Page 105 of The Warlock's Trial

Cautiously, I approached one of the windfarers. He was light blue and the largest of the group. I reached out a hand, and he gently brought his velvety nose downward. I stroked his head a few times, and he cooed. Oliver followed along at my feet, and the windfarer bent down to lick him. Oliver meowed happily.

“They appear to be safe,” I told the others. “We should get moving.”

“I hope you found what you were looking for,” Alexei said. “It’s best if you don’t return. It’s not safe here even for our own people, but certainly not for your kind.”

“We won’t be back,” I promised.

Professor Warren helped Verla to her feet, and they approached a lavender windfarer. He guided her onto the windfarer, then situated himself behind her to help her hold on. Grant climbed onto a pale green creature, while Talia took the pink one. Chloe rode a tangerine one, and Nadine and I settled onto the back of the large blue windfarer. Isa and Oliver jumped up beside us, then climbed into the hoods of our cloaks to hang on. The other cats settled in alongside their respective owners.

“Use the clouds as cover,” Alexei instructed, before pointing in front of us. “Head straight that way. The border is miles off, but it’s a short flight. There’s a wide river that marks it. Dismount the windfarers before you reach it, then cross the river to portal home. Keep a lookout for potential threats. There's an enemy fae general who scouts the area nearby. His name's General Davor—big red dragon. He works for the rival queen and has given us plenty of problems. You'll know if you run into him. If you do, fly as fast and far as you can, and pray to your goddess you make it out alive.”

It sounded ominous, but I was sure we’d make it. “Take care.”

“We will,” Alexei replied. “And good luck.”

The windfarer spread its wings and kicked off the ground. Alexei, Kiara, and Siona waved goodbye as we departed.

My stomach flip-flopped as we took off, and my arms tightened around Nadine. She leaned against me as if to assure me she was okay. This was different from riding the dragon, because the windfarer’s fur was softer, and the beat of its wings quieter. The flight was steady and felt like floating upon an insect, instead of being on the jostling back of a dragon. I felt secure up here on a creature’s back.

The windfarers flew us high above the trees. The Malovian landscape stretched for miles, the woodland giving way to the mountains. Wind whipped through our hair, and I felt free in the air.

I didn’t get much of a chance to view the landscape before we flew into the clouds. The cloud cover concealed us, but every now and then, I caught glimpses of the landscape below. The ruins of an old battlefield appeared through a break in the clouds. I figured we had to be getting close to the border by now.

I caught sight of Talia on the back of a pink windfarer beside us. She clutched tightly to the Seer Wand, which was glowing at the tip. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut, and I knew she must be having a vision.

“Tal!” I cried. “What’s happening?”

Talia winced, before her eyes shot open and she called out to us. “We’ve got company! Follow me. I know where we need to go!”

Talia leaned to the right, and her windfarer turned in another direction. The rest of us immediately picked up speed and followed behind her.

The sound of a terrifying roar rocked the skies. Nadine whirled her head around the same time the windfarer dove downward. Our cats squealed, and Oliver’s claws clung to the fabric of my cloak. I had to grab tightly to the windfarer’s feathers to keep us on his back. My heart hammered so hard I was sure Nadine could feel it against her back. She curled closer to me as we dipped downward.

Just as we broke out of the clouds, a large pair of jaws with razor-sharp teeth appeared above us. They snapped in our direction, and the windfarer banked left to avoid the monster.

“Dragon shifters!” Professor Warren’s voice called through the sky.

I looked up to see the shadow of a massive beast closing in, its talons headed straight for us. The dragon was over twice the size of the windfarer, with long leathery wings and hard red scales covering his body. He had his eyes set on Nadine.

The need to protect overcame me, but a protection spell wasn’t enough. This dragon shifter would die before it laid a talon on my wife.

The dragon snapped its jaws again, and the windfarer dodged its attack. The dragon flapped its leathery wings and rose above us once more. I raised my hand, and a high-powered death spell erupted from my palm, shooting straight toward the sky like a rocket. It slammed into the dragon’s chest, and a cry of pain filled the air. The spell sizzled outward like lightning bolts consuming the shifter. He went spiraling out of the sky, and I watched as he hit the ground head-first. His chest continued to rise and fall, but he didn’t get back up. My spell had been strong, but not enough to kill the shifter; I’d merely knocked him out. This wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought.

I frantically looked around for signs of my friends, and I saw their windfarers emerging from the clouds.

“There’s more!” Grant screamed, pointing behind us.

My stomach plummeted when I saw a horde of shifters rising into the sky. Men morphed into dragons, griffins, alicorns, and wolves with wings, and female sorceresses mounted the shifters backs before they took to the skies to pursue us. Despite our best efforts to not raise any alarms, we had been spotted, and the shifters were closing in fast.

“Faster!” I ordered the windfarer. He beat his wings harder, but the shifters were still catching up.

“Lucas, you have to portal us out of here!” Nadine demanded.

I looked to our friends, who blasted spells back at the shifters. The windfarers swooped and twisted through the sky, avoiding dragon fireballs and illusion spells from the other shifters. There was no way to get us all through a portal up here. If I tried and didn’t aim the portal just right, any one of us could be killed.

“I can’t!” I shouted over the roar of the wind. “We have to get on solid ground!”

Off in the distance, I could see the river that Alexei had mentioned, but there was nothing between us and the river except a barren landscape. There was nothing to conceal us long enough to dismount our windfarers and cast a portal. The shifters would have us slaughtered before we made it that far.

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