Book 2 The Gods of Light and Liars

Chapter 36: Embers

She tried to catch it with her bare hands, and her fingers dug into the crust and embers of burning, stiffened flesh. It crackled under her touch in a terrible way, flesh sloughing off the very bones it was driving towards her throat. Her own skin sizzled and blistered almost immediately, and she dropped it onto the moss, which steamed on impact.

"Embers!" the Archon shouted. "It's Embers!"

That sounded like a title, and it ought to belong to something a little less horrifying. Fortunately it was only the size of a generous rat; she kicked it across the clearing, where it struck a tree and poofed into various broken, burning pieces that still struggled, ember-eyes glaring up, burning teeth still scratching its way towards her, tooth mark by tooth mark in the soil.

"What the fuck are Embers?" Hawk said, looking at the dead little body smoking on the dirt.

"They're creatures that Argon has infused with his power. He has power over Fire...and that includes things that are burning. He can see through their eyes."

Oh fuck. "He found us." Hawk said.

"He found us, here. So I suggest leaving, and quickly."

They didn't have to be told twice. Hawk dropped her overrobes too, the others divested themselves of whatever extras they'd been carrying, and they booked it through the darkened forests. The goal was to put as much distance between themselves and their discovered camp. Hawk found herself with the Archon, leaving Em with Henry and Kaiser just ahead.

"So anything Argon burns, he can watch through?" Hawk said.

"Anything with eyes," He said. "And they must be fully consumed by fire. It takes time. He likely used animals first—I'll wager some of Earth's beloved little rabbits are pursuing us too—so that by the time his humans are ready—and by ready I mean fully cooked—he has a target to send them to. We would do very well to put as much distance between us and where we've been seen as possible."

"Because he'll send the people?" Hawk said.

"Because he'll send Fire. Some of it will be the people he has consumed as offertory. But mostly it will be Fire."

And then the forest floor shifted and gained an incline. This was good, according to the Archon. The Temple of Light was always "uphill", according to him. It seemed to be the center of their world. They dragged themselves onward, even as their calf muscles burned from the stress.

The first sign that things were still going wrong came in the form of more mice. All of them were burnt to cinders, little dead things inhabited by the soul of Argon's fire. Ears that were mostly black char, tails that glowed with orange and red. They were voiceless; they breathed fire. They could not run as fast as Hawk and the others, but the Archon assured her this did not matter. It was their eyes she should fear, even in this condition—they were cooked, in one case popped open and lying on the poor creature's cheeks—because Argon could see what they saw, feel what they felt. It was known, now, that they were running, and that the Archon was with them.

"I might be able to convince Nasheth you dragged me along by force," he joked.

"Not a fucking chance," Em said, helping him over a fallen log—black bark here was sloughing off, exposing hard, white wood—and giving him a bit of a push to keep him walking. "You're one of us, dude. Besides, I wouldn't leave one of the mice here alone. You're a cool dude and I'm not interested in losing you."

They kept moving up, following the typography according to the Archon, and kept avoiding the burning mice. It became useful to have one person checking behind them for small, lit eyes. When spotted, the group would move in another direction, always going up, and up, and up.