Heart of Fire

A River in the Rain Forest

I am pretty sure it has been three or four months since we left the witches village. We lost our way twice because the canopy was so thick we could not see the sun for days. We almost walked right into a human settlement, where they were cutting the trees down. There was a week or two where neither Enzo nor I could find anything to hunt. We were left with eating the food supplies the witches gave us, and those were long gone. We had crossed many dried riverbeds that we thought we could follow but they always led to nothing they just stopped or were so overtaken by the forest you could no longer see their path.

I was starting to really lose hope, I was hungry and just wanted to find something. It was my turn to hunt tonight, and I was beyond exhausted and left the hunting to Callisto while I rested. She was able to get the trail of something and followed if for a few miles, then we heard it. The rageful thunder of water! Our hunt forgotten we ran back to camp making sure we marked our trail well enough to follow back.

"WATER!!!! We found water!!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I ran into camp. Ember bolted up and Enzo turned around, it took me about three seconds to understand I was still naked. I ran back to my basket and pulled my clothes on.

"I'm dressed and I found water!" I was slightly out of breath and my heart was pounding out of my chest. Water, we have been looking for water this whole time and finally water. Enzo and Ember repack their gear and follow me back down my path. After a while I could hear the water again. I heard Enzo sigh and Ember squeaked a little bit. We continued towards the sound past my trail mark and after another mile or so the forest opened up and there was a river. It was swift and wide, we made camp for the night. The little dark cloud that was following us around as we grew disheartened, was now lifted. Callisto was able to hunt us up some food and with a full belly I was ready for the morning to arrive.

DREAM

Fire! Fire was all around me. I can see the flames dancing though the trees. It was so hard to breathe, the air was heavy with smoke. The sound was deafening, the crackle and roar of the flames as they consumed the forest. I could feel the heat as the flames surrounded me, I was going to die. Death by forest fire was not how I imagined my life would end. I mean who would imagine this... I can smell burnt fur; my tail is on fire. I twist and stamp on my tail with my front paws to put it out. I'm not sure what good that will do me when the rest of the fire catches up to me. I look around again looking for a way out. The wind shifts and I can see a break in the fire, I could make it through if I ran. I take off into a sprint for my life, I can see the path to the break, and I am digging my claws into the earth to give me traction as I dart for my escape from a fiery death. I see the outline of a wolf, just beyond the break. I felt my heart hammering in my chest as I dug my paws in deeper to reach the break, just as I was about to breach through the fire, the wolf turned and all I could see were electric blue eyes in darkness. The flames enclosed me, and my fur once again was alight with fire and then I fell. I started to scream in agony as the fire engulfed me . . .

"FUCKING HELL!!!" I scream as I jump off the ground. Enzo is in front of me with a worried look on his face.

"The dream again?" I nod my head as I breathe deeply to calm my racing heart. "You have not had it in at least a month." He tilts his head in question.

"Jade" I hear Callisto call to me, she sounds off.

"Cal are you okay?" I ask, looking in on her she is laying down, but she has a strange look on her face.

"It's not a dream." She says her voice is soft and far away.

"How can it not be a dream Cal, we have had the same dream our whole lives, what else could it be?" I ask her slightly frustrated as I am still a little rattled from that damn dream again.

"It's a memory" she tells me, she looks at me with sad eyes then turns and goes into the depths of my mind where I cannot reach her. I don't understand, memory like one of her memories like Enzo said. I want to ask her questions and I call to her in the dark and am met with silence. I look at Ember and at Enzo they are both watching me and waiting for me with patience.

"It's a memory" I mumble. Ember looks confused, and Enzo lights up a bit, he has been on this track for a while, and he is fascinated.

"Did Callisto tell you this? Was the dream different? Can you recall anything specifically?" Enzo rattled off questions his curiosity fully invested. I reviewed the dream, ignoring everything that was normal about the dream focusing on the subtle and vivid changes and how it had evolved in the last year. The new parts started off slowly, almost going unnoticed, but they became clearer and clearer. The most recent changes were falling. How could I fall in a fire?

"I fell, that is the newest part. Originally there was nothing outside of the fire, then the blue eyes appeared, and now I fell, but not like onto the ground more like into it." I babbled. It was so weird; how could a dream change so much? I went to the riverbank and watched the water rush past thinking about how the dream had always plagued me, and how it had now evolved. I once again tried to reach for Callisto and was met with emptiness. I know she was still with me, but she was so closed off and detached I was alone inside my own head for the first time I could remember. Wiping some traitorous tears from my face I went back to camp and see Enzo nose deep in a book, one I don't know I have seen before.

©2023 Lisa Enstrom / @JadeFyre2018. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without written permission from the author. This body of work is available exclusively on Wattpad. If you are viewing it on a different website or platform under a different username or title, it has been illegally stolen, and you may even be at risk of malware. Please do not support these sites, as writing is hard work and effort on the original author's part. Head over to Wattpad and let me, the original author know if you have encountered this situation by finding me @JadeFyre2018