Firestorm

Behind me was a thump of feet hitting the ground and Scar scuttled backward, hissing and snarling. “Hunter!”

I glanced over my shoulder, thinking I would see Cactus. But it was someone I didn’t recognize. An Ender in black leathers and gloves was all I registered before he grabbed me and jerked me behind him. “Get back, idiot, you don’t know what they are capable of.”

I hit the ground, stumbling under the force of his throw, sliding to the edge unable to stop my momentum. I scrabbled at the rock, crying out as my body slipped into open space. Peta screeched, as the world turned upside down as I rolled in the air.

A flash of white scales and the world righted itself, or at least, stopped moving. I hung upside down and Peta clung to the front of my vest, her tail bristled out like a cotton puff.

“Peta, who grabbed us?”

“Your new friend,” she whispered.

I managed to lean up and look past her. Scar clung to the cliff face, holding onto my leg with his long tail, the barb hooking over his own flesh to lock around my limb. His claws were buried into the stone and he slowly began to climb sideways.

Above us in the tiny cave came shouting and the sound of flesh being hit. “Hurry, Scar. Get me back up there.”

He shook his head. “We can’t save her. The Hunter will take her.”

The mother goddess’s words suddenly made sense. Lives to save . . . she didn’t send me to save Ash.

She sent me to save the firewyrms.

“Scar, get me up there. Now!” Anger coursed through my veins; an anger born of understanding. To be treated as though you were worthless and should be wiped out . . . that I knew too well. I reached to the earth as Scar climbed swiftly up the rock, the power humming under my skin, filling me with its strength. A flick of his tail and I launched into the air and over the edge.

The other firewyrm lay unmoving, the Ender standing over her. He had one foot on her tail and his club dripped with blood.

“Get away from her.” I whipped my hand out, calling the earth upward and throwing the Ender backward. He slammed into the far wall, his head snapping hard against the rock. Eyes rolled back, he slid to the ground in a slump.

I ran forward and dropped to my knees in front of the firewyrm. “Scar, does she have a name?”

“No, ve don’t have names. Ve just are. You are the first to name one of us in a long time.” His head pushed under my arm as I laid my hands on the white, still scales. No breath and her heartbeat was gone.

Peta let out a sigh. “Spirit can heal, Dirt Girl. I don’t know how, but I know it can. If it isn’t too late.”

I didn’t hesitate; if I were to lose a piece of my soul for saving another, then so be it.

Grappling with the other side of my bloodline, I brought Spirit forward. Like an unruly horse, it bucked and pulled from me, making me sweat as I tried to direct it. Why now? Before when I’d called on it, there had been no fight. But I’d not tried to heal anyone before, so maybe that was it.

I tried to be gentle as I pushed Spirit into the firewyrm, directing it to flow through her muscles, into her heart, across her bones. Sweat dripping from my face, I gritted my teeth as I tried to bring her back.

Peta licked my cheek. “You can’t save her, Dirt Girl. She’s gone too long. That is why Spirit fights you, I believe. I think she was already beyond your reach.”

I let go of Spirit and hung my head, tears dripping along with the sweat. “Then what is the point of being able to have Spirit if I can do nothing with it?”

Scar stuck his head onto my lap. “You tried. That is more than any others have done.”

Wrapping my arm around his neck, I hugged him tightly to me before letting him go. “You’d better get out of here, the Ender will wake soon. Take your sister with you.” I stood and Scar scuttled forward, scooping his sister onto his back.

“Be careful,” he said, then disappeared over the side of the ledge once more. I followed, watching him slither down the vertical wall as if it were nothing to him. Glancing up, I realized that Cactus had been suspiciously absent.

“Cactus?”

Nothing.

I reached up and grabbed the handholds I’d made on my way down and pulled myself up. Peta leapt from my shoulders onto the top of the ledge.

“He’s here, but . . . you aren’t going to like this,” she said. The tone in her voice made me scramble faster. I swung my legs up and over, scooting forward on my belly for a few feet before pushing to my knees.

Cactus was flat on his back, a large goose egg budding over his left eye. I ran one finger over it and brought Spirit forward again. It didn’t fight me as I wove its strength through Cactus’s body. I didn’t really know what I was doing, letting Spirit do as it would.

The bump shrank until there was nothing, not even a bruise on his skin. He blinked and sat up. “What the hell just happened? I was calling to you and then something slammed into my head and nothing until right now.”

I gave him a weak grin. “What do you get when you find a firewyrm, fight an Ender, and fall off a cliff?”

“Shit.” He stood and pulled me to my feet. “Where is the Ender?”

“Still in the cave down there.”

“Tell me you didn’t kill him,” Cactus said, reaching for me. I frowned at him.

“I’m not an idiot. I just knocked him out.”

Peta gave a full body shiver. “We must hide the fact that you attacked him, Dirt Girl. With Cactus’s injury gone, we will all say we have no idea what that Ender is talking about when he accuses you. Do you understand?”