Storm of Arranon Fire and Ice (39 page)

“Jaer, you aren’t going out in this storm?”
Sean had followed Wilo to where Jaer stood pulling on thick
gloves.

“Erynn has gone off on her own to rescue
Cace. I have to go back to the base, now.” Jaer stepped toward the
inner doors.

Sean grabbed Jaer’s arm, stopping him. “Jaer,
how can you know this? There’s been no word—”

“Let go, Sean.” Jaer leveled a cold dark gaze
at Sean. “I am leaving. Now. No one will stop me. Do you
understand?”

Sean released his grasp on Jaer’s coat
sleeve. “Jaer, wait till morning. Get back to Erynn safely. You
won’t be any use to her if you’re dead.”

Wilo pulled at Sean’s arm, her gaze on Jaer.
“Be careful, Jaer.”

Jaer continued to glare at Sean, and then he
turned to Wilo and nodded.

A blast of icy air entered as Jaer left.

Erynn studied her surroundings. She did a
quick count of the Shifters in the distance. “Fifty, maybe more.
Too many.” She sighed. There was a chance she could get to within
ten meters of Cace by a circuitous route through the rock
formations scattered between her position and the fires, without
being noticed. “Then what? Guess I’ll worry about that when and if
I get that far.” She stepped from the shadows, dashed across a
short open space, and slipped behind a tall column of jagged stone.
No shouts of alarm rang out from the Shifters. “So far, so good.”
Erynn peeked around the edge of rough stone. She crouched and ran
again, squatting next to a short round boulder.

Erynn continued from column to boulder to
shadow until all forms of cover lay behind her. Flames danced
before her in an oblong ring of fifteen fiery pits. Heat surrounded
her. Sweat beaded on her forehead and ran into her eyes. Her vision
blurred. She wiped at the stinging liquid. From a kneeling
position, Erynn peered across a mere ten meters to where Cace lay.
It might as well have been a thousand.

She had a staser, but there were too many
Shifters. They could kill Cace before she had a chance to fire on
all of them. She glanced up at the ceiling of uneven dark rock.
Aleroms clung to jagged outcroppings.

Tine’s explanation re-played in her memory.
“They’re like the aleuns of the surface, except aleroms have
teeth.”

“Teeth. Of course they do,” she whispered,
still gazing up at the aleroms. Motion from inside the fire ring
pulled her attention from the ceiling.

Cace rolled from his side to his back and
wrapped his arms around his middle. Pain etched his bloody, swollen
face. His fear swelled like a crashing wave over Erynn.

Once again, her abilities were useless. If
she slowed time, the Shifters would catch her and Cace before they
cleared the ring. She had no idea how badly he was injured—if he
could walk or even stand on his own. She considered trying to
summon the static charge to knock them all off their feet and send
them adequately shocked and running. But Cace was in the way. He
would also suffer any assault she threw at the Shifters.

A Shifter had noticed Cace’s movements and
went over to investigate. The vile creature reached his thin, oily
black arm down and clutched Cace’s jacket. Fingers tightened,
pulled, and yanked Cace to a sitting position. The Shifter bent
forward, his face centimeters from Cace’s, and hissed. “Did you
watch the plates burn? They made a good flame. Master is pleased.”
The crackle and pop of multiple fires punctuated the Shifter’s
guttural mocking.

Cace squeezed his eyes shut, averting his
face.

Erynn recalled their stink, the rotting flesh
stench that accompanied Shifters. “Let him go,” she whispered
between gritted teeth.

The Shifter drew back. He had an audience.
Four others ambled over, at first watching. Taunts flew at Cace,
followed by hissing and harsh rasping laughter. They began to walk
around Cace and the Shifter holding him.

One circling Shifter swooped in, calling into
Cace’s ear, “Frail human. You break too easily.” It backed away
hissing and chortling.

Cace cringed and pushed at the dark oily
fingers clutching his coat.

The Shifter grabbed Cace’s arm, lifted, and
bit down. Cace screamed as a deep-red stain grew on his white coat
sleeve.

Another Shifter poked Cace’s swollen cheek,
eliciting a heartbreaking cry. “We have Master’s permission to
play, as long as we don’t kill. Master wants that pleasure for
himself.”

The Shifter’s slow guttural tones sent a
chill up Erynn’s spine.

When Cace put his hands up to protect his
face, they poked at his ribs and abdomen.

Cace screamed in pain at a kick delivered to
his chest and covered his ribs with his arms, leaving his face
unguarded.

A circling Shifter grabbed Cace’s hair and
yanked, letting the plucked clump fall to the floor.

The Shifter jerked and shook Cace. His head
snapped from side to side until the tormenter tired of the sport
and shoved, slamming Cace down.

Cace’s head bounced on the hard stone surface
with a solid thud, and he cried out in pain.

Their amusement at this cruel game tore at
Erynn’s already fragile hold on her anger. Her rage built, ready to
erupt.

The fire closest to her flared, rising high
into the dark. It burned a cold, ice-blue.

Erynn ducked back behind the stone. She had
seen this before while in this realm. Once was after she tossed a
bloody sliver of rock she pulled from her hand into the flames. The
other time was when she’d asked for help finding her way to the
portal of fire.

Is it possible
?

She craned her neck around the edge of
rock.

The five Shifters tormenting Cace scuttled
back and joined their numerous comrades, leaving him crying and
alone inside the inner ring of fire. They stared at the blue flame
climbing higher, reaching the rough rock ceiling.

Aleroms flew, screeching their displeasure at
being disturbed, and disappeared into the dark shadows of the
cavern beyond the fires.

Cace rolled toward the blue flame and sat up.
He rocked back and forth, rubbing at the back of his head, his
other arm wrapped around his ribs.

Good—he’s conscious
.

Erynn concentrated on a fire at the opposite
side of the ring, hoping to get one more to burn the intense blue.
If she could scare the Shifters long enough to grab Cace and run
for the alcove, she might get him and herself back to the base.
“Shifters
are
easily spooked.”

Instead of one fire, the entire side, top,
and bottom of the oblong ring, ten pits in all, burst into furious
ice-blue flames. The inferno rose into the cavern’s heights. Their
sides joined so that no space remained. An icy wind swirled and
eddied through the cavern’s depth. The fires between her and Cace
receded, their orange flames dwindling.

Shifters screeched and hissed from behind the
frosty-blue wall.

“Now!” Erynn growled. She dashed to the
center of the ring, invisible to the Shifters beyond the roaring
cold-blue fires. She reached Cace, who was staring at the wall of
eerie flames, and touched his shoulder. “Cace. Can you walk?”

Cace jumped at her touch. “Erynn? Oh, Erynn.
I knew you’d come for me. Where’s Jaer? And Aven?” Tears streamed
down his cheeks, mixing with fresh blood. His left eye was a dark
blue and was nearly swollen shut. A gash above his right dripped a
steady rivulet of red down his purpling cheek. He pushed off the
ground with scraped, bleeding fingers and stood on trembling legs,
hugging his arms to his chest. “Hurts to breathe.”

Erynn held his upper arms and supported him.
“It’s just me. I’ll explain later. I know it hurts, but can you
walk? I’ll help you.”

“Yeah. I think so.” He took a shaky step,
then another, like a baby just learning to walk.

This was going too slow. The energy she had
to expend keeping the cold-fires burning drained her physically.
“Cace, you’ve got to move. Dig deep. Push. We’ll make it home, but
you gotta try.”

Home. Jaer
.

Cace nodded. “Let’s go.” He was shuffling,
gaining some speed, but he needed to go faster.

Erynn took Cace’s left arm and draped it over
her shoulder. He moaned, his breath escaping between clenched
teeth. With her right arm, she supported Cace at his waist. “Lean
on me. Hurry, Cace.”

“Where, Erynn? I can’t see a way out. It’s
just dark open cavern. Forever.”

There were five meters, maybe six, to the
fissure and escape. “To the back…wall. There’s a narrow…crevice
that will take us…to the lowest level of…the base. We can…call for
help. You won’t…have to go any farther.” Erynn was half dragging
and half carrying Cace. Her chest ached, and her lungs sucked in
stagnant smoky air. In spite of the chill wind, sweat trickled
along her sides and down her back.

Cace gazed ahead toward the wall. “I can’t,
Erynn. It’s too far. The end of this cavern must be…
milres
away. Just leave me.” He stumbled and fell. Erynn was jerked down
with him. He grimaced and cried out in agony.

Erynn pushed to her knees, breathing hard.
“It’s not really that far…Trust me…Cace…You’re in…another reality.
Things aren’t…what they seem.”

A chorused scream of rage echoed through the
cavern. The Shifters knew Cace was no longer their captive. He had
escaped.

Erynn had a moment of feeling sorry for the
wretched creatures. Like Grame, they chose to follow Dhoran and
would pay the consequences.

Dhoran will be disappointed with their
lack of attention. Will they receive the same fate as
Grame
?

Erynn glanced back.

The blue flames on the far side of the oblong
circle sputtered and died, leaving the usual orange fires. The cold
wind faded to a slight breeze and disappeared. Shifters scrambled
about, arms flailing, obviously trying to decide what to do or who
was to blame. Their decision made, the Shifters hunched their
disproportioned bodies and loped toward Erynn and Cace.

Time was running out. Erynn stood up on
quavering legs and pulled at Cace’s arm. “You can…do this. I’ve
seen…the man you will…become. You have…to run, Cace…now.”

Cace stared at her, his brown eyes wide with
wonder. He nodded, pushing himself up off the ground, and together
they staggered toward the wall.

The irregular slapping footfalls of Shifters
pursued them. Erynn smelled their fetid breath. She sensed their
heat on the back of her neck. Her strength ebbed. Cace’s weight
pulled at her, sapping her energy. Her lungs ached. Her heart
pounded painfully in her chest.

The visions of the curly, dark-haired baby
boy with blue eyes and of Cace with a family of his own, played in
her mind. The Anim Blath wouldn’t have shown me those things if
they weren’t meant to be
.

Erynn reached out with her free hand and
touched solid wall. She moved her hand to the left, then the right.
“Where’s…the…opening?” She refused to glance back.

Cace was barely conscious. He leaned heavily
on her. “Erynn, go. Leave me,” he whispered, his strength at its
end.

“No!” Erynn screamed between clenched teeth.
She ran her hand over the wall farther to the right, and her
fingers slipped into the opening. She sidestepped, pushing Cace
ahead of her and angling to take them sideways into the
crevice.

Cace fell, knocking her into the fissure.

She wrenched free of his weight and wrapped
her arms under his and around his chest, dragging him backward
through the winding passage. Erynn tumbled from the fissure,
pulling Cace with her. She frantically searched the small area and
filled her lungs as best she could to yell for help.

Kerk stood in midstride at the top step of
the lower chamber, mouth open, staring at Erynn. It must have
seemed to him that she and Cace appeared out of solid rock.

She locked her attention on Kerk.
“Shifters…coming…now.” She panted and pointed at Kerk’s staser.
With a shaking hand, she pulled her own from its holster.

The first Shifter pressed through the
opening, materializing from the stone wall.

Erynn’s aim wasn’t steady, but Kerk’s
was.

The Shifter went down before getting
through.

A second hissed and lurched over his fallen
brother, scrabbling at the rock wall with long thin fingers.

Kerk fired and tapped behind his ear. “Aven.
Get down to station ten. Bring help. It’s, it’s Erynn and—Erynn,
look out!”

He fired as Erynn did. They both hit the
reeling Shifter, its body rolling toward the stairwell.

The scream of staser fire echoed in the small
alcove.

“And Cace,” Kerk continued before he fired
again.

The Shifter fell on Erynn and she scrambled
out from underneath the dead weight of its foul body.

Kerk fired again. “Aven. We need help! Erynn!
Behind you!”

She twisted and fired. The shot hit the
Shifter in the arm. It screamed. The screech pierced in the closed
space. It kept coming.

Kerk aimed and fired, knocking the Shifter
down and away from Erynn.

She rolled Cace to the far wall and sat in
front of him, her staser aimed. Erynn tried to stand and couldn’t.
Her muscles ached, and she felt like her bones were made of jelly.
She had no control and wasn’t sure she could crawl, let alone
walk.

Shifters poured through the opening. As one
went down, another replaced it.

The next Shifter leapt from the fissure, and
Kerk took his shot. It landed in a heap at Kerk’s feet, screeching
and thrashing. Kerk shot again, stilling the creature.

Erynn aimed and fired at a Shifter crawling
from the fissure over an oily mass of fallen bodies.

Kerk fired as another Shifter jumped through.
Breath whooshed from its lungs. The oily black creature fell half
in and half out of the rock’s opening.

The body disappeared, yanked back through the
narrow crevice, making room for the next attacker. One emerged low
and another high, right behind.