| Chapter Nine |
“Okay, so we are going to follow this path-” Scarlet indicated the thin trail of marble shards scattered on the ground. “-and it should lead us to the Devils Pit.” “Great. And what if it doesn’t?” Kammie wondered, but Scarlet shook her head. “No what ifs” she said, and so the tired group trudged on. Kammie wondered what her mother was doing right now. Was Grandpa taking a nap? Her mother was probably reading. Maybe she was running errands. Or–
“I think I see the end!” Vesta cried, but Kammie’s excitement disappeared when she added, “Nevermind. Just a stick.” There were several more shoutouts like this before Scarlet finally spoke up. “Okay, Vesta, you need to stop raising our spirits. We still need to walk, like, fifty more miles,” Kammie couldn’t hide the whiny tone of her voice when she said, “Fifty more miles?! I’m seriously going to fall over.” Nuri murmured a “She’s right,” as they trudged on.
Kammie looked out at the bare desert they were crossing. Wait, was that a castle? She squinted into the haze. A sluggish gray shape formed in the heat. “Hey guys, what’s that?” she called, but no one was there to hear her. “Hello?” she shouted, only to hear her own voice echo back. “Scarlet? Nuri? Vesta?” she cried, but nothing answered her but the sweltering wind. Suddenly, a dark voice echoed in her mind.
Your friends are in danger. You must save them. It thundered, and Kammie took a step back. “W-what? Wh-who are you?” You do not know me. Now find your friends before it is too late. Kammie didn’t know what else to do but to listen to it. She followed a stray path of dusty footprints, moving fast, as the sand would soon blow away the sandy prints.
“Hello?” she shouted again, and to her surprise, she heard a weak, “Hello?” back at her, that was not her own. “Scarlet?” she called, raced toward the voice. “Kammie… Help!” The shout was desperate, and Kammie quickened her steps. “Hurrey!” came the last call, before silence took over once more. “I’m coming!” she called, reaching the gray blotchy shape she had seen before. It was a cave. She tiptoed inside, her voice echoing on the rock walls.
A breathing clump of shadow appeared, revealing Scarlet, Nuri, and Vesta. Kammie’s fingers fumbled for their bonds, but thought better of it. She lugged the emberlings out of the cave, into the light. She pulled them far, far away from the cave, and turned to look at them. She gasped.
Red.
All over. Streaks covered her friends’ faces, and their arms were blistered. They had only been gone for about half an hour, but they were only barely breathing. Kammie struggled to untie the thick iron bands of rope, to find their arms were deeply scratched. “No, no no no no…” she whispered, watching the fragile flames flicker back to life. Overall, her friends had deep cuts on their arms and legs, long scratches on their neck, and blisters on their faces.
Kammie didn’t even know emberlings could get those kinds of things on their fiery skin. After several painful hours of watching them, Scarlet flickered to life. “K-Kammie?” she whispered, her voice raspy. “You’re okay…” Kammie gasped, tears streaming down her face. “So we did survive?” Scarlet asked, her eyes red slits.
“Yes. Do you remember what happened?”
“Kind of. I remember being pulled from behind away from you, I’m sure by a shadow of some sort, and a gang of them attacked us. We fought for a bit, but they knocked us out with something, and that’s all I remember. How did you find us?”
“Well, I heard a voice talking to me, and then followed a trail of footprints to the cave after I heard one of you guyses voices.” Kammie explained, watching as Nuri stirred, followed by Vesta. “How do you think dad and Sunniva and Cyra and Seraphina and Fiammetta and Tana are doing?” Vesta asked, as the first thing she said. “Speaking of children, whatever happened to Blaze?” Kammie asked, remembering the toddler, the first of nine children she had ever met.
“He stayed with a friend of mine, since we have so many other children to take care of. Sorry, I must have forgotten to mention it,” Scarlet explained, and Kammie added, “It’s fine. You have more important things to do,” she said, and Vesta nodded. “Now what we really need to do is get going here, because we need to find your dad,” Nuri decided, but Vesta called from up ahead, “Way ahead of you, sis,” to Kammie she added, “lets go get your dad back,”
Look for Chapter Ten next. 😀