Page 124 of House of Embers
They jumped to a familiar aerie in the Vert Mountains. It was the same place they’d landed when they first returned to Alandria, when they discovered that their friends and family were still living and Bastian had ambushed them.
Kerrigan had decided then and there that she would fight Bastian on her terms. And none of that had changed. This mission might have failed, but it had proven that Bastian and his allies were vulnerable.
“Finally,”Tieran said down their bond.“Netta was upset that she couldn’t reach Fordham while you were in the vault.”
“Well, we’re out.”
“Care to share what happened?”
“We were trapped. Gerrond is the mole.”
“Did you kill him?”Tieran demanded.
“He got away.”
“Pity,”Tieran said.“Should we worry for Clover and her drifter troops?”
“Gerrond admitted that he had not consulted them. I don’t think they’ll be on his side, but we’ll need to warn her.”
“Wonderful.”
“How close are you?”Kerrigan asked, peering through the darkness for her dragon.
“Start your run now. I’m not landing.”
“Gods,” Kerrigan hissed aloud. “Here we go.”
Then she dashed across the rocky ground and, without waiting for confirmation, dove off the side of the mountain. She was in free fall for a matter of seconds before Tieran snatched her around the middle. He continued through the motion, swinging her upward over his head. She kept her scream behind her teeth as she landed on Tieran’s back. She was wobbly before she dropped to her knees. She’d gotten good at that in her year of training, but it had been a minute since she’d done it. And it was stillterrifying.
“Better than I thought you’d do,”Tieran teased.
“Thanks,” she said sarcastically.
“Gelryn, Dyta, and Ordrax have requested backup now that Netta and I have our riders. More Society dragons have arrived.”
“Great,” she grumbled.
Back into the fight.
She had hoped that the distraction would be enough, but since Bastian had likely been warned by Gerrond, he would know that their dragons would be here. Of course he had taken the opportunity.
And worse, she couldn’t open a portal for their escape. They’d have to fight this out or risk fleeing.
She cursed into the wind as the battle came into view. It was immediately apparent that something was wrong. And it was not that there were a half dozen Society dragons in view. She recognized some of them, but none were Bastian or Alura or any of the other council members.
Two of them were currently focused on Gelryn and Kivrin over the city. Fire was blown into the wind like no one had a worry for the citizens below them. Wynter and Dyta had two dragons on their tail as they chased her through the valley. In fact, she looked like she was having a great time.
The problem was Viviana and Ordrax—mostly the fact that Viviana was huddled on her dragon, crying, as the remaining two dragons fought fire and claw against each other. Viviana should have never been on this battlefield. She wasn’t ready for it. But they hadn’t thought it would be a real battle, and Ordrax had assured her that he could handle himself if it came to that. And Ordraxwasdoing the best he could. But the fact of the matter was…kill the rider, kill the dragon.
If Viviana made one wrong move, they’d both die. It was why the dragons had spent thousands of years picking the strongest Fae fighters to be riders. Anything less and the dragons were vulnerable.
In the split second Kerrigan took that all in, she made her decision. Kivrin and Wynter could handle themselves. Viviana needed her.
Fordham must have had the same thought, because they both dove for the dragons currently badgering Ordrax. Tieran blew fire onto the other dragon’s underside while Netta clawed her way up thesecond dragon’s throat. The roars were so fierce and overwhelming that Kerrigan covered her ears to get the terrible sound from her mind.
The dragon Netta had clawed dropped from the sky like a stone in the sea, landing heavily on the outskirts of town. Kerrigan winced at the sound of it and its rider colliding with a hopefully empty warehouse.
Dead. The dragon was dead. One of many in this war. And still it was disturbing.
