After the Walls

Chapter 13

The heat of the fire scorches my back and hair. I lower the blade from the man's throat by an inch. "You are going to attack our kingdom?" I say, glowering.

He claps his hands. "It's not personal, Elle. But Edward abandoned us. He left us to fester within our disease and die off like an endangered species from the pre-drown world. Think of it as us attacking Edward Mallory, not your kingdom. However, your kingdom will not survive us, I'm afraid."

"But aren't you sick? Won't you perish soon?" I say, pressing the blade back against his wilting skin.

"Don't you have a giant monster outside your walls that can heal us?" He licks his lips and steps away from my blade, pacing before us.

I snort. "I doubt you'll be able to wrangle the blood from the beast. It's not a straightforward job."

"Not unless we kill it." His blood runs when a raindrop squeezes through the canopy and slides down his face.

"You're better off keeping it alive," I say through gritted teeth. "It doesn't have an unlimited supply when it's dead."

He shrugs. "We only need it for the cure." Then he scuffs the ground with his tattered boot as more rain slips through the canopy. But not enough to extinguish the fire. "Unfortunately, I am only the messenger. My time has ended as the illness is about to take over my brain. I'm not interested in turning into something I'm not. I want to die like me."

"What do you mean?" My arm weakens, and the blade hits the dirt. The chilled rain runs its fingers down my spine.

The man smiles. "I'm Theseus. It was nice to meet you, Elle."

He pushes through us and strides straight for the blazing train.

"Wait!" I gasp.

"Stop!" Ajax lurches forward to grab him.

But it's too late. He steps into the roaring fire as if he's in a trance. His scream rips through the forest, tearing through the canopy and into the grey clouds above. The flames consume his body in one hungry bite, melting his skin in seconds. Vomit jumps into my throat as he collapses onto the floor of the carriage and his screams finally cease.

No one moves for several beats. I throw up. The smell of burning flesh drifts over to us as the wind picks up.

"I was about to call his bluff," Aston finally speaks, voice stained. "But then he walked into the fire and I realised he was serious."

A feral cackle spills from my lips like tacky syrup. "We need to go back to the kingdom." I grab my sword from the forest floor as the rain falls heavier again. "But the Devil's Ivy is within reach. And we desperately need the damn herb if we can stand a chance against the Red Movement."

"I'm so confused," Ajax says, running a hand through his black hair. "I didn't think there were enough of the abandoned Red Movement folk to take down Edward or the kingdom. We didn't see anyone at the Red Movement complex when we were there last week."

I release a rattled sigh, unable to tear my eyes from the melted corpse on the train. "We need to keep moving. Get the Devil's Ivy and go."

The fire begins to sizzle out as the rain pelts down. Smoke and steam hiss into the trees.

Ruben blinks, breaking his own trance with the melted man. "I hate to say this, but I should have tried harder to build an army." He sucks in a harsh breath as his expression darkens. "My brother was right to want to protect the kingdom, even if his own reasons were selfish."

I rub my temple, and soot from the fire stains my fingertips. My hand flies up, covering my mouth and nose, and I cough. "We need to get out of here."

"What about the others?" Aston says, grabbing the hilt of his sword. "The man said there were others who helped him light the fire."