Fire Realm

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

    My dreams of our new location were constantly bombarded by loud explosions and shouts of people in pain.  The screeches of fearful dragons filled me with the same fear and panic.  Suddenly I felt a warm hand on my shoulder, and I whipped around to find a gruesome person staring back at me.  Blood drenched his face, leaking from a gash on his temple.  He was half burned, clinging to me with a scorched hand.  His bloody mouth hung open, barely uttering my name.

    “Callie...”

    I was horrified but continued to listen to what he was saying.

    “Callie..." it said.  Strangely though, it was Mekka’s voice echoing through the gaping mouth.   Suddenly afraid that it was Mekka standing in front of me now, I screamed.  The bloodied and burned figure jolted back at my reaction and fell into a fire.  The smell of burning flesh hit my nose and I gagged.  As the skin melted away from the figure it slumped to the ground, falling forward towards my feet.  I choked on the putrefied smell and tried to run away but something caught my ankle.  I fell on the ground and looked down to my foot, realizing with horror that it was held in the grip of the burning figure.  The hand pulled me forward toward it, and hauled itself into a standing position.  Now the figure had transformed from revolting to terrifying.  Its face had shrunken away to the bloodied bones, and the eyes were cold and black.  The rest of the skeletal figure was now clothed in a sort of smoke which licked around it, constantly changing, just like the fire from which it had come.  I tried to hide my face as it loomed over me, grinning with long sharpened teeth.  It spoke again.

"Wake up..."   

The dream ended there and I sat up to a silent scream.  But the horror wasn’t over yet.  My throat stung as hot smoke poured down into my lungs.  Mekka stood by my shoulder, covering his mouth with the collar of his shirt, and tugging me out of bed with the other hand.  I coughed, tasting bile on my tongue, and stumbled after his pull, covering my mouth with my free arm.  Choking on smoke, I pulled the pillow case off of my pillow and tied it over my mouth.  That way I could use both hands if necessary.  We hurried into the smoke filled corridor, squinting for anyone who could guide us out.    Suddenly our path was cut off by the black and orange twins we had seen earlier, now streaking by us on the way out.  I let out a hoarse shout and they paused to guide us out.  We hurried after them, down several flights of stairs and into the bowels of the mountain.  Thankfully the dragons were much more accustomed to traveling through the mountain, and knew exactly where to go.  As we hurried down a long dark corridor, we began to hear voices from further down.  A faint orange glow could be seen just as we rounded another set of stairs, and I realized that everyone else must have gone down here, probably to gather supplies.  A loud boom sounded from above us.  I glanced at Mekka fearfully and he returned my gaze.  At the end of this corridor was a large hall, all of the walls were covered in shelved supplies which were themselves coated in cobwebs.  Other than dust and grime , the room was filled with dragons and their riders, everyone collecting as many supplies as they could carry.  Mekka wasted no time at all, first pulling the pillow case away from my face and starting to stuff it with food preserved in jars.  He told me to go find weapons and clothing and I consented.  At least I didn’t have to find weapons for Mekka; he always carried his throwing knives with him.  I was about to say the same about my bow when I realized with a start that it was still upstairs.  

“I’ll be right back,” I told Mekka, not waiting for an answer.  I found one of the twins again and asked them to guide me up to my room and back again.  The young dragon looked at me like I was crazy, but still consented.   Even before we had reached the top level, smoke began to fill our lungs once again.  I coughed as ash and embers alike swirled up from around our hurried feet.  The dragon finally decided that it was too dangerous and slow for me to follow him any further, and I instructed him to where he would find my bow; in a wooden case under my bed.  As I waited for his return I realized that the explosions had stopped and now there were a pair of voices entering the area.  I tried to quiet my wheezing and listened quietly.  

“No one could have survived this.  They’ve all got to be dead,” the first voice said.

“Then where are all of the bodies? We haven’t come across a single one.”

A cold chill trickled down my spine.  I knew that voice, and also the one before.  That was Theron and Ferdie.  I tried to puzzle out why on Earth they would even be speaking together and I could only come to one conclusion.  They had to be working together.  I bit my tongue to keep myself from crying out.  I had been betrayed, I had been tricked into thinking he was a friend, and now he was a threat.

As if in answer to my anger and fear, the smoke swirled in front of me and the wicked pair stepped through.  I let out a quiet gasp and backed further into the dense smoke.  I continued stepping back until my heels hit a wall of crumbled rock.  I swore silently as my foot knocked loose several pebbles and they went plinking to the floor.  

“Wait a minute, did you hear that?” Theron whispered.  

“Yes,” Ferdie replied, “maybe it was just the rock settling.”

Was that hesitation I detected in his answer?

“I don’t think so,” Theron replied.  I could just see his dark figure move nearer to me through the smoke.  I held my breath.  He looked around, his bright blue eyes settling where I was standing.  He squinted.

I couldn’t watch anymore.  I closed my eyes tightly and waited for a blow.  Silence.  

“Maybe you were right,” he said finally, walking away.  

As the steps faded away I sighed in relief.  An echo sounded from further away again, and my heart raced as I wondered if my relaxation had given me away.  Out of the smoke came the dragon, carrying my bow case in his jaws.