“Nuria!” I wake with a gasp and sit up straight, smashing my head into Embrys’.
“Divine Mother! Ouch! Nuria, what are you doing down here? We have to go!” Embrys rubs his forehead and I rub mine before looking around to see I am still in the burning forest. Pyralis and the strange man are nowhere to be seen. Embrys grabs my hand and pulls me up then puts his hands on my shoulders and looks me over as if he is a worried mother looking for injury, turning my head and wincing as he spies the spot on my temple where I was hit.
“Are you all right?” I nod, not entirely sure if I am or not. “Can you run?” I nod again but then feel a wave of dizziness wash over me, I lean into his hands to steady myself. “Shit, no you can’t,” he says then places my arms around his neck and sweeps my legs off the ground and starts running, faster than is humanly possible.
I can’t see any of the other fae around as we barrel through the forest but I notice the flames have grown exponentially in the time I was unconscious. They are closing in on us too quickly. Embrys banks left and I can see that he is aiming for a large waterfall in the distance that tumbles down into a small lake. I bunch my fists into his shirt and my breath quickens, the smoke nearly chokes me.
As the flames grow even higher around us Embrys runs into the lake and only slows his pace when the water rises to his thighs. He wades in further, to what should be the deepest spot but it only reaches his waist.
“I don’t think this will stop the fire, Embrys! We’ll boil!” I start to panic, my breaths coming in even quicker as I look around, seeing flames on all sides of the small lake and big trees falling over, blocking any hope of escape.
“Shit I know, I know, all right! There was nowhere else to go!” He holds onto me tightly, not daring to let me down, but I lower my foot enough to feel the water is already very warm which doesn’t bode well for us.
“I’m sorry, Nuria,” I pull back so I can scan his face. His panic is palpable and I wonder where the strong, cocky man of earlier this night has gone, when the image of his burning stepmother scars my mind. Her screams echo in my ears.
“It’s not your fault,” I cup his cheek and feel the muscles of his jaw tighten, his nostrils flare.
“I can’t let you burn. Not like her!” A tear streaks down his cheek, and I realize who he is talking about, that I tapped into his memories just then. I lean my forehead against his in solace.
“You are not your father,” I say, for the second time tonight, and can hear him let loose a sob. I lean in and kiss his cheek where the tear had fallen and my fear at the encroaching fire is momentarily put on the backburner as my heart breaks at witnessing this man unravel in front of me. He pulls back, looking a bit stunned. His gaze lowers to my mouth and my breath hitches as I think he is about to kiss me when, instead, he whips his head towards the waterfall.
“Did you hear that?” he says, turning his head and squinting his eyes at the falls. There is a thick cloud of steam rising from the lake now so it is hard to see but I look over to where he is searching and swear I can see a hand poke out from behind the waterfall and wave at us.
“Yoohooo! Over here! Quickly!” The hand pulls back into the water.
“Yup I heard … and saw that. Come on, let’s go!” I say.Is this our salvation?
I push out of his arms but when my feet hit the water the temperature feels nearly boiling, causing me to yelp and scramble back onto Embrys, leaving me in an awkward bear hug with my legs wrapped up over his forearms, my hands grasping his shirt and my backside hanging in the air. I am very aware of the ridiculousness of the position and Embrys raiseshis eyebrows and looks down to where our bodies meet.Is he blushing?
“Ok… just… stay there, I guess,” he grunts as he carries me, wading through the scalding lake to the waterfall. As we near the roaring water the hand pops out from the edge of the falls this time and frantically waves at us so we skirt around to the side and peer in to see that there is a cave behind the falls and a little old man with a wispy beard and curly grey hair sticking out of his head standing there.
“Come now, make haste. The falls will keep the fire at bay.” He scurries farther into the cave.
Embrys steps up onto a rock ledge and out of the water. I unhook my legs from his arms and slide down his torso, painfully aware of our bodies touching and my skirt riding up from the strange angle of my legs as I do so.
Blushing, I step away from him and flatten my skirts. I turn to face the old man but all I see is his back as he disappears around the corner of a tunnel. Embrys and I look at each other with matching expressions of shock then hurry after him, leaving the fire behind us.
The rock in this cave feels much cooler than the rebel’s cave, I’m guessing from the water insulation above us which makes for the perfect place to hide out. The old man is surprisingly quick for someone who looks so ancient and the tunnels are dark and winding. As if reading my mind, Embrys lights a flame in his palm so we can see where we are going. It still shocks me every time a fae wields one of the elements and I forget that I too have this power within me; although, occasionally being able to read someone’s thoughts doesn’t feel as cool or useful as being a living flame thrower.
The old man suddenly stops dead in his tracks and laughs out loud before racing ahead once again and Embrys and Inearly topple into him and exchange looks of,what the actual fuck,before racing off after him again.
We make another sharp turn and then step into a large open cave that is illuminated by what appears to be glow worms. Their twinkling lights of yellow, blue and green make the space feel oddly festive, like the lights we string up around the house for Winter Solstice. The area is around half the size of the rebel camp and has an alcove with a bed, a library built into the rock wall and a kitchen space carved out as well. The floor is compacted mud with a few rugs scattered here and there. It looks just like a regular home, everything quite commonplace, except for a small cave right at the back wall that is entirely encrusted with purple shimmering crystals that draws my attention. I can’t help but stare and feel like my vision is tunneling towards only that space.
My necklace is making that same humming sound from when I first put it on and I swear I can hear whispers coming from the small cave. I squint as I lean forward but am met with a hand in front of my face that snaps its fingers right in front of my nose. The glow worms all douse their lights at the snap, casting us in complete darkness, then slowly reigniting one by one.
“Do not stare at it. You are not ready.” I shake my head and look down to the old man whose hand is still outstretched in front of my face.What is this place?
“Who are you?” Embrys chimes in, looking from the crystal cave - to me - to the old man.
“I am Gaius,” he says matter-of-factly as he smooths down his long moustache with his thumb and forefinger.
“Well, thank you for saving us. I was not looking forward to being turned into a charred human…faesoup back there,” I joke but am actually still pretty shaken up by our almost very gruesome death… Although, Embrys did not seem phased by the near boiling water. I wonder if fire wielders burn.
“Burn burn burn, not by his father’s hand,” Gaius sings to himself as he walks down the slope, into his cave.Did I say my last thought out loud?This guy is a nutter.
As he enters the space a rabbit hops out to greet him followed by a waddling beaver and some small birds that come flitting down from the ceiling to land on his shoulders and head. From the back of the cave a doe and her fawn come striding out of a tunnel I did not notice before, straight to Gaius, cautiously observing Embrys and I.
“Ah, my furred companions, we have company!” Gaius bends down to scoop up the rabbit and gives the beaver a little pat on the head. “They sought refuge from the inferno, just as you have,” he says, giving the bunny a little scratch behind the ears before placing it back down on the floor. Many more creatures start popping their heads out from behind the furniture. There is even a large, grey, lone wolf who lifts its head up over the back of the sofa and glares at us. I don’t dare take my eyes off of it as I am unsure if this is a Metamorph or an animal. Either way, my relationship with wolves is not very trusting.
