Page 41 of The Demon God's Desire
I’m duty-bound to protect Bridget no matter what, even though there’s a part of me that whispers I may have to leave her. It’s not something I want to put an energy towards, but the thought is still there.
If it’s the only way to keep Bridget safe, then I’ll do it with no hesitation. I only hope she doesn’t hate me for it.
But I won’t tell her any of this. Not until we reach Jurtil and the Hedonist’s temple. As confident with my words as I had been since last night, I’m still apprehensive that any of this will work.
The gods are so fickle, even to their loyal devotees. I don’t really know if either the Guide or the Hedonist will be willing to help me, despite their tense relationship with the Hearthkeeper.
Who knows, perhaps the gods have even shifted and have come to find new enemies amongst themselves and allies with others that they otherwise despised beforehand.
A prickling of energy has me stopping in my tracks, my hand reaching out to grab onto Bridget’s arm while a shiver rolls up my spine. My shoulders tense, but I can’t quite place where it’s coming from.
It’s a soft hum in the air, almost like raw magic flying through the space above our heads.
I turn to look towards the sky, seeing a flash of light.
“Down!” I yell at her, throwing her to the ground.
I don’t have time to make sure she’s alright before I’m covering her with my body and feeling the crackle of my own magic race over me to harden my skin to stone. A barrage of burning embers slams into me, coming in waves that knocks the wind out of me.
Beneath me, Bridger curls into me, a gasp leaving her as I’m hit again and again.
“What is happening!” she screams over the sound of fire crackling against the hot sand, spraying us with tiny particles.
I’m too buddy bracing for the next impact to answer her.
Clearly this is a message from the Hearthkeeper, punishing me for traveling with Bridget to where we’re going. My only hope is that if she suspects we’re heading to Jurtil, that she has no idea why.
I can’t imagine what terror she’d reign down upon us if she did figure it out.
I have no idea where any of them are coming from, so getting up and fighting them off would be useless. Especially if they’re raining down from the sky.
“Guilri!” Bridget braces her hands against my chest, pushing me up off her. “We need to go!”
“What?” I stare down at her, did she not see us currently being pelted by fire balls?
“They’ve let up! We’ve got to head to someplace with covering before they start again!”
“I—” I’m slammed with another barrage, bracing myself over her so I don’t accidentally crush her.
The burning is hot and painful, but not enough for me to succumb to the end that the Hearthkeeper clearly wants for me. Her fondness over me obviously revoked at this point.
As the fireballs let up, Bridget pushes at my chest again. “Go!”
I’m quick to my feet, grabbing her and pulling her up with me. She takes my hand and yanks me in the opposite direction that we’d been heading in, her steps practiced and careful as she traverses through the sand.
A cave appears up ahead, the large hood of it curved over quite a bit to create a wide mouth. Energy spikes in the air again and I all but push Bridget into the cave before fire splits the earth between us. She falls onto her back, sliding a small distance before coming to a stop and sitting up.
“Come on!” She yells at me, waving her hands.
I dive into the cave, grabbing her by the leg and dragging her further inside before any of the fire falling outside can catch the small patches of grassweed on fire.
There is a horrible shriek that rattles my bones the moment the fireballs stop. It sounds angry and twisted, causing us both to cover our ears and duck our heads.
But as quickly as it comes, it stops just as fast, fading off into the distance along with the energy I’d felt crawling up my spine.
Bridget breathes out a sigh of relief, sagging against the cave wall. “I can’t believe that just happened.”
I crawl over to her to check on her and make sure my rough treatment of her didn’t cause too much damage. She smiles at me as I fuss, waving me off to pull her bag from around her and zip it up to pull out her medicine kit.