Page 60 of Sinful Curses
Pip propped herself up on Orin’s shoulders. She remained on her belly while resting on her elbows. “I see something, but I’m not sure what.”
Sahira strained to see something, but only blurry, endless geysers stretched before her. Some of them multiplied two or three times before becoming blurry once again.
“We should… we have to keep walking,” she whispered. “It doesn’t matter what’s there; the sun is rising soon, and we have to keep going, or we won’t.”
When no one argued with her statement, she took a deep breath and focused on her frozen feet. It took every ounce of her willpower, but eventually, she got one of her feet to shuffle forward again.
One more step. One more step. One more step.
The words became such an unrelenting mantra that she forgot about Loth leaving to explore something else until the brownie returned. She blinked at him, uncertain where he’d come from as she struggled to function.
Loth jumped up and down while clapping his hands. “This is the end! It’s theend!”
“The end of what?” Elsa inquired.
Sahira pondered the same thing as she tapped her temple with her palm to try getting the synapses in her brain going again. It didn’t help.
“The end of the field! There’s another town! Just like ours… or at least it’s similar to ours. I didn’t take the time to look around. I just came back here to get the rest of you.”
“The end,” Pip whispered.
Loth planted his tail on the ground and used it to lift himself while shouting. “The end! It’s not much farther, and there arenogeysers there!”
Sahira’s heart crashed against her ribs as his news finally sank in.Theend!
They couldfinallybreak free of this endless, torturous, lethal monotony. Then her eyes shifted to the sky.
Is it starting to brighten over there? Can we get to that town before we’re trapped out here again?
She didn’t think she could survive another day out here, even if they stopped only twenty feet away from salvation. Knowing they could get to safety but unable to do so, might make it worse.
“We have to move,” Zeth said.
As they started forward again, Sahira’s attention shifted from the field to the sky and back again. A new adrenaline rush staved off some of her exhaustion as she picked up her feet with more enthusiasm.
Her vision still wasn’t the greatest, but it had cleared some, and she had more confidence in where she put her feet. Maybe a little too much confidence, but they had to escape here before sunrise.
This is why the other immortal died. He saw the end. This is why!
But she couldn’t slow down as the warning screamed across her mind. She had to get there. Freedom from this field loomed on the horizon, and she would do anything to attain it.
Her heart raced, and everything inside her screamed to be free of this place. She wanted to run; she suddenly had enough energy to sprint miles, if necessary, but running would get her killed.
She had the energy to move faster, but the geysers blurred and shifted before her. If she started sprinting, she had no doubt she’d step on one of those death traps within twenty feet.
“That’s it, come on, you’re doing great. Keep going. We’re almost there,” Loth encouraged, while Fath, who was always much quieter, guided the way with his hands as he pointed in one direction then another.
After what seemed like an eternity, Sahira finally thought she saw it too.The end!
The outline of buildings wavered against the increasingly gray sky as more light spread across it. They still had at least fifty feet to go when the sun’s rays broke on the horizon.
They didn’t have much time before the sun touched the field, the geysers vanished, and they were trapped here again. She released Orin and Zeth’s hands as they pushed faster while freedom beckoned.
As the sun’s rays hit the earth and the pop of the geysers vanishing filled the air, they stepped free of the field. Relief, exhaustion, and fear battered her as she stared at the town with seven buildings.
CHAPTERFIFTY-TWO
Unlike the lastpub in the brownies’ town, this building had no beds. Sahira barely noticed this while stumbling around to help the others close the shutters.
