Page 112 of Of Blood and Banes
A warning shot.
Asuccessfulwarning shot, followed by Daeja’s thick growl.
The earth dragon backs up, squealing in terror at the flames. I know it’s fear all too well. The difference is I’ve overcome it. Forged myself new from the flames.
The earth dragon scampers away and disappears into the underbrush, and I turn my attention back to our group. Archie falls to his knees next to Corvin, and Marge joins to help.
Roots wrap around Cole’s shins. Despite slicing through several branches crawling up at him through the ground, they multiply and conquer inch by inch.
“Get down!” Sethan roars to everyone before he rips Melaina to the ground, and Darian drops, too. A’nala stretches her wings out to cover the three of them. The green dragon near them has its jaws parted to reveal rows and rows of tiny sharp fangs. Likethe blooming petals from a flower, part of the green dragon’s skin fans out around its face.
Everyone drops to the ground. I only have enough time to fall to my knees and send the dragonfire back down through the earth before ten splinters explode from the dragon’s mouth. Daeja rears up in front of me and flares her wings, blocking Marge, Archie, Corvin, and me behind her. The small barbs puncture her wings, and she lands on the ground with a monstrous thud. Parting her jaws, she roars until the trees sway in a chaotic dance.
Oof. Now they’ve pissed her off.
The rest of the earth dragons pause before snapping their attention to Daeja. Air hisses as Daeja pulls in a long breath through her fangs, and she pushes up onto her hind legs. Her throat glows orange as she gathers the next breath of fire.
The earth dragons turn tail and bound back into the forest, disappearing into the thicket. Daeja lands and blows out a breath of smoke, watching the bushes quiver then still. Everyone else rises to their feet, and Cole brushes off the roots tangling his legs before he’s helped up by one of Sethan’s dragon riders, Jerome.
“Are you in pain?”I ask as I rush to Daeja.
She twists her head to pluck a two-inch-long barb from her shoulder and spits it out with a scowl.“No. Bunch of yappy little things. Lucky I didn’t torch them.”
“Pull the barbs out, and she should be fine,” Sethan says. “That earth dragon was far too small to be poisonous enough to take down a larger dragon. Though, the side effects may be uncomfortable?—”
“Help! Please!” Archie calls.
Corvin convulses on the ground with his eyes bulging and hands clawing at his face, smearing blood across his paling skin.Marge brushes a hand over his forehead, while Archie tries to still Corvin’s hands.
“Katerina!” Marge snaps. “Earth dragons can be poisonous. He might only have minutes left!”
I run over to them and drop next to Marge as Corvin begins to gasp for a solid breath. Sethan ushers people back to give us space, while muttering commands to the other dragon riders.
“No—wait, no!” Archie whips out a dagger, slices off part of his shirt, and holds it to Corvin’s bleeding nose. “There has to be something we can do! Can we…can we tie a-a…tourniquet? Or something!” He whips around to look at the group, eyes wide with desperation. “Please!”
Marge drags her gaze to me. “There’s nothing anyone else can do for him but you. The poison’s magical composition is similar to dragonfire, just in a different form. Just like how you set those ripples free, pull it. Control it.”
I rip off my gloves finger by finger as I look up at Daeja. Cole’s at her side and gives me a small nod as he works to remove several of the poisonous barbs from her scales and wings.
Corvin gurgles beneath Archie, his legs twitching as he sporadically thrashes. Archie watches me with glassy eyes as I stretch a hand out to Corvin’s cheek. I rest my palm against his face, wet with blood. My eyes lower to the rapid rise and fall of his chest. We don’t have much time—and Gods…if I fail. I feel every stare burning into my skin. The inevitable humming energy sings around me, as if from a hidden world just beneath the surface.
This is where it matters. Where I matter.
“You’ve never let me down,” Marge murmurs gently.
Summoning all my strength, I shut my eyes and focus on Corvin’s body. I picture his muscles. His bones. I fixate on the veins in his body and sink my concentration into the rivers ofblood, following each curve and flow as I pinpoint the black, sparkling fluid pulsing throughout him.
As if I were sucking it out with my breath, I draw it closer to me through my fingers with each inhale. Calling it to me. The liquid trembles, fighting against me. But slip by slip, it edges back toward the center of the wound in his nose, until I feel it collect in my palm. My body shakes as I fight to keep it from escaping. My breath comes out in ragged pants. The poison burns and freezes my skin all at once as it sits in my palm. With a strained roar, I flash open my eyes and fire the handful of poison away from Corvin. The liquid flies from my hand as if it were a spear, splattering against a tree and running down its mangled bark in dark rivers.
Corvin’s eyes fall closed, and his body stills to a peaceful calm. The tension in his expression melts away.
“Move!” Sethan barks and pushes Archie out of the way.
“Did it work?” Archie’s voice twirls into something almost distant and incomprehensible.
“Katerina?” Marge’s voice echoes as if some underwater call.
The colors of the forest around me whirl, and my breathing slows. An icy burn spiders up from my hand, through my arm, to my chest.
