Page 24 of Burn Bright
Run!
I didn't need to be toldtwice.
This time Casimir was beside me, forcing me at breakneck speed through the forest. My wretched human body couldn't keep up with him, and my lungs couldn't fill quickly enough. I fought to find the peace I felt within the forest, trying to force my legs to run as tirelessly as they had the other day. And suddenly energy streamed through me, my stride lengthening to matchhis.
Casimir shot me an incredulous look, but then I was passing him, leaping trees and ducking beneath branches with my useless bow inhand.
Light bloomed in front of me. I shot out through a pair of enormous trees, my boots finding flat ground, and a glittering clearing ofsnow.
And then the world seemed to run out ofground.
A waterfall roared, and I scrambled across a jumble of rocks, coming to the edge of slate gray waters that sped past me. Two hops took me halfway across the rapid river, and then I was stuck. The edge of the waterfall fell away beneath my feet. My vision swayed as I peered over it, but all I could see was the churn of white water far belowme.
A roar thundered through the air behindme.
Casimir caught up to me, and we both turned to stare as the volgur smashed into one of the trees, slowly uprootingit.
The beast paused, its foul breath steaming around it, and its flanks heaving as it sighted usagain.
"What are we going to do?" I gasped. One of my arrows was sticking out of its eye, but the volgur only seemed infuriated by the attack, notwounded.
Casimir grabbed my arm, and we leapt to an enormous rock in the middle of the river. My boots slipped, and my arms windmilled. I lost the bow, and it vanished over the edge of the waterfall. I could no longer hear the volgur bellowing. Only the crash of millions of liters ofwater.
"Cas!"
The volgur paused at the edge of the river, pacing. It dipped one cloven hoof into the edge, and then looked up, and I swear, it almost seemed tosmile.
"Jump!" Casimir bellowed, and shoved me over thewaterfall.
