Fire Realm

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

As we approached the mountain, I watched as wind started to sculpt the cloud and mist into a large thunderhead that dwarfed even the mountain itself.  

"Will we miss the storm?" I asked Jase.

We had been flying all day and still the fairies were tracking us.  Either we were moving incredibly slow or they were very fast.  Now, though, the sun was beginning to set and old Father Night was poking his silver hairs above the opposite horizon.  

"We have no choice.  If we pick up speed we might dodge it, but the chances of us not getting wet are slim," he laughed.  

I held tighter to him as wind from the storm gusted our direction.  A bolt of lightning split the sky, tearing through the night, and the warning growl of thunder crackled up ahead.  

Despite the ominous threat of the storm, we continued straight ahead, flying as fast as the wind would allow, and praying we wouldn’t be swept away in the storm.  As the sun finally set behind the horizon, the protection of light was stolen away, leaving us flying in darkness.  I clung to Jase as the storm threatened to blow me to the ground.  We soon entered the storm itself, surrounded by angry clouds and pelting rain.  The charge of electricity in the air caused our hair to stand on end.  A flash in front of us made me jump and the thunder deafened me for several seconds as it snarled.  A few moments later we heard the faint cry of a voice from ahead,

“Everyone keep going!” it said.  

Whoever had suggested that had seriously lost their marbles.  

Another lightning bolt split the air further ahead, illuminating the night.  In that brief moment I saw that the other riders had all banded closer together, hoping to escape the storm in one large group.  The storm, however, had other ideas.  The howling of the wind reminded me of the screams in my dream.  I shivered.  Squinting my eyes against the rain, I could just see the edge of the storm with the help of the moonlight.  We were almost out.  

Thunder directly above our heads blocked out all sound and deafened me once again.  However, there wasnt much time to realize the loss before a bolt of lightning stretched its skeletal fingers down from the sky and almost brushed Bythe’s nose.  Blinded by the light immediately in front of her face, she jilted to the right and lost her balance.  I clutched her sides with my legs to hold on as she spun out of control.  She would have regained her flight, given a few more moments, but the sloping ground of the mountain rose up out of the darkness and met us halfway.  My grip on Blythe’s sides finally lost contact from the slippery water and I careened into the ground, head first.  I felt my head strike something hard and the dark of night became even darker.