Page 95 of Inextricably Tied

The footsteps pause.

Agony pulls her back into his chest, gripping a hand over her mouth as he presses his mouth to her temple.

Stay still. Stay silent.

Her breath tremors against his hand until a bird flies off in the forest. The footsteps pick up pace down the trail again.

They wait until the footfalls change, muffled as they step into the ash. There’s a singular thud, much heavier than the others. Agony’s stomach sours. Then glass shatters, followed by a rush of wind and heat. Rainbow colors flicker off the forest around them. Agony grips the backs of Harbinger’s arms.

“Run.”

It’s a dead sprint through the forest. Her boots catch on rocks and roots, kicking up debris as they run from the raging phoenix fire. Agony stays behind her, trying to get a glimpse of the person behind them, but there’s a thousand shadows against the flames.

Then he hears the footsteps. Running toward them, far faster than they should, covering ground and eating away at the distance between them. Agony shoves Harbinger in front of him, breaking through the trees until they stumble back to where they started.

“Flint!”

Agony shoves Harbinger up the trunk of the first tree. Her fingers strain for the first branch, closing around the air beneath it, just out of her grasp.

“Flint!”

Agony heaves Harbinger with his shoulder. She leaps, digging her nails into the bark, snapping the lowest branch in half.

Footsteps shake the ground behind them. Agony’s body rattles.

“Flint, take her! Pull her out!”

A clawed hand appears above them, gripping Harbinger’s wrist and yanking them both off the ground. They come gasping back into the real world, Flint’s eyes skirting over both of them for any sign of trouble.

“I’m fine.” Harbinger collapses onto her back on the mattress, reaching for Agony’s hand. He takes it, both of them staring at the ceiling. “Holy fuck.”

“What the hell happened?”

“He was there,” Harbinger pants. “Or someone was. And I think they were — burning a body.”

Flint does his best not to look distraught. “But it wasn’t real, right? It was a dream. A memory.”

“I think so.” Agony turns onto his stomach. “But I didn’t want to risk it. This is all uncharted territory, and since Harbinger couldn’t wake up…”

There’s a moment of hesitancy before Flint sinks into the mattress between them. “Did you find anything?”

Harbinger runs a hand back through her hair, trying to shake the daze of the dream world. “Nothing definitive, but we have a better idea of the landscape. Someone familiar with the area could give us an idea of where to start.”

“I’ll get Aren.”

The werelynx returns with Flint, standing next to him with the same stoicism as Harbinger and Agony describe the dream.

“It has to be somewhere close,” Aren agrees, furred arms folded across his chest. “One of the other elevated territories. From the landscape, it sounds like higher ground, somewhere across the pass.”

“What’s the best way to get there?”

Aren tilts his eyes toward the ceiling, running mental calculations. “We can escort you — sometime in the next few days.”

Flint waves off the offer. “That’s not necessary. You’ve already been more than generous.”

One of the harpy prisoner’s screams pierces the night air, followed by a torrential string of curses. Aren rubs the bridge of his nose while Flint fights a smirk. “And you have your hands full already.”

“Who should we talk to?” Agony asks. “Who knows the area there?”