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.“There isn’t time for this! I’ve got to get to Vendevorex!” she said.“That’s your fear speaking, fair one,” he said, his voice a gentle coo.“It’s not the voice of your heart.”“No! You don’t understand!”Pet grabbed her by the arms and kissed her again.She struggled but his strength was far greater that hers.This time it wasn’t even mildly pleasant.She beat at his back with her clenched fists.At last he broke the kiss, pushing her away, but not letting go of her arms, “I apologize.Your beauty has caused me to lose all caution.I’ve pushed you too far, too fast.You’re scared.You’re young, confused by the stirrings in your body, confused by the burning in your soul.”“It’s not my soul I’m worried about!” she snapped, but her words were drowned by the beating of wings.Light bright as day flashed through the window.A burning cauldron crashed against the far wall then clattered as it bounced around the room, throwing flames in all directions.CHAPTER TEN: WARTHE FLAMES SPREAD across the far wall as the iron pot rolled to rest.A river of flames spilled down the steps, cutting off their exit.The stone stairs hissed and popped as the flames ate at them.“Don’t breathe the smoke!” Jandra shouted, grabbing Pet’s arm and pulling away from the flames.“It’s poisonous!”“It’s burning the rocks in the walls!” Pet yelped.“It’s called the Vengeance of the Ancestors,” Jandra said, letting go of Pet.She studied her surroundings.“It burns rock, wood, even water.Everything but iron.” The only way out was the window.She leapt up to grab the ledge then scrambled quickly up the rough stone.Once perched in the window she leaned down and extended a hand to Pet.“How do you know about this?” Pet asked, taking her hand.“Vendevorex invented it,” Jandra said as she helped Pet climb onto the ledge next to her.“At least the wind is blowing in our favor.We’ll be safe from the smoke in here.You know this castle better than me.Isn’t there another window below us? Maybe twenty feet?”“Y-yes,” he said, not taking his eyes from the flames.Jandra studied the flames as well, trying to guess how much time they had.The Vengeance burned thoroughly but it burned slowly when dense materials like stone were its fuel.Even though it had splashed over half of the room, it would take a long time to spread to this wall.Unfortunately, the Vengeance had ignited the wooden roof beams that now burned with conventional flames.The breeze from the open window that kept the worst of the smoke away also fueled the fire that devoured the beams.The thick wooden shafts supported the tall, thin metal spires that topped the towers.It wouldn’t take long before it all collapsed on top of them.Outside the window Jandra could see other fires burning across the castle.The dark shapes of sky-dragons swooped and glided among the rising smoke.She looked down.To her relief, no flames were directly below them.“Take off your shirt, Pet,” she said.The panicked look vanished from Pet’s face.He raised an eyebrow as he asked, “If we’re going to die, you want to die in a passionate embrace?” He gave a confident grin as he began unlacing his shirt.His fingers flew with well-practiced speed.“You really have a one track mind, don’t you?” Jandra said.“Silk is very strong.It will make a good rope.”“My shirt isn’t long enough to reach the lower window,” Pet said, sounding a bit disappointed.“It will be,” Jandra said, taking the shirt from him the instant he pulled it over his head.She dipped her fingers into the small pouch of silver dust she carried on her belt.She carefully closed her right hand around the sleeve of his shirt then closed her eyes, so as not to be distracted by the flame.With her left hand she pulled the small tuft of silk she had left showing and began to pull it from her hand.Instead of the shirtsleeve, a silk cord as thick as her pinky emerged from her grasp.Pulling more rapidly, she soon ran the entire shirt through her right hand, leaving her with thirty feet of coiled silken rope.“Good trick,” said Pet, nodding appreciatively.“It’s not a trick,” Jandra said.“What you did with the apple… that was a trick.This is something much more complex.I’ve been studying with Vendevorex all my life.He’s teaching me how to reconfigure the basic building blocks of matter.” Jandra stood up on the wide windowsill.She reached up, tying the rope around the roof beam that extended outside the tower.She dropped the rope.The end dangled just below the lower window.“Okay,” she said, “Let’s—”She was cut short by a horrendous creaking.She looked into the room and saw that Vengeance had climbed the far wall and cut into the copper plates that formed the roof.She yelled, “Don’t breathe!”But it was too late [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]