Page 5 of Kingdom of Flames & Flowers
One fireguard cursed and ripped a horn from his waist, giving two short blasts.
They had a special call for every time someone fell,I realized.
Screaming was all around me as girls clawed and fought each other, desperately trying to find something to cling to. All the while, the cage swung back and forth wildly in the wind. Death had reared its ugly head, and I froze as the others panicked. I couldn’t even remember what quarter the dead girls had come from, and now they were gone.
I refused to be next.
“Stop it!” I screamed. “Let the cage settle!”
The girls went still, freezing under my authoritative growl as they hung on tight to anything, including each other. I don’t know if it was because I was older, my rough appearance, or because I simply scared them, but they quit fighting. As we held our breaths, the cage slowed until finally a new fireguard could grab hold of it again.
“One at a time,” I barked at them from the back of the cage. “If you rush it again, I’ll chuck you off the rock myself!”
The girls bowed their heads and listened, still shaking and crying as they waited to be carried one by one over the open air and onto solid rock. Mr. Handsome stayed in the back, eyes stormy. The girl my age pushed in front of me rudely, and I let her. I would not fall to my doom because of her.
Finally, it was my turn.
I kept my eyes on my feet, not trusting myself to not turn an ankle in the empty slats. I got to the edge of the cage and glanced up, startled to see Mr. Handsome reaching out for me.
I’d throw myself into the void before I let another fireguard touch me.
I narrowed my eyes, judged the distance, and jumped. The stones on the other side were sharp, and I hadn’t taken that into consideration. My foot landed, slicing open on my heel. I staggered and fell backwards toward the gap.
The girls gasped as I teetered, wobbling dangerously. The only thought in my mind was how I’d finally gotten free of the mud quarter only to trip and fall to my death like a simpleton.
A hand grabbed my wrist and held on, strong and solid as a rock, pulling me forward.
The guard.
The moment he touched me, revulsion and nausea reared their head, threatening to overwhelm me.He will not hurt you. He’s trying to save you.
The other fireguards rushed to drag him back, tugging us both to safety over the other edge. Embarrassed, I popped up quickly, ignoring the pain in my heel and desperately trying to control my rapid breathing. The fireguard in charge looked pissed as hell, but only glared at the young guard who’d risked himself to save me. When none of them spared a glance my way, I relaxed. Slightly.
“See? Nothing to panic over,” I chastised the girls, trying to put on a brave face. I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for further instructions. My wrist tingled where the guard had grasped me tightly.
I tried to ignore how the other girls shot glances over the side of the cliff. I refused to look.
“What an interesting group this year,” the captain noted dryly. “Let’s get them to the bathhouses.”
The fireguards formed ranks around us, including Mr. Handsome, who went toward the back. Without another word for the dead girls we were leaving below, they led us up a winding path up with thousands of spiraling stone steps. It was high. It was steep. But the final quarter of our city lay at the top, as well as the castle and a new life. I wanted to see the noble’s quarter for myself. I wanted to eat the food and sleep in a real bed.
“Walk. Those who cannot make the journey stay behind.”
I didn’t want to be left behind because of an injury, so I hurried along with the rest, ignoring the bloody footprints that trailed behind me. My feet were tough, and I was strong. I couldn’t help but wonder what my mother would think about all this. Would she be terrified for me and want me back, or would she feel the risk was worth the reward in the end? She probably would have loved the chance to move up in life, but hadn’t had the opportunity when she’d fallen pregnant with my brother. And then me.
I ended up toward the front of the group hiking, which soon became a nuisance.
The eighteen-year-old blonde was at the front, doing well and consistently putting one foot in front of the other. Like me, she was lean and mostly muscle. The more plump girls from the stone quarters behind her were soon huffing and puffing, clearly unused to so much activity. They slowed and slowed, and we came almost to a halt. Sweat stained their pretty silk dresses.
I wondered what they did all day in their stone houses.
“What is the holdup?” a girl asked from behind me. The girls from the bread quarter were all lined up at my back, wondering what the problem was. They were just as stout as the stone girls, but clearly more used to physical work. With determined faces, they had hiked up their dresses and faced the steps patiently, one at a time.
“Halt,” came the command from the fireguard up front. He was nearly an entire staircase ahead of us, the older blonde girl nearly at his heels. She stood still while he descended back down to the rest of the line, beginning with the red-faced stone quarter girls.
“You must continue,” the fireguard captain warned the stone girls.
Or else what? I wanted to ask.
