Chasing Embers | 1

07 | E m b e r

—

"Hunter," I whispered, "is it just me or do you have the feeling they were searching for us?"

He never answered me. Hunter just stood there and held a hand protectively in front of me, looking all around us. There had to be at least ten of them. There was no way we could fight them all. I felt something stir inside me, something small, like a butterfly's wings flapping. My heart leaped at the feeling, but as soon as it came, it was gone.

The air around me suddenly chilled me to the bones. I looked up and saw tiny snowflakes drifting down from the sky. Hunter was going to try and fight the demon dogs. His eyes had turned an icy blue and I internally shivered, watching as the first snowflake landed on one of the dog's noses. It instantly froze, and I mean literally, the dead looking dog turned into ice. The smooth, crystalline ice glided up its splotchy face and body, creating a perfect mold. The dog's last breath floated into the frozen air like a puff from a cigar. I gasped and held back a scream as the rest of the dogs pounced at us, foam dripping from their mouths.

Hunter lifted his arms and ice shot out of his hands, freezing the dogs as they neared us. I wobbled as the gondola swayed from the movement and crouched down, reaching for my backpack. I opened it up, shoving everything aside until I found what I was looking for. I grabbed the small pocket knife from the bottom of my bag and flipped it open, a worried expression plastered on my face. How was I supposed to kill a bunch of demon dogs with a small knife?

I was unprepared for what happened next. A demon dog had gotten past Hunter and was lunging towards me. I gasped and held my arms up as it landed on me, sending us rolling around in the gondola. It was difficult to get my balance due to the swaying boat but I shoved at it, punching its snout, and scrambled to get away. The dog gripped onto my shoe with its sharp fangs as I climbed towards the edge of the gondola. I ended up flipping out of the gondola and into the waist-deep water because of the frantic swaying. The water was freezing, chilling me to my bones.

Not long after I regained my composure, the demon dog that attacked me was jumping into the water. I looked at the pocket knife and tried to make it useful. With a worry-filled heart, my arm swung out towards the dog, slashing it across its face as it landed in the water. A deep red gash appeared and the dog growled at me. It lunged and I lifted my arms up in reflex. While my eyes were squeezed shut, I heard a whine and howl closer than I wished. The dog's final breath was felt on my cheeks when I realized what I'd done. My pocket knife was plunged into the clumped fur of the dog, dark-colored blood spilling out around it. The dog became limp on top of me, and I yanked out my knife. I had to look away as the clump of skin and fur sank to the bottom of the river. Finally, I breathed out in relief and carefully climbed back in the boat, exhausted from the adrenaline rush and soaked.

Meanwhile, Hunter was freezing dogs left and right. There was a deep gash on his arm from where one had jumped and sunk its teeth in and a few scratches here and there but otherwise, he seemed to manage. At the moment, he was fighting the remaining three dogs. One was struggling to pull him into the water, biting at his clothes, the other two growling, snapping their jaws at me, and circling the gondola.

"Ember, stay out of the water," he said, not glancing my way.

I was about to say something snarky like "No dip, Sherlock" or "Thanks, Mr. Obvious" when all a sudden, he reached down towards the water. His fingertips barely touched the surface, then the water started to freeze over. A thin layer of smooth ice spread over the river, climbing up the demon dogs that struggled to get out. They yelped and crawled away, but it was no use. Ice covered them completely, making them match their friends around them.

The fight was over. Hunter's eyes turned their soft brown color and the air around me became warm again. He breathed out heavily and sat down as if gravity was pulling him down with all its might in our gondola now stuck in the frozen river of strange ice sculptures.