Page 37 of Heart of Night and Fire

She heard the hitch in his breath as he brought his face closer to hers. Zarya closed her eyes in a hum of anticipation. She could taste it—the bottled longing of so many years spent alone. So many nights wondering if there was anything for her beyond the walls of her contained existence. The sweetness of triumph made even richer by the denial of it for so long.

His lips touched hers, the barest flutter, so tender that her heart nearly fainted dead away in her chest. There was a firmer press and a soft moan as she gently parted her lips. She felt the sweep of his tongue and his hand cupping the back of her head before he tipped it back to take a deeper plunge.

At that precise moment, a sonorous crash thundered through the forest.

Zarya and Vikram snapped apart as an enormous boulder skidded towards them through the trees. He sprung up instantly and grabbed her arm, yanking her out of its path. The solid mass slid across the earth like an ice cube on a warm surface before it came to a halt directly where they had been sitting a moment earlier. Food and dishes had scattered everywhere, and the air had muted to stillness, like it was holding its breath.

But the intruder wasn’t a boulder.

“It’s… an egg?” Zarya asked, scrutinizing it at an angle before looking at Vikram. His forehead creased as they took in the strange object. Smooth as glass, its polished black surface was striated with veins of silver and gold. And something—a life force, a magnetism—pulsed in the atmosphere around it, like the beat of a swinging pendulum.

They looked skyward, searching for its source. A moment later, Zarya’s stomach began to spin and churn, and that’s when she was certain they were in danger.

Vikram emitted a strangled noise as he reached for her hand.

“We need to run,” he said, the calmness in his voice belying the horror now unfolding above. Dozens of dark shapes were streaking across the sky, hurtling towards the earth.

And right towards them.

More eggs drove into the ground, blasting dirt and trees in every direction. Zarya and Vikram ran hand-in-hand, free arms thrown overhead to shield themselves from the onslaught.

“What are they?” Zarya shouted over the sounds of crashing trees and snapping branches.

“I don’t know.”

Vikram urged her to move faster as a flock of bright red birds filled the sky, their screeches high and piercing as they swooped above.

As she ran, Zarya looked up, trying to gauge the magnitude of this added threat. She watched as another egg oozed from the back end of a bird and slammed into the ground. Another bird flew past her vision, this one birthing yet another smooth oval, but that one didn’t make it to the ground. Instead, it cracked open mid-air before releasing another clump of crimson feathers.

Good gods, what were they?

More and more eggs split in the air, birthing an entire seething flock of shrieking feathered demons. They had to find cover.

“This way!” Vikram veered through the trees. “There’s a cave where we can take shelter.”

The screeching grew louder as each new bird began its own assault, in a shower of eggs and feathers and claws. Vikram and Zarya ran, weaving in and out of the trees.

Zarya felt a sharp pain against her temple just before she tripped and fell to the ground, her head spinning, the roiling in her stomach twirling in tight nauseating waves. She needed to get up, but her arms wouldn’t move. She was so dizzy that her eyes wouldn’t focus.

She staggered back to her feet, stumbling sideways and feeling blindly before her. Her skin stung from the impact as she was pelted over and over with sharp bits of shell and debris.

An egg the size of a coconut slammed into her lower back, throwing her forward and bruising her hip before rolling off with a thud. She tried again to get up, and when she pushed the hair from her face, her hand came away sticky with blood. It oozed into her eyes as Zarya struggled to her hands and knees. She fought down the urge to vomit, bile burning in her throat, the blood muddling her vision.

Hands then circled her waist as she was lifted up, cradled in strong arms. Vikram ran. The sky continued its torrent, objects hurling into the earth and sending up sprays of dirt as the sky darkened with ominous screeches and the flapping of wings.

The world twisted and whirled as everything in Zarya’s vision went black.

When she awoke, they were entering a small cave. Vikram lowered her gently to the ground as eggs continued to rain from the sky.

With a moan, Zarya touched her head, her fingers coming away wet. Vikram’s kurta was covered in blood, and she hoped none was his.

“Are you okay?” He lightly touched her head, and she gasped at the sharp sting of pain.

“Hold on.” Vikram ripped off the bottom portion of his tunic and dabbed at the blood coating her face. Next, he ripped off the sleeve and wrapped it around her head as a makeshift bandage.

“You’re going to have nothing left to wear if you keep this up,” she groaned.

“You wish,” he replied with a wry smirk.