Page 3 of Dawn to Dusk
“Flying is the only way to and from the Horizon Isles.” I gathered every ounce of patience I possessed, reminding myself that he feared me. I gestured to my cloud. “The spell I use to compact the flames into a solid mass affects the temperature. It won’t burn you.”
“You speak nonsense, Sunshine.”
“I speak a language you don’t understand.” I clarified.
“You have burned me hundreds of times; what makes now different?”
My tongue darted out to wet my suddenly dry lips. “I intended to burn you before. I don’t intend to now.”
He walked over, hovering a hand over the cloud. Edur slowly moved closer until he rested his hand on it. “It’s warm.”
“I never said it was cold; I said it would not burn you.”
Edur climbed onto the cloud with unsure steps that spoke to his distrust, no matter how strong he held his gruff, handsome face. His stance was too wide, trying to distribute his weight as much as possible, waiting for the bottom to fall through.
“I will begin moving now.” I warned him.
“No need for an itinerary, Sunshine.” His gruff growl was a weak attempt to sound in control.
Sunshine was a little nickname he gave me on the battlefield when we first met early in my career. Leave it to him to take something that sounded endearing and turn it into a spat insult.
I moved the cloud up. He yelped in alarm, betraying himself, and flopped to his hands and knees like that would help him hang on. Edur was a lot less intimidating in this position, but I refused to let myself enjoy his discomfort. Balthazar didn’t share my kindness and laughed from the ground.
I kept moving upwards until we hovered above the clouds and zipped towards the isles. Navigating was easy, I knew the way from any corner of the world.
Each time I sped up, Edur grumbled, growled, and gagged. Just as I suspected, he slowed me down. “There won’t be time to extract anyone before the sun goes down, but we’ll land in time to safely hole up.”
Edur gave a garbled groan, forcefully holding the contents of his stomach down. I turned to check on him and found his pale face an alarming shade of green.
“I’m sorry.”
“Just get us there.”
I kept us up high, so no other flyers would see us. As expected, we landed in the forest of Rashik as the sun dippedonto the horizon. Edur happily rolled off my cloud, landing on his back with a thump to the safe and solid ground.
I pointed to the cave beside us. “I previously used this cave as a foxhole before I left home. We can use it for protection until the sun comes back up.”
He glanced at the cave and jumped to his feet, recovering fast for someone who spent the last several hours on his knees. “We need to keep moving.”
“That is not an option. Once Mirneax goes to sleep, violent creatures terrorize the Isles.”
“Violent creatures?” He snarled, stomping into my space. His icy eyes frosted over as if they were frozen and his canines elongated. “Like me?”
“No. These creatures are nothing like you.” Grand Councilwoman Ira taught people that those two words were the same, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Edur was a beast. The things that roamed the island after sundown were monsters.
“We keep moving. That family is waiting in terror because of people like you. I refuse to make them wait any longer. Where would they hide?”
“If they are outside the villages, they would take refuge in a cave.” I pointed another stiff finger at my old hiding spot. “Like this one.”
Edur glared at me.
“Or...If they’re in a village, they are hiding in one of the safe houses. There’s a system in place where locals smuggle them from place to place until they get to the edge of the isle to escape. The nearest safe house is the last stop before they leave Rashik.”
“Take me there. We’ll find out if they made it off already and go from there.”
“I think we should search the village of Bask at Pylo’s home.”
“I gave you an order, witch.” He commanded with narrow eyes.
