there any hope? Is this it? Is there really no way to get out of this?
“The fire wall.” Caelynn pants, sprinting beside me. “They won’t cross it.”
My heart rises and then sinks immediately. “You mean the fire wall we’re running away from?”
She doesn’t respond, and I don’t blame her. A half-baked plan forms in my mind, but it’s enough to spark the hope I desperately need to keep running, to push harder. These wraiths are mindless, as Caelynn’s wraith told us.
If we curl all the way around the mountain with them trailing, it may leave our path open to reach the wall. If we can make it that far.
The swarm of wraiths is just behind us, nipping at our heels.
We are on one of the smaller mountains... Maybe we can make it. I don’t have the breath or presence of mind to explain my plan, but she keeps up with me step for step.
“Come to us,”the wraiths cry in unison.
“Come to die.”
“Join us. Become like us.”
The voices surround us, curling in, eerily bouncing off of the mountains—so much I can’t tell which direction they’re coming from. I can only hope they’re still behind us or this plan is fruitless.
Our pathway ends abruptly, but we don’t have time to think or seek a new path. We leap over the edge, falling through the shadows below.
We crash down onto solid ground. I stumble, but Caelynn pulls me up and propels me forward. We are in a pass on the west side of our mountain. The sky is bright red over its black silhouette. Sharp slabs of stone cover either side of our narrow passageway. We’ve got to pray it leads all the way through because if not, we’ll be trapped.
My legs ache. My lungs burn. But I flee for my life—and Caelynn’s. I hold her hand tightly in mine, praying she won’t try to sacrifice herself to free me.
I can’t lose her now.
I won’t.
We barely remain ahead of the herd for a full mile, and the heat begins to increase. The sky grows redder, glowing. We’re close. So close.
The pathway curls back around, opening to the roadway.
The firewall comes into view, its intimidating, roaring flames hundreds of feet up. It’s raging heat burning hot on my skin. Its stacks of black smoke waft into the sky. It’s less than a mile away now, we can make it. We can—
