Page 61 of Feathers and Thorns

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As Soren rounded the final corner leading back to the city center, she flung an arm out to halt Enara from barreling forward. They had planned on dispatching the sergeant but wanted to get a better idea of how many enemies were still in the city.

“What is it?” Enara asked with Soren’s hand still pressed against her chest.

Soren peeked around the corner again to get a better look. “There are three more of them, and they aren’t alone. There are two kestrels with them, and another one of those horrible creatures Baz and Jai were fighting.”

“What are they doing?”

“It looks like they are rounding up stragglers,” Soren said then gasped. “I think they plan to execute them.”

“Let me see,” Enara said, pushing aside Soren’s hand to peek around the edge of the stone wall.

Soren had been right. The four men, if she could even call them that with their beautiful, inhuman skin, were lining up citizens and pushing them to their knees as the kestrels and their larger counterparts stalked back and forth in front of them.

“Where is Soren Nightsong?” the sergeant bellowed.

A chill creeped over Soren’s skin. They are looking for me.

He spat through his too-perfect teeth, “Speak!”

“We don’t know!” a man replied in an attempt at self-preservation.

“Then you are useless to me,” the sergeant sneered then nodded to one of the kestrels.

Before the man could defend himself, the creature thrust its taloned hand through his chest, causing a ripple of fear throughout the crowd. The man fell to the ground, sputtering, and bled out in seconds.

Soren had seen enough. Before she could talk herself out of it, she ran forward into the square. She couldn’t let any more people die on her account.

“I am Soren Nightsong,” she said, her voice sounding surer than she felt. “You have found me. Now let these people go.”

A cruel smile formed on strong features, and the sergeant’s green eyes shone in the late afternoon sun. The smoke from the explosions had dissipated, and the sun’s rays glinted like flames licking off the gold accents of the city’s walls.

The sergeant spoke then. “You have caused the commander much trouble, little girl.”

The comment stoked Soren’s temper, a spark igniting the fuse of her barely held together resolve. “Let them go,” she ordered through gritted teeth. “I will come with you if you leave them unharmed.”

“You are in no position to be barking orders, tiny human,” the sergeant sneered. His eyes then flicked behind her, and she turned to follow his gaze.

“Let go of me!” Enara shrieked at a kestrel that had its talons wrapped around her biceps. Soren hadn’t noticed that one of them was missing from the square, and her heart dropped into her stomach cavity.

“If you so much as scratch her, I will cut out your eyes and feed them to you,” Soren spat. Her anger boiled like a tea kettle, the steam rising, a pressure filling her chest that made her feel as though she would explode.

A laugh escaped from the sergeant’s mouth. He clearly was not taking her threat seriously, so she sought to silence him. She would not risk throwing one of her knives. If she missed, she could harm one of the bystanders.

She palmed two of the blades and gave them a spin, relishing the way they felt like an extension of her hands as she lunged for his throat.

The sudden attack took everyone by surprise, and Enara used it to her advantage. With the heel of her boot, she crushed the bones in the kestrel’s foot and turned to land three swift blows with her fists. It sickened her as the two blows to the creature’s chest sounded hollow, but she followed the jabs with an uppercut to avoid the sharp angles of its face. The beast fell back, flapping its wings angrily.

Enara reached for Coraxis, her bladed staff, which was still affixed to her back. She was thankful that the incompetent bird had not removed it and braced herself.

The kestrel flapped its raven wings, lifting itself a few feet off the ground, ready to attack. Enara tightened her grip, ready to impale the ungodly creature, but before it could bridge the gap between them, an arrow whistled past her temple and embedded itself into its head.

Enara turned to see where the arrow had originated and exhaled a sigh of relief when she saw Rook’s lithe form running across the rooftops. Then her breath caught when she saw Soren locked in combat with the sergeant. She ran to help her friend but was cut off by the kestrel’s larger companion.

She ducked as it swung two of its pointed arms above her head in an attempt to decapitate her, and then she ran. She did not doubt her fighting skills, but she was no idiot. I’ll lead it to the narrow streets where I can constrict its movement. Then I will strike.

Soren watched the beast trail after Enara through a small entryway just as the sergeant swung his blade at her feet. She jumped, narrowly avoiding losing her ankles, and slashed down with one of her daggers. She caught him across the side of the neck, and he hissed, taking a few steps back.

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