Page 47 of An Honored Vow

It only took a moment for him to fall limp.

I wiped my nose and looked around the room. Most of the lords were dead, but not all. Dynara had wanted them to burn in here, and I was not going to risk her desires for mine. Tiny little currents of air formed along each of their lips, pulling the last of their lives from them until all but Kairn lay dead along the manor floor.

I sent the largest gust I was capable directly at the eastern wall. The stone toppled into the garden, and the flames raged with new air to stoke them. I dragged Kairn by his shoulders, and we tumbled onto the grass.

He was too big to carry in my eagle form, so I summoned a root to circle around Kairn’s body. It lifted him from the ground, growing out of the soil like a seedling. I walked around the manor toward the city center, ready to fight the soldiers I had seen that afternoon, but there were none. Dynara must have done something to slow them down.

There was a cart by the stables. Kairn groaned as I dropped him into it and pulled out a length of Elvish rope from the pocket of mytrousers. His wrists were thick. I tied the rope around three times to secure the binding and cut above the knot with one of my Elvish blades, the only edge sharp enough to slice through the silver rope. I used the rest to bind his legs.

I pulled my hair back into a loose braid and secured it with the rest of the rope. Kairn’s pendant still lay across his chest, rising with his shallow breaths.

The top of it was perfectly clear like glass, but the inside was rimmed with a thin concave pearlescent gem. I brushed it with my fingers just as horns called out into the night. Kairn coughed, partially roused by the sound of the battle. His eyelids fluttered and the pendant began to glow.

Then I heard the piercing screech of awaateyshir.

CHAPTEREIGHTEEN

THEWAATEYSHIRCOVERED THEstarlit sky with its inky wings. The residents of Cereliath came pouring out of their homes, flooding the streets. Panicked shrieks echoed into the night, and within moments the entire city descended into chaos. Another horn sounded in the distance. The steady rhythm of soldiers marching grew closer, approaching from the west side of the city.

I ran through the street. Dodging women and children howling in their nightdresses and men wielding anything from their kitchens as a weapon. The shadowy beast snapped its beak as it drifted overhead, souring the air with its foul stench. It made no noise. It didn’t need to; everyone in the city knew why the creature had come to Cereliath.

To feed.

I jumped over two children cowering in the street. Three men blocked my path, and I shouldered my way between them. Mychest heated. I would never reach the beast fighting against the flow of panic.

Higher ground. That’s what I need.

I curved in a rounded bank and leaped for a drain on the closest dwelling. I caught it by the tips of my fingers. The shadowy beast let out a screech as I hauled my aching body onto the roof.

My heart hammered against my ribs as I ran, my path completely clear of obstacles apart from the empty air between dwellings. The first was easy enough to jump over, but the second was wider than any gap I had successfully cleared.

I thought about flying, but switching forms used so much more of my magic than my other gifts. And I would need all my strength to keep thewaateyshirfrom making a meal of our rescue mission.

I didn’t let up. Instead I ran faster, never taking my eyes off the beast that was now circling the city center. I jumped and released that whirling power that came from my chest. I was propelled forward, soaring on my gusts before I crashed down onto the neighboring roof.

“Fire!” someone shouted from below as I rolled out of my leap.

I smirked and lifted my hands. Both were covered in bright crimson flames that tickled my cheeks. I waved my hands in a circle in front of me, uncoiling each tendril of flame into long fiery strands that stretched as I braided them together.

Feron had taught me how to braid the wind, but it worked just as well with flame.

Another horn blew in the distance, but I didn’t have time to look as I launched the fiery ball at the beast. It snapped its beak but didn’t follow it as I had hoped. Its long neck reared back and it shot a blast of black fire down on the city.

Gerarda ran down the street in the opposite direction of its path, throwing open the doors of the carriages that were now blockedfrom the crowds and ushering the courtesans and servants out of the city on foot.

I couldn’t defend all of them, but I could distract the beast. I disappeared into a flash of light and flew straight up into the air. Thewaateyshirmade a slow bank as it turned. I waited until I could taste death on my tongue and transformed back into my Fae form. I dropped in free fall and sent a fiery blast toward the beast.

It worked. The creature fanned its wings and saw the flash of light as I transformed back into a bird. I dove and the beast followed, snapping at my tail feathers. I flew upward, looping back over thewaateyshiras it tried to follow my path.

A group of soldiers shot a barrage of flaming arrows at the beast. I missed the attack, but the beast did not. The arrows turned to ash as they scraped the shadows leaking from thewaateyshir. The beast shrieked and dove after them.

I dropped onto the roof and turned back into my Fae form.

“What’s the plan?” Gerarda shouted, fighting a soldier on the street below.

I jumped from the roof and landed on another soldier’s back. “Get everyone to the portal and hope the beast doesn’t follow us. ” I dodged a third soldier’s swing.

Gerarda pounced on his shoulders and stabbed her knife through his throat. I disarmed him as he gurgled his last words and started running toward the train of carriages. The residents had begun to crowd around them, banging on the doors, demanding to be let in, as if some well-polished wood could keep them safe from the shadowy beast that was feasting on a troop of soldiers.

---