Page 76 of Of Scale and Blood

It took us another ten minutes to find the chain of islands. The gilded riders had to be in the air by now; I just hoped we’d been far enough away when we’d changed direction. If they had long viewers, we’d be in deep trouble.

We flew past the first two islands—they looked too small, little more than wide, flat specks of stone—but the third was much larger and shaped like a fisherman’s hook, with a high craggy range dominating the central area and a deep bay wide enough for a drakkon to bathe in.

As we swooped in through the heads, I asked Kaia to fly closer to Rua so I could signal Hannity. She glanced at me as we flew up beside her, and even in the gloom of mist and darkness, I could see the paleness of her face. Her leg was a raw and bloody mess. Diving into the sea was going to fucking hurt... but if she didn’t, she could possibly lose the limb.

Still might, depending on how much muscle and bone had been eaten away.

There was no signal designed for what I was about to order her to do, so I did a mix of shouting and over-the-top arm movements. She seemed to understand, because as Rua began to skim the water and her claws kicked up a fierce wave of spray, she clipped her backpacks and sword onto the ropes, then detached herself. The minute Rua plunged in, she rolled off over the back of her wing and dropped hard into the water. I twisted around to ensure she came up and saw her bobbing safely in the water.

Kaia ordered Rua to spread her wings to allow the sea to wash over the membrane, then swooped around and landed on sands that were as dark as the mountains that loomed above us. Yara did a circuit around the inner part of the hook, then landed beside us.

No beasts to eat, she said.But long fins in water. Flesh sweet.

Hunt in morning,Kaia said, in a voice that suggested she would take no arguments.

Once the sun is up, you two can hunt for us all.I unclipped myself, my packs, and my weapons, then slid down Kaia’s extended leg.

Rua healed by then, Kaia commented.Will be able to hunt own.

“She was hit pretty hard, Kaia, and I’m not sure if we’ve enough webbing and bone straps to hold her wings together enough to reach the aerie.”

She young. Heal fast.

I hoped she was right, because I did not want to spend any more time on this isolated island than necessary.

Kele walked up and dumped her packs beside mine. “You want me to scout the area and see if there’s anywhere decent to hunker down for the night?”

I nodded. “You go left; I’ll go right. Just remember, we need to keep within easy reach of the drakkons, just in case the riders sweep past and spot us.”

“Let’s hope not, because the drakkons are easy targets when they’re on the ground.”

“So are we, and their acid tubes have greater range than our fire.”

“Yeah, but they’re also flammable, so we do have that advantage.”

True—and perhaps it was one we could use on the wall. Flaming arrows directed at the streams of liquid shit, perhaps? Though that might just result in a rain of fiery shit falling down on everyone, so maybe not.

Kele strapped on her sword, then spun and walked away, whistling softly. I did the same without the whistling, the sand crunching lightly under my boots as I walked up the beach and entered the thick vegetation. The majority of the trees here were cloud trees, which were often found on volcanic islands alongside blackwoods, their more prized cousin. They were a needle-straight and extremely tall softwood that used their cup-shaped leaves to collect all the water they needed to survive rather than drinking it through their roots.

I risked turning on the light tube—it was either that or use my flames, because the darkness under the trees was absolute—and quickly found several small creeks. I warily tasted each one, because if we were going to be on this island for any length of time, we would need fresh water—and was surprised to discover they were all free of the gritty, often acidic taste found in the runoff from newer volcanic islands. There was little else here—no volcanic caves, and no decent-sized rocky outcrop under which we could shelter. Túxn had given us all the luck we were going to get tonight; if we wanted shelter, then we were going to have to make it.

At least there were plenty of trees about to cut down and use.

I returned to the beach and walked down to the edge of the sand, my toes barely touching the gently lapping waves. “How’s it going, Hannity?”

She no longer bobbed about, so she’d obviously found ground on which to stand.

“It’s fucking icy in this water, and my leg is burning like nobody’s business, but other than that, I’m fine. Perfectly fine.”

Sarcasm dripped from her voice, and I couldn’t help the smile that twitched my lips. Though to be honest, I would have reacted a whole lot worse had someone asked me the same stupid question.

“It’s been close to twenty minutes, so the acid should have been nullified by now.”

Me leave?came Rua’s thought.

No, the acid caught far more of you than Hannity, so it’s better if you remain a bit longer.

Hates water.

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