Page 127 of Kingdom of Shadows and Wings

What I can do is try to bring down that air shield. Once the fog dissipates, the effects will wear off.

I hope.

While everyone else focuses on reining in their mount, I do just that. Like that day on the beach, I blast the barrier with my fire. The flames eat through the shield, destroying it. As soon as the barrier vanishes, the fog rises up toward the clouds. Riders get their animals under control, but not before damage is done. As I take in the other fledglings and their mounts, I shudder. Two, four, six, seven. I count at least seven wounded alicorns. Two sport ugly, gaping wounds that draw a pair of healers straight to them for emergency treatment. The others will likely wait until after the trial.

Abel’s the first person in our group to check in. “Are all of you guys okay? Hey Nick, Solara’s neck is bleeding.”

Though none of us say a word while Nick curses and swipes his tunic over the wound, our collective concern is palpable. We all understand that a bad injury now could ruin the trial before we even start.

Despite that reality, I find myself more worried about Solara. Nick adores his alicorn. A serious injury would devastate him.

His loud exhale breaks the tension. “It’s just a scratch. Long but shallow. She’ll be fine.”

He murmurs in Solara’s ear while the rest of us express our relief. Both Nova and Thorin appear unscathed. Zephyr too. All in all, we got lucky.

Abel directs his mount over to Nick. “Ready? I say we get the hells out of here before they decide to spring some other horror on us.”

I nod. “Agreed. Let’s go.”

Snapping the reins, I urge Zephyr into the air. He gets a running start, the flapping of his wings lifting loose tendrils of my hair. My muscles remain tense until we all reach the sky.

For the first several minutes, we all keep glancing over our shoulders. Who can blame us? The possibility of Elijah and his fuckwit crew sneaking up on us and tossing weapons at our heads sounds like a nightmare and a half. It’s not a matter of if he’ll take the opportunity to attack without repercussion, but when. Unless the gods bless us with a minor miracle and we manage to avoid him for the entire trial, we’re bound to clash at some point.

Nick yells at Abel. “Hey, navigator! Are we still headed in the right direction?”

Nick volunteered to lead this mission, and Abel agreed to keep the maps and guide us. Our leader arranged us in a diamond-shaped flight configuration, with Abel positioned out front, him in the rear, and Olive and me forming the points on the sides.

“I think so! Unless I’m holding the map upside down.”

Nick’s voice climbs in pitch. “You’re joking, right? Olive, Lark, tell me he’s joking.”

A burst of laughter from atop the head alicorn answers his question. “I had you going!”

Nick curses. “You’re such a dick sometimes. Can’t you take anything seriously?”

“Yes! I take finding the first location very seriously, which is why we should start descending. Is it just me, or does that look like a red crescent moon to you?”

He points toward a cluster of trees up ahead. Only one features red foliage. The rest form a green outer ring, while the outlier towers in the center, its deeply hued leaves a shock of color.

Nick hollers. “Good catch! Let’s go in for a closer view.”

After tossing our leader a cheeky salute, Abel guides his alicorn toward the red tree. Upon confirming that the top does indeed resemble a crescent, Nick directs us to land. While a tight fit, we find just enough space between the ring of green trees and our target to land our alicorns without risking a collision.

Before Zephyr’s hooves even touch ground, Abel shouts. “Found it!”

A piece of paper nailed to the tree trunk waits in plain sight. No hunting required. No tricks. “You know, I really thought that was going to be harder.”

Abel plucks the map from the bark. “Maybe they decided to cut us some slack and start us off easy.”

Nick’s frown matches mine. “Maybe. They won’t all be like this, though, so let’s mount back up and start flying.”

Everyone remounts. Before a single one of us can go airborne, the clearing fills with crackling and crunching noises.

Olive palms a throwing star. “What the hells is that?”

Nick and I whirl, searching the surrounding forest for the source. A predator. Another team. Something to account for the odd sounds.

Abel tips his head back. “Uh, guys? Look up.”

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