Suddenly Jessop appeared at his side, joining the line next to Aiden and grabbing buckets as they went by. Both boys were working too hard to talk though Aiden patted him on the shoulder, making Jessop smile brightly. He always felt better when his friend was near.
Once the water wagons arrived they were able to get far more water onto the houses surrounding the burning building. They continued the bucket brigades alongside the wagons until two of the Duke’s skimmers floated in over the rooftops and Professor Onyxine ordered them all to cease, backing away as the skimmers began throwing hooks at the burning parts to bring them down in smaller, more manageable sections. Though many of the crowd moved back, the Chivnel stayed and continued to remove debris from around the mansion. They could move with an unnatural quickness when the need took them.
Moving back into the crowd with Jessop, Aiden couldn’t help but notice the servants had stopped bringing things out of the house. However, the old woman seemed even more upset and was pacing as close to the ruined building as she could manage. The same well-dressed servant she had been yelling at was trying to drag her away, but she was resisting mightily. She would occasionally turn back to him, screaming imprecations at him and striking at him for some unknown reason.
Suddenly, Glowby began to bounce up and down in front of his face, flashing between a bright and dark white color. Aiden could tell something was wrong, feeling the sense of urgency from his friend. Even as he watched, the glowing ball darted straight towards the open door of the burning building and into the billowing smoke.
Aiden couldn’t believe what his friend had just done. He knew Glowby wanted him to follow, to charge into the dying house for some reason but it would be his death. Still, that was his friend, and for whatever reason, Glowby had never led him into something that had hurt him. He had trusted Glowby for his whole life. Imaginary or not, something told him he had to do something, so he suddenly bolted forward, charging for the open doorway.
He could hear voices yelling behind him, Jessop started howling like a wounded animal and Professor Onyxine was screaming for Aiden to get back or she’d do some uncomfortable things to him, but he ignored them all. The dive into the smoke-filled house was shocking, brutalizing his lungs almost immediately and it was almost impossible to see anything. He squinted and ducked as low as he could, barely able to see Glowby flickering ahead of him through the smoke.
He knew this was crazy, following an imaginary friend into a burning fire. He didn’t really want to die, but part of him, the part that had reached out for the stone, was pushing him along relentlessly. He could hear the fire roaring to his right a few rooms away and higher in the house. Occasionally the ripping and cracking of wood would sound like a shot in the darkness as the skimmers pulled more of the house down outside. Carefully Glowby led him towards a door that opened up on some stairs heading downward into frightening, yet far-cooler darkness that was not clogged with smoke.
As he emerged from the stairway, he found himself surrounded by racks of bottles and some stacked crates. He could only imagine how quickly this room would go up once the flames got down this far, but he hoped not to be here when it did. Glowby had finally come to rest towards the back wall, still cool to the touch and Aiden moved close to him, his eyes roaming quickly as he tried to determine why he was here.
He was startled by a sudden movement and then found himself staring down into two large eyes that were filled with terror. Glowby drifted closer to the boy, showing streaks of tears making tracks against the soot-stained face. He didn’t say anything but just gave Aiden a pleading look even as he clutched onto something small and furry. It looked like a small garkit, its four green eyes peeking up at him as it mewled pitifully. Grabbing the kit and stuffing it into his tunic, he then reached for the boy before turning to run.
Glowby quickly zipped past, heading back the way they had come and leading Aiden out of the maze of racks and crates on the fastest route. Aiden was thankful for his friend because the basement was huge and even as he watched, smoke began to drift through the open doorway making it harder to see with each passing moment. Holding the boy close, he sped up and moved towards the stairs, climbing them quickly even as he felt tears staining his shirt.
When he got back up to the main floor, he could see that the fires and heat had finally found them and he and the young boy began coughing immediately. The clouds of smoke obscured anything beyond more than a few meters, but Glowby sped into the gloom and down the hall, causing Aiden to spring after him or risk losing his friend.
It was terrifying. The loud crackling and hissing of the fire around him was maddening. The boy clutched him tighter around the neck, terrified as he felt the heat while the small kit squirmed against his stomach. As he ran down the hallway, a crumpled up rug grabbed at his foot, tripping him and making him cry out in fear before barely catching himself against the wall.
He took a deep breath but that was almost instantly a bad idea, the smoke burning into his lungs made him cough uncontrollably. He could feel himself weakening, barely able to get any air now even as he felt, more than heard, something fall right behind him. A massive crackling and popping as it crashed through the hall ceiling above.
Still, despite all of this, he could tell where Glowby was. Unbelievably he kept going, pushing through the smoke and keeping as low as he could. He couldn’t feel the boy moving anymore, but whether that was out of fear or smoke, he couldn’t tell. Suddenly he saw a brief flash drawing his attention to the smoke-choked outline of the doorway outside.
There! Gods above, there was the door! Despite the pillars of fire on either side of him, he began to run, his lungs screaming as he tried to hold his breath. It was there, and he was going to make it! Twenty, then fifteen meters. He could barely see anything but was headed right towards freedom when he heard it. A horrible cracking, splintering sound followed by a rush of unholy terror directly above his head.
He looked up. His mind shrank from the site of the entire roof above descending towards him in fiery vengeance. He could feel his whole body despairing, full of defiance at the doom approaching even as the small boy was clutched tightly in his arms, making Aiden scream in anger at the injustice of this. So close! Led in to find the boy and at the last second to have both of their lives snatched away. He raised his hand, screaming the last smoke-choked breath out of his lungs when he felt…something move.
Whatever it was, it was the same movement that he’d felt when he’d touched the stone. It felt considerably greater than when he’d made the plate and the shock of it hit him, making his body feel cold even as he was surrounded by the heat and flame of the fire. In shock, he looked up and saw the roof encapsulated in glimmering ribbons and strands. It wasn’t a single piece but appeared more like tar had spattered and solidified into a disorganized organic net that kept the roof from collapsing.
He didn’t have time to ponder it long, because the heat and fire suddenly slammed back into him, making him shake and almost fall. If he collapsed now there would be no escape from the fiery hell so he forced himself to keep going. Stumbling forward and pushing his failing body to the breaking point, he stumbled forward until he felt himself pass through the door with a suddenness that felt like diving into a lake of cool mountain water. Free from the suffocating smoke, at last, he collapsed into the dusky light of outside.
Chapter 7
Aiden almost immediately felt hands grasping him, pulling him and the boy away from the doorway just as a massive wave of heat followed him from the burning building. Looking back, he could see bits and pieces of the room collapsing in towards the center. He had gotten out just in time. No, he corrected himself, not in time. He should have died. But he didn’t.
He only watched for a moment before another tearing fit of coughing overtook him, making him wince in pain as it ripped out of his battered lungs and throat. Between the coughing fits, he saw the faces of Professor Onyxine, Gavin and Chari above him with Jessop to the side. Gavin had the smal
l boy in his arms while the others were carrying him away from the flame. Thankfully, he saw the boy clutching at Gavin’s tunic was crying so it meant that he was alive. Thank goodness. He didn’t know what he would have done if the boy hadn’t made it. Chari looked down at him, worry written on her face as they fled the heat.
Gods, he was so tired. Everything had been pulled out of him in his last desperate bid to escape the building, and he had nothing left. His muscles felt like jelly, and it was difficult to concentrate while desperately trying to pull enough air into his lungs between the bouts of coughing. Wincing, he grunted as he was laid on wet blankets far enough away from the fire for it to no longer be a danger.
Through his bleary eyes, he could see he’d been brought to an emergency area. There were not many others here because other than Aiden and the boy; no one had been caught inside the building. Chari knelt down next to him, taking a cloth from a close-by pail and using it to try to wipe away some of the smoke and dirt. Jessop was nearby, clutching at Aiden’s shirt in slowly fading fear.
Gavin and Professor Onyxine stood nearby talking in low tones until Gavin turned and sprinted off into the crowd. Her face a thundercloud, Professor Onyxine turned back to Aiden and looked like she wanted nothing else but toss him back into the fire. He was almost thankful for his coughing since it would keep him from having any kind of conversation with her. Doubtless, she wanted to tell him exactly which of the many imprecations she’d been screaming at him when he dove into the house that she wanted to exercise.
Suddenly, Gavin reappeared, dragging Professor Reivus backward through the crowd to Aiden’s side. The man was clearly befuddled, squinting through his thick glasses and waving his arms about while trying to figure out what was going on.
“Help? Um…someone help me! Eh? Why am I going backward! Oh dear, oh dear, I hate when this happens. Are my knees on wrong-side in! Someone help me please?!”
When they came to a stop, Gavin kept his hands on the man’s back so he wouldn’t fall over but was eventually forced to just hold him upright, supporting all of the professor’s weight. Aiden could see his toes dangling and twitching below his stained robe. “Professor!” Gavin called, “Professor! It’s all right; you’re okay, but you need to help Aiden. He ran into the burning building and is having trouble breathing!”
The man blinked owlishly for a moment and then shook his head, still propped up entirely by Gavin. “Eh? Why does he want to go into a burning building? That’s… that’s crazy,” the old man paused, his brow furrowing, “No, no I refuse. You can’t send him in; I told you to treat him well. I will give you marks, young man!” He brought his bony finger up, wagging it in Gavin’s face angrily.
Gavin blinked and shook his head angrily. “No, professor. He already went into the building. He just came out and is coughing badly. You need to help him!”
Professor Reivus paused, Gavin’s words running around in his head before finally finding purchase. “Oh, oh! Already you say? What do you mean he already went in? Dear me, that’s a damn foolish thing to do.”
He peeked around Gavin’s broad shoulder at Aiden’s crumpled, sooty form even as he was trying to hack out his lungs. “Aiden, dear boy, what drove you to do that? You’re not paid extra for being stupid, you know, eh? Or paid at all, but really, it’s the principal of the saying, not how accurate it is. You know what I mean, yes? Running inside of buildings is bad enough, but when they’re burning?” He glared at the boy, nodding his head as if making a point to a particularly slow student. “That’s another level entirely.”
Onyxine snorted, still glaring at the boy. She didn’t add anything, but it was obvious that she fully agreed with what Professor Reivus had just said.
Still being held up by Gavin, the professor became even more confused when he tried to walk over to Aiden. Fortunately, Gavin quickly set him down, forestalling another ten minutes of confused babbling and allowing the old man to make it over to Aiden. He bent next to Chari, smiling before laying his hand on Aiden’s heaving chest. He stayed that way for a few moments, closing his eye before opening them and frowning.
Watching as the old man became concerned, Jessop started to keen a bit louder and rock back and forth on his knees. Aiden wished he could sit up and speak to Jessop, but things were just too painful right now, and he could see sparks floating around in his eyesight that he was fairly certain weren’t from the fire. His panic was rising as each failed breath made his chest tighten up more with each passing moment. He couldn’t see it, but Professor Revius’s was watching him with an uncharacteristically stern look as if weighing something. Finally, as if reaching a decision, he shook himself.
“A bucket, I need a metal bucket, not wood. It has to be of metal, but any metal will do. Can one of you find one? Quickly now, I need to treat the poor boy soon, and we don’t want what I am about to give him to get loose.”
Gavin and Professor Onyxine gave each other wary glances; the words ‘get loose’ ringing in their heads before they turned to find what the professor had asked for. However, before they could return a hand reached over the professor’s shoulder holding an ornate container made from a yellowish metal. “Will this do?”
Professor Reivus took the bucket, squinting at it top to bottom before nodding and setting it beside Aiden. “Ah! Yes, yes this will do. Fully metal, exactly what I need. Brass?”
Aiden could just make out the face through his watery, pain-filled eyes and saw the old woman that had been yelling at the servant. She had a thin, severe face with a hooked nose which made her already stern features appear even more so. Aiden was fairly sure she could give Professor Onyxine a good run for her money in a glaring contest.
“It is gold, but please never mind that, will it serve?”
Professor Reivus nodded and then quickly pulled out a strange gray cylinder with some sort of transparent mask at the top. He slowly lifted up Aiden’s head, pushing the mask close to his face and waiting for Aiden to inhale before pressing it fully over his mouth, a strange hissing sound coming from it before he pulled it away.
“Gold is better actually, but I didn’t think someone would find a golden bucket in some mucking stall. Eh? Not many of those around, unless that’s changed?” He blinked up at the old woman. “Young people today, I always wonder what they’ll come up with next. Perhaps floating luggage? Now, that would be handy. Floating along and keeping your arms from falling off, eh?”
The old woman squinted and frowned hard, making her face look even more imposing. She was just about to say something when all of them were distracted by Aiden’s body arching dramatically in pain.
To Aiden, it felt like something was tearing through his lungs that had significant claws and every muscle in his torso was trying to clench at the same time. He would have screamed if he’d been able, but the terrible burning in his lungs had become a massive wall of pain leaving him unable even to take a breath.
Professor Reivus leaped forward, throwing his body across Aiden and trying to pull him over onto his side. “Quickly, all of you help me turn him and hold him down. He’ll hurt himself badly if we don’t keep him from tearing something.”
It only took a moment for the others to recover as Chari and a terrified Jessop threw themselves onto Aiden, followed a moment later by the old woman herself. Aiden’s eyes were wide, bulging almost from his skull as his entire body convulsed. He couldn’t breathe and his eyesight had narrowed to blood red tunnels. He was sure he was going to die. A few minutes into it, Aiden began to cough up huge, soot-black globs of phlegm. Professor Reivus called to Chari. “Get the bucket! Get it and catch the goop. Whatever you do don’t get any on you! Dear gods, this boy is strong.” Fortunately, Professor Onyxine and Gavin came back with Markam in tow. Between the three new arrivals, the struggle became much less difficult to manage.
Ten minutes after the ordeal, Aiden’s coughing began to subside, and the gobbets of dark expulsion slowed. To everyone’s relief, Aiden’s breathing deepened and returned t
o a healthy pull while his eyes remained closed. Sometime early in the process, he’d fallen unconscious. It was a relief for them all as they sat back, exhausted by the ordeal.
The old lady squinted across Aiden’s sleeping form. “What was that? I’ve never seen something like that used before on those caught in a fire.”
The younger people didn’t know what to make of it, but Professor Onyxine also watched Reivus closely. She’d never seen the like either, and she was sure she would have heard of something so lifesaving. She’d lost enough friends to fire.
“What?” Professor Reivus blinked at the woman as if he had no idea what she was talking about. He quickly picked up the strange cylinder and slipped it into a pocket within his robes. “Ah yes, this. Wonderful, isn’t it? I learned it from an old Arakuul I met while traveling. She is absolutely fantastic with plants, at least those from the oceans. Not much for climbing about on mountains, but we trade information. Yes, certainly handy for young Aiden here.”
The professor leaned forward, placing a hand before Aiden’s mouth and measuring his breathing for a moment. “He certainly is lucky. It’s fortunate I even remembered to bring it, but when you see someone die from smoke, then it does trigger my old memories a bit easier.” He shifted, standing and walking over to the young boy lying next to the older woman.
The Glimmer Steel Saga, Boxed Set, Books 1 - 4 Page 8
