Whump.
Whump.
Whump.
It hovered above me, its belly burning bright blue. With no blizzard to blind it and no cover to shield me, I was a sitting duck.
My heart sank, but I turned and ran anyway. Like hell would I stand there and wait to be roasted alive.
Heat bloomed behind me, and my stomach clenched, my whole body bracing as I picked up speed. Maybe I could outrun it. Maybe?—
My boot hit something. I tripped, fell onto my palms, then flipped onto my ass in time to see lethal blue flame hurtling toward me.
The air hissed as it was pulled from my body.
Would it hurt?
A sharpcracklike a gunshot ripped the air, and a figure appeared in front of me. C’ael stood, his back to me, arms out. The flames rushed over us and around us, leaving us unscathed.
“Get up!” he called over his shoulder. “Get up and be ready to run! Aim for the rock face to your left.”
I leapt up, thighs bunching.
The blue winked out. “Now!” he yelled.
I ran, the heat of adrenaline numbing pain and loaning me strength. The rock face loomed. I was almost there.
The air crackled with the telltale sound of another fire blast, and the next moment, a nagrata landed to my far right.
Blue lit up the periphery of my vision. I screamed.
But the flame didn’t hit me because C’ael was beside me, scooping me into his arms as waves of fire, now from two nagrata, battered whatever shields he had up.
I clung to him, my gaze locked on his face. The strain of whatever he was doing to protect us was evident in the tightness around his mouth and eyes.
“C’ael…”
“Leela. You must get to the rock face. Find shelter. I’m…I’m sorry. I’m out of energy.”
The fire winked out, and C’ael vanished.
I dropped. My boots slipped as I caught my balance before breaking into a sprint for the rock face. There had to be an aperture, somewhere I could crawl in and hide. Somewhere deep enough to avoid their fire.
Big asks.
Big hopes.
C’ael…What the fuck had happened to him?
I reached the rock face with the nagrata hot on my heels, then swerved to run alongside the cliff, searching for a nook, a hole, anything.
The air crackled again, and the earth trembled.
There was nowhere to hide.
No escape.
I faced my death, my back to the rock face. If I was going down, I’d do it fighting. I drew my axes and ran at the nearest nagrata, a bellow bursting from my lips. No plan, just the raging need to do harm.
