Once they passed through, they continued climbing higher and higher. Below them, millions of beetles fell into the bathroom like Lemmings falling off a cliff, and he gaped in alarm when he saw a mushrooming, orange-red glow rising from the hole.
“Ah, Mr. Gryphon, I think it might be wise to get us away from the house—NOW,” he shouted, lifting his head toward the tiny golden lion struggling to stay aloft.
“What do you think I’m trying to do?” the gryphon snarled.
Out of the corner of his eye, Asahi saw a movement in the distance. He sighed when he saw Nali riding on Pai’s back. Worry for her briefly overrode his current predicament. It wasn’t until he felt a wave of heat rising from the longhouse, heard the tremendous explosion, and felt the resulting shockwave that he realized death might still have a better grip on him than Ashure did.
“No!” Nali’s cry was swept away in the wind.
She slid off of Pai’s back and fell several feet before she called forth her wings. Shooting forward, she flew as fast as she could until the superheated shockwave knocked her backward. She tumbled several times before she righted herself. Pumping her wings to stay airborne, she stared in horror and fear at the smoking remains of the Daktyloi’s longhouse.
Blackened framework, glowing deep red from the heat, reached up from the ground like skeletal fingers begging for help from beyond the grave. The explosion, initiated by the Fire Beetles and intensified by the chemicals stored in the house, had flattened an area of over a hundred yards in every direction. Tall trees lay like matchsticks in a circle around the house. Small fires burned in pockets of the debris. The metal roof lay in twisted sheets, buckled and distorted by the intense heat. The few surviving Fire Beetles sizzled and popped as they exploded in the remains of the once beautiful home.
“No,” Nali whispered. “Pai—”
Pai paused beside her, his eagle-eyes searching the ground for Asahi and Ashure.
“He can’t be dead, Pai. They can’t be,” she said, her voice catching at the thought.
“Hello! Uh, a little help here, please!” Ashure wildly called out. “Asahi! Nali! Pai!! Is anyone there? I’ll even take help from Mr. Gryphon! Anyone?”
Nali took a shuddering breath and swiveled in the direction of Ashure’s voice. She was half-laughing, half-crying when she saw them in a tree at the blast zone’s edge. Ashure was hanging upside down by his knees with his coat caught on a broken limb, making it impossible for him to pull himself up. Asahi was standing on the stump of a limb that had been sheared off by the explosion. He clung to the tree’s trunk. Below him, about twenty feet of the trunk had been stripped of its branches.
As Nali flew straight for Asahi, Pai grumbled, “No worries, Empress. I’ll save the King of the Pirates—you know, one of the rulers of the Seven Kingdoms and your long-time friend—even if I am only saving him from his jacket.” Pai snorted.
Nali wrapped her arms around Asahi, holding him like she would never let him go. That was a splendid thing considering that the force of her embrace had knocked him off his narrow perch and she was now the only thing keeping him from falling to his death. She kissed him hard. Her kiss conveying her relief.
When she ended the kiss, she gazed into his eyes. His expression was soft, filled with concern and another emotion that she wasn’t ready to deal with at the moment. Her heart was still pounding from fear. She leaned her forehead against his.
“I thought I had lost y—” she whispered, her voice breaking on the last word.
He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “I did, too,” he confessed before he grimaced and peered around them. “Is this—? How long—? Mr. Gryphon!” he bit out.
“Yes, I’m fine. No, it was no bother to rescue them and deplete the magic inside me. Thank you for not asking. After all, who cares about a poor animated magical object that just saved the King of the Pirates—and a human—from certain death?” Mr. Gryphon loudly proclaimed his litany of grievances.
“You will be fine, Mr. Gryphon. Though you really should be resting,” Nali soothingly said with a shake of her head.
Mr. Gryphon gave Nali a pained look. “That’s fine for you to say, Empress. You have the powers of the Goddess on your side. Me—I’m doomed to a life of pain and suffering because I was given to an unappreciative—”
The unceasing complaints had started nearly a half hour earlier when Asahi found the winged lion stuck in a rivulet of sap oozing down the tree trunk. Asahi finally sheathed the magical dagger despite Mr. Gryphon’s vehement protest that he was fine and wanted to remain unsheathed until he knew the threat was over. The resultant silence was blissful.
“Thank you,” Ashure muttered.
“You’re welcome,” Asahi replied with a slight smile.
“So, why are we walking?” Ashure inquired.
“Because the entity destroyed the transport, and Pai is getting too old to carry anyone a long distance, much less both of you,” Nali retorted.
“Pai is hardly a frail old hippogriff, Nali. As long as he takes reasonable breaks, I’m sure he could carry Asahi and me in a pinch. If he did, we might get to the mountain in time to save the lives of the unicorns. Could you at least ask him?” Ashure asked.
Nali glared at Ashure. “No, I won’t. You know what Pai would say. He would boast how he could carry all three of us with one wing tied to his side. I won’t endanger his life any more than I already have,” she growled.
“Well, we can
