Loving His Fire

by Lily Thomas

  Most of the young women seemed to accept the thin excuse, but Sarah frowned. Before her friend could point out that leaving the carriage would only make them easier targets to bandits, Elizabeth pulled Esme forward and cracked open the carriage door.

  The sounds of sword on sword and sword on softer objects continued, accompanied by grunts and screams. “We need to leave all at once. Remember, you just need to make it to the woods and hide. Esme, Sarah will be right behind you.” She gave the younger girl a weak smile. “I’ll go last out of the carriage. Ready?” She pushed Esme out the door and pulled Sarah out after her in two quick motions, then shoved the remaining girls forward. “Go, go, go!” she cried.

  Esme stumbled on her first step, but Sarah grabbed her beneath the arm and dragged her forward toward the woods. Elizabeth popped out of the carriage behind them all, urging the frightened women forward with her cries.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement. She turned her head and saw the giant with the necklace of teeth riding up from behind the line of wagons. He must have pulled back from the battle briefly and been placed just right to see them emerge from the carriage. The giant gave a shout and starting galloping up the line.

  Meanwhile, part of Elizabeth’s brain seemed to have separated from her body, and now it observed everything from a distance. She noticed that the sounds of fighting had pretty much stopped, and that one of the wagons in the train was on fire, which explained where that extra light came from earlier. She also noticed how the fire, though dying down, was still bright enough to catch in the giant’s eyes, turning them blood-red as he barreled down on the fleeing women.

  The old stories of the fire giants setting fire to homes with their eyes and spotting villagers hiding in the darkness ran through her mind. With the giant’s piercing gaze bearing down on her, she could believe every single tale of their inhuman powers.

  Elizabeth stumbled and lost precious seconds. She turned her eyes forward and cleared her mind. They had to reach the forest. They could hide, if they reached the trees. The stories just took an enemy and built them up into demons with imaginary powers. She would not give in to her fear.

  As Elizabeth looked forward again, though, she could see that they had only made it halfway to the trees. Sarah and Esme had fallen behind the other three women as Sarah struggled to keep the younger woman – just a girl, really – moving toward the safety of the forest. Elizabeth grabbed Esme from the other side and added her strength, but the giant was closing in now, and she could hear the shouts of other giants as they came around the wagon string.

  Elizabeth looked over the top of Esme’s head and met Sarah’s eyes. The rest of the women just might make it to the woods if she ran back toward the giants and bought them some time.

  Sarah’s eyes widened. She had known Elizabeth since they were children, and Elizabeth knew Sarah could read her expression. With a stubborn tilt to her mouth, Sarah suddenly broke off, running back toward the wagon column and straight into the giants.

  “For Arcaern!” she screamed. “For Elizabeth!”

  “Sarah!” Elizabeth hesitated for a split second as she watched her best friend run recklessly toward the giants that charged after them like demons from hell.

  Esme whimpered beside her, and Elizabeth pushed her forward. She had to get everyone into the trees. Her eyes burned, but she couldn’t waste the time Sarah had just sacrificed for them.

  The other women entered the woods, and Elizabeth risked a backward glance. She caught sight of Sarah darting between the two closest giants, but just when it seemed she would evade them and slip past, one of the giants reached down and lifted her by the back of her dress. Sarah screamed, and Elizabeth let out a sob as she turned away and entered the safety of the trees with Esme.

  As soon as the darkness of the trees closed in on them, Esme shuddered and fell to the ground.

  “Esme. Esme, we have to keep going. We need to hide,” Elizabeth whispered. Esme’s breathing was short and rapid, and there was so much white around her eyes Elizabeth could see them even in the dark. With a sinking heart, Elizabeth realized that Esme wouldn’t make it any farther at this point.

  Seizing the girl from beneath the arms, Elizabeth dragged her over to a nearby bush at the base of a large tree and threw her under the branches. They were only a few feet into the forest, and Elizabeth had a small hope that the giants might rush past without even realizing she was there.

  She pressed her hand to the side of the girl’s face. “Esme, I’m going to draw them away, okay? Stay here and stay quiet, and I’ll come back for you as soon as I can.” In truth, Elizabeth wasn’t sure if she could find this spot again, but it was close to the boundary between the forest and the pass, and anyway, she didn’t really have a choice.

  A giant crashed into the woods to her right, his horse pushing through the thick undergrowth, and Elizabeth startled upright, turned, and sprinted deeper into the trees. It was hard going, with her dress catching on small branches and thorns, and her feet felt every stick and stone through her thin slippers. White puffs of breath formed in front of her, only to break apart as she ran through them. Her lungs burned, and she gasped as her fear drove her to jump across hollows and scramble over a fallen tree.

  As the ground rose beneath her, the fog kept getting thicker, drawing in closer, shortening her line of sight and muffling the sounds around her. Soon she couldn't hear any of the giants’ shouts or horses stamping through the woods. She could only hear her deep breathing, and she forced her legs to keep moving up the rising slope.

  The distant feeling she had experienced back in the open part of the pass was gone now, and the difficulty of running and the pain of the sacrifice Sarah and her guards had made was all too present. She caught her shoulder on a broken tree branch and stumbled painfully. Shaking her head, Elizabeth pushed forward through the confusing fog.

  There was no time to think about what had happened or what might still be happening back there. She needed to get far enough away that she wouldn't be found. Someone had to make it back to Arcaern and warn them of the fire giants. Her people wouldn’t be expecting aggression from the east, and almost all their defenses were focused on the western border.

  Elizabeth slowed her pace as the fog thickened even more. She could barely see beyond the reach of her arms now, and she didn’t feel like running face first into a tree.

  Why were the fire giants attacking now? They lived only in the mountains, and her people hadn’t encroached on their land at all, unlike how the tensions with the rock giants had started. Sure, they traveled through the pass occasionally, but humans never stayed. Surely it couldn’t only be because of that. As her body slowed, her thoughts raced, and her confusion only built.

  Eventually, she rested her palm against a tree trunk and pressed her other hand against her ribs. Every breath sent a shot of pain coursing through her side. Corsets and tight dresses like these were not made for running. Not unless you wanted to pass out into a thoroughly ladylike faint. Already she could see black dots dancing around the edges of her vision, but she knew she had to continue on. Her life wasn’t the only one at risk.

  Taking her hand off the tree trunk, she tried to slow her breathing into a regular pattern and started a brisk walk, heading perpendicular to the slope to make the going easier. She needed to gain as much distance from the giants as she could, and at least this way she was heading back in the direction of Arcaern, and hopefully, help.

  Now that Elizabeth had time to review her actions, she was glad she had pushed the women to take to the woods. Based on the sounds she heard as they fled the pass, she doubted any of her guards were still alive. At least in the woods the women had a chance, however small, to escape.

  As she walked, Elizabeth thought back to the last time she spoke to her brother Nicholas. He was traveling to the western border to open talks with the rock giants, and she’d tried to convince him to take her. She felt trapped at the castle, with the men circling for her han
d, and she wanted to do something important, the way he did.

  She remembered how exciting it seemed at the time, like such an adventure. She would respect the rock giants without being awed or intimidated by them, and impress them with her calm negotiations.

  Now her visions seemed like the foolish dreams of a child. Nicholas had died in his attempts to bring peace, and now here she was running for her life trying to do the same by marrying the prince of Sardarn.

  She stumbled as her loose slipper caught in the soft ground and slipped off her foot. Growling, she turned back to grab the offending shoe.

  A snort froze the sound in her throat. She crouched down and held her breath, squinting into the milky fog surrounding her.

  Every tree she glimpsed through the gloom looked like a looming giant with outstretched fingers. She swallowed hard, quietly picking up her shoe and placing it on her foot.

  The sound was definitely from a horse and not the fog playing tricks on her mind. Elizabeth backed up slowly until she was tucked against a tree trunk.

  There she waited.

  It could be a horse that had fled the carnage of the clearing after losing its rider. Or maybe one of the guards had survived and protection was mere feet away. Or…it could be one of those demon horses carrying a fire giant.

  The thought of a fire giant so near kept her tongue glued to the top of her mouth. She would call out if she knew it was a guard, but she couldn’t risk that unless she was sure.

  She desperately hoped a giant wasn’t tracking her through the forest. How could someone even track in this mist? There wasn’t anything to see! The mist had been moving in and was now making the forest look like a milky cloud.

  Her heart thundered within her chest. Her body twitched, suddenly full of new energy and eager to run, like a rabbit on the palace grounds catching scent of the dogs and vibrating with indecision to try to stay hidden or dash away.

  Elizabeth tried to breathe slowly, but the recent exertion, lack of air, and rush of adrenaline were all combining to make her sick. She placed a hand against her stomach and breathed the moist air in through her nose.

  A shadow moved behind the curtain of fog, and Elizabeth turned her head sharply to track the movement. Her eyes strained to make out any form hidden within the smoky layers.

  A minute went by. Two minutes. There was no further sound, and no movement. Just as Elizabeth released a sigh of relief, a twig snapped from the next tree over. Bolting up, she sprinted away from her hiding spot, crashing through bushes that she couldn’t see until she was on top of them.

  Behind her, Elizabeth could now hear hooves beating against the ground, closing the distance between them. Now she realized how animals felt when they were being hunted. Her heart thumped a hard rhythm behind her rib cage, and she desperately pelted through the forest. Several times she had to serve to avoid a tree as it appeared out of nowhere from the fog.

  The closely spaced trees didn’t seem to slow down the horse and its rider at all. Elizabeth could hear them right behind her now. She imagined she could feel the breath of the horse, warm against her neck.

  Elizabeth tried to increase her speed, but her legs were screaming now, unused to the intense running she had forced them into tonight. She wanted to scream at the world for being so cruel, for the guards who had died so needlessly, for the women now lost in the woods, for losing this last chance to help her people through marriage to the Sardarn prince.

  She stumbled into a small clearing and pushed herself into one last burst of speed to reach the trees on the other side, but her luck this evening had finally run out. The fog stayed lower to the ground here, thicker, and she tripped over a fallen sapling and tumbled into a heap on the ground.

  Years of wrestling with her brothers helped her turn the tumble into a roll, and she came to a halt out of breath but without breaking anything. Elizabeth flipped herself over and gasped at the huge form coming out of the fog toward her. Just as she thought the figure would finally come into view, it turned aside, circling around her while remaining hidden in the white wisps that drifted in the clearing.

  Elizabeth struggled to breathe, blinking away spots at the edge of her vision. Was she simply out of breath, or had she hit her head on the ground? Regardless, she knew she wouldn’t be able to make another run for it. Her legs were shaking underneath her now, completely pushed to their limit.

  She was sure at this point that it was a fire giant who pursued her. A soldier from her guard would have come out of the mist by now to reveal himself and assist her. Instead, this rider still stayed just out of sight, circling around to her front and coming to a stop.

  Elizabeth blinked, ready for the figure to rush her and bring this vastly mismatched struggle for life and death to an end. Determined to not make it easy, Elizabeth scrabbled on the ground for a rock, a log, anything to throw at the beast when it drew near.

  Strangely, though, the figure didn’t come any closer. It knew where she was, it knew its quarry was spent, but it still remained just out of clear sight. Elizabeth strangled a cry of outrage as she realized it was playing with her.

  It was waiting, letting the terror grow in her heart, letting her fear build. She didn’t know the fate of her maids and companions, but the tracking skills of this warrior gave her little hope that any of them had escaped.

  Elizabeth choked down an angry sob, but couldn’t prevent a few hot tears from escaping. The tears burned raw tracks down her face, and she felt her face flush. A fire blazed in her stomach. She felt it warm her, spreading out to fill her rubbery legs with new strength. She was the princess of Arcaern, and she had a kingdom to save.

  She levered herself to her feet, shaky but upright. “I wish to speak with your leader,” she called out.

  Elizabeth doubted the giant spoke her language, but if she could just prevent him from attacking…Her heart leapt into her throat as the figure spurred its horse into a gallop directly at her. It seemed he was done playing games.

  Elizabeth threw herself to the side as the horse bore down upon her. She tried to dash across the rest of the clearing before the rider could turn, but for such a large beast, the horse spun quickly, and she felt herself suddenly lifted into the air. For a brief moment, her legs continued to churn, and if it weren’t for the danger of the situation, she would have laughed at the absurd picture she made, running through thin air.

  Her weightlessness only lasted a moment or two, and then her attacker tossed her to the side. She heard him thump to the ground beside her an instant later. Elizabeth twisted wildly onto her back and looked up – and up – at the fire giant now standing over her.

  His legs were spread wide, and large hands roughened by physical labor and weapons use hung ready at his sides. A leather vest covered his chest, but his arms were bare, exposing the well-defined – and impressively sized– muscles for her view.

  Elizabeth felt her heart race as she ran her eyes up and down his massive form. She hitched in a quick breath and her chest heaved. The giant dropped his gaze, and Elizabeth flushed as she realized her flight through the woods had left some strategically placed holes on the torso of her dress that exposed quite a bit of flesh.

  She felt frozen in place, mesmerized by his physical presence. This man was no well-groomed courtier in her palace, fighting with words and alliances. He would use the swords on his back or the dagger at his side to get what he wanted. Instead of feeling intimidated, though, she felt drawn to him. She wanted to feel that power, the strength that he carried so effortlessly.

  The horse snorted behind him, and he quickly shifted his eyes back to her face. She gasped. Looking at him full on, she could clearly see the red eyes she had glimpsed during the attack. Like fire itself, his eyes flickered, never quite one solid color, but instead alternating between the orange of sunset and the red of iron in a forge.

  He frowned, seemed to come to a decision, and reached forward. Elizabeth snapped out of her trance and lurched away from his grasp. It seemed she wa
sn’t quite ready to die after all.

  Her skirt caught around her feet, and she dug her fingers into the ground, but he was on her in a moment. His fingers closed around her shoulder just as her fingers found a rock, and she twisted to pound it directly into his face.

  He let out a roar – an actual roar – but his grip on her never loosened. Instead, he flipped her completely over to bring them face to face. Pulling a length of rope from his side, he started to tie her hands together. She kicked her legs out, but he avoided her flailing limbs by dropping over her waist.

  As his strong thighs surrounded her hips, she realized she had no hope of stopping him. Frustrated and out of options, Elizabeth surprised herself by hissing at the hulk of masculinity towering over her. The giant leaned in and growled at her, but she refused to back down. The giants hadn’t tied up her guards, and she felt renewed hope. Maybe the giants were going to try to ransom the women. And if the giants wanted to ransom them, there must be at least one among them who could speak her language.

  Elizabeth jutted her chin forward and looked back at the giant. “You will let me speak to your leader immediately,” she stated firmly. Her sapphire eyes met his glowing gaze, and she felt a flash of adrenaline spike her blood. They stared at each other for a heartbeat, her soft blue gaze caught by his piercing eyes.

  Abruptly, he released her hands. In one smooth motion, he levered himself to his feet and hauled her up after him. Spinning her around, he pushed her toward the horse.

  She halted when they reached the black gelding, and she was reminded yet again of the size of the man behind her. His horse must be nearly twice as large as any horse she had seen before. She had no hope of mounting it, and she shot a look at the giant over her shoulder. He stared back impassively. Moving past her, he lifted himself into the saddle with surprising grace.

  Elizabeth glanced warily at the horse’s head. Most war horses were carefully trained to refuse any rider besides their owner, but the horse seemed calm enough. Flicking its ears, it turned its head to give her a cursory glance.