Page 20 of Storm In The Sky

For a moment, everything was still. The man standing in front of the cottage stared at the group of mages and dragons with wide eyes. Winter, the other dragons, and the mages stared back.

Winter wasn’t quite sure what was expected of him beyond protecting Keylon. Jarvis had taken the lead without talkingabout it with the others, but it looked like something he routinely did, and Winter was fine with that. He wasn’t used to this kind of situation. He didn’t usually deal with people who wanted him dead, and he’d have no idea where to start.

The man burst into motion. He ran to the corner of the cottage, holding his bag and the thing he’d been about to put inside tightly to his chest. The dragons reacted instantly, going after him.

“Simon!” Jarvis called out. “We’re not here to hurt you.”

Winter almost snorted. They might not be here to hurt him, but if he tried anything, they would. Winter didn’t care about this Simon guy. He cared about Keylon and Samuel and keeping them safe.

“Don’t hurt him,” Jarvis ordered as the dragons disappeared around the corner of the cottage.

Winter still didn’t know what to do, so he decided to follow. By the time he rounded the cottage, Simon was nowhere to be seen, but he could see the back of two of the dragons. Winter ran after them, and he would have reached them if his foot hadn’t caught on something.

He looked down, swearing, then frowned.

The cat figurine looked like it didn’t belong. It was clean, which meant it had been dropped recently. Winter leaned down and wrapped his fingers around it, only to swear again and drop it when he felt the power inside of it.

The second time he reached for the figurine, he knew what to expect. The magic vibrated inside the smooth surface, but it didn’t hurt him. He managed to pick up the cat and raise it so he could take a better look.

It was made of white and light blue ceramic. There was nothing special about the cat figurine beyond the fact that even Winter could feel it was full of magic, and he wasn’t a mage. He didn’t know what it was, and he probably wouldn’t be the oneto solve that mystery, so he pocketed the figurine and started running again.

He could hear people yelling, but they didn’t seem to be moving. He followed the sound until he reached a path deeper in the forest. He was surprised to see it there, but when he squinted, he could see houses in the distance, partially hidden by the trees. Clearly, the small village Jarvis had mentioned before had expanded and was now closer than ever to Carlyle’s cottage.

A dog barked furiously, but no one was trying to stop it. Winter understood why the dog was reacting that way when he realized what he’d walked in on.

Simon’s gaze was wild as he looked around. He’d found an older woman on the path and had her back pressed against his chest. He had an arm hooked around her neck, and even though she’d grabbed it with both her hands, it was clear he was hurting her. She was having trouble breathing, and her face was turning red. The dog barked and ran around them, trying to get to her as his leash hung from his collar. When he got too close, Simon kicked him, making him whimper.

“Stay away from me,” Simon said.

Winter raised his hands. There were already enough dragons focusing on Simon. Marlow and Parker looked at each other, then at Simon again, and Winter knew they were planning something. Bennett had his hands raised like Winter, possibly to make himself look harmless, but Winter could have told him it wouldn’t work. He was too big to look harmless. Meyer had stayed behind, which was good, because Winter hadn’t thought of doing so. The mages needed to be protected, but Winter wasn’t used to thinking about anyone but himself in these situations.

Not that he’d lived through a lot of them. His life with Samuel’s clan had been normal. There had been no fighting orrunning for his life. There had been no need to protect anyone, not even Samuel.

“We’re not here to hurt you,” Bennett said.

Simon didn’t look like he believed him. He frantically looked around, possibly for an escape, but there was nowhere for him to go. If he let go of the woman, the dragons would catch up to him. He was human, so even if he managed to get ahead, they could shift and grab him.

“I know what you did,” Simon said. “You trapped Carlyle. You tortured him.”

“Technically, that wasn’t us,” Winter said, careful not to use the wordmagesin front of the woman.

Simon’s attention snapped to him.

Winter grimaced. “Sorry. What I was trying to say is thatwedidn’t have anything to do with that,” he said as he gestured at himself and the other dragons.

“You supported them! That makes you as guilty as them.”

“You’re not going to be able to run away,” Bennett said in a soothing voice. “Let go of the lady, and we can talk. I promise we’ll stay away from you and that we’ll give you space.”

“You’re saying that because you want me to let go. I don’t believe you.”

That was smart—Winter wouldn’t have believed Bennett if he’d been in Simon’s place, either. Simon might be human, but he was on Carlyle’s side. He knew part of the story, but Winter was ready to bet that Carlyle had edited out the parts that would make him look bad. Either that, or Simon was as evil as Carlyle.

Marlow took a step forward. Simon’s gaze moved to him. He pushed the woman forward, bolting as soon as he let go of her. The woman cried out and started to fall, but Marlow was there in time to grab her and haul her back to her feet. Parker, Bennett, and Winter rushed after Simon, but it was too late.

Winter watched with wide eyes as Simon threw something on the ground. A portal appeared in front of him, and he ran through without hesitating. He didn’t even slow down.

Winter did. He was tempted to jump through the portal so he could continue following Simon, but there was no way to know where it led. Probably straight to Carlyle.

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