Page 52 of Of Steel and Scale

I landed on my back a good ten or fifteen feet away, staring up at the dagger-like rocks only inches from my forehead. Fuck, I’d been lucky—sodamn lucky—that I hadn’t ended up in the same damaged state as Randel.

“Bryn?” Damon dropped to his knees beside me. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just winded. Move back so I can get up.”

He shuffled back and rose with me, one hand hovering near my elbow, as if ready to catch me should I waver.

“I’m fine, Damon, really.”

“You look fine, but magic can sometimes have detrimental effects that are not obvious at first glance.” His gaze swept me critically and came up looking relieved. “I can’t see any evidence of post-spell fragments clinging to you.”

“Which maybe suggests they didn’t expect us to be able to break through.”

“And we wouldn’t have, if not for your drakkon.” He reached out and plucked something from my hair. “There is this, though.”

“This” was a semi melted, blackened remnant of the gilded feather. “Is there magic clinging to it?”

“Enough to tell theyareusing blood magic, so it is strange that I cannot see it.” He raised the fragment a little, allowing the blue light to flow across it. “If this remnant is anything to go by, they are not restricted to mere protection as we are.”

“You said your magic could also alter—isn’t that what they’re doing with the gilded birds?”

He shrugged. “It’s possible that’s the birds’ natural state—perhaps they are their country’s equivalent to our drakkons.”

“Theoretically, though, itispossible to physically alter a living being such as these birds?”

He hesitated. “Theoretically, anything is possible with enough will and skill, but such wide-scale alterations on such large creatures might well require more blood than the mage can spare.”

Which wasn’t much of a problem when you could use the blood of others. “Then, presuming the birdsarealtered by blood—could you or your Angolan kin undo them?”

He dropped the remnant onto the stone and ground it underneath a heel. “Not to kill—as I said, our blood magic is protection based rather than attack. Itispossible that if we caught one, we could figure out what has been done to it and maybe even return it to its natural state, but that is an unrealistic task if we are dealing with a squadron or more of them.”

I adjusted the position of my pack, picked up the one that had slipped from my shoulder when I’d been thrown, and then moved forward again. Despite the quiet fierceness of the explosion, it had caused a fair bit of damage to the walls either side of the crevice. Chunks of blue glowing stone lay scattered throughout the tube, along with multiple bits of the black rock’s “teeth.” No wonder Damon had asked me if I was okay. By rights, the explosion should have blown me apart as easily as the rock. And might well have, had I been standing in front of the crevice.

We made good time and soon reached the point where the tube met a much older system. From here, it was only a ten-minute walk through a small cavern, and a sharply inclined but shorter tunnel to reach the Beak.

We paused at the edge of the tunnel and studied the small cavern. At first glance, it appeared empty, then Damon lightly nudged my arm and pointed to the right, near where the entrance to the Beak’s runner tunnel was.

I studied the area, initially seeing nothing but a series of odd-shaped rocks. Then I noticed their oddly formal structure. Theyweren’trocks. They were concealment cloaks hiding what looked to be a series of differently sized boxes.

“They’ve obviously started setting up some sort of supply depot,” I said.

He nodded. “There doesn’t seem to be much here yet.”

“It might also be but one of a number scattered across the Black Glass Mountains or even the Throat. With winged access, there’re plenty of places for them to use.”

And it wasn’t like we could find every one of them, given how large—and how dangerous—the range was. Besides, it would take far longer than we probably had.

“True.” He paused. “There’s no sign of a guard here. What does Kaia say about magic?”

Nonecame her immediate response.

She was still following along with our adventure, obviously.

Bored, she said.You more interesting.

What did you do before I came along to relieve said boredom?

Fly. Dangerous here. Can’t leave Gria too long.

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