Twenty-Six
I’ve never run so fast. I’ve also never tripped so much in such a short space of time. Damn roots and slippery vines and steep patches with loose sand. I hear shouts behind me and the steady tromp of hundreds of feet. Thousands? I have no idea. The crackle and hiss of flames announces more trees on fire behind me. Smoke fills my nostrils, and all the fear and horror from the night of The Destruction comes rushing back to me.
I don’t look back. I jump and slide and run some more. Ryn told me there’s an entrance behind the waterfall. Will it be faster to go through there than dive into the river? The ground is flat now as I dash alongside water lit up with orange light. I pump my arms and legs. Faster, faster. I leap onto the rocks below the waterfall, slipping a little, but reg
