"We're not that far." Boyd told Willy. They could barely see pass all the fog that had gathered around Hallasholm. The Hounds were a few kilometres away from the harbour, and could barely tell.

"I've never seen so much fog." Dannie said as he and Oilge trimmed the sails.

"Me either." Farrel said. Kerk and Grong kept silent as they peered at the fog.

"Something is off about this." Emmy mumbled quietly, so only Willy heard her.

"Does anyone else smell that? Smoke." Javat said. Emmy and Willy froze, slowly turning to each other. Javat had the best nose out of them all due to his bad eye sight, which sharpened his other senses.

"Smoke?" Quint asked. They all took in a deep breath through their noses, confirming Javat's question. It was not fog, it was smoke. Willy growled under his breath and grabbed the tillar, pulling on it hard so it changed their direction.

"What are you doing?" Quint asked.

"If there is a fire in Hallasholm, we'll need an easy escape route if we need to help people get away. We're headed to Bearclaw, since the harbour will be too crowded."

"Why do you think we smell smoke?" Emmy asked, joining Willy at the tillar.

"I don't know, but I have the feeling we'll find out real soon."

   Five minutes later, they docked at Bearclaw, near the Hal's boat shed that he had rebuilt after it was burned down when Willy's mother was little. The smoke was thicker there, and they struggled to see.

"Willy?" Emmy smacked him on his arm.

"Ow!" He growled at her, but he froze when he saw the reason. "Gorlogs breath." He mumbled. More then half of the buildings in Hallasholm were on fire, and the rest were blackened with char.

"What Happened? Are our families alright?" Quint asked, suddenly panicked. The thought of his mother popped into Willy's mind, and he felt sick.

"Where is everyone?" Willy asked them all. They stood there, dumbfounded at the sight of their home village ablaze.

"Willy!" He jumped as he heard someone hiss his name. His spun around to find his aunt Lydia and his cousin Evangeline. Evangeline ran to him and he lifted her up, hugging her tightly.

"Where is everyone, Lyd? What happened here?" Willy asked his aunt. Lydia's eyes were filled with tears.

"Arridans. There was hundreds of them. They came, lit fire to everything and left." She let out a small sob, and Willy embraced her tightly. She buried her head in his neck and sobbed quietly.

"Where are my parents? Where's grandmam? And Uncle Hal?" He asked.

"Karina is fine, She is keeping Thorn and Erak from going mad, Hal and his crew are gone this week, wont be back for a while. As for your mother...I have no idea." She said. Willy felt dread start back up at the thought of his mother in the fires.

"I must go look for her."He didn't wait for a respond, He simply ran towards the burning village. He heard a light footfall behind him, and glanced back to notice Emmy smirking as she ran after him. He didn't stop her, because he didn't have enough time. He needed to find his mother. He ran towards the smoking eating house of his grandmothers, and tried to open the door, but something was blocking it. He ran around the side of the house that had yet to catch fire, his mothers old room. He opened the window and jumped in. Smoke filled his lungs as he entered the room, and he was blinded by the darkness.

"Mam!" He yelled. He dropped down onto his hands and knees so he could breathe better. He could hear a faint cough up ahead.

"Mam!" He yelled.

"Willy!" He heard his mother answer. He crawled towards the sound of her voice, but it was too dark, he couldn't see anything.

"Willy! I've got her!" Emmy yelled. He couldn't yet feel relief, since he needed to get both Emmy and Abby out alive. Emmy and Abby appeared in front of him through the smoke and he took Abby's hand.

"The window is open, we can head out that way." He said. He quickly helped his mother out the window and turned to help Emmy, but she was gone.

"Em? Come on!" He yelled. He could hear Emmy coughing a little ways back. He quickly told his mother to run to bearclaw, and dropped back down on his hands and knees. About three metres back, Emmy was sitting on the floor, holding her head. The heat was considarably hotter here, and he felt himself break out in a sweat. Emmy's skin was already coated with a thin layer. He grabbed her shoulder, but she didn't seem to register what was going on.

"Come on Em. If you don't move, you'll die here." He said.

"It's so hot!" She cried. He nodded.

"Yes it is, so let's get out of here!" He said. He took her hand, pulling her onto her hands and knees. She moved forward a little before collapsing. He groaned as he realized she was no longer conscious. He took her arm and wrapped in around his neck and hoisted her up by her waist before standing and and swinging her up into his arms. He put her over his shoulder and used his free hand to feel around the room in search of the window. It was pitch black due to the smoke, and the smoke combine with Emmy's weight was causing his breathing to stagger. If he didn't make it to the window soon, he collapse as well, and they would both die. He couldn't do that to Emmy. He couldn't fail her.

   His hand hit something hard, the wall. He followed the wall until there was a gap and he could faintly see the sky. He shifted Emmy into bridal stance so he could get out of the window. The soft ground met his foot and took in a deep breath as clean air was offered. He felt dizzy as he staggered away from the burning building. He got a good distance away before everything failed him. He dropped Emmy in the grass and fell down unconscious beside her.

***

I don't know why I decided to burn down Hallasholm, I guess I can be stupid sometimes. Kind of a lame chapter, I know. It's Saturday, So my parents gave me my kindle back! Yay! It's a lazy day for me, but I'm going to start the next chapter before my parents take my kindle away again. The Herons will be in the next one, and there will be a lot of contention between the Hounds. I hope you liked it even if it was awful!

~Avis