Fires of Prophecy_ Book Two of the Morcyth Saga - Brian Pratt [29]
“Crap!” James exclaims, as he sees the fire beginning to burn out of control.
“What?” Jiron asks.
“The fire!” he says, pointing to the blaze. “The wind is going to push it this way! We’ve got to get out of here!”
As they turn to race up the mountain, Jiron asks, “Do you think we got everyone?”
“I think so,” James says, “no way to be sure now. At least the fire will hide the evidence of what we did here.” Smoke is beginning to thicken as more and more of the forest becomes ablaze.
“Let’s get the others and find a way around the fire!” James yells.
They hurry up the mountain and before they reach the camp, they see Tinok and the girls coming down to meet them.
“What’s happening?” Tinok says, as he gazes down the now thickening smoke.
“James set the forest afire,” Jiron tells him.
“What?” Tinok exclaims. “Why did you do that?”
“Didn’t mean to,” admits James, “it just sort of happened. Anyway, we have to get out of here before we’re cooked alive.”
James heads them southeast since the wind is blowing from the east. Running as fast as the forest will allow, they move laterally along the mountainside, trying desperately to gain the far side of the fire before it cuts them off.
Smoke is thick and he can hear the others begin to cough as the smoke in the air thickens. In her haste, Cassie snags an exposed root with her foot and stumbles, falling to the ground. Her screams bring the others to a halt as she rolls down the mountainside, closer to the approaching fire. She comes to a stop amidst a tangle of undergrowth and fallen branches.
“Help me!” she cries out when she realizes she’s stuck within the tangled mess and the fire is quickly approaching her.
Tinok bolts down the mountainside after her and quickly reaches her side. “I’m here,” he assures her as he begins pulling back the brush which has her trapped. The fire is burning closer and a tree no more than ten feet away suddenly bursts into flame.
“Hurry!” she urges, her eyes on the tree being engulfed by the fire. At last he manages to free her and helps her to her feet. He has her lean on him as they make it back up to where the others are waiting for them. Behind them, more trees burst into flame as the wind spreads the fire rapidly.
Looking at the treetops, James notices how the fire hopping from one tree to the next, reminiscent of a documentary of the Yellowstone fire he saw years earlier. As Tinok and Cassie join them, they once more begin moving as fast as possible away from the quickly approaching inferno.
Suddenly, they break from the confines of the forest and stumble upon a small road running due east. Ruts line the road, showing that wagons have moved through here. Turning onto it, they’re able to make better time.
The fire behind them is gaining rapidly, they begin to feel the heat of the raging inferno drawing ever closer. James looks up again and sees that the treetops above them are already beginning to catch. There’s no way we’re going to outrun this!
Continuing on as best they can with the smoke thickening rapidly, their lungs burn from the heated smoke they’re breathing. Cassie falls to her knees, coughing, overcome by the smoke and unable to continue. In desperation, Tinok picks her up and carries her onward. James looks in dread as the trees along the road ahead of them begin to catch fire, the wind pushing the blaze ever forward.
“We’re not going to make it!” Delia cries out to him over the roar of the fire.
The forest before them suddenly opens up to a wide canyon, five hundred feet across. A rope suspension bridge, barely wide enough to accommodate a wagon, spans it.
Thank goodness! James thinks to himself when it comes into view. Just then, a branch being consumed by flame falls upon the bridge, twenty feet from the edge. James stares in disbelief as the fire which is consuming the branch begins licking the ropes holding the bridge in place.
“Move!” he yells, allowing Jiron