Feu Sauvage: A Sequel to Flamme Éternelle

Votre Monde Va Brûler

Mary walked quietly between the two men holding her as they walked through the woods. She knew not where they were going, but she had certainly been keeping track of whence they had come. The mysterious woman was leading the way and Mary continued to hope that Bash would find her soon, though she knew that it was probably a foolish hope.

Bash, while he was having very little luck finding her, was not going to leave her to her own devices. He could not find a trace of the path she, or their attackers, had taken. He pursed his lips. Yes, the woods were a dangerous place to be and he had known that coming in, but he couldn't just give up, go back to Francis, and tell him that he'd met up with Mary to go looking for magic in the woods and that he'd lost her on the way; that was unacceptable. He kicked at the ground before climbing up onto one of the horses and starting east. The people he had been planning on taking Mary to lived farther east and if he could find them, they might help him find Mary.

A dangerous wind whipped his hair as he rode and he bent low over the horse's neck to protect himself. The storm brewing overhead would be a wild one he hoped he could find Mary before it broke. Just as the thought crossed his mind, large, fat drops of rainwater began falling from the sky. They splattered all over Sebastian's clothes, the horses, and the ground. Within seconds, everything was soaked. Sebastian sighed to himself and continued on his way; Mother Nature wouldn't stop him, but she would damn well try.

He was soaked to the bone and deeply chilled when he reached the gypsy encampment where he had hoped to come with Mary. The colorful tent camp that was usually teeming with people and animals was empty. The fabric of the tents, which was usually welcoming, looked depressing and foreboding. The place was usually filled with happiness, hope, and a friendly air, but something told Sebastian that he wasn't welcome. He dismounted from his horse. The rain had stopped and nothing moved. Something was wrong. As quietly as he could, Sebastian drew his sword. And then he was whacked in the back of the head with something large and hard and that gave off a resounding clang. Then everything went dark.

Mary was ushered inside a tent just as the storm broke. They had a reached a small tent town only minutes before and she could feel several hidden pairs of eyes on her as they walked. The inside of the tent was bigger than it had appeared on the outside. It was warm and dry. The ground was carpeted and furnished with cushions and there were candles and incense burning. The smoke wafted lazily up to the peak of the tent from the incense and Mary felt her fears and anxiety fading away. Her eyes grew heavy and she began slumping to the ground. The men restraining her let her fall and she was certain she heard the woman make a contented noise.

The tent flaps rustled several times as Mary rested face down on the carpeted ground. A clean breeze from the outside would rouse her momentarily, but she would fall back into the incense induced haze as soon as the tent flaps closed again. It was dark because her eyes were covered, but she wasn't actually sleeping. Her mind couldn't focus on anything specific for very long and things floated by in her head like clouds in the sky. Time passed, but Mary could not tell if it was seconds, hours, or days. Sometimes, sounds from the outside world would reach her, like the shrill call of a startled bird or the clang of a pot and the thud on the carpet next to her as something was dropped. She knew she should snap into consciousness, but she couldn't break through the haze.

Sebastian opened his eyes to darkness and a pain in the back of his head. He stretched and yawned, feeling the large bump on his cranium. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and waited silently for his eyes to adjust. There was at least one other person in the room, he could tell by the slow, steady breathing to his right. There was a little light coming from a triangle-shaped hole in the shelter. He could see the darker outlines of things outside and a few stars. The moon wasn't visible and the world smelled like old, wet dirt, but not clean, like it usually did after a rain storm, and he remembered there being a lot of rain earlier. Shapes moved across his vision and he began to wonder if he was actually awake if he was having a lucid dream.