As The World Catches Fire

Chapter 12: Dark Is The Water

I crashed into the river. Andiya's grip slipped away, my fingers trailing down her warm skin until the current tore me away, leaving me with nothing but cold. As the world slowed around me, I sank.

Everything was black. There was a surface somewhere, had to be, but I couldn't see it. I began to fade. I had nothing left to give, no more energy to keep myself alive. My mind filled with water; dark, impenetrable water, pulling me down into a quiet abyss.

The bond hummed, looking for me.

"I'm here," I murmured to the bond. But I couldn't remember what here was, why it was so important to be found. Alarm thrashed my mind, and a voice screamed at me. The words were drowned, filled with bubbles. But I knew what they were asking me.

"Where?"

My mind stroked along the bond, pulling it to me. The bond was so warm, as soothing as a campfire in a deep wood. I invited it in. I'm right here.

A rough hand wound in my hair and dragged me to the surface.

I broke into the night and dragged in a desperate breath. Instantly, my mind cleared enough to remind me what was going on. I'd almost drowned, and Andiya had saved us. Saved me.

She helped me to shore, and we collapsed on a small bank of sand and pebbles. Irina sat shivering in her nightdress slightly farther up, dripping, a cold rage in her eyes. I just went limp, struggling to regain my wits.

Beside me, Andiya lay heaving, her cheek in the sand. An arrow protruded from her stomach, another from her thigh. But I didn't feel them.

"Magic," Andiya panted. "I'm ..." She coughed. "I'm blocking the pain. Can't much longer."

Wobbly, I pushed up to a sit. "Your Majesty," I croaked. "You have the knife?"

Irina crawled over and slapped the wet metal into my hand.

I braced Andiya's shoulder. Still, her skin was as hot as a summer's day, even after being soaked in frigid water. The fire within her was stronger than anything nature could throw at us. "Breathe through it," I told her. "Your Majesty, hold her other side."

I delicately took the head end of the arrow. It was common for Elementals to hit my fellow soldiers with bolts of ice or wood. I'd never had the misfortune of going through it myself, but I'd heard enough screaming to know how this was going to go.

"We don't have time to be delicate," I said.

"Do it," Andiya ground out.

With the serrated inner edge of the iron knife, I worked through the arrow's shaft. One of the knife's teeth caught. A bolt of agony punched me in the gut.

Andiya let out a small cry into the sand. "Hurry." Her magic trembled, almost spent.

The one advantage to having a daemon patient was that Andiya could heal herself. I snapped the arrow's shaft roughly and yanked it from her gut.

My vision went white as the pain hit us both. I slumped over Andiya, clenching my teeth so hard it felt like they would shatter. Then Andiya's tired magic rushed to spare us, and the pain was chased away.

"One more," I gasped.

Andiya rolled her thigh towards me. She panted against the sand.

I made short work of the second arrow's shaft. I leaned on Andiya's thigh, bracing myself. I tore the arrow out.

The last of Andiya's magic went, and the full brunt of her injuries slammed into us.

There was nothing left in me but pain. I collapsed on the sand, agony ripping through my body from my stomach and my thigh. If I had to run again to save my life, I couldn't.