Burning Brightly (a grishaverse story )

Chapter 9

The second we entered the fold all the nervous whispering and chattering stopped. There was dead silence as if everyone in the sand skiff was holding their breath. I found myself subconsciously listening for anything that indicated that volcra were nearby before forcing myself to stop. If I was going to survive this journey and not faint out of fear and anxiety and fall off the sand skiff to be prey to the ravenous volcra I needed to have a clear head.

The silence got to a point where it was almost unbearable and I seriously considered talking just so that it wouldn't be so eerily quiet, but before I could open my mouth the Inferni next to me froze suddenly.

"Did you hear that?" He hissed, panic momentarily flashing across his face.

The soldiers of the first army were starting to look worried and looking at the grisha on the sand skiffs for reassurance as if we had any better idea on what to do then they did.

By then it was obvious that the volcra were circling us. We could hear the leathery beat of their wings as they got closer and closer.

The command for the Inferni to summon fire was issued and large plumes of flame shot up, illuminating the sand skiffs and the hundreds of volcra surrounding them.

The second the volcra saw us they swarmed towards the deck and chaos ensued.

Gunshots rang out and screams rose from the skiffs as the volcra attacked.

I shrieked as a volcra swooped down and grabbed an Inferni next to me with it's talons. He had been in one of my classes at the Little Palace. His name was Dimitri. I watched in horror as he tried in vain to use his flames to combat it, but it was too late. The volcra's talons seemed to have pierced through Dimitri's chest. I watched as the life left his eyes. The volcra turned to me and I took a step back.

I had seen illustrations of volcra drawn on maps and books but seeing them up close was something that no illustration could have prepared me for. Its long rows of needle sharp teeth gleamed, his talons dripping red as they dug into Dimitri's torn body.

Dimly in the back of my mind I acknowledged that the sandskiffs had stopped moving, either because all the squallers had gotten killed, or were trying to help in the fight. For Darya's sake I hoped it was the latter.

In the corner of my eye I saw the girl I had seen last night crouched on the ground over someone's body, a look of desperation in her eyes.

The volcra took a step forward and I stepped backward hastily, my foot hitting a rifle some poor soldier had probably dropped after getting attacked. I stumbled slightly and my ankle rolled to the side causing a sharp jolt of pain to shoot up my leg.

The volcra advanced closer and closer and I summoned a wave of fire in an attempt to stop it. A horrible screeching noise came out of its mouth as the flames scorched it's body but it didn't stop it from advancing any closer.

One of its wings hit my hand and my flames went out, plunging the entire sandskiff into darkness. I realized that I was the last Inferni left.

There was a horrible thud as the volcra dropped Dimitri's body and leaped forward, it's bloody claws digging into my arms, pinning me to the deck.

Briefly I wondered if Darya was still alive and how she would react once she realized I had gotten slashed to pieces by a volcra. At least I would be with Viktor again.

The volcra slashed at me with one of his talons and I tried to dodge, but it held me down with it's other talon. Squeezing my eyes shut I prayed for a quick death.

It never happened.

I opened my eyes in confusion and the world exploded in white.

a/n

*awkwardly waves* hi guys it's been a while-

so yeah i completely forgot about this story and then all the shadow and bone content got released and i was like IM GOING TO FINISH BEFORE THE SHOW because i felt like it

so umm yeah

speaking of the show SDKJFSD IT"S IN A WEEK AND IM NOT READY

yeah ok that's it for now i'll post the last 2 chapters soon :)

thanks for still reading this <3