Be Gay, Do Crimes: Ros Vs Everything, Apparently

'Tis but a scratch-- A SCRATCH? YOUR ARM'S OFF!

Out in the Woods, someone shouted, and Marcus jolted awake, nearly slipping off the bough he was hunched on.

How could he have fallen asleep?

Cursing himself, but lauding his good luck at not being caught, he struggled to get down, keeping his bad arm close to his chest. Who had just screamed? It hadn't sounded pained. More angry. As if--

Another. A furious howl echoed through the forest, and Marcus dropped down from the tree, panicked. He'd never heard the sound before, but he knew the voice better than his own.

Rosalind.

Horrified, he scrabbled to his feet--

There was a bang like a cannon blast, and a flash so bright Marcus recoiled. People in the trees around him screamed.

Hands clamped over his screeching ears, Marcus realised he recognised the source. It was a lightning spell. An incredibly potent one.

Heart pounding, Marcus opened his eyes again, white spots dancing in his vision--

On the Never board, Rosalind went dark.

Marcus only just stopped himself from crying out.

He clamped his hands over his mouth and crumpled back against the tree, shaking. He felt sick. Somewhere in the distance, there was cheering. Evers. They'd managed to get her.

Marcus squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to cry. What had they done to her? Had that spell been intended for her? Had--

The cheers suddenly stopped, crashing into each other and petering out. For a moment, there was silence.

Then the screaming started.

Marcus whirled towards the direction of the barrier and strained to hear the commentary. He could hear Raiden, just;

"That'll teach you, stupid little sods! You think Rosalind would just let you send her out like that? Left you a present, hasn't she? What a spell, ladies and gents!"

Marcus sagged a little, relieved. Raiden didn't sound particularly worried, so Ros couldn't be badly hurt. But there was a hint of tension in his roommate's voice that suggested something unexpected. What was this present that Ros had left? Had she cast that lightning strike? But the reaction had been delayed, so--

Something caught his eye. Something flickering. A light, or a glow, almost like--

Like fire.

Slowly, Marcus turned.

Fire was crawling from the east, from where the lightning strike had been.

Oh, yes.

She had cast that strike.

Slowly, Marcus backed away, against the nearest tree; then leapt away, swearing, when he realised there was fire in that direction, too. It was impossible, completely impossible, for the flames from the lightning strike to have spread that fast... and yet, here they were. Had Ros accelerated their spread or potency, somehow? Increased the flammability of the forest? Marcus didn't think the enchantments the Blue Forest is under should have made it more flammable than typical forests, but flames were crawling everywhere, leaping into blue bushes and onto branches, black smoke billowing into the air.

Ros had caused a forest fire.

And Marcus was still in the forest.

He glanced at the Ever board.