The Cinders of Dezu

10th: Firus the Great (1)

The boys took off so fast that they only caught a glimpse as Talia ran in the opposite direction and leapt into the trees after her target. Feet tore traction into dirt ground as the two made their way through the trees with the sound of a young woman's battle cry echoing through the forest. They vaulted themselves over logs and rocks and headed up a dirt incline aided by the hand and foot holds of the roots of nearby trees poking up out of the dirt. Julian's arm was stinging under the bandage but his adrenaline kept the pain from notice.

Once at the top of the hill, Cairo's head began to spin. No, it wasn't spinning. He was falling? It all happened so quickly, as his vision tilted and he felt his leg lurch upward. Julian watched with is eyes wide his friend smacked the side of his head on the ground. Cairo's teeth clattered. He was in a daze as he saw Julian's terrified face upside down. He was being hoisted up by some kind of rope that had caught his ankle. He looked at his feet, now pointed to the sky and saw himself heading feet first up into the trees.

Wooden claws snapped around him, knocking leaves from the branches surrounding him. He was in a cage. He looked down at Julian through the thick wooden threading. The contraption was just big enough to hold one person, encircling him in large wooden teeth.

"Go! Go! Keep going!" Cairo said

"I'm not leaving you!" Julian called up to him.

A squealing hiss came spiraling through the trees as fire collided with the trap. As singed wooden claws broke apart around him, Cairo saw himself fall rapidly back to the ground. He hit with a painful thud that knocked the air out of him. He writhed for a moment and coughed until he felt a hand on his back lift him by the shirt.

"MOVE!!!"

It was Talia. Julian started running again while Cairo hobbled to his feet. He ran after his friend while Talia turned around and lit up her hands in a fiery dance that resulted in flaming discs rotating at the end of each fist. It was a fiery display that Firus could see from the trees as he leapt through the branches. It reminded him of threat poses he had seen many times from different creatures he had hunted. Humans were no different.

The boys had only been running for another minute or so when something dropped in front of them like a bag of potatoes. It was a rag doll body that flopped as it hit the ground and rolled with arms and legs flailing. They stopped and stared in horror as they realized it was Talia. Two powerful legs landed just ahead of her as her body slid a short way and came to a stop at their toes. Firus raised his eyebrows with a smirk on his face. Talia's arms came back to life and weakly began trying to lift herself back to her feet.

They tried to run to their left only to see Firus there too. They looked back to where he had been, only to see Talia still grunting and struggling to rise. Neither of them had even tracked his movement. They turned and went right this time. Had they looked at Talia again they would have seen her try to put her hand up to stop them.

As they ran, Cairo noticed a faint rumble. It didn't slow him and certainly wasn't enough to disturb his pace in anyway, but it felt odd and quick. He'd experienced low intensity earthquakes before back home and dismissed it rather quickly. A cry was heard from behind them. It was Talia again. It sounded like she had said words but they weren't clear enough to make out. Julian felt the front of  his foot catch something. It gave way so quickly he didn't even look down as he continued. Out of the corner of their eyes they both spotted movement to each side. Two massive logs swinging down to their position. Julian was only slightly ahead of Cairo but he was still in the kill zone. Both of them dropped to the ground.