Page 43 of Galadon
The sorcerer took a step back. “You can call me a coward.” He turned his head and looked straight at the incoming red dragon as if he’d known they were there all along. “But at least I’ll escape to live another day.”
Despite the distance separating us, I tried to reach out as the Kandoran pulled his followers close, but they disappeared in the next second.For Zorya’s sake.How had he known they were there?
I looked down at Rayna, whose eyes had drifted shut. Fear tightened my throat. “They’re almost here, slayer. You need to hold on for me, okay?”
She didn’t reply. If not for her ragged breaths, I would have thought her gone.
Lorcan landed first, followed by several Taugud warriors, one carrying Morgan—a sorcerer ally—and then my mother touched ground behind them. They began shifting immediately while twenty other shifters stayed in dragon form to patrol the sky.
I called out to Ujala as soon as she took human form, “Ama!”
She ran toward me, along with Lorcan. Horror filled their gazes as they got a good look at us. Shame filled me that not only had I failed to save Rayna, but I’d allowed myself to be brutalized as well. It was the greatest failure of my life. If not for my need to see the slayer survive, I might have wished they’d never found me.
My mother knelt on the other side of Rayna. “Good thing you didn’t pull the knife, or I might have been too late.”
As she placed her hands around the wound, they began to glow. It was a sign she was scanning internally before deciding the best way to heal the injury. I waited impatiently, having seen her do this quite a few times, but it wasn’t easy, as time seemed to pass too slowly.
When the furrow in her brows eased a bit, I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer. “How bad is it?”
“The blade mostly missed her heart. It has a small cut that is causing some internal bleeding, but it could have been much worse. Her left lung is fully pierced and can’t heal with the blade embedded in it. Still, keeping it there helped prevent more complications.”
I let out a breath. Her tone would be much direr if she thought the slayer wouldn’t survive. “Her body is too damaged to heal much on its own right now.”
Ujala looked me up and down. “I’d say the same about you.”
Lorcan and Morgan were examining the area, stopping at the poles where I’d been held, and the dried blood and muck on the ground there. The sorcerer was studying the poles with fascination. It was a good thing he’d more than proven his loyalty during the war, or I’d have worried about his interest in the Kandoran’s work.
“Sorry it took so long to get here,” Lorcan said, finally coming toward us while my mother worked to heal Rayna’s chest wound. “They had a powerful dome shield over the area, and it took Morgan time to dismantle it.”
At least the Kandoran hadn’t seen that coming until it was too late.
I nodded. “I assumed as much.”
The sorcerer in question came to kneel at Galadon and Rayna’s feet. At first, he couldn’t contain his distress at our mutilated bodies and smashed legs, but after a minute, he turned his gaze to the shackles binding our ankles.
“These are using the same spell as the ones we found on Bailey’s father,” he said.
I couldn’t wait to get them off and feel my dragon again. “That’s because the same man put them on us.”
“He’s still alive?” Morgan asked, eyes rounding.
“Yes. Didn’t you see him and his followers leave?”
The young sorcerer worked his jaw. “Yes, but I didn’t get a good look at him. Too bad he teleported away.”
“We’ll get him soon,” I vowed.
Morgan’s expression became determined. “I’m not a guy who likes to fight, but after seeing what he’s done to you two and the other slayer, I’ll gladly help take him down.”
“Good. Now, can you get these shackles off?” I asked.
“Oh, right.” He glanced down. “The ones on Bailey’s father took me forever to figure out, but now that I know what to do, I can get these off easily enough.”
“Rayna first,” I said.
“Of course.”
A minute later, the slayer was free. Though she remained unconscious, and my mother was healing her, I could have sworn a sigh escaped her. She’d likely felt her magic returning, and that would hopefully help her heal quicker.
