Ignite the Fire: Incendiary

by Karen Chance

  But then the fey did instead.

  The one who had been using my head for a punching bag suddenly wasn’t there anymore. I blinked, unsure of what had just happened, but the only person I saw was the jerk below me, who was still trying to pull me off. I kicked him again, and stared around as we swung back over the path. I was afraid that the punchy fey had jumped for it, intending to go after Arsen—

  But that wasn’t what had happened.

  I finally spied him, wrapped up in a bunch of vines over by a huge tree. It was the same one that my vine was connected to, only mine was farther out on an overhead limb. The was some species I didn’t recognize, being almost as tall as the sequoias but with rough bark like an oak, and spreading limbs as big around as normal trees that were draped in more vines—very agitated ones.

  They were suddenly waving around angrily, like the tentacles of some great beast. Some of them were almost as big around as me, but even the smaller ones were woody and strong, like the ones that had grabbed the fey by all four limbs. And, as I watched in stunned disbelief, ripped him apart.

  I swung through the middle of a rain of warm blood, utterly horrified, and I guessed I wasn’t the only one. Because, suddenly, the attack from below stopped. I looked down to see the remaining fey abruptly drop further down the vine and then leap to a nearby tree, before heading for the ground as fast as he could. He looked up only once, at the dismembered parts of his friend waving in the air, before dropping out of sight.

  I just wished I could do the same. Instead, I was dry heaving as I swung back and forth, blood dripping off my hair, smearing my face, and coating my desperately clinging hands. My head was still swimmy from the blows I’d absorbed, which even Mircea’s power had only cushioned so much, and my whole body felt numb.

  But there was only one way out, and it wasn’t swinging around down here.

  So, the next time I passed the path, I grabbed it, my bloody hands working hard for a grip. I found one, and a few little tendrils from the vine pushed at my foot, as if trying to help steady me. I tried not to shudder as I felt them, sliding coolly against my naked sole.

  I failed.

  Stop thinking and just climb! I thought savagely. So, I did, while the vines pushed at me and the dismembered parts of the fey wafted around nearby, as if watching me. I wondered what I’d be doing right now, if I was a normal person. Watching T.V? Folding some laundry? Cleaning my bathroom?

  Because cleaning my bathroom suddenly sounded really, really appealing. Or buying groceries or running errands—basically anything that did not involve an endless climb upward with bleeding palms and a swelling face and a head that felt like it might have a crack in it. Of course, that must have already been true, I thought savagely. Or I wouldn’t be in Faerie.

  I wanted to know how the others were doing, but I couldn’t tell, even when I blinked the blood out of my eyes. There were only leaves ahead, a thick, dark canopy. And only smoke behind, along with . . .

  The smell of burning?

  The camp was far behind us now, and the wind was mostly blowing the other way. Yet, all of a sudden, the smell of a campfire was getting closer. I looked around, craning my neck, but couldn’t see anything.

  But not because it was dark.

  But because it was too light.

  I jumped upward, vampire fast, and managed to avoid the burning ball of spell fire headed toward me from the ground. The path I was on, which was more like a bad ladder at the moment because of all the holes, wasn’t so lucky. The part of it just below my feet vanished from existence in a puff of black dust when the spell hit, not being substantial enough to explode. And sent the remaining material, and the three or four fey currently trying to scale it, falling back down to the forest floor.

  That should have been a relief, but it wasn’t. Because the stuff I was holding was basically compacted tinder, and it started burning—fast. Leaving me being chased upward again, this time by fire.

  And, suddenly, I was making headway, after all. I was making a lot of headway. Not because I was any better of a climber, but because I was sucking at it faster. I caught up to Arsen and pushed on that pretty ass, because we had to move.

  “What are you—” he looked behind us. And then said something that didn’t translate.

  “If that meant fuck, then I agree,” I said breathlessly. “Go!”

  He went. And, as it turned out, he could practically fly when he wanted, even without his mount. Because I was suddenly having a hard time keeping up, even with vamp speed. I watched Pritkin’s head bounce against Arsen’s broad back, his eyes open but unseeing, and only blinking about a tenth as much as they should have.

  It worried me, but not as much as the spells, like shooting comets, suddenly flying everywhere. Or that some of them were coming so close, that I was able to feel the heat as they passed by. Or the fact that our ‘ladder’ was rapidly disintegrating beneath us.

  I spied Rhea, leaning over the platform above, her wand out, sending spells to throw the fey’s fireballs off course. I saw Guinn, a hand outstretched, commanding the vines that were wrapping up pursuing fey in the trees. I witnessed Mircea reach back to grab the knife from Arsen’s belt and whip it at a fey I hadn’t seen, creeping up the trees beside me.

  But in the end, it wasn’t cooperation that saved us, or skill, or even luck. It was Aeslinn. I heard him bellowing from below, loudly enough to cut through everything else. “No! No! I want them alive! Alive, do you hear?”

  The barrage abruptly cut out. But the fire it had started did not, and the whole ladder was now going up. I saw Mircea throw the goat guy over the edge of the platform, and pull himself up after it. I saw Arsen jump the last few yards with Pritkin thrown over his shoulder, as if he had springs on his feet. I saw the rest of the tinder-like surface go up in flames—

  And then I fell.

  The story continues in Ignite the Fire: Inferno

  Also by Karen Chance

  The Cassie Palmer Series

  Touch the Dark

  Claimed by Shadow

  Embrace the Night

  Curse the Dawn

  Hunt the Moon

  Tempt the Stars

  Reap the Wind

  Ride the Storm

  Brave the Tempest

  Shatter the Earth

  The Midnight’s Daughter Series

  Midnight’s Daughter

  Death’s Mistress

  Fury’s Kiss

  Shadow’s Bane

  Queen’s Gambit

  Standalones

  Masks

  Siren’s Song

  Connect with Me:

  Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CasPalmerSeries

  Friend me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/KarenChanceBooks

  Subscribe to my blog: News – Karen Chance