The Witch Woman's Prophecy

49 | Battle |

I was almost back at the rope when I heard the first explosion. I spun as quickly as my shaking body would allow and stared down into the ravine. Some of the guards were clustered together. They had set off a relic pipe identical to the one that had damaged Prindah's warehouses. This had not been an accident; the guard who held the relic was pointing it at the cavern mouth, and a gout of flame was still pouring from the end of the relic. The guards around him were cowering back from the noise and the heat. The explosion had dislodged rocks above the cavern mouth and they were raining down onto the path.

'Stop! Stop!' I shouted.

I began to stagger back to the cavern without thinking. The Remedy I had spent so long building would be destroyed, and I could not allow that to happen. Another guard raised a relic pipe and again I shouted for him to stop. He ignored me and lifted it to his shoulder, then started the motion that would summon the flames.

'Stop! You don't know what you are doing!' I yelled again.

As I waved to get his attention, I heard footsteps running along the path towards me. It was Naamiya rushing to save me. I pointed down at the guards and shouted 'Naamiya! Get back to the rope! The guards are using relic pipes!'

Instead of fleeing, she used both hands to push me towards the cavern mouth. I staggered but I managed to keep my feet. What was she doing? Why was she trying to push me to where the relic pipe would spit out its deadly fire? She rushed at me again, but she slipped on a loose rock lying on the path and fell against me. I grabbed her to steady myself and we both staggered backwards into the cavern and fell to the floor. The cavern mouth filled with yellow flames as the guard in the ravine fired the relic pipe.

Naamiya did not move. She must have banged her head as we fell. Why had she tried to kill me? The relic headache threatened to split my skull in half; I would have to ignore it until the guards stopped using the relic pipes and I could escape from the cavern. I rolled to my hands and knees, but my stomach roiled and I tasted bile. I grabbed Naamiya's arm and tried to drag her away from the flames, but I was too weak and sick.

Another explosion signalled that a third relic pipe was being used on the cavern mouth. My face felt like roasting meat over a fire. I dropped Naamiya and crawled to the far end of the cavern. I lay on the floor with my eyes closed and tried not to move my head. Behind the blackness of my eyelids I listened to the thumping of my heart and the ragged gasps of my breathing with no idea of what I should do next.

I heard another blast from below and a tremor ran through the walls of the cave. Rocks rattled down from the ceiling and smashed onto the floor. I curled up on the floor with my arms flung up over my head, unable to move. The flames dazzled me when I looked at the cavern mouth, but I could not see Naamiya. I hoped Soni and Hericle were safely away from the cavern. It was my fault that all of this was happening. If I hadn't damaged Prindah's building we wouldn't have been chased from the city or burnt alive.

A groan sounded through the cavern. Naamiya's black outline rose against the bright flames, as she crawled unsteadily towards me. In there reflected light of the flames I saw blood spurting from gashes where she had been hit by falling rocks and her robe was burnt away on one side where it had been set alight by the flames of the relic pipe. The skin beneath was charred and blistered, and I gasped as I realised how badly she was hurt.

I helped her to the back of the cave and laid her down with her head on my lap. I stroked her hair and tried not to gag at the cooked-meat smell of her flesh. There was nothing I could do for her. We had finished the last of the water in the skins earlier that day, and there was only dry food in the packs lying nearby.

'It will be all right. Soni and Hericle will find a way to get us out and they will look after you,' I knew I was lying, even as the words crossed my lips, but I wanted to give her hope. My own hope was that Hericle had kept Soni safely away from the explosions. He was too experienced to get caught up in a battle he had no chance of winning. What would he do next? Try to avenge me? I hoped not. There had already been too much death and destruction because of me.