Page 148 of The Shadow Wand

Aislinn nods, tears glazing her vision as she embraces me, and I realize, in a sudden clutch of anguish, that there’s a very real possibility we’re embracing for the last time. There are no guarantees that we’ll survive the journey East.

My head jerks toward the city as another faint explosion sounds in the distance.

We mount our horses, Lukas giving first Aislinn and then me a leg up, and I take one last look at our allies. Aislinn, Sparrow, Thierren, and Effrey, sitting in front of Sparrow and staring at me through his new spectacles with an expression of wide-eyed fright.

My heart clenches at the sight of such a young, gentle child thrust into fleeing for his life.

No child should be forced to flee for their life.

I meet Sparrow’s gaze from where she sits behind Effrey, reins in her hand. Determination blazes in her amethyst eyes.

“Uush’ayil moreethin orma’thur,” she calls to me in Uriskal, and I don’t need to speak her language to guess what she’s saying.

Be safe. Escape.

Live to fight them.

I nod back to her, my throat constricting as I turn to Aislinn and she gives me one last fierce look before we all prod our horses into motion, Aislinn, Sparrow, Thierren, and Effrey setting off in one direction, Lukas and I in another, an aching void hollowing out my chest as I lose sight of Aislinn.

Raz’zor shadows me, flying from branch to branch as I follow Lukas’s lead. Lukas glances at the dragon, then back to me, caution in his eyes.

Black Witch.

I feel Raz’zor’s greeting in the back of my mind, along with a sudden swell of kinship and the visceral pull of fealty. The warm glow of red Wyvernfire lights up my shielded lines.

A protective concern rises for this fierce dragon, along with a certainty that he needs to get out of the Western Realm.

And far away from me.

Go with Sparrow and Effrey and the rest,I think to Raz’zor as Lukas hastens our pace.You need to protect them. Get them to Noi lands. Fight for them if needed.

Images of red revenge flash through my mind.

Bloodshed. Slashing claws. Ruddy flames streaking through the air.

And then one word.

Fealty.

A rush of ruby fire sizzles through me and flashes bright red against my vision. The bloodred fire rushes straight through Lukas’s shield to wind around my fireline, and I pull in a deep breath as a sense of heightened strength floods me. Suddenly, I understand the powerful advantage of this oath of fealty as I sense the full weight of Raz’zor’s alliance.

If you’ve given me your fealty,I think out to him,then follow me in this.Go with them.Keep them safe.

Raz’zor takes flight, darting higher into the forest’s canopy, a flash of pale white against the storm-darkened green.

I will find you in the Noi lands,he sends down to me.And I will fight with you.

You’ll be one of the few, I think back at the small dragon.

So be it, Liberator of Naga the Unbroken.

Another image of red fire, and the dragon rises past the canopy in a flash, wings flapping. A hard growl and then a white blur.

Another distant explosion startles the horses as a hard pulse of Lukas’s fire whips protectively around me. He glances back at me, his eyes burning with a determined light, before he turns away and veers slightly to the right as I follow, riding tight on his heels.

CHAPTER NINE

WAR

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