Page 3 of Conflicted Fate
Crack.
Something split, and the tree shook violently, spilling us both to our hands and knees. I gripped a nearby branch to stop myself from sliding off. Immediately, we stood and kept moving as thefilmoretree’s bark sloughed off in giant chunks under the impact of our feet.
It wouldn’t last.
Kiel was halfway across the gorge when it became clear the tree was giving way.
“Run!” he hollered.
“Yep!” I shouted as the trunk bent under me, huge swaths of it cracking under our weight.
Then it began to slowly roll over. I was on my hands and knees, still moving for the far side, my heart thundering in my chest until I could all but hear its roar in my ears. Teeth clenched, I hauled myself up the ever-increasing incline of the trunk. Kiel was nearly at the top.
“Don’t wait for me, you idiot!” I shouted as he paused.
The log settled for just a moment, long enough for me to get to my feet and run for it at breakneck speed. Kiel saw that I was close and flung himself for the edge. The force of him jumping, however, dislodged the tree. With a mighty groan and snapping sound, it split in the middle, the two ends giving way.
“Jada, jump!”
I did, scrambling up the tree trunk and flinging myself toward the empty ledge next to Kiel just as it plunged into the depths below us.
It wasn’t enough. I slammed into the side of the gorge and began to slip backward, fingers scrambling to find a hold, something to stop me from tumbling back into the darkness with the dead tree.
A vise grip clamped on my forearm as Kiel grabbed me, his fingers squeezing hard enough to bruise bone.
“I’ve got you,” he said, the gentleness of his voice at odds with the strength of his clasp. He hauled me up and over the edge. Together, we collapsed into a pile, my head on his chest, both of us panting.
Wulfhere skidded to a halt on the far side of the gorge, staring balefully across the distance until one of them barked new orders that sent them running in different directions.
“Thank you,” I said, rolling over to lie on him as his arms wrapped around me, holding me tight.
In the heat of the moment, he even kissed the top of my head. I grinned but didn’t point it out. I doubted he would have done so if he was still in his “I am Callistus, you must hate me” mindset. Better to take a victory where I could. He would come to his senses soon.
I hope.
“Thank you,” Kiel replied in turn, helping me to my feet, brushing some bits of rotten wood from me and out of my hair.
“For?”
“Being willing to run and not kill them.”
“You’re welcome,” I said. “After all, who says that—”
I was cut off as the ground itself began to tremble beneath us.
“An earthquake?” I asked, spreading my feet wide. “Out here?”
“No,” Kiel said numbly, pointing behind me. Up the slope.
I turned, just in time to see the entire mountainside begin to come apart in an avalanche of stone.
Chapter Three
Shattering like glass under the stress and torture of trying to stay upright after the implosion within its heart, the rock simply came undone. Millions of tons of rock fell inward and collapsed in a roar so loud it drove us to our knees, howling in pain as it overwhelmed our ears.
Huge chunks of rock the size of small towns shuddered and heaved, slowly making their way down the slope, exploding into smaller pieces that wereonlythe size of houses. A wave of rock swept outward as more and more of the mountain gave up.
And it was all coming our way.
