Part 4: Through the Fire
He bent in half as he scurried through the burning inn, trying to avoid the worse of the smoke that clogged the air. He was committed now; he’d get these praying people out or die with them here… A thought that scared him but at the same time brought with it a feeling of peace, of calm. He was doing the right thing, the only thing he could live with. Ingwe realized at that moment that he preferred to be saving others... the thought of raiding and killing Obans had never filled him with glee, though he had liked the thought of giving the goods stolen to those in need and had wanted to strike back at the ‘invaders’ when Talin had first approached him. And here again, he was helping others… People whose relatives he would later be killing. It felt weird to be thinking of it like that… but he knew he would not regret this action.
A sound above him made him look up; the floor above was collapsing into this one! He rolled forward, dodging the flaming debris and swallowing a cry of pain as flames seared his leg. He patted out the flames that tried to eat his pants and wished that he had a bit more clothing on to protect his flesh from the heat.
The coughs he was following were close now, so he picked up pace. But he wasn’t sure which room they were in. They had to be in one where the fire hadn’t yet gotten into right? Hopefully it had a window….
“Hey! Which-“ He coughed as he inhaled a lungful of smoke. “Which room you in? Call out so I can find you!”
“In here!” The voices started to call after a shocked moment. Guess they were expecting death and not a rescue, he thought with a flash of amusement as he found the door. Their door had already fallen and rubble lay between him and their room. Ingwe started shifting the burning planks aside, hissing with pain as his hands burned. Inside he found an old Oban couple crouched in one corner.
“Essd be praised… she must have sent you.” The old lady whispered before a coughing fit hit. Ingwe shrugged; he was not sure if a spirit had or not.
He looked around and saw that they were not in a windowed room… theirs was near the center of the inn and would take some time to navigate through the burning halls to flee.
“Can you walk?” He asked as he approached, ignoring his own burns and pains. He had people to get out; pain could wait! There were sure to be healers in a town this side, they could fix him up, he thought hopefully.
They shook their heads as the man whispered; “A beam fell and caught me when we first tried to leave.”
Ingwe sighed and decided to do this the reckless way. There was no way he would be able to carry both and escape, not with the ceiling collapsing and the floor above falling onto of them! And he couldn’t take one out and come back before the other died…
“Which way to the outside?” He asked. “I’m going to have to break a path through the walls…”
They pointed and he swallowed. The walls were burning, the floors crisping… would the ceiling hold up long enough? He could only pray it did.. maybe if this Essd person had pulled him here, she’d help him now? He smiled wryly as he gave the wall an experimental kick. It shuddered… as did the ceiling it supported. Welp; no one ever said things would be easy!
“Think you can stand up to some flame and bruises? I’ll have to charge through the walls to get them to break but the ceiling will collapse as I do it… I’ll have to carry you both when I charge.” He explained to them.
They looked at each other than back at him, wry smiles on their faces. “We expected to die… if this is what is needed to live, we will bear up and survive.”
He gave them a grin. “Alright then! Hold on tight!” He settled the man on his back and had the woman in his left arm, leaving his right shoulder free to act as a battering ram.
Ingwe charged the wall and felt a burst of pain spread through his shoulder with the impact, but he carried on, straight across the other room towards the wall with a window. Behind him he heard the ceiling collapse, the sound overwhelming the crackling of flames for once. He gritted his teeth and kept on running, not stopping to try and go out the window; just rushing the wall. Debris fell around him; he did not have time to do more than charge and hope the old couple survived.
Cold air hit him like a hammer as he broke the second wall and his feet landed on thin air. Bracing himself, and hoping he didn’t die from this stupid act of bravery, Ingwe fell. The couple’s grasp tightened and he heard them both mutter more prayers as the ground came up to meet them.
He hit the ground and rolled, trying to lessen the impact. Even with this, he felt one of his legs snap, searing pain joining in the burns he already had. Gasping, he felt the obans stagger up and off of him.
The world seemed far away, sounds distant and muffled. He’d held off the pain just long enough to get out, now that they were safe, he relaxed and let the darkness claim them, the last thing he saw were the worried faces of the Obans.
((954 words))
OOC 
