“Insufferable—”
The bladder ignited.Kira shielded her eyes against the flash of searing white light.
“It’s working,” she breathed as the sniper’s shots went wide.
Kira’s relief was short-lived as a loud boom shook the space.
Bez was sent staggering by the concussion of the blast.He fell forward, Kira sliding from his shoulder.
She barely managed to catch herself before she landed on her head.
“I thought you said this would work?”Bez’s eyes were wide as he took in the schooner that was now engulfed in flames.
“It did.”
Kira didn’t know what had happened.She was sure she’d shut the fuel valve correctly.
There were several creaks from the mountainside above.
The sniper abandoned their position.
The tree line trembled.Almost like it was riding a wave.
The hillside rumbled.
Bez snatched Kira up.“Landslide!Move!”
Sixteen
Kira
Kira’sscalptingledasa large section of the hillside detached and started to slide.It picked up speed, moving like water.
Shit.Shit.Shit.
“You might want to run a little faster,” Kira called over her shoulder.Stress pitched her voice several octaves over its normal range.
Bez adjusted his grip and powered forward.“What do you think I’m trying to do?”
The sniper never had a chance.Too late, they threw aside their rifle so they could run faster.The landslide swallowed them before they made it far.
It was going to do the same to them if they didn’t make it to the other side of the enclave’s blast doors.
Pye reached the entrance first, only to find the doors that Kira had walked through earlier tightly closed.He punched the metal.“It’s locked!”
Az was only a few steps behind him.She waved him over and set her shoulder to the door.“Help me!”
Together, they tried to pry the doors open.
When that proved unsuccessful, Az stepped back and tried to hit it with a surge ofki.Her soul’s breath didn’t even leave a mark.
Then Bez was there.He bent, sliding Kira off his shoulder none too gently before moving to help the other two.
Kira rested with her back against the wall, her gaze fixed on the landslide bearing down on them.For one single moment, the world faded into the background.
The landslide began to pour through the skylight, blocking out the sun and sky.
Kira focused, concentrating on that place inside her where her soul’s breath resided.Never before had it been so difficult to reach.Pressure grew at the base of her skull.A familiar, thorny sensation sinking its spikes into her center.
