Where Fires Dare to Burn

Chapter 34 - No Tracks to Find

I'm dead.

There was no questioning it now. The gleaming, blood-slick metal of DeVergne's knife descended on him and there was nothing he could do. His head ached; he could barely think. The stolen rifle lay well out of reach.

Oaklynn.

Did she get free?

He would never know. Helpless anger welled inside him as the knife fell.

Then DeVergne stopped. Or more precisely, something stopped him. His whole body jerked violently, like he'd run into some kind of invisible wall. The knife fell from his grasp and clattered to the floor a few inches away. His eyes widened slowly, mouth opening in a silent cry of surprise.

Blood spilled over his lips and down his chin, and a sudden, sickening crunch echoed through the barn. Luke blinked and shook his head, shuffling away until his back pressed against the wooden pillar behind him. Then he tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

In a rough semi-circle behind DeVergne a dozen thick spines of... well, earth, burst from the ground, each one a few inches in diameter, several meters long, and all of them buried into the poacher's body. It was as though he'd been attached to elastic cords and they'd been suddenly snapped taut, halting his progress. The crunching sound came again and Luke let out a yelp of horror has several sharp tips exploded from the front of DeVergne's chest. Blood splattered across the floor of the barn. And Luke's legs.

DeVergne made a horrible, choking sound before his head lolled forwards. His arms dropped and his body sagged limply in the grip of the spikes. Dead.

Their task accomplished, the spines of rock and mud fell away to nothingness. DeVergne's body thumped wetly to the ground, revealing Oaklynn crouched behind him, her body blazing like a supernova, hands rammed deep through the floor of the barn and into the earth below. She raised her head to him.

Her face pulsed with a daemonic glow. Pain etched itself across her face as she stood up, her whole body trembling with effort. Then she convulsed and more of the spikes exploded from the ground around her, spearing up with lightning speed before disintegrating as quickly as they'd appeared. Taking a breath, Luke gripped the pillar behind him and pushed himself into a standing position, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

"Oaklynn!"

It took him a moment to recognise the voice. He looked to his left to find Gallie Parwood's wrathful form striding free of the melee, her Karkadda visage in full force, blood running down her face from her enormous scimitar of a horn. Her eyes flashed disdainfully at DeVergne's corpse before she turned her attention back to Oaklynn.

"Oaklynn, listen to me!" she bellowed. "You have to let go!"

"What's happening?" Luke shouted, moving up beside her.

"She reached too deep," Gallie replied. "Lost herself in the earth."

"What?"

The Mahar rounded on him. "She's drawing on the raw power of the planet, Luke, and if she can't stop, it will tear her apart!"

"Then what do we do?!"

"I'm not sure there's anything we can do." Gallie's face twisted in thought and she shook her head. "I've only read about this. I never thought I'd ever actually see it. To do this..." She broke off, jaw tight.

He looked back to Oaklynn, a helpless feeling swelling up inside him. The light broiling inside her was so bright it hurt his eyes. Luke raised a hand in front of his his face, staring uncomprehending as the tempest continued to rage.