A Girl From Nowhere (The Firewall Trilogy #1) - James Maxwell Page 0,48

and tight in his leather boot. A coat of dust covered his skin and clothing, and the fine grains even clung to his face, embedded in the stubble on his chin and in his dark hair. He had lost his pack as well as his sword and bow when they were captured. Even if they managed to escape, they wouldn’t be past danger.

Nearby, Lars moved closer and Taimin heard the skinner whisper. “Look. To your right.”

A hundred paces away there were no cactuses. Trails of smoke rose from the blackened ground and waves of heat shimmered as if the air was wet with moisture. Taimin was reminded of the time he had watched his parents’ bodies burn beyond the firewall. The column of heat that caused this destruction had passed, but the land still showed the firestorm’s effects. Swathes of dirt had become dark, forming crusts on top.

“It’s the best place I’ve seen by far,” Lars said. “A chance like this won’t come again.”

“We wait for Selena,” Taimin insisted.

“She was supposed to get close to us. Where is she?”

“We wait,” Taimin insisted.

“What if she can’t get to us?”

“We won’t leave her.”

Each step forward brought them closer to the scar of destruction the firestorm had left behind. Lars’s posture was tense as he walked, and Taimin could feel the older man’s eyes on him. Taimin peered through the clustered figures of the marching skalen and wondered where Selena was.

Taimin and Lars had drifted to the edge of the column without being challenged. But soon they would be leaving the blackened ground behind.

Lars moved to speak into Taimin’s ear, his voice filled with urgency. “You heard her. What if she can’t get away? We’re bound. There’s no way we can fight our way to her. Think about it. She’s gone to all this effort to get us here, risking her life. The group leader might be angry that Selena’s taken us so near to the firestorm’s path. Vail’s not going to let Selena come and see her friends in that case, is she?”

“Blast it,” Taimin swore. “Where is she?”

“It’s now or never,” Lars said.

In another dozen strides the chance would be gone.

“You go,” Taimin said. “Leave me behind.”

“We go together,” Lars said flatly. “When we leave, we’ll have no weapons, no food, no water. I need your wherry to help us find water. You need me to help you run.”

“What about Selena?”

“We’ll help her once we’re free. If we lose this chance, then what? How does that help her?”

Taimin’s heart was racing. His jaw was tightly clenched. He didn’t know what to do.

“Taimin, we’ll come back for her,” Lars said. “She has to do whatever they say or they’ll hurt us. She’ll feel better if we’re free. Here we’re no good to anyone. Once we’ve escaped, we can go about helping her.”

Taimin knew that Lars made sense. “We’ll come back for her as soon as we’re free,” he said firmly.

“Of course we will.”

He made a difficult decision. “Are you ready?”

“The glare will hurt their aim, but try to weave as you run.”

Taimin took a deep breath and then hissed. “Go.”

Immediately he broke away and ran as fast as he could, moving a shuffling gait. The nearest guards called out a challenge and hurried after him. It was then that Lars sped forward and crashed into the chasing skalen from behind, knocking them aside with his bigger frame.

Taimin’s back itched as he hobbled toward the blackened ground. With his hands bound behind his back, his run was awkward, making the scorched area seem impossibly far away. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Lars catching up to him. Their actions had taken everyone by surprise. Some skalen up front were turning back, wondering what the commotion was. A few of their designated guards were still on the ground.

He was forced to slow when he reached the place where rocks still smoldered and heat punched into him like a fist; the risk was too great that he would stumble. Lars caught up with him, and then the javelins began to fall.

Where the aurelium-tipped weapons struck the ground, flame followed and sparks flew in all directions. Taimin leaned into Lars as he ran into the area that every sense told him to flee from. His skin was on fire. If he hadn’t seen his aunt pass the firewall with his parents’ bodies he would never have thought he could survive.

But where the land beyond the firewall was permanently scorched, this region had seen the firestorm