Page 78 of The Merciless Ones

I nod. “Live for ever!” I prompt.

“Live in victory!” the others reply.

Then we hoist our vats and begin running.

It’s so dark now, and the Warthu Bera’s walls are in such chaos, we’re almost halfway across the grounds before the jatu notice us. My only warning that we’ve been spotted is the sudden stream of arrows whipping past the small eyeholes Karmoko Calderis bored into my vat. I ignore the arrows, my eyes fixed on the goal in front of me: the front gate. All we have to do is blast it open, and then we can cross the bridge leading outside.

“Keep running!” I call, powering onwards. Until flames start raining all around us.

The jatu have begun lighting their arrows, and now, a line of flame is growing in front of me, causing the temperature to boil and the air to thicken. When nearby trees begin crackling orange, flames shooting across the leaves, I stumble, bitter memories of my time on the pyre rising up. But I grit my teeth and exhale, forcing them away. I won’t allow the jatu to force me into retreat – not now, when there’s so much at stake. We just have to get closer, and then the bagba—

The bagba!

I gasp, panic rising when I realize the danger we’re all in. If the flames burn too hot, there’s a very real chance the bagba will explode, taking Belcalis and the rest of us with it. “We have to retreat!” I shout, trying to recall the others. “We have to pull back!”

“No! Keep going!” There’s determination in Belcalis’s voice.

“But the bagba’s too combustible! The flames, they may make it explode.”

“We have to take the chance, Deka!” she shouts. “It’s either now or—”

“Wait, wait!” I hear Britta’s voice, accompanied by a shuffling sound, as her vat moves closer to me.

“What is it now?” I snap, agitated. We don’t have any time to waste. The smoke is so thick now, it clogs my nostrils. The fire is getting closer and closer, and with it, that familiar terror.

Flames, creeping over me…burning me alive.

I try to shake it away, but the fear is just too deep. And I know it must be affecting Keita too. “Keita? Keita?” I call out to him, remembering what he told me about his fears of burning in the Fires.

A loud clang forces my attention back to the present. It’s Britta, she’s tossed aside her vat. “I have an idea!” she announces as I gasp, horrified.

That and the tingles rushing over my body are the only warning I get before a wall of stone erupts from the earth, sloping in front of us like the side of a mountain. Another swiftly grows to meet it, both of them sloped in such a way that they form a shield over us, protecting us from the flames outside and the arrows above.

A stunned silence descends on the walls of the Warthu Bera, as well as over our group. When I saw Britta do this before, I wasn’t in a state of mind to appreciate, to truly understand the magnitude of what she had created.

“Britta, did you do this?” Keita asks, shocked, as he slips out of his vat, which is protected by Britta’s new shelter, as all of ours are.

I do the same, throwing aside the heated metal as Britta nods. “If Belcalis can master her gift swiftly, then so can I.”

“This is amazing, Britta – astounding, truly,” Keita says. “But…how do we get to the wall now?”

“Like this.” Britta punches her fists forwards, and the stone in front of us starts moving, almost like a siege machine ploughing across the grass.

I stare at Britta, awed, as the stone glides slowly but surely. She’s pushing herself so hard, sweat is beading her forehead and her limbs are trembling. But still, she continues on.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been as proud of you as I am right now,” I say, shaking my head in amazement.

“Really, Deka?” Britta huffs, pushing again. “This is wha impresses ye? An’ wha about all the other million times I saved ye in battle?”

“You never created a shield made out of stone those times and moved it across the ground,” I reply, purposefully trying to keep the conversation going.

Britta’s body is shaking from the strain, and I can see the energy inside her quickly depleting. Unlike Belcalis, Britta hasn’t yet mastered the art of expending only the least amount of energy necessary in using her gift, which means she’s due for a collapse any moment now. We need to get closer to the wall before that happens.

“You can do it, Britta,” I whisper in her ear as I keep pace with her. “Just a few more steps.”

She nods, blue eyes gleaming with determination. “I can do it. I can—”

She stops suddenly, and then her eyes roll back. That’s the only warning I get before she collapses.