Page 80 of Sinful Curses
Sweat beaded her forehead before sliding into her eyes. The beads of it hanging on her lashes made the world a little blurry as her entire body trembled from the onslaught of damage she continued to inflict on it.
She yanked her hand away when she finally finished adding new kindling to the flames. She couldn’t look at the burnt mess she created as her teeth pulsed in rhythm with the blisters pulsating on her hand.
It felt like something had chewed her hand to the bone, and all the skin peeled away, but if there was pain, then she still had nerve endings. She wasn’t sure how much longer she’d have them as she had two pairs of pants to burn too.
“We have a problem!” Pip called, her small voice barely carrying over the crackle of the flames.
The urgency in the brownie’s voice caused the hair on Sahira’s nape to rise, but she kept her focus on the fire. With her palm near the flames, she repeated the spell and lifted her hand for air to fuel the fire.
When she finished, she looked back toward the spiders. Her stomach plummeted into her toes as, in unison, those monsters crept toward them.
The brownies backed toward her and Elsa as the creatures closed in on them. Pip extended her dagger as her expression became one of steely determination. Those spiders could destroy the tiny immortals with one swipe of their claws, but none of them backed down.
Dozens of red, beady eyes shone with rage, and hunger pulsated from the creatures as drops of venom, or whatever it was, plopped onto the ground. Their claws clicked against the stony ground when they clambered closer.
That incessant clicking hammered into her head until her right eye twitched with each bang. The fire reflecting in their eyes created bursts of orange in their red depths, but amid the flames, she spotted herself in some of the shiny orbs.
Sahira yearned to back away from the death creeping toward them, but the fiery web at her back blocked her retreat. They had no choice but to stand and fight against these things as her shirt clung to her while sweat poured down her nape.
When the spiders were only fifteen feet away, their steps slowed. Their claws stopped clicking as some of their heads tilted up, and ashes fell around them.
Sahira’s hand constricted around her dagger, but she didn’t pull the torch away from the web. If they came any closer, she would require a weapon and might have to remove her blade from the fire.
Their hesitation told her they didn’t like the blaze or didn’t know what it was. It could be a powerful weapon against them, but she still hesitated to remove her shirt from the conflagration.
Glancing up again, she blinked away the sweat coating her lashes as she used her good hand to block the sparks from falling onto her face. But it wasn’t just sparks drifting around her anymore….
Sahira’s heart leapt when she realized parts of the web were also floating through the air as burning filaments descended to earth. Most disintegrated before hitting the ground, but some fell at her feet and onto her.
She slapped the burning pieces of the shirt she wore before they set fire to it. She held back tears when the fine filament disintegrated beneath her hands.Finally,something was going somewhat right for them.
Glancing at the burning web, she tried to see how much damage it had sustained, but it was impossible to tell with the fire raging above. It was falling apart; she was sure of it, but how long it would take to collapse remained a mystery.
The clatter of Orin’s sword breaking free and hitting the ground was confirmation of this. And as the spiders continued to hang back, she realized they had a new weapon against them.
If they didn’t come to the fire, she would bring it to them.
CHAPTERSEVENTY
“Elsa,keep your flames on the web!” she shouted to be heard over the increasing cacophony of the fire.
“I will!”
Sahira pulled her makeshift torch away from the webbing. She ignored the throbbing in her hand and the inward scream of her soul as it protested what she was about to do… again.
Removing one of the two pants still draped over her shoulder, she placed them over the flames rising from her dagger. Her brutalized skin sizzled more as her old blisters burst while new ones formed.
She left enough room to ensure she didn’t smother the flames before encircling the pant legs around the dagger. It took a couple of seconds for the clothing to catch. In those heartbeats, the spiders crept a little closer but stopped when the pants started burning too.
The throbbing in her hand intensified from this fresh onslaught of fire, but she ignored it as she ran toward the spiders with her dagger aimed out as sparks and webbing cascaded around her. She didn’t pause to think she could be running toward her death; she only sought to buy Elsa more time to destroy more of the web.
Some held their ground as she rushed toward the spiders, but most backed away from the flames. She was almost to the creatures when one of them collapsed and black blood exploded from its head.
The shadows melted away to reveal Orin kneeling on the creature’s head. He yanked his dagger free.
Orin stabbed the dying spider again and rode it to the ground before jumping off. Before she could blink, he enshrouded himself in shadows again and disappeared.
To her right, Zeth grabbed one of the creatures by its back legs, lifted it off the ground, and bashed it down. Distracted by the deadly threat of Orin and Zeth, the spiders didn’t pay as much attention to her.
