Page 57 of Sinful Curses
The idea was so appealing he rubbed his hands together while he walked. Oh yes, he would enjoy making whoever did this pay. He just didn’t know if he’d ever have the answer to who it was.
He had no idea how long they’d been walking as the waning moon shone down on them and the geysers blurred before snapping into focus again. The wind continued to howl, but his need for sleep outweighed his dislike of the cold.
He stepped around a geyser as the flute-playing rat—Gior, he reminded himself—scampered around the side of a mound. As he did so, his hand skimmed the top of the geyser.
Elsa yelped, and Sahira jumped when flames erupted into the night. Zeth leaned back as if about to step away from the fire a foot to his right, but he caught himself in time and stopped.
None of them saw what happened, but Orin had been watching the brownie before he disappeared into the torrent of fire. Unlike the immortal, Orin doubted any of Gior’s remains still existed as the geyser abruptly shut off.
He hadn’t expected one of the rodents to slip up and set off a geyser, but unlike the others, the explosion didn’t shock him. And as they were again plunged into darkness, what happened fully sank in to the others.
“No!” Pip screamed.
She lunged for the place where her friend once stood, but nothing of him remained. So caught up in her concern and sorrow for her friend, she didn’t realize she was heading straight for another geyser.
Other than instinct, Orin wasn’t quite sure what propelled him. He didn’t care about these things, or at least that’s what he told himself, even as his feet remained planted while his hand swung out.
Flames erupted into the night as a roaring inferno shot fifty feet into the air. He yanked the rat away from the fire, but not before the flames raced up her back and burnt his fingers.
Orin pulled the idiotic creature away from the fire that would have destroyed her while cursing his stupidity. From the knuckles up on his right hand, his fingers were red, black, and blistered. Some of those blisters popped and oozed while new ones formed and his skin peeled away.
Pip whimpered as he gently placed her on the ground, but he didn’t know if that was from the agony of her burns or the loss of her friend. Loth and Fath scampered to her side as Orin studied his burnt hand.
It would heal, but because of their conditions, it would take longer than he would have liked. At least the throbbing pain radiating through his body with each beat of his heart would help keep him awake.
If they had ointment or access to a decent meal, it would heal faster, but it would still heal. Fortunately, in this endless geyser wasteland, there weren’t any monsters seeking to kill them, and he didn’t require the use of his hand too much.
He shifted his attention to the burnt brownie as she lay unmoving on the ground. Her clothes had melted to her back, her flesh was blistered, and half her tail had burned away. The tip of it was a still-smoldering, glowing nub.
With his burnt fingers, he bent and squeezed the tip of her tail to put out the remnants of the fire. He didn’t feel the ember extinguishing beneath him, and she didn’t move.
“Pip! Pip? Pip! Pip? Pip?” the other two eagerly chattered as they hovered beside her.
The brownie with the beautiful singing voice moaned in response but didn’t say anything. He didn’t know if she would make it. Under normal conditions, sure, but this was all far from normal.
Elsa swung her bag from her shoulder and set it on the ground. “I have some ointment. It will help her heal.”
Elsa dug through her pack before handing it over to him. When she spotted his burnt fingers, her eyes widened on them. “You should use some of it too.”
“Are you okay?” Sahira asked from his other side.
“I’m fine.” He knelt beside the brownies and unscrewed the small jar of ointment. He held it out to the rats. “Here.”
Loth dipped his fingers in to remove a scoop of the white ointment. Pip moaned and twitched when her friend dabbed it on her blistered back.
It took some time, but Loth and Fath finally finished and knelt beside her. They rested their hands on her shoulders while whispering words of encouragement.
Orin ignored the tug of sympathy pulling at his heart. Why had she been so stupid to try and help her friend? She had to have known it was already too late.
He should be angry over her ridiculous decision but didn’t have it in him. He was too angry at this realm for that.
Removing some ointment from the jar, he smeared it over his fingers. The witch’s concoction immediately dulled the pain while coating his flesh.
“She can’t walk,” Loth said mournfully.
Orin recapped the ointment and returned it to Elsa, who tucked it away. Without a word, he gently plucked Pip from the ground and settled her on her belly in the hollow of his shoulder.
She was so close to his cheek, he could feel the warmth of her tiny nose as her whiskers tickled his neck. He should have tossed her to Elsa or Sahira, but he’d saved her life and would see her the rest of the way through this.
