Page 57 of The Princesses of Ruin
“My wings, right now, or we both die!”
I roll in the tussling wind and push her onto my chest with my tail. She squeezes my ribs with her legs and shivers. I rip through the material of her coat across her shoulder blades in an X, then run my thumb down her spine, activating the runes that unleash her.
Her wings snap out and we’re torn apart by the wind. Fire pumps alongside my blood and I fight the storm to get back to her. She aligns under me so I’m close enough to protect her and stretches out her body, pointing one hand forward. She draws a series of runes that push the snow out of our path, then burn the air. The flakes melt and rain pours down in our wake.
She’s highlighting our position but making it much more difficult to approach from below. The duskwalker won’t be able to snatch her out from under me.
The air above me gets heavy and I turn my head just in time. The beast is diving for us again. I pump my wings to get ahead of Lily, then whirl around. I let the force of my twist launch my axe from my grip. It sails through the storm and lodges in the monster’s chest.
It roars in animalistic pain but doesn’t stop. We collide claw to claw, my body bending under the strength of the beast. It snaps at me, and I turn my head, giving it horns. It bites down and shakes me like a rabid dog. I kick the axe, trying to shove it deeper into the duskwalker’s chest, but it captures my leg in one of its bird-like claws after the second unsuccessful hit.
The ground is rushing up too quickly. I try to pump my wings, to push myself out from under it, but the wind and its weight are stronger.
The duskwalker cries out, releasing my horn as it twists us from the death spiral. Lily’s green-glowing eyes meet mine and she smiles overwide, revealing rows of razor teeth. She unhinges and opens her mouth like a snake and latches onto the duskwalker’s wing joint, causing it to scream again.
Its back claws tighten on my leg and rip into my scales. We flap our wings discordantly, pulling at the wind as the storm pummels us. The duskwalker flexes his long arms, shoving me away in a massive push. My left claws slip, but I cling to the creature with my right, digging into the bones of its hand.
He twists his wrist and my forearm snaps. Blinding white pain rips up my shoulder, but I don’t let go—I can’t. He has her. She thinks she has him, buthehasher. I can see the sense of victory in his yellow eyes.
I flail against the agony and keep my wings pumping to right myself. The duskwalker grabs my wrist with his other hand and squeezes. Another snap and I lose sensation in my hand, but my claws are still in him. Blood, his and mine, runs down my arm and freezes against my scales.
Lily rips a chunk of feather and flesh from the duskwalker’s back and spits. The creature reaches for her on reflex, releasing my hand.She dodges his attempts to snatch her, then grabs one of his antlers and yanks on his head.
We twist through the air, pushing over the edge of the frozen wasteland and out to the sea. I grip the haft of my axe with my good hand, pulling myself close enough to wrap my leg around the monster’s hip.
It’s all snapping teeth and scraping claws. Desperate attempts to survive, to kill, to claim.
“She’s mine!” I roar at the beast, drawing his attention back to me.
Lily bites the duskwalker’s neck but quickly yelps in pain and rears back. The monster shakes his arm, trying to loose me from his flesh, and the jostling of my shattered bones sends a fresh wave of agony through me.
The wind batters us and I’m slammed against the frosted cliff. I push with my injured leg and get myself close to the duskwalker again, getting my tail around his other leg. I tug hard, yanking my weapon free. The pain of dangling by my shattered wrist is distracting, but the taste of triumph is in the blood on my tongue.
Lily pulls back on the duskwalker’s antler hard and I swing for his exposed throat. An explosion of yellow sparks blinds me. When I can see again, my axe head is shattered—gone. Only a broken haft remains.
I flex and pull myself closer again, shoving the splintered tip of the weapon into the duskwalker’s gut. The stake sinks between his ribs, and sharp teeth snap around my clavicle at the same time.
The air is punched from my lungs, and then we hit the ground. Lily screams as she’s thrown from the monster’s back. I roll with the duskwalker, trapped in a deadly embrace of teeth and claws. We skid through the snow, burying ourselves in freezing bloody white.
Despite the pain, I pull my arm back and ram the stake into him again. The duskwalker growls into my neck, biting harder. My bones crunch and suddenly it’s dark.
I blink my eyes open, and the beast is chewing, biting, eating…
Yellow light swirls around us. I stab him again, but the two previous wounds are already sealed.
Lily screams. “Please! Stop!”
She leaps.
It’s dark.
She’s pinned in the red snow beside me. Tears stream down her face.
“Anything! I’ll do anything! Just stop eating him!”
The duskwalker rears back, and I see its bloody maw covered in my gore.
“The time for negotiation has passed. I will take now,” the creature says.
