Page 99 of Feathers and Thorns

“We need to take out Adriel!” Jai yelled. “With him gone, they may retreat.”

“The general, too,” Rook gritted out, looking to where Corvus circled above them.

They ran forth with the rest of their troops, heading straight for the beasts. They would have to work quickly. If they didn’t burn the bodies of the fallen creatures, they would piece themselves back together, and then their efforts would be for naught.

Grunts and screams filled the air as the battle raged on, and Enara cried out in anger as one of the Celestials broke her nose with the butt of his sword.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” she scoffed before doubling the woman over with an elbow and finishing her off with Coraxis.

“Nice one, Enara,” Soren called from where she was pulling a dagger out of the still-writhing body of one of the large creatures that Baz had helped her take down. He was swinging his sword skillfully, covering Soren as she grabbed a nearby torch from where it lay on the ground and set the beast aflame.

The ichor ignited like dry kindling. Soon, the sky was filled with black smoke. The body stunk like rotting meat and burning flesh, and Soren stifled a gag.

“How dare you?” a kestrel wailed from above her. It had used the smoke as cover to take her by surprise and grasped her shoulders before lifting her away from the group. The motion caused her to lose her grip on Rachi and the torch, her arms helpless in its grip.

“Let me go!” she screamed, thrashing her head and legs. She knew they wouldn’t make it far, considering the extra weight her armor bore.

“Oh, I’ll let you go,” the beast sneered, “once I get high enough.”

“Fuck you!” Soren screamed, her throat going raw.

“Soren!” Enara called, running below them, following their path.

Soren had never been afraid of heights, but when she noticed how small Enara’s form was becoming, a knot grew in her stomach. She tried shifting her arms, but the talons caused pain to shoot down to her wrists and up her neck.

Not like this, she thought. Not like this.

She stretched her neck as far as it would go, deciding at once that if she was going to fall to her death, it would be on her own terms.

She bit the kestrel’s foot—hard. The creature screeched and released his grip on her shoulders, and then she was falling.

* * *

“No!” Rook roared as he watched Soren fall from the sky. She was too high, and he was too far to try to catch her. But he ran, anyway. His blades moved at a blinding speed as he made his way to where she would land. He thought that maybe, just maybe, if he could catch her, his half-celestial body might be able to withstand the force enough that she would live.

He moved his legs, pumping them harder than he thought possible, and entered the landing zone with moments to spare. He braced himself for the impact, wishing they’d had more time. Wishing he could hold her, and kiss her, and tell her everything would be okay. To tell her that he loved her once more.

Her scream could have broken the sound barrier as she plummeted toward him. He planted his feet, his blades thrown to the side, arms held out to cradle her. Then he closed his eyes at the last second, not willing to watch what happened next.

The impact never came as a gust of air knocked him off his feet. He landed hard on his tailbone, blinking to remove the shadows from his eyes. He realized quickly that the shadow was a large, black body looming before him. However, it was not the body of a man, but of a horse. A great black creature with onyx wings stood before him with a breathless Soren upon its back.

He reached forward to brush a hair from her face, and the horse gave him a warning snort in response.

“Whoa, boy,” Rook muttered, holding his palms up before speaking quietly to Soren. “Little bird, you can open your eyes now.”

Soren’s eyes fluttered open, and her death grip on the horse’s mane loosened. “Rook,” she groaned.

“Yes, little bird, I’m here.”

She pushed up into a sitting position, wincing at the pain that shot through her shoulder blades.

“Drink this,” Rook said, holding up a vial of healing water from a small pouch at his side.

She took it gratefully and, after a moment, attempted to roll her shoulders. They weren’t fully healed, but the pain was manageable. She could feel the effects of the venom fading to a dull burn.

She allowed Rook to pull her down as the great horse chuffed again. Soren embraced Rook tightly before walking around to thank the majestic creature. She hugged the horse’s thick neck, nuzzling into the softness of its coat. Then Soren pulled back to look into the creature’s big brown eyes and whispered, “Thank you.”

She continued staring at the creature for a long moment as the war raged around them, and something in her heart clicked. As if to confirm her suspicion, the horse stretched its wings wide before folding them in on himself. She was momentarily shocked as they seemed to disappear into his body, leaving behind a regular black stallion.

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