by Calista Skye
And in front of her -
She gasped and leaned back reflexively, but because she was hanging in mid-air it only started her dangling back and forth. She only had time to give a panicked yelp before she smashed into a huge tree that she had only discovered at the last second.
The tree trunk was smooth, and she couldn't get a good grip in it, even if she tried to dig her nails into the bark. It was thin enough that she could clasp her arms and legs around it, but it was so smooth that she slid down the trunk in a display that seemed pretty undignified. She didn't meet any branches on her way down to the ground, and after a few seconds her butt encountered hard rock as she plopped down.
She was about to get to her feet when a silent sheet of silky fabric draped itself over her and made everything very dark. She panicked and flailed wildly against it before she realized what it was.
Ah. The parachute. Of course.
She pulled the fabric off her and looked up. That was a tall tree she had slid down. She was lucky she hadn't hit it further up, because the crown looked huge and even spiky.
There were many other trees just like it all around her, along with a thick underbrush of bushes and smaller trees. The chemical smell was very strong, as if she had landed in the middle of some kind of alcohol spill. The fumes were making her nauseous, too.
She got to her feet and stood on shaking knees on the surface of the alien planet.
The surface of Bry. The fire planet. There was vegetation all around her, so ripe with flammable organic chemicals that it was plain that the fire hadn't passed through here for months. But it would soon be here. The horizon pulsated with yellow light.
A hand shot out from behind her and Harper squealed as someone grabbed her wrist and quickly tied a rope around it.
She looked up. It was the warrior. His eyes were flashing red. And he wasn't smiling anymore.
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