Page 52 of Of Scale and Blood

We flew over the remnants of the port buildings and deeper into the heart of Hopetown. The riders had indeed set up on the grassy strip. As they’d done on Illistin, they’d erected two lines of metal tents—fifteen in all this time—but only ten of those had the birds tethered in front. All were hooded, and I couldn’t immediately see any indication of sentries. Maybe that was because the senses of their birds were sharp enough to alert their riders of any approach, but tension nevertheless ratcheted up several more degrees.

As we swept closer, the birds raised hooded heads and squawked loudly. I tensed immediately, flames pressing at my fingertips to counter whatever response their still absent riders might send our way, but nothing happened. No one ran out of the metal tents. No guns were raised our way.

Kaia—I stopped, finally spotting movement.

Four men had moved out from under the remains of a building and were rolling what looked to be a fat mead barrel on wheels toward open ground near the first tent in the left line. More movement, this time to the right. Another four men with another fat barrel. That nubilous sense of danger crystalized.Kaia, this is definitely a trap. We have to retreat.

No retreat.Her mental tone was determined. Unswayable.I kill them. Now.

Which meant she no longer intended to fly past and allow me to flame them first. I silently cursed her but nevertheless sucked in a deep breath and called to every ounce of fire strength I had left. As she swooped down to begin her murderous fly over, I cast flames to the left and right, aiming for the men and the fat barrels. I cindered three of the men on the left and set that barrel alight, but the fire was quickly extinguished by the survivor. I hit him again, this time sweeping my fire up the barrel and onto his flesh, ensuring he was too busy trying to douse the fire consuminghimto worry about the damn barrel. My aim on the right hadn’t been as successful; the barrel was barely singed, and the four men were emerging from the ruins of a wall they must have ducked behind. I flung another stream of fire at them, but my flames were rapidly losing intensity. I pushed more strength into them and set the barrel alight, but the mote in my eye popped, a warning I was fast reaching my limits.

Then Kaia thrust her claws forward, jarring me backwards. As the rope snapped taut, she flew down the line of tethered birds, her claws spearing the first couple then scooping up the next few. She threw them all into the air, then bit through their bodies, crunching through metal and bone. Blood and metal feathers flew everywhere—but not the innards—and still no alarm rang out.

The sense of threat was so damn fierce now I could barely breathe.

Then, from behind us, came a softwhoomp.

I twisted around again and saw smoke drifting from the mouth of the fat barrel on the right. Glanced up, and saw a metal net spreading out, briefly resembling the extended wings of a bird as it flew high above us. Saw the multiple metal cables attached to its tail, leading back to the right barrel and what looked to be a well anchored winch now sitting behind it.

The bastards were intending to net us and then bring us to the ground.

“Kaia,” I yelled, physically and mentally, “we’re about to tangled in a net. You need to go sidewaysnow!”

Mephysicallyyelling at her finally broke through the haze of her murderous fury, and with a snap of her wings, she veered sharply away. But not fast enough. The falling net snared her left wing and immediately tightened. It brought us to an abrupt halt, and she screeched, a sound of fury and pain combined. How it didn’t break phalanges or wrench her scapula from her shoulder joint, I’ll never know.

She banked her free wing and tried to pull free from the net. When that didn’t work, she snapped at the cables leashing the net to the winch, trying to bite through them, with little effect. Every single move she made had the netting around her wing grow tighter—bite ever deeper—drawing blood and tearing membrane. If it continued, she would not be flight capable. Which, obviously, was the whole point.

I streamed fire at the ropes, but it no longer contained any real heat and had little hope of melting the metal. Kele and Hannity might have more flame strength left than me, but the last thing I wanted was to call in more drakkons and risk them being ensnared. Especially when the cables had started biting into Kaia’s wing evenbeforethey’d started to reel us in, suggesting there might well be magic entwined through the metal to either strengthen it or make it more “sticky.”

Luckily, I did have one other trick up my sleeve. Or rather, in the scabbard hooked onto the rope in front of me.

Anotherwhoomp, this time from up ahead. I glanced up, saw another metal net flying toward us. Kaia somehow twisted out of its path, but her left wing remained entangled, her right wing was barely keeping us aloft, and the cables were now being retracted at a faster rate, dragging us closer and closer to the winch and the ground. There were no riders or soldiers down there as yet. No one was attempting to attack us with acidic or flaming shit. Maybe they wanted us contained before they killed us. Or maybe they wanted to examine her and question me.

I’d die before I allowed either to happen.

I needed help. We were doomed if we didn’t get it. It would take some time for the second barrel to be reloaded, so it was now or never when it came to getting free. I contacted Yara and ordered her to sweep down the line of remaining birds and cause chaos. As much as I wanted her to attack the cables attached to the netting or even the winch itself, the men there had weapons at the ready now and would no doubt fire if she came near them. Kele might be able to crisp them before that happened, but that was presuming she did have fire strength left and hadn’t burned out like me. She was the stronger fire witch of the two of us, but it remained a gamble.

As Yara bugled and dropped down to finish what Kaia had started, I ordered Rua to sweep in behind the men up ahead who were attempting to reload their fat barrel. Then I unsheathed my sword, took a deep breath, and disconnected myself from the restraints keeping me on.

What do?Kaia said.

I’m going to cut you free. Extend your leg.

Dangerous to ground.

And we’ll be captured and/or dead if I don’t do it

Not happy.

Neither am I, trust me on that.At her for getting us into this situation, and at me for not being more forceful about my objections.

She extended her front leg. I wasted a second or two watching the desperate sweep of her still-free wing in an effort to get my timing right and avoid being skewered by her wing thumb, then scrambled down her leg and leapt off her claws.

It was a fucking long way down.

I managed to keep my knees slightly bent when I hit to protect my body against the shock of landing, then followed the natural momentum of the fall and rolled forward, keeping my sword arm extended to avoid skewering myself. The ground was awash with stone, broken bits of building, and glass, and even my leathers couldn’t protect me from all of it. A dozen different hotspots of agony flared across my back and buttocks, and warmth trickled wetly down my spine. I ignored it all. I had no time—wehad no time—left. The riders manning the winch were shouting, and though I had no idea what they were saying, I very much suspected they were finally calling in reinforcements.

I rolled back onto my feet and charged underneath Kaia and the cables anchoring the net tangled around her wing. If I could slice through the three of them, she could fly free, out of the way of danger. The netting encompassing her wing we could deal with later, once the riders and whatever regular soldiers were headed our way were dealt with.

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