"Hours?" Chenzhou repeated, a steady ringing growing louder and louder in his ears as he tried to understand.
"But it's so far away," Vitali sounded scared for the first time since Eirian had met her.
"It's a wildfire." Eirian snapped, her own fears driving her to panicked anger. "It travels miles in minutes. It's generating its own wind, which just makes it move faster."
Wildfires were self-propelling nightmares and the prime reason why fire was the most dangerous element. After it got started, it could even provide its own fuel. There was no fire in the world of the dead, Eirian realized, mad at herself for such a distracted thought, but there'd been no air because nothing in that world needed to breathe.
It wasn't until they'd walked through the veil and found a world where everything breathed in some way or form that they'd found fire.
The empires of Song and Snow are full of fools, she thinks. Either they'd done it without realizing the consequences, or they'd fooled themselves into thinking they could control it.
"We need to go." She said, turning to find Fleet Goddess. "We need distance. We need water." A wildfire this size would dry up the Blue River in an hour, but the Still Water, which stretched miles across, would survive the heat from the fire, and the ash would poison it the same way it would the air. But that was a problem for later. Eirian's favorite tutor, her combat instructor, had always taught her to keep the bigger picture in mind but to always deal with the problem immediately in front of her first.
"If you skip the first problem by attempting to solve the last problem first, you'll never solve anything." He'd always said.
And he hadn't been wrong yet.
Distance.
Shelter.
Water.
The closest shelter that wouldn't immediately burn to the ground was the Camelia, with its base and wall of volcanic stone.
She turned to Chenzhou and Mingzhe. "We need to get back to the Camelia." They were smart enough to point out that the Camelia was too far, that most of those who attempted the journey wouldn't survive, but there was no other option.
And it was always better to give people a goal, some chance to survive, instead of just giving up and telling them they weren't going to make it.
Chenzhou and Mingzhe nodded, turning to shout orders as Eirian glanced back at the growing light. A redish orange hue was becoming clearer as the fire spread, the most recognizable color of flames on the Rock. Not quite hot enough to melt metal or make rock explode, but that didn't mean it couldn't get there by the time it reached the Camelia.
The wind was picking up as people started moving.
Chenzhou shouted orders to send the fastest riders to every village and tribal camp they knew about as Mingzhe ordered the wounded and those in charge of the wagons to head straight for the Camelia. They'd abandoned most wagons on the journey, carrying the wounded who survived the rushed flight on horseback for the last leg.
The tribes prepared to flee, but there were far more of them than mounts, and most of the farm animals couldn't be ridden.
Eirian climbed onto a shaking Fleet Goddess as Chenzhou sent his soldiers to carry those of the tribe that didn't have a horse.
Most of them balked. A few fled on foot.
Until a young mother clutching two small children to her breast decided to put her children above all else and shoved them into the arms of one of Lady Yang's mounted archers. Another one dragged her up into the saddle behind him, and both took off for the Camelia without waiting. There were more than a few horror stories about accidental fires in camp tents that had permanently maimed or killed soldiers in the most horrific way possible.
There was nothing worse than burning to death.
Even Eirian was terrified of it.
After the first, the floodgates opened. Tribesmen flooded the soldiers, causing chaos as sudden movements spooked already spooked horses. A few soldiers have to shove back panicked adults to take the children and elderly first.
There weren't enough mounts for everyone, but, slower than they should, the able-bodied adults started to make their way on foot after the last of the parents had handed off their children and the elderly who didn't decide to take their chances on their own.
Eirian, Chenzhou, Mingzhe, and their sub-commanders all took up the rear. Urging the stragglers along with the tribal leadership. Kai Low and the woman who looked like Beng Shai seemed to be the closest to replacing Beng Shai, but there wasn't time or interest in stopping to hash it out.
The fire on the horizon had grown nearly two inches in the time it took them to start moving from the camp, hammering home how little time they had.
Eirian couldn't stop glancing over her shoulder to check on it, Ardain screaming in her ear.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Death on horseback, a great black steed that nearly melted into the shadows, among the fleeing horsemen.
~ tbc