Seventeen #4
We followed Meeka across the magma pools, flying swiftly from rock to rock, staying well above the lava.
The little jair’oa did seem to know the best path to take, leading us safely across the deadly landscape.
The heat radiating from the magma field was unlike anything I’d felt before, even during Demon Hour.
It was a heavy, suffocating heat that seemed to press down on us from all sides.
The air smelled acrid, and sweat kept running down my face, stinging my eyes along with the smoke.
Thankfully, Ratuk seemed to have no trouble navigating the lava field, buzzing over the bubbling magma and landing quickly.
Perhaps he could feel something wrong with his wing, or maybe he was just happy to be flying, because he obeyed my commands flawlessly, trailing Meeka across the scarred landscape without hesitation.
Rhyne flew close by, landing briefly on the rocks around us, with Kysa’s gaze on us the whole time.
We were deep in the center of the magma field, and I was just beginning to think we might make it across with no problems,
when the lava began to stir.
For once, Meeka had landed on a shard that was large enough for both rock beetles to stand on. But as Rhyne dropped down and
landed beside Ratuk, the surface of the magma started to bubble even more furiously than before.
“Oh, I don’t like that,” Halek sighed, as a second section of lava swelled, engulfing a smaller boulder beneath the magma.
Heart pounding, I watched something enormous slide beneath the surface of the lava like a massive fish.
“We need to move,” Raithe growled behind me. “Sparrow, get us out of here.”
The lava exploded, sending gouts of molten fire into the air, as something huge and terrible rose out of the lake.
A massive worm, covered in plates of obsidian, with a hideous circular mouth ringed with thousands of teeth, towered in the air in front of us.
A second surged out of the lava behind us with a high-pitched scream I felt in my bones, and the entire magma field began to boil.
“Ratuk, up!” I cried, as the first giant worm lunged, its terrible sucking mouth gaping wide. Ratuk leaped off the boulder,
wings buzzing as he shot away, and the worm crashed mouth first into the rock with an echoing crunch.
The lava field erupted with worms. They were suddenly everywhere, a forest of pulsing, writhing tendrils and gnashing teeth.
Lava rained down from overhead, making Ratuk swerve wildly to avoid being hit. Raithe’s grip on me tightened, and he pulled
me close, hunching his body over mine as we flew through the sea of lashing worms and falling magma.
Raithe jerked against me, a hiss of pain escaping him. Alarm flared, but something struck my leg, and it felt like a dagger
had been driven into my skin. I clamped down on a shriek, striking my leg with my gloved hand, and liquid magma burned through
the fabric. Instantly, I stripped off the glove and hurled it away. But my fingers were already red and scalded, and my leg
felt like it was on fire.
The forest of worms seemed to be closing in. Screaming, they lunged for us, forcing Ratuk to dive and swerve wildly. Liquid
fire rained around us. I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood, expecting another blaze of white-hot agony at any second.
A tooth-filled maw curled around a boulder and flew right at us, and Ratuk jerked to the side to avoid it.
More droplets fell, landing on Ratuk’s shell, smoldering where they touched, and the beetle shuddered.
Another worm rose from the lava right in front of us, its jaws opening like a black hole, a red light blooming from that darkness.
“Ratuk, up!” I cried again, leaning back, and the rock beetle shot skyward. With a hiss, the worm disgorged a stream of magma
that seared the air where we had been and splashed down on the rocks.
We rose above the pool, and I saw Rhyne bobbing and weaving through the air, Kysa with her spear raised toward the worms that
lunged at them. Halek was shouting something behind her, but with the screaming worms and hissing lava, I couldn’t hear what
he was saying.
I was so focused on Rhyne, I didn’t see the worm that rose out of the lava right beneath us until it was almost too late.
Looking down, seeing those jaws of death coming for us, I instantly threw my body weight to the side, causing Ratuk to swerve
sharply to the left. The worm’s teeth struck Ratuk’s shell as the jaws closed, and the rock beetle plummeted, trying desperately
to right himself. I saw the spinning magma pool coming at us and leaned backward as far as I could, hoping to steady the rock
beetle’s free fall.
There was a jarring impact as Ratuk landed on one of the boulders harder than we intended, and the jolt threw me halfway over
the saddle horn. Only Raithe’s firm grip around my waist kept me from being hurled out of the saddle entirely. Ratuk snorted,
shaking his head, dazed by the sudden stop.
Panting, I looked up . . . into the gaping jaws of a worm.
And then Rhyne flew in from the side, slamming his horn into the worm’s head.
The huge creature screamed as it was knocked aside, then whipped around and breathed a stream of magma as Rhyne flew away.
My heart seized. The lava arc barely missed the rock beetle, but then Rhyne flew upward, above the worm and the stream of fire.
Three more worms rose out of the lava, splashing magma against the edges of the rock and raining it from the air. They hissed,
jaws opening as they stared down at us.
“Human Fateless!”
Meeka sped toward us, bouncing over rock and magma, his tiny body zipping from side to side to avoid the lava rain. With one
last leap, he landed on Ratuk’s head, his eyes glowing white as they peered up at me. Above us, the worms screamed and lunged,
three sets of open maws descending like an avalanche of teeth and flesh.
The world went black.