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Her lower leg snapped in two, the crack audible even over the turmoil that whirled around us. She collapsed back to the ground, her face colliding with the earth, the three men behind her pulling with all their strength, not realizing she’d been caught.
My world slowed down as the flaming ship closed in on the rowboat, the men screaming and diving overboard as a last ditch attempt at survival. Explosions rang out from the ship as the sides disintegrated in a boom of power.
Gunpowder.
The ship crashed into the rowboat, detonating the remaining sailors. Screams were cut short.
“Petra!” Larka screamed, her eyes full of undiluted, raw terror. The rope had caught on the ship’s debris as it began to sink. Larka was being dragged toward the harbor, her mangled leg still wrapped in the rope. The three men had abandoned Larka and disappeared into the crowd, fleeing the impending collision.
Five seconds.
Finally,finallymy legs gained feeling and I was running toward my sister as she slid closer and closer to the water. Her scream pierced the air and I realized that blood was pouring from her leg now, the bone protruding at a nauseating angle. “Larka!” I bellowed. My feet were moving too slowly,too slowly.
Four seconds.
Another blast. I saw white. My earsscreeched.Chunks of flaming wood rained down over the remaining crowd, most frozen with shock as they watched the horror unfold. The explosion had thrown me back, erasing the progress I had made toward her.
Three seconds.
I saw it before I knew what was happening. A wooden plank fell from the sky, a blazing tail of fire behind it. It speared Larka through her throat. Blood spattered and spilled from her mouth. Her eyes stayed locked on mine as I sat helplessly in the grass.
Two seconds.
The rope made its final pull as chunks of debris sank, and she went over the edge. The harbor claimed its prize. Her contorted body slid into the water at the exact second the flaming remnants of the ship finally collided with the seawall, her scream cut short by the explosion filling my vision and blowing me back once again.
Nothing. I saw nothing. But the darkness was warm, comforting, so enticing that I wanted to let it take me right there. I think Larka was calling me to it, but her voice was obscured by crackling fires and the screams of strangers.
My mind imploded on itself.
I opened my eyes, my ears still ringing furiously and my vision doubled. The ringing in my ears was deafening,roaring. My vision was blurry as I realized that the ringing in my ears was the sound of my own screams. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t hear. I couldn’t breathe.
I tasted blood and realized I was covered in it as I dragged my hand across my face. I had to get up. I had to find Larka. I stood, blinking the blood from my eyes, and started toward the blaze that had swallowed my sister.
Someone grabbed my arm, forcefully pulling me back. I fought, knowing Larka was just below the seawall waiting for me to come save her. Back, back, back and away I was pulled. I flailed my arms and punched at the air,needingto get to my sister.
Arms closed around me and a face appeared in front of me.
Those eyes. His mouth was screaming. I didn’t hear him. His hands held my face as I writhed and fought. I felt blood run from my forehead to my cheek. I was dizzy and tired. I was so tired.
I needed to get to Larka.
My vision went dark. My body went loose. And I let the emptiness swallow me whole.
???
Darkness. Nothing. Black.
A sliver of light. Blue sky and…smoke.
Bells ringing.So many bells ringing.Screaming. I knew that voice.Ma.
My eyes were swollen and coated in grit. I pried them open to see the silhouette of my mother against the flames, falling to her knees and ripping at her hair.
“Petra!” I heard from far away. So, so far away. Movement. Frantic, furious movement.Da.My face was in his hands as he became clear then blurry, clear then blurry. My vision shook. “Petra!” he screamed, his eyes moving from my face to the inferno that raged at the seawall. My mother wailed. Why was she crying? Where was Larka?
My throat was full of gravel as I tried to speak. “Da, we should go home,” I rasped. “Where’s Larka?” My dad searched my face, wiping the sweat from his brow and leaving a trail of blood in the wake of his hand. “Da, where’s Larka? Oh, Da, you’re bleeding,” I coughed.
“Petra, you need to stay here,” he said, his shaking hands pinning my shoulders down.
“Da, you’re bleeding,” I repeated. I didn’t see any cuts. Why was there so much blood on his face?
“Petra,stay here,”he shouted.
“We have to find Larka, Da,” I said back, searching the crowd and the flames for her. Why was my mother crying?
I tasted blood and pain split through my skull. “We have to find Larka,” I cried.
I fell back under the spell of darkness.
