The Archer & the Flame (Whispers of the Night Ravens #1)

Chapter 18

I couldn’t relax, could hardly breathe as I watched the research camp’s entrance without blinking, searching for any sign of Silas. A group of guards crowded around the remains of a fire on the perimeter, cheering as they successfully relit it. The shadows receded to only the darkest corners, and my stomach dropped.

Where was he?

With every passing moment, I regretted leaving him behind more. What if something had happened to him because of me? What if they’d caught him tampering with the fires?

I’d spent so long worrying he would betray me. I hadn’t considered the possibility that I would be the one betraying him.

The light from the fire intensified, a sign that Silas’ ability to smother it was fading fast. The window of his escape was closing. I hovered, stuck between the urge to go back for him and the need to protect the parchment, now securely tucked into my pack. If they captured me in the process of saving him, this would all have been for nothing.

A warning bell rang out, every clang a harbinger of doom. I froze, my heart in my throat. Nothing happened at first. It was as if the camp was suspended in time. Then the campfires flared wildly, dancing in the wind.

The flames swelled, blazing into an unrelenting torrent of fire that escaped the bounds of their containers. The guards cursed, one rushing to fetch a nearby Water-Blessed fae, who splashed the containers in a feeble attempt to control the blaze. It barely stifled it.

In the commotion, Silas appeared, running towards me in a dead sprint, pursued by a dozen guards. A cry nearly broke free from me at the confirmation of him alive and well.

My relief was short-lived. Arrows rained down around him as I watched on in horror. Silas incinerated most with a flick of his arm, but with the strength of his Blessing waning, he had to dodge several that made it through. I felt each one as if they were piercing my heart.

“Run, Willow. Now!” he shouted, panting between every word.

I didn’t need to be told twice. I sprinted as fast as my legs would take me, grateful for the head start.

We couldn’t outrun them if they were determined to chase us, not with Silas unaccustomed to a life of adventure and me more used to stakeouts, but with the right terrain, we could stand and fight. I scanned our surroundings as we ran, searching for any advantage.

In the distance, a peak of dark rock emerged, flanked by a dozen smaller hills. It had a craggy, uneven surface that would make climbing challenging, but it towered above everything else nearby. An arrow lodged into the ground where my feet had been moments before. They were closing the gap.

“This way!” I shouted. It would have to be enough.

My legs were on fire. I’d never ran so far before, even when chasing the thief through the capital, and our escape was taking its toll. I kept my gaze locked on the peak, urging myself to make it, one step at a time. Silas was behind me, breathing heavily.

We would make it. We just had to make it to the hill.

An arrow grazed the top of my shoulder, a searing pain slicing my skin. I whimpered, clutching the wound.

“Willow.”

“Don’t. There’s no time. Get to the hill.” Any distraction would make us a target, and I didn’t intend to die here. Not when we’d come so far.

With my pace slowed by the injury, Silas bridged the gap between us. His arm hooked around me, a sure and steady comfort, pulling me towards the base of the hill.

The climb was like no pain I’d experienced before. My body ached with the ascent, my shoulder throbbed where the arrow had struck, and my lungs burned as I desperately tried to catch my breath. Still, we persevered, driven by the singular thought of making it to the peak.

Silas sent a wave of fire around us, keeping the arrows away while we climbed. My shirt clung to my back with sweat, but it was a worthwhile price to pay for protection. It didn’t stop one catching my ankle, another narrowly missing Silas’ head. I salvaged as many arrows from the enemy as I could, knowing that could be the difference between life and death.

By the time we reached the top, tears streamed down my face. Silas sagged against me. A handful of guards had made it to the hill and were finding their footholds, relentless in their pursuit.

I tuned out everything around me, my focus on myself and my target. I released the arrow. It struck true, as I knew it would. A body fell to the ground, numbness unfurling within me at the sight. There was no chance to process the feeling, only to unleash more arrows. It wasn’t the first time I’d killed for self-preservation, and it would unlikely be the last.

As I picked off the guards one arrow at a time, and Silas pushed the others back with a wall of fire despite his exhaustion, I came to a startling realisation.

It wasn’t enough.

My jaw clenched at the sea of guards flooding over the horizon. There had been no Blessed within our initial pursuers. The fallout from the blackout had likely kept them occupied. But I was willing to bet every coin I had that we wouldn’t be as lucky with the next contingent.

I swallowed thickly. Was this really it?

I screamed, wiping my tears before taking out another guard with my bow. Only three arrows remained in my quiver, and retrieving the rest was impossible.

Overcoming this was futile.

Silas read it on my face, clasping my hand tightly.

“I’m sorry,” I said, a lump in my throat. “This is all my fault. I should never have brought you into this.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” He squeezed my hand. “I don’t regret any of it.”

“Really?” I asked in disbelief.

“Well, now you mention it, I would have preferred not to fall in a pit or cross a rickety bridge. And a more comfortable bed wouldn’t have gone amiss. But no, I don’t regret it. You’ve opened my eyes to what’s out there.”

“Me neither. It hasn’t always been easy, but I couldn’t imagine doing this without you.”

The guards closed in, a dozen more climbing the hill. If these were truly our last moments, there was an urgent question burning in my mind. There were no excuses left, no time for hesitation.

“Did you mean it before? When you said you’d resisted kissing me?”

“Every word.”

Could it be? Hope, the most dangerous thing of all, bloomed in my chest.

“But the kiss meant nothing to you. You just went along with it to save our necks.”

“Did I?”

He tilted my lips towards him with a tender touch, his closeness making me forget the bleakness of our situation, if only for a moment.

“Let me make one thing clear. If I’d had any notion that you would be receptive to my advances, I wouldn’t have held myself back. I would have kissed you when mud caked your face in the inn. I would have kissed you when you repeatedly lectured me on how to read a map, and I definitely would have kissed you when you stubbornly insisted my flirting wasn’t affecting you.”

My breath hitched.

His eyes twinkled in that way I’d grown to love. “And if we weren’t in such a precarious position, I would show you just how much I want you. Unfortunately, we’ll have to test my patience a little longer.”

“Silas,” I whispered. “It’s too late. We can’t hold them back forever.” Even as I said it, the guards had made it halfway up the hill.

His breaths were laboured, his voice rough. “I told you before, you shouldn’t underestimate me.”

He sank to the ground, pressing his hands to the rocks in front of us, and gods, they melted .

At first, they glowed red in the darkness of night, like the dying embers of a campfire, but then pressure built as they hissed and steamed, releasing an acrid smell into the air. Silas roared with the effort, dragging his fingers along the surrounding rocks as they sizzled and bubbled into lava. Soon, the edge of the hilltop fell to the fiery onslaught, becoming a molten stream that oozed down the cliff towards our pursuers. Their screams of agony went right through me as it engulfed them, and I knew I would never forget the sound.

I scrambled up onto the highest ground I could find, balancing my weight on the tip of an uneven rock, hoping that Silas had a plan. He may have been fire resistant, but I certainly wasn’t.

A sob burst from me at the terrible beauty of the scene before me. The lava spread as it consumed more of the hill in its endless hunger, speeding its descent. The stifling heat it unleashed saturated me in sweat, and I gagged at its rotten scent. Silas had turned our peak into a small volcano, and the guards that had once attacked were now fleeing in terror.

He clambered to his feet on shaky legs, staggering as he closed the distance between us. Gasping in a desperate breath, he scooped me off the ground and into his arms. He was submerged in the lava but showed no signs it was burning him. It was as if he was standing in water up to his ankles, not molten rock.

Our eyes met, his set with grim determination and a shade of fear.

“Silas…” I could only say, incapable of anything else. He had saved us, done the impossible when all hope was lost. I ran my hand down his cheek tenderly.

Considering how much magic he had used, his hold was surprisingly firm as he carried me to safety. He slid down the other side of the peak, keeping me cradled in his arms, only stopping when we’d travelled far enough that the lava became a narrow stream.

“Told you so,” he said, his voice no more than a quiet whisper. His legs buckled from underneath him, both of us collapsing in a heap.

Wincing at the impact to my injured shoulder, I carefully climbed off him. He was still, too still, a single drop of blood running from his nose.

“Silas,” I said uncertainly, nudging him.

Nothing.

“Wake up,” I pleaded, shaking him harder. “Wake up, please.”

It couldn’t be.

There was no response. I slapped at his cheeks, urging him to open his eyes, but he didn’t move. His skin was cold under my fingertips.

No.

The heart he’d painstakingly pieced back together shattered, and I knew it could never be mended. A strangled noise escaped me, my face dripping with tears as I sobbed, clutching him like I’d never let go.

Then I felt it. His chest rose. It was feeble, too small to see even up close, but the tiny movement sent hope pulsing through my veins.

There was still a chance.

I dragged his limp body towards a large boulder, leaning against it and resting his head in my lap. I kept my bow, with its pitiful amount of arrows, within reach, but my attention was firmly on the man lying against me. My heart. My everything.

I stroked his hair in what I hoped was a soothing motion, waiting for him to come back to me.

As the top layer of the lava cooled, a thin black crust settling over it, I waited. My teeth chattered with the bitter cold of the night air, but I ignored it. Silas was my only priority.

The sun was rising with the pink glow of morning, illuminating the drastic shifts to the terrain from his power, when he finally stirred.

His eyes fluttered open. “If I’d known overexerting myself would lead to waking up in your lap, I wouldn’t have waited until now.”

I swatted his head, Silas letting out an exaggerated yelp.

“Never do that to me again. I thought I’d lost you.”

“I have no intention of going anywhere. You’re stuck with me, whether you like it or not.” He sat up, stretching. His lazy smile faded to a devastated expression that made my chest tighten.

“Are you hurt?” I asked, examining him for any signs of injury.

But Silas was looking at the volcano he’d formed, steam rising from it even in its subdued state. The jagged rock we’d navigated as we’d climbed was smooth, sculpted by the lava, the nearby hills flattened. The ground was black and shiny where it had begun to cool, leaving the landscape of Threstia unrecognisable.

“What have I done? I’ve damned us.”

“No Silas, it’s over. You saved us.” I said, resting my hand on his shoulder. He’d been incredible.

“You don’t understand.” He stood, swaying as he did. “I’ve put a target on our backs. We need to leave immediately.”

I climbed to my feet, joining him, leaning on the boulder for support. “But you’re exhausted. And no one’s crossing the lava anytime soon. Not until it solidifies. The researchers will have to find a way around and that will cost them days. And after that display, I’m not sure they’d want to.”

He shook his head. “It’s not them I’m worried about. There’s something I need to tell you.”