Page 27 of Sons of Sorrow
I turned to the others for their response. No one had even answered yet when the wall of butterflies dispersed, following their master as he beat a hasty retreat.
“We should go,” I told them. I clenched my fist, dismissing Frederick, not wanting him to get injured if things got too hairy.
Satchel wrung his hands. “I don’t know about this, Locke. Who is this guy, anyway?”
“I live here,” the burning man said. “Emphasis on ‘live.’ Haven’t died yet, and won’t, not to these things. Your choice.”
Without saying another word, he buzzed away, leaving a trail of fire and embers in his wake.
“Good enough for me,” Sylvain said.
We took off running as the sound of something smashing and crashing to the ground came from behind us. Bruna’s wall of ice was down. Just in time, too.
“But the fireballs are still after us,” Satchel said.
“Not for long. Keep running.” The little burning man hung back, his eyes focused on the ground where a crack in the earth issued wisps of smoke.
He eyed each of us, waiting for us to pass. The whole time more and more of the fireballs screeched and whizzed from the brass city. When we were ten, twenty feet away, the burning pixie flew after us, pausing just long enough to thrust his arms out. A ball of flame only as big as a marble launched from his joined hands. It vanished into the crack in the earth.
The ground rumbled. The earth shattered, opening fissures that unleashed great geysers of magma and fire into the air. Satchel yelped. Evander screamed. As if I needed more motivation to move my ass. I’d never run faster and harder in my life.
Flames roared from deep within the earth, forming a wall of brilliant orange between us and the fireballs. I lingered long enough to check. The fireballs were all gone somehow.
“Gas vent,” the burning man explained, hovering just by my face like he was my familiar. I might have noticed earlier, but he seemed to tinkle as he fluttered, making strange, chiming music. “Those things are drawn to heat. Like the heat of your bodies. But sending up a flare of so much fire overwhelmed them long enough for you to escape.”
He flew faster, streaking ahead of us like a shooting star, as if to say that we should keep running, that we weren’t quite in the clear.
“What,” I huffed, forcing out a question. “What were those things, anyway?”
“Fireflies,” the little man said. “It’s best to veer away from the Core, or they’ll only keep coming.”
I shook my head as I followed him. “That’s not right. Those things were like tiny demons. Aren’t fireflies supposed to be insects?”
He turned in midair to face me, the tuft of flame on his head burning brighter as he frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s what they are. Fire that flies. Fireflies. No thoughts, no intelligence. They’re just manifestations of the elements. Malevolent ones, too.”
“Right,” I said, nodding eagerly. I wanted this conversation to be over, and to get a move on, in case we attracted more of these devilish creatures. This was clearly another case of the bush babies.
On Earth, they were adorable little animals with huge eyes. In the Oriel of Earth, they were gibbering bastards made entirely of leaves and branches, driven by a love of looting and pillaging. Oriel bush babies were closer to goblins than cute nocturnal mammals.
Selfish, greedy, destructive? Check. Just like Evander Skink, a real-life goblin. He sprinted and overtook me, expensive shoes clicking against the ground. I’d never seen him run so fast.
Luna pulled up behind him, frowning, furious. “Evander! Wait up. Why are we running? I already guessed that you were a bunch of cowards at the Wimpwood, but this is ridiculous.”
“Those who live to run away,” Sylvain said, huffing and puffing.
“Pathetic,” Luna snarled. “I say we stand and fight.”
Bruna caught up with us, one hand pinning her hat to her head. “Don’t be so damn stubborn, Luna. We don’t know what we’re up against or how many more of them could be coming. We’re here to find the guardians, not to get gunned down by swarms of minor elementals.”
I didn’t think I’d ever side with Bruna on something like this, choosing to fight one large, angry guardian as opposed to scores of tiny elementals, but she had a great point. We came for the Heart of the Flame, or multiple ones, if we could swing it. I didn’t fancy the idea of getting holes blown in my torso by those fireflies. Angry as hornets, and way more dangerous.
The redness in Luna’s face could have matched the fire from the nearby trees, the glow of magma radiating from little cracks in the ground. Her cheeks puffed up with anger, but she didn’t protest any further. She could fly a banner for the reckless arrogance of the Iron College as much as she liked. In the end it would be her against thousands more of those deadly fireflies.
“I’m with Bruna,” I said, slowing down as I checked over my shoulder, seeing that no more clouds of tiny burning specks were following us. “We’re better off in the company of our kind local savior here.”
The kind local savior cocked his eyebrow at me as he fluttered onward. He might have smirked a little, too. Dr. Euclidea Fang lesson two-hundred-and-whatever: flattery will get you everywhere.
“Yeah,” Satchel said, beating his wings faster to keep pace with the fiery man. “Just who are you, anyway? Are you a pixie, like me? And why is your hair on fire?”
