An Orphan's Revenge

I woke up to the smell of... burning?

I opened my eyes, and saw Connor shaking my shoulder hurriedly. Behind him there was cracking, and large flames.

"Sir! There's a fire, hurry!" He said. I jumped up, grabbing my sword. I looked around, and everyone was rushing around. The sorceress was trying to get through the fire to something, the Phillips siblings were grabbing anything they could, and the Phoenix siblings were directing everyone.

"Where's Marial?" I asked.

"I..." Connor started, looking around. I shoved past him and looked. I heard a shout, and ran towards it through the flames.

Marial was on the other side of Destiny, trying to reach something in a tree.

"Marial! Get down!" I shouted.

"Not without this!" Marial said, lifting a dagger. But the tree cracked, and Marial fell, the dagger landing in the pile of fire.

Marial lay there, unconscious. I picked her up and ran through the fire. Destiny was leading everyone out, and I followed her.

After everyone was safe from the fire and some of the adrenaline wore off the Phoenix siblings turned into CSIs of sorts. (That's what they're called in Nyxghett, right?)

"Did anyone see what caused the fire?" Chester asked. He seemed to be a rather chill guy. Early on I thought he was eerie but after being stuck in this forest for a while together and hearing mention of his past... well I can't blame him for the dark vibes. (Once his sister mentioned that their 'unfaithful father' had been executed. Whatever that metaphor is supposed to mean.)

"The flames seemed to come from the area where we usually cook," Destiny noted, "It's possible that someone forgot to put it out properly," she offered peacefully.

"Who was supposed to put it out tonight?" I asked.

"There's no way the fire pit could have caused this," Rain said. "We had several safety precautions in place, so that even if it were to be left unattended and burning all night it wasn't near enough to anything to catch fire." She explained, eyebrows furrowed.

"So someone must have left something in a bad place by the fire," Connor deduced. "Did anyone see anything left there?" He asked, still assuming it was an accident.

Rain interrupted again, "Even so, it's too far away from our tents and sleeping area to catch the whole camp on fire," she explained.

"Well what do you think it was, Miss ever so helpful?" I angrily asked.

She frowned, "It's impossible to tell for sure right now," she told us, "I can only speculate, however, whatever did this wasn't an accident," she accused.

"You think someone did this on purpose?" I gaped.

"I think someone had a torch where they weren't supposed to, even after Destiny's numerous warnings about fire safety, and now we're left without our camp." She stated, emotionlessly.

I frowned, not liking her implication, but also unable to find the hole in her logic.

To be fair, some people in this camp are idiots, I granted.

After a long lil of silence she spoke up again. "As I said, we can only speculate right now," she reminded, when everyone seemed to have turned suspicious. "We can return to the camp in the morning once the fire has run out of fuel," she directed.

"But won't it just continue through the forest?" Connor asked.

She shook her head. "The camp was far enough from the tree line that even with winds considered it won't spread beyond the boundaries of camp," she stated. "Our largest issue will be finding a secure place to sleep for the remainder of the night,"

She looked up at the sorceress.

"Destiny, I trust your judgment thus far," she offered, "Any suggestions?"

In about an hour we'd found a clearing. It was smaller but it worked for the night.

It was cold without tents and after what had just happened no one wanted a fire, so some of us gathered closer together than normal for heat.

Marial had somehow slept through it all, and I hoped she was okay.

She appeared to be breathing but I was still worried.

She bothered the crap out of me but I still didn't want anything to happen to her.

It'll all be worked out in the morning. I thought as I fell asleep next to my fellow knight and the ever unconscious girl.