Page 130 of Court of Lies and Deceit

What if we’re stranded here.

Lightning cleaves the air.

I gasp as Draven is forced to throw us sideways so abruptly that we almost crash into a massive tree. Whipping my head around, I stare in the direction that the group of nativesare coming from. They shouldn’t have been able to close the distance this quickly on foot.

Another bolt of lightning shoots towards us.

My stomach flips as Draven flies us up higher instead. The lightning bolt cracks into the tree below us, charring the branches. Panic shoots up my spine, because the lightning didn’t come from the ground. It came from the thing that has been hunting us through the sky.

“Azaroth’s fucking flame,” Draven blurts out while diving to dodge a blast of water, followed quickly by a torrent of fire. “What the fuckisthat?”

Twisting my head, I stare at the thing, at thecreature, that speeds through the air towards us.

Shock and alarm crash over me like a cold black wave.

It looks like a massive serpent. With wings. And four legs. And a head that is eerily similar to a dragon’s head. Saddles have been placed down the spine of its long body, and an entire squad of those tall and muscular beings in bronze armor are seated there. Flames roar through the air as the person at the front shoots another torrent of fire at us.

The creature roars and snaps its jaws.

“Fuck,” I breathe.

Draven dives towards the trees.

I suck in a sharp breath, gripping his neck tighter as we speed over the treetops. The creature roars again, and magic crackles through the air as another lightning bolt cracks into a tree right behind us.

“Find the portal,” Draven calls as he swerves and dives before shooting back up again.

The winged serpent speeds after us.

I whip my gaze back and forth as trees and glens and clusters of boulders flash past below us. My heart pounds against my ribs.

Something hidden from above but with open areas around it. There has to be something like it.

Unless I’m wrong.

Unless I’m looking for the wrong thing.

Panic seizes my heart, squeezing it tightly.

Water cuts through the air. My stomach flips as Draven snaps his wings in, sending us plummeting, before snapping them back out again. Storm winds roar through the air as he hurls them at the winged serpent and the squad atop it before shooting a blast of lightning.

Deafening booms echo across the woods and lights flash. It leaves black contours dancing before my eyes, and I blink furiously to clear my vision.

My pulse thrums and my heart slams against my ribs.

Draven twists and rolls through the air as fire streams towards us.

The forest and the sky spin in my vision.

A blast of wind crashes into us.

I scream as we’re thrown towards the ground before Draven manages to snap his wings out again. The grass trembles right underneath us as he manages to stop us from slamming into the ground. My stomach twists and churns as he shoots us back up again.

But right before we make it up into the sky, something catches my eye on the other side of the wide glen.

Hope surges inside me.

Something blue. Something blue was glittering there underneath a thick branch.

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