Bring Clouds to the Kingdom by Zack Metcalfe

Author:Zack Metcalfe [Metcalfe, Zack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-77180-179-9
Publisher: Iguana Books
Published: 2016-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

(7)

The One Stronger than Fire

Smoke pours from the open flaps of the tent community, polluting the air between desert and forest. The young trees burn and so do the tarps protecting them from the morning sun. Assir wakes to screams and silt.

His muscles react instantly, moving him from one row of flaming vegetation to the next, keeping his head low for the precious air hiding there. He passes people gasping and on fire, in agony and beyond help. Suddenly he is fast, he is strong, and he is beyond the reach of the engulfing flames.

But then his pity overwhelms him, exercising a strength of its own, turning him back. With Herculean strength, he throws people over his shoulders and beats the flames off their clothing, carrying them to the safety of the desert sand, dropping them. They cough and so does he, standing over them and gradually controlling his breathing. He looks at his body, testing the new power in his muscles, the fearlessness in his heart … and then he sees the faces of those he saved.

In their eyes he sees something alien to him.

It is reverence.

Assir fills his lungs and flexes his muscles before charging back into the blazing tents. He cannot see, relying on his memory to guide him. With his hands low, he finds others, guiding or carrying or dragging them out, two, sometimes three at a time. His body weakens and his lungs burn with deadly gulps of smoke, but there’s a fire in his heart which does not dim.

Some of those he rescues are limp so he touches his lips to theirs and breathes life back into them, pumping their chests with the consistency of a heartbeat. He accumulates burns each time he returns to the flaming tents, but does not take notice. He slows, but does not stop.

He saves thirty lives.

On his final attempt to re-enter the tents, he faints and collapses, regaining just enough sense to crawl back to safety. His eyes water and he is plagued by retching coughs when he again smells fresh air. Behind him, he can hear the fires rage on, but before him, he hears whimpering and pain, different from the simple suffering he left only minutes ago.

Assir opens his eyes, seeing the lives he saved being herded together by tall, powerful men, each wearing old and well-fitted armour, with swords, axes and war hammers strapped to them. They are cruel, and even as Assir watches, they kill two of his flock. One of the men comes over to him, then strikes him in the face with an armoured boot. The pain is sharp, but then there is nothing.

Assir regains consciousness with equal sharpness. His eyes open and he is in a seated position, his head hanging forward, his hands restrained behind him. He straightens, and his numerous cuts and burns scream in unison. But his expression remains one of composure.

To his left and right are people, some members of his flock, others who escaped the tents themselves.

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