CHAPTER 816: CALAMITY

"Ten seconds," I said, turning my face upward. The circles spun slowly, humming with power. "Surely we can last that long."

"Eight now," R’lissea said.

I nodded and let out a long sigh, wanting to count down the remaining seconds. But as I opened my mouth, the words were forestalled by a thunderous boom. A beam of mana cut directly through the plant barrier, detonating a few yards shy of the golden circle. I screamed as the shockwave slammed into us, breaking upon my wards. Adaptive Resistance flared, negating the force, but I staggered to the side, running into Gayron. He caught me by the shoulder before I fell, and my gaze met his. As I whispered my thanks, he looked upward. Reflected in his fiery irises was the skyship, almost directly above us. And descended from its sun mana cannon was another beam of pure white light, cutting the sky in two.

"Look out!" R’lissea screamed.

I felt Fable move, lunging at me and Gayron, but the few feet between us might as well be miles. Gayron was slightly faster, jerking me behind him, placing himself between me and the incoming beam.

The world erupted in a blinding flash of white light. Adaptive resistance flared, burning hotter than it ever had before. Gayron’s arm tightened around my chest, his fingers digging into my ribs, and his scream filled my ears. It was ragged and raw, an expression of pure, unbridled pain.

I felt a tug on my sleeve, and Fable’s fur brushing my wrist, but a sudden swell of sun mana struck us. It was like a spray of embers across my side. My skin hissed and sizzled, blackening as Adaptive Resistance gave way. The ground disappeared beneath us, a sharp ripping noise undercutting the thunderous roar of the cannon. Gayron’s hand slipped off me, his scream fading as my senses vanished, swallowed in the searing fury of the explosion.

A burst of power welled up somewhere near me, and a sharp pop. A gaping hole opened up in my heart, and a wave of inexplicable terror gripped my heart. I was alone. There were no thoughts, no voices. No familiar mind brushing against my own.

Before I could come to terms with that terrible truth, the direction of the wind shifted, and my stomach did a flip. I forced my eyes open to slits, but dazzling sunspots obscured everything around me. I was surrounded by a hemisphere of white light, and one of gray, rolling around me as I tumbled, weightless, falling. As the darker half grew, I realized, in the back of my mind, that it was the ground, and the lighter the sky.

The rushing wind stole the scream from my throat, the pain of my burns scattering my mana. A sense of nausea washed over me as I continued to gyrate, my vague sense of up and down totally disoriented.

A strong hand clawed around one of my horns, jerking me out of freefall. I screamed as whiplash strained my neck and back, and an arm wrapped around my waist. The grip on my horn loosened the instant it was secure, moving to cross my chest, holding me across my shoulders. My captor twisted suddenly, and all of our momentum came to an abrupt halt. Rocks and dirt pelted my exposed skin, slicing thin ribbons through my flesh. The breath left my lungs, and everything went dark.

I woke with a jolt, gasping for breath. I was moving, jostled back and forth, with an arm under my knees and another holding me at the back. Just like Soltair used to carry me, all those months ago. A princess carry was what he called. The proper way for a hero to carry his lady.

My eyes fluttered open, and my heart as I looked up into a strong, masculine face. And yet...the eyes. They were red and fiery. Not gold.

"Fyren?" I croaked, wincing as my throat burned, raw from screaming.

The face glanced down at me, visibly slackening with relief.

"You’re...alive," an unexpectedly young voice said. "Thank the emperor. I thought you were...Korra would have killed–"

His jaw snapped shut as he suddenly dove to the side. My vision hadn’t fully recovered, but I saw what looked like an arrow whiz past, just inches from my rescuer’s horn.

Horn? But that meant...

"Gayron," I mumbled.

I sank back into his arms, closing my eyes. How had things turned out like this?

The pain made it difficult to focus, but I forced my spinning thoughts into order, trying to piece together exactly what had happened. We’d been about to teleport, and the ship had gotten over us. It had fired the first unattributed cannon, but we’d survived that explosion. Then what? There’d been a flash of light...and then pain.

"Those bastards had a sun magic cannon," Gayron growled, dodging another streaming arrow. "Knocked us right out of the circle. I managed to catch you in time, but..."

He hissed, stumbling over a rock. He cursed and caught his balance, reaching down and snapping something by his leg. I let my head loll to my shoulder and gasped, tail curling tightly around my leg. An arrow protruded from his thigh, and his arms and legs were covered in severe burns. The wounds pulsed white and gold, crackling light lightning. A chill ran down my spine. Sunpurge.

A jolt of panic ran through me, supplying me enough adrenaline to raise my head. My burns were mostly concentrated around my left side and shoulder, where Fable had tried to grab onto me. All he’d succeeded in doing was pulling me out from under Gayron before his teeth sliced right through my sleeve. Upon seeing nothing more than blackened skin, I sagged against Gayron’s chest, letting out a long sigh.

"Where are we?" I asked weakly.

He grunted, jumping in the air. We were airborne for several seconds, but I lacked the strength to look down and see what he leaped over. The landing jostled me hard, my joints screaming in protest.

"Just crossed the city wall," he said.

"Did everyone else...make it?" I gasped.

"As far as I could tell. The sun magic basically ignored them. Damned infernal blood."

A thick canopy of trees appeared overhead, rushing by with dizzying speed. I closed my eyes before the nausea returned, focusing on the rhythmic sway of Gayron’s body as he loped into the forest. Soon, we began to rise in elevation, and the shouts and screams of the city and our pursuers faded behind.

"Why aren’t you flying?" I asked.

"I thought you hated that? I’m almost out of mana."

"Are they still chasing us?"

He let out a heavy breath. "I liked it better when you were unconscious. Can’t you just let me focus right now?"

I flinched and ducked my head, biting my lip. "S-sorry."

He sighed, slowing to a trot. "No, forget that. They stopped chasing us almost immediately. I think that warrior on the skyship called a retreat. But they’ll be out looking for us as soon as they’ve regrouped. Any idea of where we can hide?"

I shook my head. "I never foresaw this. I was so worried about closing a deal with Nithalee, and we had such little time to prepare...I never looked far beyond that."

"Wonderful."

After catching his breath, Gayron started running again, continuing on for at least an hour. Every step was rough and uneven, but I held my tongue, suffering the pain in silence. All that mattered was gaining some distance, and he was irritated enough without my complaining.

At last, as dusk touched the eastern sky, Gayron stumbled to a stop. He gently lowered me to the ground, my back against a large, smooth stone, and collapsed beside me, breathing heavily. He leaned back on his hands, eyes closed, lips parted as he sucked breaths in.

"Gods, I need more endurance," he gasped.

I curled up, whimpering softly as I was forced to confront the pain I’d suppressed for so long. The dirt was soft, but it stung like gritty sand against my skin. My dress was torn and burned, barely preserving my modesty, but I was too tired to care.

"Damn, this burns," Gayron muttered, touching his shoulder. His expression twisted as his finger brushed the edge of a small fleck of sunpurge, and he hissed through his teeth. "Can’t you heal this?"

"I..tomorrow. Maybe. If I have enough mana. Emlica used almost everything I have."

"Oh." He sighed and stood, the lines around his eyes tight with pain.

I struggled to my knees, watching him worriedly as he walked a few steps, stopping at the edge of a...a cliff?

I looked around, gasping softly as I found we’d settled on the peak of a mountain, surrounded by steep, craggy cliffs on all sides. The only way up or down, barring flying, was a small animal trail winding up the north side, climbing the hundreds of feet of cliffs with jagged switchbacks. The forests began some three hundred feet from the summit, a thick blanket that rose and fell with the surrounding mountains and hills. Far, far below us, in a small, quaint valley, was a village. Soft orange light glowed in the windows, flickering with the inconsistency of firelight.

Beyond the village, there was nothing. No ocean, no city, no skyships. No Korra, R’lissea, or Fable. We were alone. Lost on the Southern Continent.