Page 45 of Sinful Curses
It was the first sign of something other than themselves in this wild, unforgiving land. Though he’d far prefer to sleep and check it out tomorrow, that couldn’t happen. He had to make sure they weren’t in danger.
“What’s going on?” Elsa inquired in a groggy voice.
“Something just exploded or… or… I have no idea,” Sahira replied.
Elsa shoved herself up and rose as Orin bent to start shoving things back into his sack.
“What are you doing?” Zeth inquired.
“I’m going to check it out,” Orin answered.
“We can do that in the morning. We need to rest.”
“Can you sleep after seeing that?”
Zeth hesitated before his shoulders slumped. “No.”
“Then I suggest you start packing too. If there’s nothing there, we can come back.”
With obvious reluctance, the others rose and returned their things to their packs. The brownies grumbled about it, but considering they just rode around on everyone else, he didn’t understand why they were so exhausted.
It only took a few minutes for them to be ready to leave, and by then, the plume of smoke had completely dissipated. Orin’s body thrummed with excitement as he stared at the luminous moon hovering over the land;finally, something different was happening.
Climbing the mountains had been an exhausting endeavor, but the endless sameness of it all was disheartening. The possibility they could spend the rest of their lives climbing through this rocky terrain and never find answers kept trying to take root.
The worst thing that could happen in this place was losing hope. Once it did, they’d die; he was certain of it. And he was certain he wouldn’t let it happen to him.
But now, something had changed, and he had to know what it was.
When Sahira lifted her brownie onto her shoulder, he turned away. So far, the tiny immortals hadn’t hindered them as much as he’d assumed.
They were more annoying than he’d anticipated. Too many times, he’d contemplated breaking that flute in half.
No one should be playing such cheerful music while sitting on the shoulders of a demon who was doing all the work by carrying it higher into the sky. He’d restrained himself from doing so only because Orin had to admit the female brownie could sing.
Her voice was a reprieve from the drudgery of their days. He had no idea what their names were and no intention of learning them, but he liked her voice.
Thankfully, the rodents were silent as he led the way through a rocky path between the mountains. Sahira followed on his heels.
Towering cliffs no longer blocked their way, but large rocks did. He rested his hand on the frigid boulders to boost himself onto and over them.
He turned back once to offer Sahira his hand, but she wasn’t paying attention or was purposely ignoring him. Trying to disregard the sting of possible rejection, he lowered his hand and continued down the other side of the rock.
He climbed over another set of rocks and followed the rocky path cutting through the terrain. The trail meandered in and out of the cliffs above them as it descended through the mountain.
The blast and smoke had been farther away than it looked as they continued to go down. He had to turn sideways in some areas to keep rocks from scraping his skin and tugging at his clothes.
With his bigger, bulkier frame, the demon fared worse and barely squeezed through some of the passageways. After what felt like hours, but was probably only one or less, they made it out of the constricting confines reeking of minerals and ice.
Orin frowned as he emerged from the mountainous spaces and onto the edge of an enormous, rocky field thousands of feet wide and long. It was so vast, he couldn’t see the end though the moon hung in the sky behind it.
Raised mounds, no more than a few inches high in some places and as tall as a foot in others, peppered the field. He couldn’t detect the initial coil of smoke, but something smoldered to his left.
He couldn’t quite make out what had tendrils of smoke rising from it as glowing embers lit the night around what was little more than a charred blob. He studied those mounds and then the thing to his left again.
He had no idea what had created those masses on the field or if they were an entrance to lairs beneath the earth, but he suspected they were deadly. Approaching them might prove fatal, but staying here wasn’t an option.
Staying away from the start of the field, he approached the smoldering thing. It wasn’t until he was nearly upon the blob that he realized it was the charred remains of an immortal.
