The Fire Eater: An Inkheart Fanfiction

🔥 The Shapeshifter 🔥

Dustfinger's mind swam. Fear and pain burned in his chest. He didn't know how long he had been unconscious. He fought his eyes open. Slowly, his vision came back to him. A side table had been knocked over in the chaos, its contents scattered across the floor. A candle had fallen from its holder, its flame still lit. The curtains on the wall were torn and hung askew. Fire licked the fabric in hungry strokes, spitting clouds of smoke. A guard ran past him on heavy booted feet, assuming him to be dead like the soldiers scattered in the next room. The fire-raisers were nowhere to be seen. He was alone.

Dustfinger blinked, struggling to draw air into his lungs. A marten scampered into the room. It moved slowly and cautiously, limping its way across the room. Small horns decorated its head. Dustfinger groaned, pushing himself to his elbows, and the marten's eyes fell on him, watching him with beady black eyes. As he stared at the small creature, an invisible veil seemed to fall from Dustfinger's gaze. He blinked hard and the marten was gone. A girl knelt before him in its place, gasping for breath as if she had been running. Dustfinger's mouth fell open.

She stared back at him with equal astonishment. Her red hair fell in front of her face and she brushed it away, revealing a claw-shaped scar on her lip. Fear ran cold down Dustfinger's spine. She was the shapeshifter-the person the fire-raisers had come here to kill. Capricorn hadn't told them the shapeshifter was so young. She looked to be only a few years older than himself. Her hands shook as she pulled herself across the floor. Blood stained the ends of her dress.

The light from the fire illuminated her hair with a hazy glow. Tears drew down her cheeks as she looked at him, confusion and revulsion bright in her face. Her face twisted into an angry scowl. Dustfinger struggled away and lunged for his fallen knife. He heard her soft footsteps behind his and twisted around, swinging the knife towards the shapeshifter's bare neck.

The shapeshifter hit his wrist with surprising force, knocking the knife away. Dustfinger drew his hand back, and the shapeshifter picked up his knife. Her eyes stared at its surface for a moment, then locked on his gaze. She reached towards his face and he flinched away, breathing hard. His heart shuddered like a wild animal. She shook her head and pointed the knife at his chest.

He panted, pain shooting through his sore head. "Are you going to kill me?" His voice was hardly more than a whisper, petrified with fear.

The girl's fiery stare darted to the corridor as footsteps echoed nearby. She hooked a finger under his mask and pulled it back over his nose, then stepped away, limping slightly as she did so. She stood still for a moment, then slunk back, disappearing into the shadows.

Dustfinger struggled to his feet, cringing as his legs prickled with a million needles. He gasped, biting his lip. The shapeshifter got away. The mission failed. He fought to breathe as the smoke from the fire grew stronger. The heat warmed his skin and bit at his clothes. He heard shouts above the roar but could only hope the fire-raisers had escaped.

The smoke blinded him, biting at his eyes. He crawled on his hands and knees and kept his head low. The mask helped filter the smoke, but it still burned in his lungs. He struggled for fresh air. As he moved blindly across the hall, a shape on the ground emerged from the haze. He crawled towards it. A body.

With shaking hands, Dustfinger searched through the man's pockets. He pulled a knife from the man's belt and clutched it in his fist. He kept moving, pulling himself forward with his elbows. The knife in his hand gave him nerve and he moved faster, the ache in his lungs growing. The fire's glow behind him was blurred against the smoke.

He made it to the corridor's end and crawled through the door, pulling it shut behind him. He coughed hard, clearing the smog from his lungs, and leaned against the door. He clutched a stitch in his side. His eyes stung, and he squeezed them shut. He didn't understand. Why did the shapeshifter spare him? He had tried to kill her.