Descent Into Darkness

Descent Into Darkness Chapter 2

 Hey guys! Look at the new cover SecretkeeperZee made for me! ---------------------------->

It is so amazingly awesome, I died when I saw it! Thanks to HunnyBee for jamming the hypodermic of adrenaline into my heart to resuscitate me! Well this is a new chapter, and I would really like to know what everyone thinks of the more involved part Ember is playing now, so please, leave a comment! And vote. For God's sake, don't forget to vote!!!!

Phoenix brooded as Blaze pounded down the dirt road, oblivious to the trees flashing by. Only one thing remained on his twisted and warped mind; more of the stones. Where they could be hidden, who could have them, how he could find them, and how he could take them for his own. His own stone was powerful yes, but he wondered whether a larger stone would provide more power. If a stone that fit in his palm could make him close to invincible, how much stronger would he be if he had one the size of a loaf of bread. Even more so, one the size of a horse? A wickedly curved smile wound onto his face when he realized the implications of his thoughts. He could be as powerful as the gods themselves with a stone that size. Never dying, never aging, never falling ill, all powerful. He dug his heels into Blaze’s deeper into Blaze’s side, pushing the horse faster toward their destination.

Ember smelled the remnants of the fire before the others could, as the wind brought it to her, teasing her with the fact that they were right on Phoenix’s tail. She signaled to the others and spurred her horse onward, breaking into a full gallop in the direction of the now visible smoke rising over the treetops. Her breath came in gasps as her horse thundered down the road, and she again wondered why Phoenix had become so brazen. They had kept to the forests and woods to conceal themselves, rarely traveling on the roads to avoid detection, and to make it harder to track their movements.  Since phoenix had left them, his trail was almost always on heavily used roads, sometimes breaking off into the woods or wilderness for a few leagues before circling back onto the road. Spedro had suggested that maybe he still did not want to be seen, and broke off of the road when he saw other travelers. Ember had mulled it over, and decided that he was probably right, though she still held on to the hope that some of Phoenix’s rationality was still in him, and drove him off the roads. But even then, that meant that the stone was winning every time Phoenix fought, because his trail always led back to the road.

The three rounded a curve in the road, and the still smoking remains of the house came into view. Ember slowed her horse, and was not surprised when Lindani rode past her, still at full gallop. Lindani pulled on the reins sharply, stopping her horse just outside the threshold, leapt from her horse and bolted inside, screaming her mate’s name. Every time they found something that meant Phoenix could be close, Lindani screamed herself hoarse calling his name. Spedro stopped his mount next to her, and their eyes met. His lips were pressed into a thin line, and she knew what he was thinking. How much longer could Lindani carry on like this? Something needed to change, and change fast. Ember dismounted and Spedro followed her lead when she walked around the perimeter of the house, their ears echoing with Lindani’s desperate cries. She rounded the southern end of the blackened walls and came to an abrupt stop, which made Spedro twist to the side to avoid slamming into her back. The badly burned bodies of two people, a woman and boy, lay side by side on the ground, the woman’s body bent in an unnatural position.

“She was trying to protect the young man,” Spedro whispered. “Her son maybe?”

Ember simply nodded, to stricken to speak when Lindani stopped screaming Phoenix’s name and theirs echoed instead. They both took off running for the front of the scorched house, Ember conjuring a wind to blow at her back to help her keep up with Spedro. They burst through the barely hanging door to find Lindani kneeling by another body, burned beyond recognition. By the way the body lay at an unnatural angle next to a collapsed wall, that it had been thrown with extreme force and had rebounded, landing on the floor in a heap. Lindani grasped the shoulder of the deceased and turned him over, his head lolling as it followed, and they saw the mouth upturned in a deathly grimace. “Who was he?” Spedro queried more to the wind than to either of the women.

“I do not know,” Lindani answered anyway, rising to her feet, still staring at the burned face on the ground.

Ember tore her eyes from the corpse on the floor, and began rifling through the house, looking for clues to the man’s identity. The others joined her after a moment, but the search turned up nothing conclusive. A badly scorched suit of armor hung on a stand, it shine gone, replaced with flat black burns. They reasoned that the man had stolen the armor from one of Demetrius’ soldiers, and Phoenix had thought the man had been in Demetrius’ employ. Lindani wandered off during the search for evidence of the man’s identity, leaving Spedro and Ember alone in the house. Ember listened closely while they examined the family’s belongings, in case she tried to run again, but she came to the conclusion that she didn’t need to after a while. If Lindani was smart, which Ember knew she was, she would stay with Ember and Spedro because they were looking for Phoenix anyway.

Ember let her mind wander during the search, and in her reverie, she missed the loud creak as the main support of the house gave way. She was jolted from her train of thought when Spedro’s large hands wrapped around her waist and she started, thinking that he wanted her here, in this house, with the dead bodies merely feet away. She drove this thought from her mind when she felt herself being lifted from the floor and pulled to Spedro’s body, and she met his eyes. Panic was evident within them, and he kissed her lips before he flung her toward the wall. She watched his eyes as she flew backward, wondering why he was trying to kill her. He blew another kiss at her, and she was surprised when the outside of the house came into view, and then she realized what happened. He had thrown her out the window, the glass already having been broken during Phoenix’s visit. The soft grass rose to meet her, and her body rolled on impact. She sprung to her feet, her eyes locking with Spedro’s as the roof caved in on top of him, and the walls followed obscuring his visage.

She screamed, vaguely aware of Lindani doing the same.  She sprung forward, ripping boards and roof tiles from the pile in an effort to reach her mate.