Flames of Fury

Magnolia

Griffin bursts into the room panting and panicked. He looks first at me and then quickly to Ember.

“It’s time. Right now! Let’s go!”

Understanding registers on Embers face which only serves to worry me more.

My head whips between the two of them, but neither of them say another word or give me any indication on where we’re going in such a rush. Ember grabs a backpack from inside one of the locked medical cabinets while Griffin monitors the hallway.

“What is going on? What’s happening?” I implore either one of them to fill me in on what the urgency is about.

Ember places her hands on my shoulders and looks at me intently. “We’re leaving. Follow Griffin, do not look back no matter what. You. Keep. Going.”

My mouth flounders open and closed, not yet processing what is happening.

As if reading my thoughts before I could even articulate them, Ember reassures me. “I’ll be right behind you. Stay in the shadows just in case. Together now, let’s go!”

“Alright girls stay close and keep moving.”

It’s Griffin’s one and only warning before he enters the hallway and begins leading us to freedom.

We follow him silently through the winding and curving hallways. Nothing seems out of place, the hallways are no more guarded than usual, there’s no flurry of activity or state of alarm.

The calmness of the cave is a jarring juxtaposition to the anxiety and unease wafting off of Griffin and Ember. I’m trying to keep my own nerves at bay. We’re not sure exactly when I’ll have the twins but I know that stress doesn’t help, and the last thing we need now is for me to go into labor in the middle of our escape.

I’ve imagined this moment for months now — the moment I broke out of this hell hole. I imagined more blood and carnage, more obstacles, a fight for survival. I didn’t imagine cloaking myself in shadows and just walking out the front door, which is what this feels like. It makes me slightly angry that we couldn’t do this sooner. If this was Griffin’s plan all along then why did he wait so long, why did he keep me here knowing how Ian tortured me, knowing what Ian intended to do with me and my babies?

I don’t notice that Griffin has stopped, so when I keep on walking I bump into him with a loud “oomph.”

“Don’t move,” he mouths to us, pausing at a juncture where two bridges intersect. We wait silently as two guards march across one of the bridges perpendicular to the one we need to cross. Once the guards step foot off the bridge and into an alcove, Griffin motions for us to hurry along after him across the bridge.

We duck into a tunnel I’m not familiar with, I’ve never seen this section of the Hollow. It seems like we’re going further into the lion’s den rather than away from it.

“Where are you taking us?” I whisper to him in the tunnel, demanding answers before I take another step.

He turns sharply around to face me, he stares straight into my eyes even though he shouldn’t be able to see me shielded by shadows — but somehow he knows exactly where I stand.

“Do you trust me?”

That’s the million dollar question isn’t it? Do I trust him? He’s been nothing but kind to me, he’s cared for me and brought me comfort when I needed it, and most importantly he was single handedly responsible for helping my father and uncle escape knowing Ian had no intentions of making good on his promise to me.

So do I trust him?

Yes, I do. Without question.

I’m literally placing my life and the lives of my babies in his hands, and trusting blindly in his word that he’s leading us to safety.

I swallow down any hesitation and answer him honestly, “Yes.”

He smiles warmly at me, making my heart pang with longing for a time before all this when it was my mates who looked at me like that.

“You first, then.” He gestures for me and Ember to pass him and head down the tunnel ahead of him.

As we continue to walk, the air becomes thicker, drenched with humidity. The rock walls glisten with sweat and I can hear the faint sounds of gently lapping water.

My heart plummets into the floor when we come up to a dead end, a small shimmering pool of water surrounded on three sides by walls of solid rock.

Griffin comes up between Ember and me and speaks softly and quickly.

“For the last month I’ve been working on digging a tunnel under the water that leads to a sunken lake on the other side of this wall. You should be able to fit, but probably only just.” He gestures to my ever growing belly. “We need to swim through the tunnel under water to get to the other side. Then we can fly up and out of here.”

I’m stunned into silence. Later I’ll blame it on pregnancy hormones but for now I throw my arms around his neck and hug him tightly, hoping he feels every ounce of my gratitude and affection for him.

I’m the first to step into the deceptively small pool of water. After only two steps I’m submerged in water up to my waist, one more step and I’ll be able to dive beneath the rock wall.

But before I can take that next step I’m frozen to the spot when a voice comes echoing through the tunnel we just walked through.

“Griffin!”

Griffin turns to us and whispers to Ember, “Go! Get her out of here!”

Ember joins me in the pool, grabbing my arm and pulling me down so that we’re completely submerged from the neck down.

Griffin walks away from the pool around the bend of the tunnel just out of sight, but we can still easily hear his conversation.

“What are you doing here, Gorm?” He says to his brother, managing to keep the nerves out of his voice.

“The better question is what are you doing here? You had orders to tell the doc she’s expected in surgery. Or have you already forgotten that Illian wants the mutts delivered?

“Come on, Gorm. Don’t be such a cock block. Give me an hour, tops. Then I’ll bring the good doctor back and she can deliver Mags.”

I look at Ember with wide, inquisitive eyes. She catches my unspoken question and shakes her head, vehemently denying that there’s any truth to them sleeping together.

“So it’s ‘Mags’ now, hmm? Have you caught feelings for our dear Queen too? Feeling a little sympathetic to her plight perhaps?”

There’s a long pause, and when Griffin doesn’t say anything or make a move, his brother questions him.

“Were you as sympathetic to her father and uncle?”

“What exactly are you implying, brother?”

Gorm lowers his voice but his tone darkens. “Where were you, brother, when the queen was brought in, when we barricaded the entrances? When her family escaped?”

Griffin’s next words steal all the air from my lungs.

“Gorm, put the knife away, you’re being ridiculous.” True fear is starting to seep from his words.

“I don’t think I am. Those two men were never supposed to be released, and yet after the entrances were blocked they were nowhere to be found. At first I didn’t think much of it, but then I noticed how much time you’ve been spending with the queen and her doctor. They trust you, they confide in you. And now here I find you sneaking off with the good doctor at the very moment she’s been summoned to deliver the wolf spawn.”

He pauses for a moment. “I’d even bet that our queen is here with you too. I’ve got a knife, I’ve got the doctor, maybe I’ll cut the mutts out of her myself to make sure the job gets done.”

“Girls, go!” Griffin bellows, his words echoing off the walls. Ember and I suck in a deep breath and dive down into the water, feeling our way through the darkness to find the tunnel beneath the wall. We find the entrance and pull ourselves through the narrow opening, my belly barely fitting through the tunnel.

By the time we come out the other side of the passageway my lungs begin to burn, the drive to breathe in is increasing by the second. I kick and claw my way to the surface, following the light above me like a beacon beckoning me home.

I break through the surface of the water and greedily gulp in fresh oxygen. Ember emerges next to me a second later, gasping for air like me.

Looking around I discover we are now in the middle of a large underground lake. A circular beam of light shines down on us from a hole in the top of the cave two hundred feet above us.

Sunlight.

Freedom.

We swim to shore as quickly as we can. Griffin still hasn’t surfaced. Ember opens her wings getting ready to take off for the surface but I can’t leave without Griffin.

“Ember, we need to wait for Griffin!”

“Mags we need to go. Remember what I said? We can’t look back. We have to keep going. You have to keep going.”

“I’m not leaving without him!”

“He knows where to meet us. We can wait for him there, but we have to get out of here now!”

Logically I know she’s right, I know I should leave and never look back. I should trust that Griffin can handle himself and he’ll be right behind us. But I’m paralyzed. I can’t make a decision, I can’t move.

I’m snapped out of the grip of fear when the previously still waters of the lake begin to bubble, followed shortly by a head breaching the surface and gasping for air.

“Griffin!” Relief washes through me, but it’s short lived.

Griffin struggles to shore and we help pull him out of the water and onto the bank. He’s clutching his stomach, his hand is painted red with his blood.

“Ember he’s hurt!”

Ember puts her hands over his and floods him with warm, golden light. After a few seconds he grabs her wrist with his other hand and exchanges a meaningful look with her.

Slowly the light recedes and Ember’s hands slip from his stomach down into her lap. The wound is still there, unhealed, and actively bleeding.

“What are you doing? Let her heal you!”

He wipes away a trickle of blood running from his nose. “You both need to get out of here. It’s only a matter of time before they come looking for you.”

“What? No, you’re coming with us. Let her heal you.” I beg him once more, but when blood begins to drip from his ears I realize why he stopped Ember.

“No.” I breathe.

“It was a poisoned blade.” Ember whispers, her tone somber. “Sanguine death.”

“Okay, it’s okay. Come on, let’s get you up. We need to get to the grove, we can fix this.”

“Mags.” He struggles to get my name out, blood spilling from his mouth.

“You’re okay, it’s okay.” My voice trembles with unshed tears. “You have to be okay.”

“Go.” He begs weakly as blood streams from his eyes.

“Griffin,” I choke on a sob.

A crimson pool forms around him from the blood that pours out from every orifice in his body.

I feel Ember’s hand slide gently across my back. “Mags, he’s gone. We need to go.” Her voice cracks as tears stream down her face.

I plant a tender kiss on his forehead then I close his eyes and wipe the blood from his face. “I’ll come back for you and I’ll turn every last one of them to ash.” I whisper my last promise to him.

Ember helps me to my feet, and with one final look back at the man — my hero — who saved my family, my babies, and me, we take off towards the surface.

Towards freedom.