Page 102 of Magick and Lead
I ran and hurled myself up onto Othura’s back, and we vaulted into the starlit sky.
46
CHARLIE
She didn’t come.
That was the thought that ran through my mind over and over as the flames crept toward me. As the heat rose, sweat slicking my face and shirt. As the conflagration encircled me, painting the walls around me in quivering, deadly orange flames. As black smoke unfurled above me like the wings of some terrible raven, choking me, driving me to my knees.
She didn’t come.
The heat grew more intense, degree by degree, going from warm to hot, hot to scalding. An ember landed on my shirt and I frantically patted it out. Another landed on my pants, sparking a flame, and I smacked that until it went out too, wincing at the sting it left on my skin. I crouched, pulling up my knees, wrapping my arms around them, making myself into a ball in the center of the cell to stay as far from the flames as possible. But the heat just kept rising.
Instinctively, my hand snaked into the top of my shirt and found the dragon stone necklace. If I could generate fire with my hands and not get burned, maybe this fire wouldn’t hurt me, either. Maybe the magick of the dragon stone would protect me. It seemed too easy, too much to hope for. As I rubbed the stonebetween my finger and thumb, the heat around me did seem slightly more bearable. But it was still starting to hurt.
The smoke stung my eyes, filling them with blinding tears. Even after I’d shut them, the world was still too bright and growing brighter as the flames crept closer and closer.
Essa, I tried to say her name, but when I took a breath to speak, it was like inhaling a handful of embers. Coughs ripped through me, so violent I thought my chest would cave in. Only I couldn’t stop. I kept coughing, harder and harder, until my ribs hurt, my chest ached, my lungs felt like they were on fire.
I felt incredulous.
I expected Essa to save me. Or the magick. Or something…
But no.
Parthar! Help! I love you. I’m sorry!
Nothing. No answer.
Hell, he was just a baby. I was losing it, my sense unraveling, my head swimming with dizziness. No oxygen. Coughs wracking my body until I almost puked. Then, coughing more. Coughing harder.
The flames were all around me. They seemed to beinme, the heat, the pain building into a single wave of stinging, screaming agony, overcoming me, still coughing, the world shivering, sparking to black, winking out. Oh god. To die. Is this what it was like?
Shit. Goddammit.
Essa. Essa! ESSA!
She didn’t come.
47
ROHREE
The witch arrived, galloping toward them on her stag, her force of Lacunae knights and golenae sweeping in with her, inexorable as death itself.
Rohree cried out, every nerve and every cell of her body panicking at the thought of being in that evil woman’s clutches once more. Clua had been in a standoff with Ollie. Now, she turned, shifting her focus from the Torouman and stepping forward to shield Rohree from the onrushing attackers.
The impact when the charging enemies arrived sounded like a clap of thunder, armor and weapons clashing, dragons and golenae slamming into one another, snapping lances and flashing swords everywhere. Clua’s mace swung with incredible ferocity, smashing a golenae then swinging back to take out the knees of a running Lacuna.
More golenae were coming, and Rohree stepped forward, dagger at the ready—then a hand grabbed her arm. She wheeled to see Ollie standing over her.
She lashed out with her dagger. It surprised him, but he managed to step back, out of range of her weapon, and swing his own sword. The force of the blow knocked the dagger from her hand easily.
“Ollie, please!” she said. “How long have we known each other? How long have we?—?”
But one look at the coldness of his eyes told her that begging would be of no use. He grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the witch. She fought, jerking her arm, digging her feet into the ground to make an anchor of herself.
But her strength was nothing against the Torouman’s. He dragged her forward, step by dreadful step, and she felt tears filling her eyes, a lump rising in her throat.
