Page 100 of Feathers and Thorns

“It is you!” she exclaimed, hugging the horse again.

Rook was staring between the four-legged beast and Soren, obviously confused.

“He was a part of my journey early on,” Soren explained.

“You didn’t think to tell me that you rode a winged horse?” Rook asked, raising his brow.

Soren made to answer, but then grabbed Quill, threw it past Rook’s head, and into the eye of a Xian-Dao soldier who had been trying to sneak up from behind them.

Rook turned to watch the body fall and couldn’t help but be impressed by her arm. He reached down and turned the man over, removing the dagger with a sick, sucking sound. The eyeball came with it, and he plucked it off the end of the blade, tossing it behind him before handing Quill back to Soren with a smile on his face.

“Seriously?” she asked, and he just shrugged his shoulders. “That was disgusting.” She grimaced.

“Would you prefer I delivered it to you in a box?” he questioned.

“No, nope, absolutely not,” she replied, grabbing Quill and hopping back onto the stallion. “You coming?” she beckoned.

Rook hesitated for a moment before mounting up behind her as the creature’s wings splayed out from the space between their legs.

“Does it have a name?” Rook asked as they lifted up into the sky.

“I couldn’t find one that fit,” Soren replied before her voice was swallowed by the wind. She did not know how this creature had come by its wings, but she set the confusion aside and went in search of more enemies to destroy.

* * *

“We need to go,” Baz said as Jai pressed his fingertips to William’s eyelids, shielding his gaze from the horrors around him. “C’mon, man,” Baz urged, his tone sterner this time.

Jai ripped his eyes away from the rider and ran with Baz toward another group of men who were fighting off three of the kestrels’ larger counterparts.

“He was just a boy!” Jai barked.

“I know,” was all Baz replied before they sunk their blades into one of the creatures. Black blood sprayed everywhere, and then one of the Enthean’s bent forward to set its body alight. The guys’ eyes followed the smoke trail to the sky where Soren and Rook sat atop a great, winged horse, dropping the last of the kestrels with ease. They continued to follow their flight path as Soren and Rook set their sights on Adriel.

The god-like man was laying waste to everyone and everything in his path, even killing off a few of Bao-Ren’s men who had gotten in his way. Jai and Baz knew if they were going to defeat him, they would have to work together.

“Find Enara,” Jai ordered then ran in Adriel’s direction.

Baz did not hesitate to return to where he had last seen her. However, smoke filled the field, making visibility low, and he struggled to make his way across the sea of bodies. Every few feet, he would see a face he knew, and it made his stomach tighten. There was one face he begged the Maker not to see bleeding out on the ground.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted her. She was helping one of the medics drag a body over the edge of the hill. He tried waving to get her attention, but she was too focused on the task at hand.

When the medic was out of sight, she ran back down the hill, cutting diagonally across the field, when movement caught the corner of Baz’s eye.

No! he screamed internally as he yelled aloud to warn her. “Enara!” But he was too late.

Their eyes connected for a split-second before General Corvus’s winged form landed in front of Enara, cutting off their path to each other.

Baz’s eyes narrowed at the creature’s back, and his boots smacked hard with each step as he ran in their direction.

In moments, she was on the ground. Even her incredible skills were no match for the creature’s centuries of experience.

Baz felt the pieces of his heart shatter as the general picked Enara up by her throat and began squeezing the life out of her. Enara stopped flailing, and the general threw her lifeless body aside.

Baz let out a cry filled with rage as he closed the distance between him and Enara’s killer, tackling him into the ash. He pinned the creature’s wings behind him, his fury only amplified when Corvus laughed in his face.

“Killing me won’t bring her back,” he gargled, and that was when Baz noticed the blade of Enara’s staff sticking out from the side of the creature’s ribs.

He lifted the half-man by his chest and slammed him back into the ground. He did this over and over again until General Corvus’s skull split open on the battlefield before him and all the life left his dark eyes.

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