Page 59 of Beneath the Flames
Three.Heat, wonderous, intense heat that I hadn’t felt in years filled the air, even though that should have been impossible.
Four.Red light surrounded the tent.Bright and burning.
Speaking of burning…something was on fire.The smell of burning fabric tickled my nose.
And that was when my eyes snapped open, understanding instantly forcing me awake.
Our tent was on fire.
A lungful of smoke filled my mouth as I gasped, whichsent me into a coughing fit as I tried to free myself from the bedroll.
Maren was slow to wake, my magic attempting to keep her asleep as she blinked blearily up at me.The heat was quickly growing unbearable.If we didn’t get out of the tentright now,we’d be a nice meal for the Scorching Rivers.
Dread encompassed me so completely that for a moment, I stood frozen, unable to move.How did this happen?Was my magic finally at its end?
Move, Rhydian!
The lava was seeping through the end of the tent.If it had fingers, they would have been stretching to grasp us, like the long tendrils of death itself.
Without giving it another thought, I tugged the bag full of supplies over my shoulder and picked up Maren.The tent flaps were ablaze, and I covered her body with mine as much as possible as I rushed outside, coughing and gasping for fresh air.There was a large rock down the path that I headed for, my lungs aching by the time we reached it and I set her down.
That was when I glanced back at our campsite and felt the blood drain from my face.
The tent was gone, entirely consumed by the lava, which was still creeping slowly toward us.My golden ring of magic that I had set to protect us from this very thing was gone.
How could that be?The Scorching Rivers had never made it past my magic before.Why now?Was it strengthening while my magic was weakening?Had warming the tent used the last of it?Or had I just let it fall while I slept?
Whatever happened, we had barely survived.Had we spent a few moments longer in there, we would have died.I shuddered at the thought of what would have happened had I not woken up when I did.
At the sight of the Rivers creeping toward us, I tried to summon my magic to push it back.
But nothing happened.
I tried again.And again.
The light remained absent.I had no magic.
“What…happened?”Maren asked, and I turned to find her rubbing the side of her head as she looked around, her body trembling once again from the cold.If we hadn’t slept in our winter clothes, they would have been burned to ashes.I shuddered at the thought of trying to continue to Mount Kharos without them, especially for Maren’s sake.
My throat felt hoarse from breathing in the smoke as I replied, “The Scorching Rivers happened.”
She glanced in the direction of our campsite, her breath hitching.“Where’s the tent?”
While part of me knew it was a valid question, I didn’t have time to stand there explaining.Icouldn’texplain.
“Gone.”I started walking down the path toward Mount Kharos, not even waiting for her to get up and follow me.Anger burned through my veins, and I needed to move.How could I have no magic left?Was the last petal about to fall before we even made it to the first task?
“What do you meangone?”she called after me.
I kept walking.“As in,burned to a crisp.”
Some sort of alarmed cry erupted from her mouth, but I ignored it and continued down the path, the ice crunching beneath my boots.
“You’ll join it soon if you don’t hurry up,” I called after another minute when she still wasn’t following me.
This human has a death wish.Or death follows her.It honestly could be both.
She did get kidnapped twice in a matter of minutes after all.
