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As they continue to progress toward the location of their comrades, their feet grow hotter by the minute. “Make for the areas where the heat broke the glass,” suggests Shorty. When the others look questioningly at him, he explains. “If the heat has had a chance to escape, it may also have had a chance to cool.”

“Good thinking,” Stig says. He taps Aleya on the shoulder and says, “Let me lead here.”

About ready to argue the point, she finally relents and nods her head.

Moving past her, Stig studies the area before them and plans a route that will take advantage of the sections of broken glass. Deciding on his route, he begins to move. A thought comes to him about the broken areas of glass. It could be that those areas are actually hotter than the rest and that’s why the glass broke over them. If so, they aren’t going to have any better time of it.

“Looks like that guy Zyrn and his buddies have figured out that the glass could be valuable,” Shorty says from the rear. Glancing back, the others see Zyrn and two others holding a large piece of glass up while the rest inspect it.

“They should give James a percentage,” states Scar.

“That’s right,” agrees Potbelly. “If it weren’t for him, this glass wouldn’t even be here!”

“Not to mention they would still have a deadly problem on their hands,” offers Stig. As he reaches the first of the shattered areas where the heat escaped, he steps carefully. Finding it not any hotter than the areas of glass that have remained intact, he continues on.

At one point Scar leans on Potbelly as he inspects the bottom of his boot. Sections of the sole have melted away, though not so far as to expose the foot within. “If this keeps up,” he says quietly to Potbelly, “we’ll be walking barefoot.”

“Let’s hope they aren’t too much further then,” replies Potbelly.

With a knowing nod, Scar resumes to follow behind Aleya.

Crack! Pop!

Two feet away from Shorty, heat blasts its way through the glass. The steam that ensued from the new opening shoots upward until the pressure has been released. “I don’t think this was such a good idea,” he says loud enough to be heard by all.

No one replies as they continue on. A solid hour has elapsed already since they entered the glass covered area and the eruptions from escaping heat have all but subsided. Occasionally one can still be heard, but they are now few and far between.

At the head of the party, Stig comes to a stop. Shielding his eyes to see through the glare of the sun being reflected off the glass, he stares far ahead of them. “I think I see them,” he says pointing almost directly ahead of them.

Aleya comes to stand beside him and scans the area he indicates. Like a bubble, a shiny dome rises out of the glass. “Think they’re still inside?” she asks.

From beside her, Miko says, “They have to be.”

“Then why don’t they come out?” Stig asks.

“They may think the grayness is still active and it would be dangerous,” supposes Scar.

Nodding, Stig says, “That would make sense.”

Now with them in sight, Stig moves at a quicker pace until a section of glass slips along the ground under his foot, causing him to stumble. If it weren’t for the quick reflexes of Aleya grabbing his arm and steadying him, he would have fallen. With the ground covered in broken glass from his passing, a fall could likely have been disastrous.

“Thanks,” he says to her after regaining his balance.

“Be more careful next time,” she says.

Once again stepping carefully, he leads the way toward the dome.

Once the fires had subsided, it was much easier for Brother Willim’s magic to effectively protect all three of them from the heat. Still horribly hot within the barrier, at least they are no longer at risk of burning.

He moves over to where James is lying unconscious and turns him over onto his stomach. When he sees the extent of the burns he says to Jiron, “Help me get his shirt off. I need to take care of this.” Moving to help Brother Willim, Jiron soon has the shirt off.

Jiron holds James steady as Brother Willim removes a jar from within his