Page 64 of Upon Buried Embers (Upon Buried Embers #1)

Alara

I groan as I roll over, my head pounding with every breath I take. My face is being licked, tiny claws scratching. I bat Sparks away, feeling like I will throw up.

“Not now,” I whine, pulling the furs up as I cough. “Sparks.” I grumble again when he makes a growling noise.

We should have left him in the cave.

I move a hand up, searching for Rohan’s hair, but I can’t find it, that’s strange.

I blink my eyes open, and when Sparks starts biting the tips of my fingers, I groan and sit up.

Batting my hair out of my way, some of it coming out of my braid, I go to chastise Sparks when I see smoke curling beneath the curtain of the bedroom.

“Rohan?” I turn to him, ready to wake him but the bed is empty.

Sparks whines at me, and I pick him up and scramble out of bed, pulling the curtain to the side. Flames lick up the front of the cabin.

Oh Gods.

“Rohan?!” I call, covering my mouth to cough. I check the bathing area, but he isn’t there either. Where is he? “Come on Sparks, we have to go.” I make my way to the back of the cabin, picking up Sparks, when the back door is thrown open.

“Don’t come in, there’s a fire!” I stop when I see the figure and the bloodied knife they’re holding. “What—”

“You are to come with us.”

“What… what do you want?” I eye him, looking around for an escape.

“You. Come, now.” He holds out his hand, but I don’t move. “Don’t make this difficult.”

“I think there’s been a mistake.” I hiss when the heat of flames at my back burns me.

“Have it your way then.”

The figure lunges, and I scream, scrambling back and in my shock, I drop Sparks.

“Run!” I shout to him as the figure comes closer, knife raised. I move further back into the burning cabin. The flames are spitting and hissing as fire slowly tears its way through Rohan’s home.

I raise my hands in defense, seeing Sparks out the corner of my eye as he gives the man a wide berth.

And he is a man. He’s tall and wide. His hands have tattoos on them and I can barely make out the beard beneath the darkened hood he has pulled up over his head.

“W-hat do you want?” I ask, but he’s silent, and lunges again.

I scream and scramble out of the way, getting behind the low table and picking up a cup and throwing it at him. He bats it away easily, growling and coming for me once again.

I pretend to go left, then go to the right for the back exit when he falls for it. I run as fast as I can, picking up Sparks as I pass him. He growls, and then we are slammed to the floor.

I scream as I land on my arm awkwardly, and I thrash, trying to get the man off of me as pain spreads through me.

I’m rolled onto my back, and I claw at him the best I can, catching him in the face. I see the blade being raised, and I turn my head to the side, tears spilling from my eyes as he brings it down. A growl and a yelp has me turning back.

Sparks has him by the hand that’s holding the dagger, teeth digging in, blood spilling from it as he growls and shakes him side to side. The male shouts, dropping the knife as he uses his other hand to grip Sparks, pulling and tugging to try and get him loose.

Sparks doesn’t let go.

I continue my struggle to get out from under him, kicking my legs, and he eventually topples to the side, still trying to get the small dragon off of him. He curses, more blood spilling.

“Get the fuck off me!” he shouts, and he punches Sparks hard, and then again until the little dragon goes limp.

“Sparks!” I cry out as the man throws him across the room near the flames on the walls.

He doesn’t get up.

“No!”

I hobble over to him, crouching down and picking him up as more tears fall, the fire burning my hands. I hear the man behind me, his steps and breathing heavy and I whirl around, holding the baby dragon to my chest.

“You will not hurt him!” I cry, and then I dodge his hand, and run to the knife on the floor while holding on to Sparks for dear life.

I grab the dagger just as the man yanks my hair roughly, and I spin, blindly stabbing at him.

He shouts, and I turn as much as I can and I stab him in his stomach, again and again, screaming as I try to keep hold of Sparks and get him away from us.

The man stumbles back and then he falls to the ground, blood pooling around him.

I stand there in shock, knife still held out in front of me, blood dripping from my hand. Then I cough, the smoke becoming so thick I can barely see.

Dropping the dagger, I stumble for the back door, holding Sparks’ limp body as tightly as I can. I push it open and then I fall down the back steps.

Every thud sends pain shooting through my body, and I quickly turn my head to the side, throwing up.

I just killed a man.

I heave in the dirt—ears ringing, and as soon as I’m done, I sniffle, stumbling to my feet.

I need to get help.

I need to find Rohan.

I need—

Noise finally surrounds me, my heart bashing within my chest as I look over the clan.

Flames rise up to the night sky, bright and crackling. I blink at what I’m seeing, on the verge of passing out.

Fire.

The camp is on fire.

My body shakes, soft cries coming from me as I stumble my way down and through the camp. Bodies litter the floor on my way. Mostly clan members, but there are some in the same hooded cloak that came into the cabin.

What… What’s happening?

“Rohan?” I whimper, stumbling along.

The roar of the fire grows louder the deeper into camp I go, embers mixing into the petals that are blowing down from the top of the hill.

The ones outside Rohan’s cabin.

I look back up at it, and it’s completely engulfed in flames.

“It’s okay, Sparks,” I whimper. “We just need to find Rohan.” I hold his body closer as I hobble along, embers flowing by like snowflakes.

He doesn’t rouse, and I can’t bear to look at his closed eyes, the way he’s so limp and slowly becoming colder.

“Rohan?!” I try again, focusing on the shouts I can hear in the distance. But I don’t see anyone.

I pass another body, and I recognize it as Garret. He was a scout.

Then I see Saelon who brought Rohan’s food. She lays face down, blood pouring out the back of her head.

The next one stops me cold, and my legs give out.

She holds an axe in one hand, face covered in blood like it was splashed across her face.

“Asseya,” I say, trembling fingers nudging her gently. “Please, wake up.”

The fire continues to destroy everything around us, and my chest feels too tight, like it’ll burst at any moment as I look upon Asseya’s face, her chest unmoving.

“R-Rohan!” I shout, my hands shaking as I place Sparks on the ground, jostling his little body back and forth, trying to get him to move, but he’s so, so still.

Just like Asseya.

“Come on Sparks, not you too,” I sob.

Nothing.

“P-please, don’t leave me. You need to learn to fly, annoy Drogonah and play in the bucket with Escor. Please!”

He doesn’t move, and I sit back on my heels, tears tracking down my face, and there, surrounded by fire and embers, I scream.

It wracks my whole body, empties all the air from my lungs and no one is coming, no one is here.

“Drogonah! Escor!”

I look up at the night sky, orange crawling up to it, but I see no dragons.

A horn blares in the distance, loud and frightening. Then all of a sudden, something smashes in front of me, a green vapor expanding.

I hit the ground.