Page 24 of An Honored Vow

Fyrel was the bait.

The other beast shrieked from the clouds. It circled, watching its kin chase Fyrel. I ran toward the Halfling as the beast behind her reared back its long neck. Smoke and ash leaked from its open beak. The stench of rotting flesh and burnt meat seared my nostrils, but I kept running.

It stretched its wings, lifting its chest upward, and I saw it.

The red glow in the beast’s chest flared. Fyrel had seconds until it attacked.

“Move!” I begged at the top of my lungs. To Fyrel, to the beast, to the ground underneath her feet. But none did.

Stray strands of hair blew across my face as the beast took in a deep breath. The liquid black flames spurted from its mouth directly at Fyrel’s back.

I called forth as large a gust as I could muster but it did nothing against the stream of black, magical flame. My heart hammered against my chest. I was about to watch Fyrel’s bones turn to ash.

A flash of brown swooped in front of the girl just as the black flames licked her ankles. Fyrel fell to the ground, rolling far enough to stamp out the flames crawling up her cloak.

Gerarda shrieked with a desperation I had never heard from her before.

Elaran stood with four arrows nocked along her bow as the beast reared back its neck once more.

Gerarda ran toward her, but there wasn’t enough time. Elaran loosed the arrows, and I set the tips of each aflame.

Thewaateyshirshrieked as one passed through its wing. It stopped its attack, flying high enough into the air to get out of reach of Elaran’s bow.

Elaran dropped to the ground. The bottom of her pants were singed away, and her skin was blistered and black.

Gerarda slid on her knees and stroked Elaran’s hairline as she winced. She pulled a vial from her pocket and dropped some black liquid onto Elaran’s parted lips. Hot tears streamed down her face as she whispered, “You foolish woman. You could’ve died.”

Elaran patted her palm against her lover’s cheek. “You can’t be a hero worth talking about without a little risk, Gerrie.”

Gerarda scowled but pressed a kiss to Elaran’s head.

I pulled Fyrel to her feet and scanned the ground. There wasn’t a red curl in sight.

“Where is she?” I yelled over the sound of my own racing heart.

Fyrel didn’t answer, her voice paralyzed from shock. There was no color left in her eyes, only wide black pupils that looked upward to the cliff’s edge above us.

The twowaateyshirakwere circling the edge together, staring down at Gwyn, who stood at the top of a small abutment. She held a spear in her hands.

Gwyn held the pointed end to the ground. The blunt end of the handle was wrapped in tight leather binding it to the hilt of my dagger. A makeshift spear with a blood-bound point.

Gwyn was going to try to stab it through the beast’s heart.

Her stance was strong, but the arm holding the weapon shook. She hadn’t anticipated a second beast.

The largest of the two tilted its head, staring down at Gwyn like a bird watching a worm in the dirt.

“Gwyn, run!” I shouted, and then disappeared in a flash of light.

The beasts’ heads snapped toward the ground at the disturbance. My pleas for Gwyn to run became high-pitched eagle calls, and my wings beat as hard as they could.

I soared through the middle of the shadowy circle. Their tendrils of ash burned my feathers as I flew, but thewaateyshiraktook the bait.

A thunderous screech echoed through the trees as they both beat their wings hard enough that the leaves below them shook free of their branches.

I looked down. Both beasts were following me, the smaller trailing after its larger kin. My eagle eyes spotted Gwyn, climbing down the rocky edge with her spear in hand.

We rose above the lowest peaks of the mountain, and a horn blew in the distance. Thewaateyshirclosest to me whirled around at the noise. A large flame ignited along the eastern edge of the mountain.

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