Page 105 of The Horde King of Shadow

There were other hordes from Karak in attendance as well. Sarkin told me that theKarathof the North had made camp on the northern mountain, though I couldn’t see them from the vantage I had facing south. The northerners had been here for a couple days now. Theirilla’roshhad already begun. One rider had already taken a death fall, trying to claim a Vyrin—though which one, no one could say for certain.

I wondered if Lygathwashere.

I know he is,came my next thought. I stood at the edge of the cliff, pressing my hand in the rock face of the mountain, peering down. The world swayed. I’d never been so high up when Ihadn’tbeen on Zaridan. Something about being stationary and looking down to a bottomless pit struck me as wrong.

The wind whipped my hair around my face, the tendrils that had escaped from my braid. From this vantage point, across the valley, I spied the telltale flash of Vyaria’s blue-scaled vest when it reflected off sunlight. She was on the same ledge as Kan—her cousin—but many of my peers had chosen to be alone for the choosing. I saw others dotted around various points across the cliffs.

When I’d been searching for a suitable ledge with Sarkin, I’d seen other riders I hadn’t recognized.

Blood borns from other territories,Sarkin had explained to me, his lips brushing my ear.They’ll be trying for Vyrins. It’s best to stay away from them. They’ll be ruthless.

My heart lurched in my chest when I thought I spied a silver-scaled dragon across the valley, flying low. A moment later, he emerged out of sunlight and I saw that it was only a trick of the reflection off his scales. He was dark gray in color, and I watched as he circled back around one particular rider, sizing him up, as the rider’s head swiveled, tracking him in the sky.

There was a roaring sound that came, emitted from a beautiful light blue Elthika.

In the blink of an eye, I watched as Vyaria took a running sprint off the ledge of her cliffside. My heart thundered in my chest, watching her aim for the light blue Elthika. Smaller than others around the Tharken cliffs, but regal nonetheless.

At the last moment, the dragon sharply turned, and my stomach lurched. “No,” I breathed.

Vyaria landed on the Elthika hard but not cleanly. I watched with bated breath as my training peer grappled with her tether, digging her hands into the scales, trying to get a grip so she wouldn’t fall off the edge. Kyavor had told us that certain Elthika might test their riders during the choosing. Was this what this one was doing? Or was she trying to reject Vyaria?

The Elthika banked until Vyaria was almost vertical, dangling from her chosen dragon with only a precarious grip on the edge of a few scales. The Elthika righted itself, and Vyaria used the momentum to swing herself up. I heard her cry of exertion, the strength and will it took, echo through the cliffs. I saw the slim flash of her tether as she swung it around the Elthika’s neck, using the sliding metal hook to tighten it like a leash.

Vyaria got into a rider’s position, even without the comfort of a harness. Everyone seemed to wait with bated breath, to see if the Elthika would accept her, return her to the cliffside…or let her fall.

The Elthika let out another roar, and I watched as they both ascended, flying higher and higher…

The first flight.

Cheers raised up from the other riders, dotted along the pass, and I breathed out a shuddering sigh, my knees feeling a little weak.Everyonewas watching. The eyes of hundreds on one Sarrothian girl and one Elthika, taking their first flight together.

How many eyes will be onyou?came the nasty thought, making my heart freeze with trepidation.How many will watch if you fail?

Just like that, Vyaria had claimed her Elthika. The first of our peers. And she’d only been on the cliffside for mere moments.

Sammenth had told me the choosing could happen quickly or could drag on until the Elthika decided they’d had enough and left the cliffs entirely.

Suddenly I wished that I felt the relief that Vyaria must’ve been feeling right this moment. How wonderful it must’ve felt, to know that what you’d worked hard for was just realized. That you could silence the fear.

I watched Vyaria and her Elthika until the sun blotted them out. I dragged in a deep breath, my eyes scanning the cliffside again, waiting, just like all the riders.

Be patient,I reminded myself. I knew the others might feel pressure now. They, too, envied Vyaria’s relief, coveted her success. Would some try to claim their Elthika not because it was the right choice but because it was the easy choice?

My head craned over the side of the cliff. I couldn’t even see the bottom, a steady mist was covering it. Mist that hadn’tburned away in the sunlight because the shadows of the cliffs kept it protected.

There was no sign of Zaridan, but I knew they were there. Somewhere. Sarkin would wait until I claimed an Elthika. Or failed. He would wait for as long as it took, patrolling the pass.

And so I waited too.

When I first caught sight of Lygath, he was cast in moonlight.

Night had fallen. I’d been sitting on the cliffside, my legs dangling over the edge, feeling the keen slip of time as the sun lowered and the moon took its place.

I was hungry. Tired. Thirsty. My eyes were burning from watching every Elthika that passed. And though I knew better, I began to think how easy it would be to try for one that flew too closely…

Over the course of the afternoon, I’d watched fifteen more riders claim their Elthika, and I watched even more rejections, though none had ended in a death fall. Those Elthika had returned their potential riders to the cliffside. One rejected rider had even tried for another…only to be rejected again. He was still waiting across the way. A rider could try for as long as there was an Elthika present at the cliffs, but I imagined it took great mental strength after a rejection, let alone two.

With every Elthika that was claimed, with the available pool dwindling and time passing, more rejections became commonplace, the riders growing desperate and impatient. So palpable, I could almost taste it in the air.

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