Page 216 of Upon Buried Embers
He doesn’t get up.
“No!”
I hobble over to him, crouching down and picking him up as more tears fall, the fire burning my hands. I hear the man behind me, his steps and breathing heavy and I whirl around, holding the baby dragon to my chest.
“You will not hurt him!” I cry, and then I dodge his hand, and run to the knife on the floor while holding on to Sparks for dear life.
I grab the dagger just as the man yanks my hair roughly, and I spin, blindly stabbing at him.
He shouts, and I turn as much as I can and I stab him in his stomach, again and again, screaming as I try to keep hold of Sparks and get him away from us.
The man stumbles back and then he falls to the ground, blood pooling around him.
I stand there in shock, knife still held out in front of me, blood dripping from my hand. Then I cough, the smoke becoming so thick I can barely see.
Dropping the dagger, I stumble for the back door, holding Sparks’ limp body as tightly as I can. I push it open and then I fall down the back steps.
Every thud sends pain shooting through my body, and I quickly turn my head to the side, throwing up.
I just killed a man.
I heave in the dirt—ears ringing, and as soon as I’m done, I sniffle, stumbling to my feet.
I need to get help.
I need to find Rohan.
I need—
Noise finally surrounds me, my heart bashing within my chest as I look over the clan.
Flames rise up to the night sky, bright and crackling. I blink at what I’m seeing, on the verge of passing out.
Fire.
The camp is on fire.
My body shakes, soft cries coming from me as I stumble my way down and through the camp. Bodies litter the floor on my way. Mostly clan members, but there are some in the same hooded cloak that came into the cabin.
What… What’s happening?
“Rohan?” I whimper, stumbling along.
The roar of the fire grows louder the deeper into camp I go, embers mixing into the petals that are blowing down from the top of the hill.
The ones outside Rohan’s cabin.
I look back up at it, and it’s completely engulfed in flames.
“It’s okay, Sparks,” I whimper. “We just need to find Rohan.” I hold his body closer as I hobble along, embers flowing by like snowflakes.
He doesn’t rouse, and I can’t bear to look at his closed eyes, the way he’s so limp and slowly becoming colder.
“Rohan?!” I try again, focusing on the shouts I can hear in the distance. But I don’t see anyone.
I pass another body, and I recognize it as Garret. He was a scout.
Then I see Saelon who brought Rohan’s food. She lays face down, blood pouring out the back of her head.
