Cairo

Chapter 7: Lost Hope

The first thing Cairo thought about was the mango. Dislike was the word that came to mind. However, despite the panic that Aerie had shown earlier, she was completely calm now, taking her time to examine Cairo's ankle. She still never looked at the bloody shirt thrown over his leg, not even a glance was spared.

"It's definitely broken. If we hurry to find the Desert Kleptos, I could carry you. I'm strong enough right now and lack of oxygen isn't affecting me like it is you."

Cairo shook his head. "I'm pretty good at ignoring pain; I can walk on it. The problem is that until my leg stops bleeding, I can't move on it. Can you burn it closed?"

There was no hesitation when she agreed.

"I thought you couldn't 'look at it anymore?' What happened to that?"

"I'm a Kleptos." Aerie's eyes shifted to the wall. "We don't feel emotion. You must have misunderstood what I said. He's here."

"Better make this fast!"

Cairo threw off the bloody shirt from his leg as Aerie fell to her knees in front of him. She trust her hand out just above the wound, sending out a mass of fire just under her hand. The wound sired closed in a matter of seconds. Cairo clutched his hands at his side and let out a loud moan of pain. As soon as the fire was gone, his hands darted for his closed wound, causing a rush of pain to shoot up and down his leg. He bit his tongue before he could scream. A copper taste filled his mouth. He spit red blood to the floor.

"Well." He breathed out, hard and heavy. "That wasn't so bad."

"Better take another look."

Aerie jerked her head to the wall behind Cairo. His inquisitive expression turned to annoyance in a matter of seconds. With a quick glance to Aerie he shrugged, muttering something about not being able to catch a break as he lugged himself up. His leg tingled and prickled, half from his broken ankle, half from the sired wound that had probably damaged a nerve somewhere, somehow. Another deep breath and he was walking toward the wall. Aerie jumped forward, grabbing his arm.

 "It's a trap," she said calmly, taking another quick glance at the now glowing wall. "He's here somewhere. I can feel him moving, his energy coming and going all over the place."

"Find him then."

She sighed, nodding slightly to acknowledge his command. Cairo watched her look around the room. There was definitely something strange about her, he found himself thinking; something unusual that most kleptos don't posses. And then it hit him: Attitude. He snorted under his breath loud enough for Aerie to take a quick look in his direction. She took another step away from the wall, to a darker area of the room where there was no light that shined.

A loud rumbling broke through the ruins, shaking the whole room with it. Both Cairo and Aerie shot their arms arms out and spread their feet. Trying to keep their balance was near impossible, like trying to raise your head in a spinning ride at the fair. Cairo was the first and only one to fall. His ankle was moved, sending a jolt of even worse pain up his leg. When his leg gave out, he fell hard on his back, successfully knocking the wind out of him. Aerie could hear the air be pushed out of his lungs when he hit the floor, but before she could react another large shake shot through the room. A piece of rock that was lodged in the ceiling fell from above. There was no time to react, and even if there was, there was no enough stability in the ground to move. The rock hit Cairo straight in the head. As soon as it did, the whole room when still, silent. Aerie rushed quickly over to her pyro, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the red liquid start to ooze on the ground. The memory of the bloody hand popped back into her mind. She cringed back.