Father. He’d been so certain and she had done nothing. Was he still alive? He couldn’t be, the streets had ran red with fire and blood. But she hadn’t felt him go. It was like he was still here with her, in her heart.
Every fiber of her soul was tainted now. She had destroyed an entire city, saving them from becoming the Dread, but still taking their lives.
A choked sound escaped between her clenched teeth. There wasn’t time for this, she told herself. She had to remain strong and keep going through this forest of tangled briars and shadows that seemed to move on their own. She couldn’t bog herself down with guilt and thoughts of dying people, screaming and trapped within the fortress of Little Marsh.
Amicia tripped at the thought, falling hard on her hands and knees in the dirt. Mud oozed between her fingers and, for a second, it looked like blood in the glistening light of the moon.
“What have I done?” she whispered, sinking her hands deeper into the muck. “What did you ask me to do, Father?”
Would she ever be able to ease the torment in her soul? Would she ever be able to look anyone in the eye again once they knew she was the killer of Little Marsh?
Her city had been a haven for all of the Empire of Ember. A safe place for all those who needed to seek asylum. And now, there was nowhere else for anyone to go.
Sniffing hard, she reached up and dashed away the tears on her face. Mud slicked across her cheeks, but maybe that would help her hide if need be.
Her father used to talk about the days when they could go out into the forest. The days when humans hunted creatures in the woods for meat.
She wracked her brain for any memories of what they had done. He said they tracked the creatures, but that wouldn’t help her. Though her stomach rumbled with the desire for food, she had no tools other than a small set of lock picks in her pocket. It seemed unlikely she’d kill a deer with those.
Twigs snapped to her left, followed by a heavy thud of feet. Amicia’s breath caught in her chest, and she slowly tilted her head. She couldn’t see much in the shadows, but she doubted creatures existed in this forest who were large enough to make that sound.
The darkness warped between a copse of trees, at least seven feet high and with horns as thick as her forearms. The shape of a Dread.
Moving inch by inch, she flattened herself into the mud, arms bent underneath her head.
The creature lifted its head, snuffled, and then moved away. For a moment, a horn snagged on a branch above it before the beast gave a quick toss of its head and snapped the limb clear off.
She couldn’t stay here. Not in the forest when they were still searching for her.
Although… it made little sense why they were still looking. Certainly, they didn’t care if they only missed one person to add to their army of monsters? They should have been focusing on trying to put out the fires in the city and stealing whatever humans they could from the veritable cauldron of souls within those walls.
Instead, they had come into the forest for her. A single woman. Nothing more than a mere scrap compared to all the strong men in Little Marsh.
Perhaps her father had been right. The Dread in her home had stepped into the torchlight. They might truly be averse to fire, but they weren’t averse to light. The others had left when the city burned, though. That was enough to give her hope.
Amicia dashed the guilt and fear from her mind. There would be time for mourning, but that time was not now. The creatures were in the forest with her, and that made this place infinitely more frightening.
What had her father used to say?
The Dread cannot stand fire. It is their greatest weakness. If you are ever lost in the forest, or if you are ever hunted by their kind, then you need to know how to start a fire, my dear girl.
But Father, she had asked. Won’t a fire bring them to me?
If you are in the forest, little one, then they already know where you are.
She remained flat in the mud for long heartbeats, straining her eyes to find what she would need. Dry twigs, enough kindling and logs so the fire would sustain itself for a long time. She just had to get through the night, and then she had bested them.
One night. She could get through a single night.
Amicia crawled through the mud and the slush to a small incline that led deeper into the forest. She had to get out of the wet, bog-like area and to somewhere it would hopefully be drier. Then she could gather all the materials needed for her plan.
Though her progress was slow, she crawled her way across the forest floor. Bugs bit at her skin, leaving itching welts that stung whenever she touched them. A few times she heard breaking tree limbs and had to freeze for long heartbeats before the sounds died back down.
But, by the time she found what she needed, none of the Dread had found her. Moving quickly, she gathered armfuls of bark and broken twigs from the undergrowth. She scooped handfuls of leaves into a ring around herself and buried logs underneath the leaves. The Dread would not attack her if she had protection through the night.
Amicia had one chance at this. Everything had to be perfect.
Finally, she had set up her own personal ring of tinder that would keep her safe. As a precaution, she also gathered a small bundle of thick logs and stacked them in the center.
She bent down and set to work. Her father had taught her how to light a fire with just two sticks. All it took was friction, enough movement to cause the smallest of sparks. Then, she would catch it in the dry leaves she had found and transport it to the ring.
Easy enough.
Except when she rubbed the sticks together, nothing happened. No spark. Just the bark coming off the twigs from her movement.
Come on, she thought, pressing them together harder. We’ve done this before, Amicia. Come on.
Twigs snapped in the forest beyond. It wasn’t the sound from an animal passing by. This was made by a large creature who had somehow, impossibly, found her.
Letting out a low hiss, Amicia pressed the sticks together frantically. She thought she might have a little more time than this, and yet, now they had found her. The twigs shifted, moving with a speed she hadn’t known possible even as her palms grew slick with sweat.
A small plume of smoke grew from the movement. She squeaked in excitement, then dove to the small embers. Cupping them in her hands, she blew on them until the flame grew to life.
Sounds of movement grew louder and louder, but she couldn’t be distracted. If she lost this tiny flame, then there would be nothing else for her. She would be captured, and the rest of her life would be spent as a winged monster.
Amicia wouldn’t abide by that future. She couldn’t.
Blowing hard on the fire that began to burn through the leaves to her palms, she made her way to the ring she’d set up around herself. Carefully, she placed it down and gave it one last lungful of air.
The fire burst to life. It filled the ring of twigs and leaves she’d set up with a great gust The sound seemed to echo through the forest.
The sudden flames illuminated a monstrous face.
A Dread who stood close enough it might have reached for her.
She stumbled back and landed on her bottom, hands pressed into the earth as she stared up at the creature. In response to the flames, it lifted an arm to cast a shadow across its strange eyes.
For a heartbeat, she thought it would come through the fire. It stared at her with a single-minded intent that made her think her father had been wrong. That these creatures didn’t care at all if there was fire. That it would come for her as it had her entire kingdom.