Home Part 8
Posted on Sun Apr 4th, 2021 @ 3:49am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Chief Petty Officer Remal Kajun
Mission:
*CD*
Location: Bajor
Timeline: Current
She contented herself with making another cup of coffee before she got the very distinct feeling that something was wrong. There was the faint scent of something burning, a tendril of smoke wisping around the corner of the kitchen. Her gut clenched and her heart raced, the coffee was instantly forgotten. The crackle of flame mixed with the intensifying smoke, the tendril now a thick plume emerging from the lounge room.
Her first thought was for Remal, before remembering that he was still at the market. She hadn’t heard him come back in since the Trio had left. She poked her head out of the kitchen to reveal a large fire rapidly engulfing the living room.
Dropping to her knees to keep out of the toxic smoke Rhenora crawled towards the door, the trinket Remal had given her in one hand, the hem of her dress held over her mouth and nose with the other. The smoke was choking, dark and billowing as it descended down the walls, the fire thriving on the open windows for oxygen. Somewhere overhead the roof gave a sickening creak.
His heart thumped faster than the thuds of his feet falling upon the ground below, oh how he wished those legs could move him faster. The run-up the road took a quarter of the time his walk down had. All the while his mind raced, trying to figure out if she had done something wrong in lighting a fire, or was she attempting to cook and caught something ablaze. She was far from accident prone, but then things tended to happen when they went on vacation.
All of those thoughts vanished the moment he turned onto the path leading up to the cottage. The Rhenora blooms were all scorched in a neat line leading all of the way to the cabin. This was not her, this was arson, a deliberate act to hurt them, to hurt her. He kept running, no hesitation, no faltering, no caring for his own life. He ran up the stairs, dropped his shoulder and slammed into the door, shattering the hinges and breaking through to the hell within. The fire would have exploded outward, but because she had opened the windows there was no backdraft. But the smoke was thick. He called for her, his voice hoarse and pained from the run.
Rhenora felt rather than heard the door explode inwards, the inward rush of fresh air providing much needed oxygen but also fanning the flames behind her. She reached forward, blindly grabbing at whoever or whatever had forced the door whilst willing fatigued limbs to move forward. Strong hands grabbed her under the shoulders and pulled them towards the fresh sweet salt-filled air. Coughing violently she drank in the oxygen between retching hacks, her lungs desperate to cleanse themselves of the smoke. Eyes streaming she tried to recognize her savior, only to see a blurred outline against the sun.
“Remal?” She got out between coughs.
He had found her near the back door and was lifting her into his arms when the roof beam above them gave way. It fell, a burning pile of wood, blocking their path out the door. It would be but moments before the rest of the roof began to cave in. He looked around for another escape, the front door was too far. He looked through the flames into the sun room, the tall windows giving the perfect view of the serene beach beyond. Without thinking, he wrapped her close to his chest, ducked his head, and made a running leap through the glass out into the sands beyond.
As he collapsed coughing, he reached into her pocket for her badge. There was a small chirp. “To anyone” cough “anyone within the sound of my voice…” cough “the cabin” cough “fire.” In front of him, his bride, behind him, his life’s work. Everything crumbling into blackened ash and soot. The years of his life spent to make a home, gone in a matter of minutes. Almost everything that had defined his life, driven him, his ties, his home, burnt into dust.
The trio watched from the safety of the nearby hill as the building burnt to the ground, their mission surely completed as the roof collapsed amongst the flames. The Marnah would be dead along with whatever offspring she may have been bearing. The Builder could also be seen running into the burning building, a sure sign of his imminent demise.
“Come - let us inform Brin of our success,” The oldest said confidently, retying the red band around his arm and attached the blood-red earring to his ear. Turning their backs on the scene they disappeared into the hills and back to the congregation of the Cult of the Pah Wraiths.
TBC
