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This was no simple torch or match—magical firebombs were made to catch hold and burn. Water wouldn’t always put out the flames. And when they licked against the skin, they stuck, eating away at the flesh.
A cloud of hot smoke billowed around us, so thick it was hard to see. I began to cough as the haze surrounded us. Shade tightened his grip as I stumbled, pulling me back to my feet. I couldn’t see anything. Not the turns, not the shelves, not the crates scattered on the floor. I tripped over something and went down again, my knees landing hard on a metal box. It felt like an army trunk. But Shade never let go; he just pulled me to my feet again, and I skirted the trunk.
The flames were licking the basement walls now, crackling as they caught purchase. Somewhere in the mess, a bottle exploded and a rush of fire and heat swelled up, along with the smell of ammonia. Hell! Wilbur probably stored his spell components down here, and no doubt a number of them were flammable.
My eyes were burning and I couldn’t stop coughing as Shade rumbled, “Stairs. Watch your feet.”
I gently kicked forward and my toes met the first stair. I felt with my foot and got my bearings. Then, with one hand on the railing and Shade still firmly gripping the other, I struggled up the stairs.
As we stumbled into the kitchen, I saw that the back door was open and headed for it, with smoke spewing out of the basement stairwell behind me. From the kitchen, I could see that Camille was standing outside, along with Martin, whom she’d managed to persuade to come with her. Wilbur was lying on the grass. Morio and Rozurial were running around from out front.
Smoky headed past me, back toward the basement. “I’ll be back in a moment. I might be able to quell the flames.” He passed Menolly on the stairs as she came racing up them. She was covered with soot, but she held something in her hands.
“What’s that?” I headed down the back steps, with her following me.
“I don’t know, but it was sitting near Wilbur and at one point, he pointed to it. I thought I’d bring it up, just in case it’s important.” We stopped beside Camille, who was closing her cell phone.
“Sharah’s almost here. And I called the fire department. If Smoky can quell the worst of the flames, the firemen might be able to take care of the rest when they get here.” She frowned. “Wilbur is unconscious, but he’s still breathing. He’s been hurt pretty bad.” She knelt beside him in the mud and wet grass and wiped his forehead. “I need a blanket to cover him with.”
Shade nodded. “I’ll be right back.” He headed for the house, and my first instinct was to say, “No, don’t go,” but then I realized he had the best chance of making it in and out of there without any repercussions.
As we waited, there was another explosion and all the windows on the left side of the house blew as flames billowed out, engulfing the entire length of the walls. Camille gave a little cry and moved forward, but I stopped her.
“They’ll be okay. You know they’ll be okay.” I was scared, too, but we didn’t dare go into the tangle of burning timbers and broken glass.
She bit her lip, nodding. “I hope so. I don’t trust anything, anymore.”
“Not even the Moon Mother?” I tried to cadge a smile out of her as we waited for our men to emerge from the flames.
She gave me a pensive look. “I trust her to do what she can. But I learned the hard way that even she can’t control the world, and can’t always stop evil when it rises. But she can comfort. The gods are not omnipotent nor omniscient.”
We waited—watching, hoping—until a movement at the kitchen door proved the answer to our prayers. Smoky and Shade emerged, both looking a little worse for wear. Camille jumped up and ran over to Smoky’s side while I stayed with Wilbur. She wrapped her arms around his waist as they walked back to us. Shade crouched beside me, staring down at the necromancer.
“How is he?”
“Not good, but Sharah should be here any minute. Is the house a goner?”
Smoky let out a sigh. “I don’t know, but even when I breathed an ice storm on it, the flames merely flickered. I think Wilbur’s house is doomed.”
Just then, the medic unit pulled up, siren screaming, and Sharah slammed open the door, heading toward us on the run. She glanced at the house. “You call the fire department?”
“Yeah, but what we need is someone who can counter sorcery. Shamas! He might be able to stop the flames!” Camille turned to Menolly. “Run home, as fast as you can, and get him.”
Menolly took off without a word.
Meanwhile, Sharah was examining Wilbur. She motioned to her assistants. “We need a stretcher here. Get his blood typed; he’s lost quite a bit and is in shock. His arm and leg are mangled—I suspect his leg is crushed, and his arm is broken in several places. He may have a skull fracture by the looks of things. He’s dehydrated and I doubt if he’s eaten in several days. I’m surprised he’s not dead.”
“Martin was trying to feed him, I think. We found plates of food down there. How long do you think he’s been hurt?”
She looked over at me as she started an IV drip of some clear liquid into his unhurt arm. “Several days at least. He lost a lot of weight due to dehydration. Okay, once he’s stabilized let’s get him back to the hospital.” She gathered up her stuff. “He must have the stamina of an elephant, to last through the beating he took. What happened to him?”
I shook my head as Menolly returned, Shamas on her heels. He headed toward the building, stopping just below the back porch steps. Camille and Morio followed him.
“I don’t know. We came over here, expecting to have it out with him, but Martin dragged us to the basement, where we found Wilbur. While we were down there, a Tregart and two zombies appeared through some sort of portal. The zombies attacked me while the Tregart let loose a firebomb.”
Sharah pressed her lips together. She gave me a wan smile and headed toward the ambulance. I crossed my arms in the chill night as a boiling cloud bank drove in around us. Unnatural and growing darker, it seethed with energy and I glanced over to see Shamas, his arms raised to the sky, with Camille and Morio beside him, hands linked, heads tilted back. I wasn’t sure how, or in what way, but they were all working together.
A tremendous crash broke through the night and rain pounded down, so hard it hurt against my skin. Hail quickly followed, as thick as snow, and I dodged the pellets, taking cover beneath a nearby tree with Shade and Smoky. Menolly was watching over Martin, and even though he seemed afraid of her, he obeyed when she made him move beneath the overhanging boughs.
