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Eerie. That was how I would describe the Salt Woods. Sand and grass long dead crunched under my feet as I moved through the hollow husks that had once been trees. Looking at this abandoned graveyard, I couldn’t help agreeing with my elven friends. It was sad.
“This should be far enough,” I said to myself as I stopped after what I judged to be an appropriate distance.
I had no idea how big this dead forest was, so it was impossible to know when I had reached the middle, but I figured that the fire would spread in every direction eventually. Light flickered from the torches in my hands. No time like the present.
A whoosh sounded as I put a torch to the closest tree. Flames devoured the dry wood while I moved to the trunk next to it and did the same. I had concluded that it was best to create a long wall of fire first and then just continue adding to it in a narrow line as I made my way out. That way, the risk of getting trapping in the fire should be slight. The wood popped in the heat as I made my way to my next victim.
Once I had burned a sufficiently long row of trees and returned to the middle of it, I spared a moment to study my handiwork. Flames licked the gray giants and reached for the heavens in an inferno of yellow and orange. Heat washed over me as the wind changed and fire leaped from one tree to another.
“So ends the Salt Woods,” I said. “May new life grow.”
With those final words to the forest previously trapped between life and death, I turned around and began my long walk out. Holding out the torches in my hands, I lit the trees on fire as I passed through the woods like a demon from hell burning the world to the ground. Whooshing, popping, and hissing echoed as a great wall of flames followed me on my path.
A roar reverberated through the air. I recoiled as a large animal crashed through the clearing and stopped in front of me. Its coat was yellow-gold and around its neck was a dark mane. Though I’d never seen an animal like this in Keutunan, I recognized it from the flag of Pernula. Norah had called it a lion.
The deadly-looking animal stared at me. My heart pattered in my chest. I would not win a close-up fight against this beast and I doubted that my throwing knives were large enough to kill it. Most likely, they would only anger it and make it attack me. Shit. I had to keep it away from me.
An explosion racked the forest as a large tree broke apart and fell to the ground. The lion jerked back and then crouched, ready to spring forward. It looked frightened. Nervous eyes flicked between me and the flames eating their way towards us as if it couldn’t decide who the real threat was. I had no idea how to tell it that I wasn’t the enemy, so I did the only thing I could think of: scare it with more fire.
Gripping the torches tightly, I swung them in a wide arc. The lion jumped back when the burning wood swished by its face. I waved the torches back and forth between us again so that the infernal animal would understand that it was time to run. At last, the beast seemed to take the hint and bolted in the opposite direction. Tipping my head up towards the sky, I heaved a deep sigh of relief.
That’s when I noticed it. The fire. I snapped my head back down. Shit. How could I have been so stupid? My mad waving of the torches had caused sparks to fly and those had now caught the trees around me. Rage at my own incompetence flashed through me. And then the wind shifted and my anger was replaced by sheer panic. Flames leaped from tree to tree in front of me while the burning wall I had created earlier picked up speed and closed in behind. I was trapped.
Dropping the torches, I darted forward to escape the flames before it was too late. A loud whoosh erupted behind me. I whipped around to see the second mistake that might very well get me killed. Panic was not good for my decision-making skills.
Behind me, the whole forest floor was on fire. Dread welled up in my chest as I realized that the dropped torches of course set the dry grass aflame. Shit. I sprinted towards my exit. Oppressive heat pressed in on my body while bright orange flames clawed at me from every direction. I sucked in a deep breath of searing hot air.
A treacherous wind blew its forceful breath through the forest and the fire roared as it welled forward. The world around me was engulfed in flames. In front of me, a tree trunk snapped and crashed to the ground. Sparks sailed into the air as it connected with the grass and sand but there was no stopping now. If I stopped, I would die. Throwing up my arms to protect my face, I jumped over the fallen log.
Trees were on fire in every direction while the burning grass hunted me from behind. I sent a quick prayer to Nemanan. If the flaming forest floor caught up with me, I would have nowhere to run. Continuing my mad dash through the woods, I fervently hope I would make it out before it did.
My chest heaved, and drawing breath was getting increasingly difficult but I pressed on. The wind had died down which made the wall of fire slow down slightly, but I didn’t trust it to stay that way, so I decided to take this chance to put even more distance between us. Pushing my body as far as it would let me, I picked up speed and sprinted towards the edge of the forest.
At long last, I spotted the horizon between the trees. My heart leaped in joy and my whole soul drew a deep breath of relief. I’d made it. Sand swirled in the air as I skidded to a halt outside the Salt Woods. Turning around, I watched the flames lick the trees further in so I backed away until I was a safe distance away from the fire. I flopped down on the dusty ground.
“Yep, definitely never doing that again either,” I mumbled.
Resting my back against the warm sand, I draped an arm over my face and closed my eyes. For a long while, I just lay there and let my chest heave and my heartbeat slow. That had been close. Way too close. Again. Shade had been right. I did find myself in a lot of situations where I almost died. Maybe it was time to learn more about this outdoorsy stuff so that I didn’t make these kinds of rookie mistakes again.
Minutes turned to hours as the flames consumed the Salt Woods. After a while, I sat back up and studied the horizon that Shade and the others had disappeared into. A huge cloud of dust had risen in the distance and mingled with the smoke from fire. There was no way anyone in Pernula could miss it.
Movement flashed past in the corner of my eye. Jumping to my feet, I whipped my head around and scanned my surroundings. Oh, crap. A pack of, I didn’t know what it was, approached from all sides. They looked kind of like dogs but with longer limbs and their fur was light brown and full of dark spots. Then, a sound made my blood turn to ice. One of the animals... laughed. I yanked the hunting knives from their sheaths.
“What the hell is wrong with this continent?” I said, fear lacing my words.
The pack of laughing predators closed in. Sweat trickled down my back as I gripped the blades tighter and turned around and around to keep them all in my sight. They continued circling me.
“Well, get on with it then!” I screamed at them and twirled the knives in my hands.
As one, the dog-like animals bolted. I stared after them. What had just happened? I mean, I was scary, but I wasn’t that scary. Then I heard them. Thundering hooves in the distance. Releasing a soft laugh of relief, I stuck the blades back in their holsters. Here comes the cavalry.
After dusting myself off, I adopted a neutral look on my face just as twenty-odd horses came into view. The big one with large black and white patches that Shade rode aimed straight for me. Every instinct in my body told me to take cover but I stood my ground. The Master Assassin reined it in and the horse skidded to a halt an arm’s length from me. Blood pounded in my ears but outwards, I was calm like a bucket of milk.
Shade pulled down the cloth covering his nose and mouth and glanced at the scene around us. “Any trouble?”
“Nope,” I lied and gave him a nonchalant shrug. “Everything went without a hitch.”
“Mm-hmm.” He cracked a lopsided smile and then reached down towards me. “Come on, we have to get back to the city.”
I grabbed his arm and, with all the grace of a slab of granite, climbed up behind him. Even though I couldn’t see it, I knew he was smirking. However, instead of slapping that infuriating arrogance off his cheekbones, I had to settle for grumbling under my breath before wrapping my arms around his ripped stomach.
“We’ll use the back gate to get in this time to avoid suspicion,” Zaina called after she had removed the fabric tied over her face. “Follow me.”
As she called encouragement to her horse, the pair sprang forward. The elves followed her and, after a brief nod from their Master, so did Shade’s assassins. I tightened my grip on the athletic assassin as our horse moved out as well.
The ride back to Pernula was much slower than the one to get here, but given what the horses and riders had been doing for the past few hours, I didn’t blame them for being tired. Eventually, the tall city walls became visible in the distance. I had no idea how we had managed it but we were approaching the city from the other side, the one we’d used when we’d arrived at Hidden Oaks Cove. The pirate apparently knew her way on land as well.
Tension clung to the guards at the back gate when we arrived but, with Zaina’s help, we bribed our way through. Inside the walls, it was even worse. Panicked citizens ran up and down the streets and soldiers hurried past on their way to the main gate while still strapping on their armor. Mothers shoved their children indoors. Everywhere, shutters banged shut.
Zaina brought her horse closer. “I rented the horses ’til tomorrow since we can’t return them right now. Not with the whole army there.”
“Can we stable them at the school?” Elaran asked.
“Yeah. All the kids should be home by now so we can keep them there tonight. Tomorrow when everyone finds out it was just a trick by Marcellus and things have calmed down, we’ll bring them back.”
With our large animals, we plowed through the terrified crowd without much resistance. I watched them flatten themselves against the buildings as we rode past. Fear shone in their eyes. Norah had been right: this was an awful thing to do to all the innocent people living here, even if it was only for one night. Tearing my eyes from their faces, I let my brief and uncharacteristic flash of conscience drift back into oblivion. Oh, well. Whatever it took to win.