Page 129 of House of Ashes

But I wasn’t falling.

I was mercifully, blessedly alive, and the wyvern carrying me shrieked in my ear, deafening me on one side as it soared away from the burning grounds.

It screeched and trilled, nearly crashing into a tower as it carried me away…and flapped wildly over the courtyard of an inn that was yet-untouched by flame.

The wyvern dropped me to the flagstones with a chirrup, and I heard a girl swearing overhead, but I didn’t look up. Not at once.

I just took a moment to hug the ground, the air knocked out of me by the wyvern’s release. Pinpricks of pain scored my back and arms where it had grabbed me, but I couldn’t complain. I would rather kiss the wyvern’s claws with gratitude.

“I didn’t die today,” I whispered to the mossy, cracked flagstones under my cheek. “I didn’t die.”

Distant roars reached my ears, drowning out the sound of the wyvern’s rider spitting invective.

Elinor had sliced the green dragon. He was down, injured, vulnerable…and I still had my sword.

I thanked Larivor I hadn’t unsheathed it while on Rhylan’s back as I jumped to my feet, stomach muscles protesting. I raced from the courtyard into a street strewn with blackened cobblestones and bricks, the wyvern hopping over fences and fluttering over my head, following the sounds of pain and rage.

The green dragon had crashed into a building, knocking timber and stone into a rockfall that filled the street, and now with every thrash his tail and wings shattered glass windows, ripped up trees by the roots, caved in walls.

But he had no dragonfire, or he would have saved himself against Elinor.

I drew Aela’s sword, and the dragon’s head whipped in my direction, eyes narrowing. His torn wings mantled, and he stalked towards me, each footstep sending a small quake through the earth under my feet, mouth open wide in a hiss.

Above me, I caught flashes of ebony and scarlet—Rhylan was still alive, still fighting.

I could do no less.

I gripped the sword with sweating hands, and zig-zagged through the street, drawing closer to the green dragon.

Without dragonfire, I stood a chance. A small one, but still a chance.

But his teeth and claws would do plenty of damage—I just needed to get close enough to shove my sword in his throat or gut, and another dragon would be able to finish him off.

The green dragon’s head swayed on his neck, a cobra waiting to strike as I ran closer, nearly turning my ankle on a quick dash to the right as I kept an eye on the softer, more vulnerable scales at his throat.

But even injured, he moved like lightning, darting his head forward to strike. I jumped aside with an adrenaline-fueled burst, almost tripping over scattered bricks as his jaws slammed shut with a cracking sound only inches away.

Whirling, I brought up the sword and scored a slash across his tender throat-scales.

“Gods damn it,” I snarled, seeing his hide part—but it wasn’t deep enough. The dragon barked out a rough chuckle, prowling forward and spreading his wings to entrap me.

That violet flash sparkled in the corner of my eye and the wyvern plunged from the sky like a hawk, latching onto the crown of the dragon’s neck, claws scrabbling for his eyes.

The dragon shrieked, shaking his head to remove the wyvern, and I saw my opening.

Panting for breath, dripping sweat and blood, I lunged in, thrusting my sword upwards.

It pierced the soft underthroat, driven with the full force of my bodyweight into his skull. The dragon exhaled, low and guttural, his eyes flickering. The wyvern released him, flapping to the nearest rooftop.

Then the dragon’s head sank to the ground, his wings drooping, eyes already glazing over.

I had to brace my boot on his jaw to rip the sword free. Only a thin trickle of blood emerged from the wound, but he was gone. No healer could save him now.

Dragging in deep gulps of air, lungs burning from the thick smoke, I wiped sweat out of my eyes. Looked up.

And saw Rhylan closer than ever, tearing at Kalros with tooth and claw. He sent a blast of eerie onyx fire into the crimson dragon’s face, burning away the scales that remained there.

Kalros shrieked, plummeting to the ground out of sight. Rhylan followed, wreathed in dark flame.

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