Hot, black ash flakes settled thick around him.
Then, all at once, he saw her standing in the middle of the road, a little farther up the hill.

She was staring fascinated at the fire, her eyes wide like a child's, her face with the rapt look he had seen when she stood looking down from the peak into the heart of the forest.

And then, when he saw her, Jack could run no more.

His knees bent under him, as though the bone had turned suddenly to soft gristle, and he tottered weakly when he tried to hurry to her.
"Isn't it wonderful ?" she called out when she saw him.

Her words came faintly to him in all that rush and crackle of flame and wind together.