Burnt (Blood and Fire Book 1)

by Michelle Wheet & Lyn Lowe

other life in the entire village. She was the tribe. Without her the Zetowan were dead. With her, they lived. He was on the north side of the wall along with a handful of huts, all marked by blood smears and wreckage suggesting the soldiers came and went already. If he didn’t save her there was every chance no one else would.

  Climbing down from the tree was significantly easier than getting up. Also a lot more painful. But Kaie was long past caring about scraped knees or broken fingers. It was all because of him, because he drew Kosa’s eye to their village. He couldn’t stop it, couldn’t even see a way to slow it. But he would not let his people die. Not like this.

  “I’m sorry Jun,” he whispered to the wall. Then he turned back to where it all started. The Lemme’s hut.

  Seven

  The Lemme’s door cracked open. Inside was only darkness. His heart, hammering pell-mell since the he first caught sight of the soldiers, stopped beating entirely. Whatever was happening to the rest of the family might be his fault, but if anything happened to the Lemme certainly was. He was with her and he left her. “Please, gods…”

  “Here!” The call came from somewhere behind the hut and it made him jump in surprise. Kaie shot a quick glance around looking for soldiers responding to her outburst, but they seemed to be gone. Satisfied they were relatively safe for the moment, he slipped around the back. The Lemme was crouched there, only partially concealed in a smaller elderberry bush like an elephant hiding behind an elm tree. She was breathing hard but there didn’t seem to be a scratch on her.

  Breathing a small sigh of relief at finding her unharmed, he knelt close enough that they could speak quietly. They got lucky with her shout going unheard but he knew they weren’t alone. He was still terrified his voice would carry over the roar of the fire and bring the locusts down on the two of them. “We need to get you out of here!”

  She shook her head, her eyes wide and darting, looking more like a cornered animal’s than the spiritual leader of the tribe. She murmured something too quietly for him to hear. There was no time to sort out her objections. No matter what she might see for the plan forming in his mind, they couldn’t stay there. The bush barely concealed her, and there was nowhere else to hide. Worse, they were in a spot where the earth dipped just enough to drastically limit his sight of the surroundings. Anyone could sneak up with very little effort.

  Kaie reached into the bush and, gripping her unburned left arm tight, yanked her out. She fought him for a minute, as he pulled her southwest, toward the woods that circled their village, but it was feeble and ended quickly. It didn’t slow them much.

  Kaie dragged her through the long shadows, his every muscle tensed for discovery. When they reached the first trees he let her rest behind it just long enough to catch her breath. The forest was dangerous; it offered far better cover for the fit, trained men who might be hunting them. And there was no end of root, vine or branch waiting to entangle their feet. It was not such a hazard when walking, but at run that could lead to a broken ankle. That was not something they could afford. So he let their pace slow far more than he liked.

  Once they were deep inside Kaie turned more south. By that time the fire itself was hidden, though the light of it still filtered through the trees. There was a lot less smoke and after another few rounds of hacking, much of the bile worked its way out of them. That made it easier to breathe. He hoped the distance meant they were out of sight. Encouraged by that and that they weren’t revealing themselves with the coughing fits that plagued the earlier part of their flight, Kaie let the pace slow more. The Lemme didn’t say anything, but he got the sense she was grateful.

  Ten or fifteen minutes into their escape they pushed into a small clearing. The hunters used it frequently to pool supplies and agree on territories before heading out deeper in the woods. It was surreal, standing in a part of his home completely untouched by the devastation not half a mile away. He could almost believe it was all a nightmare standing there, if it weren’t for the flickering orange light still flickering between the trees.

  He stopped next to a large, flat rock. He had a hard time not thinking about all the time he and Amorette wasted there while they waited for the others to sort out who they would follow that day. Those thoughts were dangerous. He couldn’t keep moving if he let them in.

  The Lemme dropped down onto the rock with a wheeze. Kaie took the opportunity to lean against a tree. Among the list of things he was trying his best not to think about was his increasingly insistent dizziness. Whatever was wrong, there was no time for it. He could be a mess later. Just the same, it was good to have a minute or two while he worked to make the world stop spinning.

  At first, he thought the sound of cracking branches was just his imagination. Then he was certain it was just the noise of the inferno. But the noise kept getting closer.

  Kaie didn’t waste a second. He was in no shape to battle an armed, armored man. But they couldn’t expect to run. The woods would slow them nearly as much as the Lemme’s health. Neither of which would pose nearly the same obstacle to a man with a sword. Two options that weren’t options and one that was almost as bad. But it was the only one available.

  He yanked the Lemme to her feet, ignoring her grimace of pain. “You have to keep going south,” he hissed. “Fast as you can. I’ll win you as much time as I can.”

  She stared up at him, her yellow eyes showing no hint of understanding.

  He wanted to shake her, get the agreement out. If he was going to give up his life for hers, he would be damned if she threw it away staring instead of running. But there wasn’t even time for that. Either she understood, and he might save her, or she didn’t and they would both die. He shoved her away, hoping the momentum would get her moving in the right direction. His heart dropped. She went exactly as far as the tree line and then sat. Peering back at him. Waiting.

  There was no time to shout at her, no time to regret his decision. Kaie got exactly enough time to reach down to pick up a rock – the only weapon available – before the weight hit him.

  All his plans, everything he was hoping to accomplish, were gone in an instant. The attacker hit him hard and the two toppled backwards. Kaie was down without one second of fight, the rock slipping out of his fingers and gone. He lost before the battle even started. He closed his eyes, waiting death.

  “Rosy?” His eyes fluttered open again.

  Sojun’s face was dark with soot and streaked with blood. It was the most amazing sight of his life. They laughed and embraced and for a few moments nothing else mattered.

  Sojun got up and offered him a hand. It was necessary. Kaie’s legs didn’t want to work. The bones turned to gel and he almost collapsed. Jun caught him before he could topple face-first.

  “You’re hurt.”

  Kaie gestured to the dried blood. “You too.”

  Sojun shrugged and gave him half a smile. “I was dressing to match.”

  In spite of everything, or maybe because of it, Kaie snorted. Then his gaze drifted over to the rock again. For a second he dared to hope. “Amorette?”

  His friend’s face clouded with a pain so sharp it shattered something deep in Kaie’s heart. It was more than answer enough. “I tried. Gods forgive me, I tried. But the fire and the soldiers…There was no way through.”

  “Kosa take me.” He slumped back against the tree again, everything that kept him moving drying up in an instant. His parents, his home, Amorette. They were still so close to the soldiers. He wanted to go to them, to throw his rock or his fists. Anything. He would be cut down in a minute, he knew that full well, but it wouldn’t matter. Just so long as he got one good hit in, one small retribution for everything the men were taking.

  Except if he went Sojun would follow. He knew his heart’s brother wouldn’t let him go charging off to death by himself. Kaie wouldn’t either, if the situation were reversed. They couldn’t leave the Lemme alone out here. She would be found soon enough. And when that happened the family would truly be lost. “Jun,
we have to get her somewhere safe,” he said.

  “Where?” Sojun asked. “They’ve got nearly the whole village surrounded by that crazy fire. And there are soldiers everywhere…There’s nowhere to hide. Not even if it were just the two of us.”

  He suspected that already, when he saw the curve to the fire, but hearing it was different. But he couldn’t think about it now. Couldn’t imagine Amorette’s face as she and her family fled only to come up against the wall of fire. Lemme first. Then he could fall apart.

  “The burial vault, on the other side of our hill.”

  Sojun’s eyes went impossibly wide, the brown there looking golden in the fire’s light. “Kaie, we can’t disturb the dead!”

  He grinned instead of the grimace he felt. He shared Jun’s sentiment. They chose their hill because it was far from the village, but still inside the clearing. And because it made them feel daring, sitting so close to the spirits of their ancestors. But even in their boldest moments they never considered opening those great stone doors. “Our hill keeps it out of sight until you’re right on top of it. There’s a good chance we won’t be found there. And if we are, maybe the soldiers won’t want to disturb the dead either.”

  “There’s a reason! What if a spirit didn’t find its way to the Abyss?”

  “Jun,