Chapter 61 The Captain of Blaze and Fury pt1
It’s hot.
Too hot.
I can’t breathe, can’t think.
There’s laughter coming from somewhere…
Is it masculine? Feminine? I can't tell…
…ara…
…an…ara…
Anara!
His voice booms in my mind, but it’s too loud. Too painful. I try to curl into a ball to protect my head but find I can't move.
My skull is pounding, throbbing…
You need to wake up! You need to open your eyes!
I can’t, my eyes feel so heavy. As if they’ve been sealed shut forever.
Gods, it’s hot…why is it so hot?
“Not so easy taking down a captain when they’re awake, is it?”
Who…who is that?
Hands so hot they feel as if they’re searing my flesh grab my face. Cruel fingers, nails long and sharp, pry my eyes open.
I try to scream, but my throat is too dry. My lips crack and peel as my mouth opens, no sound coming out.
Cinder’s half-scarred face is inches from mine. Her bright red lips are drawn up on the burned side in a permanent smile. I’d never noticed that before. Flames seem to lick her skin without touching her, the same flames that are so hot my skin is beginning to bubble.
She backs away, cackling, and slinks into the arms of my worst enemy.
“Malachi,” I croak, desperately trying to draw a breath. I wet my lips, only to find there’s no moisture in my mouth.
“I told you I’d get my revenge, although I never imagined it would be this sweet!” Malachi smirks, his arm lowering to grip Cinder’s ass. She giggles, actually giggles, and leans up to kiss him passionately.
Disgusted, I look away and finally realize where we are. We’re on a small platform connected to the side of the mountain.
No, not mountain…
Volcano!
We’re in the center of Dragon Mount! The walls around us glow a sinister red, veins of molten rock snaking through the dark stone like fiery rivers. The ground trembles beneath us, a constant reminder of the volatile power just beneath the surface. The roar of the lava, a continuous, menacing hiss, fills my ears, drowning out all other sounds.
The realization hits me like a punch to the gut. We’re trapped in the heart of a living, breathing monster, and there is no escape from its fiery grasp.
I try to struggle, try to kick, but I'm stuck in place.
Looking down, I realize I’m bound in chains that wrap around me multiple times, the links disappearing into the rock wall behind me. The air is thick with the acrid scent of sulfur, making each breath a painful effort. The heat is so intense that I can’t think straight.
Malachi and Cinder seem to have forgotten about me as they moan and grope each other. They don’t seem to be affected by the heat at all… Why?
Think, Anara, think! I have to figure this out! My brain feels like it's swelling in my skull, the pulsating making it hard to see clearly, much less think.
She struck you in the head! Collect yourself, use your powers!
Air! Air will whisk away the heat, right?
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to focus, trying to connect with Wist’s gifts.
…nothing.
I growl, pulling harder at the magic. Desperately reaching into the ether inside me to claim what I’ve learned, but nothing is coming.
“Oh look, lover!” Cinder mocks, barely breaking her mouth away from Malachi’s. “She’s trying to summon her wind powers!”
“Stupid bitch, there’s no air in here,” Malachi cackles. “Don't even try for water!”
The ground beneath us shakes, the mountain seeming to groan with the pressure of its lava. It’s too full, ready to burst, ready to explode and kill us all. The roar of the heat and rushing red lava is deafening, the impending doom I’m facing is the only thing louder.
I have to think of something.
There must be some way out of this!
I can’t get to you in time! You have to get out of this on your own!
Can’t get to me? Isn’t…
“Aren’t you just a voice in my head?” I ask, not realizing I’ve spoken out loud.
“Awe, is she losing her mind?” Cinder pouts, stomping her foot. “That’s not fair!”
“We better hurry and kill her, then. I want her to be aware of everything.” Malachi grins, pulling a small paring knife from his belt. He detaches himself from his captain, his lover, and stalks toward me. “We’ll start the way this all began, shall we? An eye for an eye?”
Shadows! Blind them, Anara! Take away their ability to see!
Immediately darkness overtakes us, battling relentlessly against the glow of the lava.
Cinder laughs, the sound rattling inside my skull like a banshee’s shriek. “You think you can hide? You’re chained to the wall! We know where you are!”
Malachi finds me, his calloused hands gripping my chin in the dark and wrenching my head upward. “I can't see, so this is probably gonna be messy. All the more fun, taking your pretty face and making you as ugly as what’s inside!”
The chains! Are they steel? Captain Steel has more than one power, he can melt and forge anything metal!
Desperately, I focus on the chains, trying not to feel Malachi’s rank breath against my skin. They’re porous, rough, and sharp. They’re forged from lava! I won't be able to do shit with that! Not without mastering the fire powers. Cinder definitely won’t be sharing those.
“All your powers are useless here,” Cinder croons, walking closer and closer in the darkness, her voice floating around and taunting me. It’s as if she’s everywhere at once.
Malachi presses his blade to my cheek. Hard.
This time I do scream, the sound shrill even to my own ears as blood that’s colder than the air around us floods my face.
Cinder hisses as she draws closer. “All your training, all the skills, all the time spent raising you and grooming you to be the perfect little fighter. They all meant nothing. Thorne’s favoritism can’t save you, either. He’s not here. No one is here but us. We’re going to kill you, Daughter of Hellbane.” She says my title as if mocking the name, her jealousy so thick I can taste it. “And when I deliver your head on a platter to him, Thorne will know he bet on the wrong woman. He will know it was always me, his very first captain, who was meant for those honors.”
“I’ll make her hideous for you, Cinder,” Malachi declares, slicing down the other side of my face and rending my cheek loose from my skull to hang like discarded parchment. “I’ll gouge out her eyes and slice off her lips. No one is prettier than you, no one!”