Page 37 of On Burning Paths

At that moment, a roll of thunder booms across the forest, and I swear it shakes the ground beneath our feet. Talon and Thorian reach out at the same time to steady me, then make eye contact before letting go simultaneously.

I would laugh if the wind wasn’t starting to whip, leaves raining down from the trees, critters scurrying to find cover.

“We need to find cover!” Fenric says, but Thorian is already shaking his head, gesturing for us to hurry.

“He’s going to justify it as herding us to the next trial,” Thorian shouts over the growing roar of the wind and thunder rioting above and around us. “But it’s really just a chance for him to fuck with us!”

The sky opens and rain starts to fall down on us. It's the same relentless, cruel rain as before, seeming almost designed to make us miserable. Rather than coming on in a slow trickle and building over time, it’s like having buckets of water thrown at you from all directions. Like stepping directly into the path of a hurricane.

The clouds quickly darken the area, making it look like night in the middle of the day. The only source of illumination is the occasional lightning that rips across the sky, flashing brilliantly for a moment and dissipating in the next.

I squint my eyes and catch someone’s hand, Talon’s, as we struggle ahead on the path. We’re both drenched, but his hold is firm, and I can make out the vague forms of the other guys near us.

A deep, creaking groan sounds to our left, and at first, I think it’s thunder.

That is, until one of the massive sequoias starts to move, its form hazy through the rain, and we scramble to get out of the way as it crashes down, like a giant falling to its knees before me.

The earth trembles with the shock of the impact. A set of arms wraps around me, strong and sure.

“Nyx!” Thorian bellows, and Talon calls back, “I’ve got her!”

Trembling as Talon gets us moving again, I add, “I’m okay!”

But I have no idea if Thorian can make out the sound of my voice through the storm, the wind and rain, the stinging of branches and pebbles flying through the air around us, and the rumbles of the ground, still shaking below our feet.

“It’s a quake!” Talon says, and though he must be shouting, his voice is muted to me, even though he’s just behind me. I make out Fenric’s shape in front of me, fighting against the wind, his head bowed, and I try to reach out to him, but can’t make contact.

“Stay together!” Thorian yells, his voice somehow the only thing that can clearly break through the din. I have no idea how we’re supposed to follow his instructions when I can’t see him, the debris and water like a blizzard around us.

The ground pitches again, and Talon catches me before I fall. I’m panting, muscles straining, skin stinging.

It’s at this moment that his words sink in. It’s a quake.

“Fenric!” I shriek, pushing magic up and through my body to elevate my voice, and it actually works. Fenric turns just in time, while trying to maintain his footing, to see the great crevice splitting the ground open.

Talon yanks me backward, into the brush and away from the fissure, with Fenric on the other side. It opens like a great mouth, rocks sticking out in a jagged pattern like hungry, dripping teeth.

Fenric meets my gaze, wide-eyed.

I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life. I’d only read about them in books. The ground is splitting open between us, growing faster with each passing moment.

“Jump!” Talon calls to Fenric, but the berserker clearly can’t hear us.

The gap grows larger, and for a heart-stopping moment, it looks like Fenric is going to be stuck on the other side of it. Then, as though appearing out of thin air, Thorian comes running at a full speed behind him, roaring with anger and running nearly as fast as Talon.

“Jump!” he commands, and Fenric obeys instantly, leaping into the air over the crevice. Time stops, Fenric suspended, Thorian launching across the crevice behind him, looking for all the world like the two of them aren’t going to make it.

Then, Thorian connects with Fenric, and his velocity propels both of them over the break in the earth.

“Go!”

It’s Thorian again, screaming for us to run, and he doesn’t have to tell us twice. We turn and sprint blindly ahead, away from the massive trees and through the storm. My body is both hot and freezing at once, and my leathers, now sopping wet, chafe angrily against my skin.

The storm only begins to calm when we exit the forest and approach a cliff, the rain dying down, like the last dying breaths of a beast determined to catch and kill you.

We collapse.

I suck in breath after breath, but nothing seems to fill my lungs. Nothing eases the aching in my muscles, and now that the adrenaline is starting to fade, I can feel the cuts on my arms and legs, and bruises from objects hitting me. My hair sits on my head like a wet sweater, the braid like a rope from the water and scattered through with twigs and leaves.