Through the dancing flames Liya could see figures moving now. They were close, a stone's throw--huge hulking shapes of bears and beasts, smaller human-shaped ones holding rifles, or wearing goggles that flashed in the light.

They were too close. She'd be drawn into the line of fire, if they came any closer. Why on earth were they--

"Hawk, please wake up," she said, and put a hand on his chest, filling her nerves with chilly light. "Oh god, please wake up."

The light reached down into his ribcage, climbing through every vein, until suddenly--it stopped. The vessels clinging to his heart were lit but the heart itself...

It was dark, still, silent. Like a room with a broken light switch. No pulse, not even the struggle to. Nothing.

She pulled her hand away as though it burned her. "Hawk?" she croaked weakly. Behind her, the fire rushed and parted around gloved hands; footsteps barely made themselves audible over the sound of the struggle.

She did not look up. Desperate, frightened, and feeling slightly foolish she put her ear to her brother's chest, hoping that her ears would tell her something that the light did not.

Of course there was nothing. Silence yawned away beneath her head.