Firelight

Firelight By J.M. Snyder Fire leapt into the night, orange flames licking into the darkness, tongues that lapped at the stars above. Shadows ringed the bonfire, mere shapes in the flickering light. John’s head buzzed from the dense smoke rising off the fire; his mouth tingled from whatever had been in the cup he’d sipped from before he passed it along to the person beside him. His hands felt swollen and unwieldy, his whole body off-kilter. He swore he could hear the fire laugh at him, a cackling, rippling sound that eclipsed the world. The man on his left side was a fellow soldier in the American army and, like himself, had been captured by the rampaging Sioux warriors currently performing for their benefit. Others from John’s regiment sat scattered around the fire, their white faces pa