Magika [Completed]

Chapter 17

It's still too quiet.

Kitaya bit down on her thumbnail, scanning the treetops and the trail ahead of them. Her gut was telling her that something wasn't right, and her brain was hoping that she was simply being paranoid.

Meanwhile Aldeheid was tapping away at his palm, still trying and failing to figure out the technique she'd showed him. With his brow furrowed and lips pressed together, he was concentration personified.

It probably wouldn't be much longer before he berated her for more information. But she had nothing else to give him. If he wanted to impress her, he'd have to do it with the pittance she'd offered.

Kitaya was pulled from her thoughts when a sharp scent burnt her nostrils. It was a curious bouquet of floral scents mixed with the tang of gunpowder and acridity of ash.

"Stop," she told Aldeheid, before pulling on Kaza's reins.

He stopped ahead of her and glanced around as though he expected fire to rain down on them. "What? What is it?"

She jumped from the horse's back and tethered her to the nearest tree. "We're leaving the horses here. Bring your sword and all the ether stones you have."

"You're expecting a fight?" He jumped from Alvere's back and tucked his sword into his belt.

"I'm hoping we won't have to. But if we do, it's best we're ready." Kitaya took him by the arm and pulled him down the path. It weaved and meandered through the trees like a serpent and they followed its length in silence.

"Do you smell that?" she asked him. "That peculiar scent on the wind." When her question was met with silence, she looked up at him. His eyes were rapt on where her hand held his bicep, his face turning a brilliant shade of red.

"Aldeheid!"

He startled. "Apologies. What were you saying?"

It took everything within her not to smack him. "Just be on your guard, please."

The burning floral scent became more pungent as they went on. Kitaya's eyes locked onto every rustling blade of grass and every falling leaf, looking for signs of danger. She was hoping she was simply being paranoid, but her instincts had never betrayed her before.

The thin space wasn't far from their position. They banked another bend in the path, and Kitaya stopped in her tracks, causing Aldeheid to bump into her. Everything from the grass to the canopy was coated in white ash. More rained from the sky, fluttering down like autumn leaves.

A string of Konian swears escaped her lips.

"What is this?" Aldeheid brushed a plant and rubbed the ashes between his fingers. "It's hot."

Kitaya had seen this before, in another part of Magika. The part of Magika where it belonged. "A Prometheria."

"A what?" he asked, frowning at her.

"A plant creature of fire. It's as dangerous, if not more dangerous than a monolith. And if it's anywhere near the thin space, we'll have to fight. Like the rockeater, it's very territorial." Still she didn't understand why it was here, in this forest. But there would be time for that later. If they didn't die.

She turned away from Aldeheid and bit down on her thumbnail. "Summon the box." The trunk thumped down a moment later, sending a cloud of ash billowing around them. She took out her riding cloak and tore it into strips, offering Aldeheid one. "Cover your nose and mouth."

He gave a jerky nod and clumsily tied the cloth around his head. There was fear in his eyes, and by the way his jaw was clenched, he was trying to stamp down said fear. He should be terrified. But she also needed him level headed.