Chapter Twenty-Six
Rescued from Fire
Aaralyn walked some paces behind Rekka, not bothering to wick the tears from her cheeks. She hadn't wanted to leave Mirth. It tore into her heart when she saw the broken, betrayed look on his face when she followed Rekka. However, just the thought of Odysseus had her shaking in fear.
Garreth clamped a hand onto Aaralyn's shoulder, his worried gaze cast down on her as they walked. With a sniffle, Aaralyn looked up at him, managing a tearful, unconvincing smile. She squeezed his fingers, trying to blink away the tears only for them to roll down her cheeks. Garreth carefully wiped one away with his thumb.
"I'll be okay, Garreth."
Aaralyn's words meant nothing, and the Yari stopped her. He shook his head and looked over his shoulder in the direction they had come from. Having been placed on the ground sometime after they had parted ways with Mirth, Irfan slipped past them so he could keep following Rekka.
"No, Garreth. We should keep following Rekka. It's dangerous, but we'll cut through the volcanic pass and maybe find a better place to live. She…she was right about Mirth. I wish we could travel together, but with Odysseus always following him... Oh, I desperately want the Ring to be a real thing. Maybe we can convince Rekka to keep traveling in its direction. If we don't find it, then we'll settle down in the next best place we find. Does that sound good, Garreth?" Aaralyn sniffled again, trying to give the Yari a bright smile.
Garreth whimpered, slowly shaking his head. He kept shaking his head as if to say, 'I don't know.' He was just as confused about the situation as Aaralyn was. In the end, they continued to follow Rekka over a half-crumbling stone bridge that overlooked a bubbling pool of molten rock several feet below them.
It wasn't long before the Yari and Water Asili pair were far behind Rekka and Irfan. Their steps were deliberately slow as they reconsidered their decision to abandon Mirth. With each step they took deeper into the lava field, the further they were from Mirth, and the harder it would be to turn back.
"I don't like this place," Aaralyn muttered, a small hand finding Garreth's as she stared into the glowing molten rock below. "I shouldn't have followed Rekka here. Fire Asili like this stuff but Water Asili…" She let out a shaky breath. Each step was near dragging, not only from the worry for Mirth but also for her fear of fire and heat. Instincts told her to run away from the liquid fire below, but at the same time, she felt forced to follow Rekka.
"Garreth, I'm scared. I want to go back to the oasis where I found Mirth."
A sad whimper made her look up. Hurt reflected in Garreth's dark eyes.
"Oh, I don't mean that I never wanted to meet you. I would have loved if you could have been there with us in the oasis, that is, if your parents hadn't been…" Aaralyn turned away. She looked up, noticing that Rekka and Irfan were getting farther and farther away. Swallowing down her fear and sorrow that she could, and with the help of Garreth, the pair pushed forward on the narrow, unstable rock bridge.
"I don't like this." Aaralyn squeezed Garreth's hand, sweat breaking out across her forehead and dripping from her dark hair. All she could do was stare at the flowing lava below them. It didn't help that, each time she looked up, Rekka and Irfan were further and further away. "Maybe we should turn back."
Just as she said this, Garreth grunted, and in one swift movement, pulled her into his chest. The pillar of dark stone that had been supporting the part of the rock bridge Aaralyn had been standing on crumbled. She stared in horror at the gaping hole where she had been standing. If Garreth hadn't noticed, she would have fallen into the lava below. Now, they couldn't cross.
Still clinging to Garreth, Aaralyn shouted to Rekka and Irfan, but her voice didn't carry far enough. The other two travelers hadn't even heard the rocks crumble away.
Garreth heaved the small woman into his arms and turned to retreat the way they had come, but the stone gave way the moment he put his weight on it. He stepped back with a gasp of surprise and watched the stone melt into the lava. They turned around and glanced every-which-direction for a way off the small slab of rock. He whimpered, eyes finding Aaralyn's for reassurance. She could only stare back, tears in her eyes.
They were stranded.
With a shaky breath, Aaralyn slipped from the Yari's arms. She cupped her hands around her mouth, shouting Rekka and Irfan's names. With each shout, her voice grew more and more desperate. "Rekka! Irfan! Stop! We're stuck! Help! We're stuck!"
When her voice became hoarse, and she could no longer shout, Aaralyn turned to the teenager behind her. "Garreth…" she whimpered. She buried her face into the Yari's stomach. "I don't want to die. Not like this."
He grunted, wrapping the Water Asili in a tight hug while watching the lava flow below them. An ominous crack sounded beneath them. Garreth squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the fall.
Irfan followed a few paces behind Rekka, nervously clutching the hem of his silken shirt as he watched the molten rock below them. He bumped into Rekka's back when she stopped walking. Cowering away from her heated glare, he watched as she leaped across a gap in the stone bridge. The Fire Asili cleared the landing with ease and continued walking, not even looking back at Irfan.
"Re-Rekka?" Irfan reached for her, watching the young woman walk further and further away. "Rekka! I can't…I can't jump. I can't jump this. Rekka! Don't leave me here." His voice trailed off to a pitiful squeak.
The glowing molten rock flowing far to his right seemed to mock his fear just as much as Rekka's retreating form. Irfan stared after Rekka's back, unable to tell if she was leaving him because she had not heard him or if she really didn't care.
"Rekka!" He screamed her name again, but the Fire Asili didn't respond. She just kept walking at a brisk pace, gaze trained forward until she was engulfed into the darkness of a cavern's gaping maw.
Gripping his dirty shirt until his knuckles turned white, Irfan stepped some paces back. He glanced one last time up at the cave Rekka had disappeared into before launching into a run. He leaped and reached for the stone ledge, but his fingertips only brushed it. Plummeting, Irfan squeezed his eyes shut, telling his family that he loved them. The breath was knocked from his lungs when he hit the thick tar. He struggled to breathe as he thrashed in the viscous black fluid. Regaining his breath, the hot substance held him in place like too-thick honey.
"Help! Aaralyn! Garreth! Help!"
He spotted the pair in the distance, teetering dangerously on a slab of stone as they held each other in one another's embrace. They were in as much of a precarious situation as he was. His panic and fear had nearly engulfed him, streaming through his veins until he could barely breathe.
He would have to watch Aaralyn and Garreth die. Rekka had abandoned them, and Mirth was too far away to save him. He was going to die a slow, burning, painful death.
The tears fell, and a dismal wail rose from his throat.
Mirth ran as fast as his minimal training in the Art of Speed allowed him. It wasn't more than a moment before he reached the majority of the lava fields. Bending down to catch his breath, he caught the sight of something that made his heart lurch.
Garreth and Aaralyn stood over an expanse of molten rock, huddled against one another on a crumbling pillar. Then, over the wet pops of hot tar and gassy hisses of the lava, he picked up Irfan's cries somewhere in the distance. A quick sweep of the field and he spied the Rāhā struggling in thick tar. Rekka was nowhere in sight, which made Mirth frown. Even a Fire Asili like her couldn't survive a fall into the lava.
The groan of weakening stone snapped Mirth's attention back to Garreth and Aaralyn. A large slab of earth stuck out just in front of the stone pillar the pair stood on. Thinking quickly, Mirth sprinted forward and forced magic into his fists. He punched the weakest points that anchored the stone to the rest of the cliffside. The moment it broke away, he focused the magic into his arms and legs and pushed it into the lava.
"Aaralyn! Garreth! Jump!"
The pair opened their eyes, relief washing over their features when they saw Mirth. Before they could celebrate, Garreth scooped Aaralyn into his arms once more and leaped off the crumbling pillar of rock. The lava was far too close for comfort as it consumed the slab of stone Mirth had pushed out as a landing platform for them. Still, Garreth was able to leap off the slab without severely burning his feet.
Garreth set Aaralyn down before wrapping Mirth in a massive hug.
"Mirth! You came for us." Aaralyn tearfully smiled up at him before leaping in for a hug herself the moment Garreth released him.
"Yeah. I thought over some things, but we got to save Irfan first."
The moment Mirth released Aaralyn from the hug, the stone pillar she and Garreth had been standing on crumbled into the lava with a splash. The trio exchanged horrified looks before sprinting to where Irfan was still struggling in the tar.
"Irfan!" Mirth shouted.
The small boy looked up from the tar, having grown tired from the struggle. He was encased in the viscous black sludge up to his neck and was already struggling to breathe as it weighed heavy on his chest. Still, just like Aaralyn and Garreth, relief and surprise lit up his eyes.
"Mirth!" Vigor renewed, Irfan struggled once more, pulling himself out up to the waist.
Mirth sprinted down the meandering path through the lava field, cursing when the lava scorched his skin. He assumed Rekka had used the unstable bridge because it was faster than his current path. Though, he couldn't tell which way was more dangerous at the moment.
Panting, he finally reached Irfan. Mirth dipped his fingers into the tar. Although hot and uncomfortable, it wouldn't burn Irfan. It was similar in temperature to a hot spring. Mirth's main concern was Irfan slipping under the thick surface.
Mirth waded ankle-deep into the tar, a rod of magic forming in his hand until it reached Irfan. Focusing magic in both his legs and arms, Mirth tried to pull the smaller boy free from the tar. He eased Irfan's body a little from the dark fluid's grasp, but it was nowhere near enough. With his magic focused in three different places, Mirth found it hard to gather any extra strength to pull Irfan.
A pair of strong arms wrapped around Mirth's middle. Garreth smiled over his shoulder.
The Oṣó and Yari tugged and pulled, ignoring Irfan's whimpers of pain. It took one last harsh tug before the smallest boy was pulled free from his imprisonment. Irfan weakly crawled the rest of his way through the shallow tar until he reached solid ground. There, he rested his head on the heated ground, groaning in pain.
"Is everyone okay?" Mirth glanced between the three. "Do you know where Rekka went?"
"Into the cave over there," Irfan forced himself upright and pointed a tar-covered hand to the gaping mouth of the cavern.
"We have to go after her." Mirth looked at the tar-covered Rāhā. "But you're going to need to change clothes first. It won't be good if that stuff cools."
Irfan frowned, looking down at his tar-covered clothing. "I guess…I guess you're right."
He slipped his tar-covered backpack off his shoulders. Before he opened the bag, he looked up at Aaralyn. "Can you get the tar off my hands?"
It was lucky that he had been wearing pants and long sleeves, or more of him would have been covered in tar. When the others had told him he would be more comfortable ripping off the sleeves and pants, he had refused and suffered the heat. Albeit, he seemed not to be as bothered by the wastelands' heat as his other companions.
"Maybe…" Aaralyn pulled whatever water was left from the canteen she had strapped to her hip. It flowed just above the lava in a few quick successions. She didn't want it to turn to steam and lose it, but hot water would work better than the lukewarm water in her canteen.
The hot water worked some, though Aaralyn had to pass it over Irfan's hands many times before his tawny skin was visible again. Irfan tried to rub the rest of it away but only succeeded in smearing more of it on his skin. He shook his head and pointed to his bag. "Can you open it?"
Mirth was the closest, so he carefully undid the clasps of the bag, avoiding the tar as best as he could. With a quick wipe of his hands to rid them of the tar that did get on his fingers, Mirth carefully pulled out another long-sleeved, silken shirt and long silken pants similar to the ones Irfan was currently wearing. However, instead of the simple lavender and taupe he currently wore, both pants and shirt were dark blue in color, accented with pale-red salmon embroidery.
"I hate them," Irfan muttered, a sadness settling over his shoulders. He nearly went to grip the hem of his shirt, only to remember it was covered in tar. "They are the color of Chishikijñāna."
He carefully took the clothing from Mirth, only for his cheeks to flush red. "Could you… turn around."
Everyone did so, allowing the Rāhā to have some semblance of privacy. Once Irfan was in his new clothing, he tossed his now useless tar-covered backpack, along with his dirty clothes, into the lava. He watched the lava bubble and pop, fingering the dark blue silk he now wore. "I don't like these."
Remembering Irfan's dislike for the deity the rest of his family worshipped, no one said anything. Mirth rounded everyone together, having found a safer path to the cave Rekka had entered. It wasn't long before they were welcomed into the shadows.