Page 74 of Golden Star

Riven and his knights, far out in the distance. They’re near the place where the screaming woman attacked.

They must have tracked us there.

How long will it be until they’re able to track us here? Or until they simply give up on trying to hunt us down like prey and go to the tree, so they can attack us when we arrive?

A scream pierces through my thoughts.

Zoey.

I snap back into my body and see a little, ice dragon creature—about the size of a large bird—zooming at my head, its claws curled and poised to dig into my eyes.

I roll out of its way a second before it has a chance to blind me.

It crashes into the ground instead.

Grabbing my dagger in a flash, I reach over and stab the blade through the creature’s heart.

It screeches, collapses, and melts, disappearing into the snow. But before I can catch my breath, another ice dragon swoops down from the trees, as if it was already poised to strike.

Zoey scrambles back, grabs one of the rocks in her pocket, and hurls it at the creature. The rock hits its mark, and the little dragon crashes into a tree and shatters, the pieces falling to the ground.

She grins at her success.

I push myself up, and a series of sharp, high-pitched screeches sounds from above.

More of them.

An entireflockof them, their crystal eyes gleaming with predatory focus, zeroed in on us.

“Behind you!” I shout, and Zoey spins, ducking as another ice dragon swoops past her, narrowly missing her head.

She counters with a swift throw of another rock, which grazes the dragon’s wing and sends it into an awkward spin.

It screeches and tries to regain balance. But I lunge forward, sending a whip of water toward it from some snow I’d gathered in my hand.

The water yanks it out of the air and slams it to the ground, shattering it on impact.

Together, we continue fighting like that against the dragons. Zoey with her rocks, and me with my magic.

We’re almost done. Just a few more to go.

I’m finishing off a particularly feisty one when Zoey screams. A piercing, pained scream that’s definitely not one of victory.

She’s clutching her arm, blood seeping through her fingers.

The final, biggest ice dragon is hovering just out of her reach, its claws dripping dark red, a victorious gleam in its frozen eyes as it prepares for another attack.

“No!” I raise my dagger, and the world narrows to the weapon in my hand, the cruel gleam in the ice dragon’s eyes, and Zoey’s gasping breaths, sharp with pain as she clutches her injured arm.

Without a second to spare, I hurl the blade, a flash of silver slicing through the air with an amount of precision I didn’t know I had in me.

It strikes the dragon square in the center of its icy chest, and the dragon falls to the ground, shattering on impact.

Zoey’s wide eyes flick from the remains, to me, then back again. “Nice shot,” she says as she cradles her injured arm, her teeth gritted against the pain.

I rush to her to check on her injuries.

“Let me see,” I say, prying her hand away from the wound.

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