Page 54 of Bound to the Shadow Queen
“Scouts report a flight of wyverns near the Frostmere Plains.”
My blood iced over. My gaze shot toward the window and the skies just beyond it.
Wyverns.
I hadn’t seen a single one in months, and I had hoped, or wanted to hope, that the fire-breathing beasts had died out. But now there was an entire flight, at least five predators, that gorged on mana as if it were marrow.
That meant charred soil, poisoned lakes, and villages burned to ash.
And Nevara was due to return today, even accounting for the slower speed of an extra rider.
My grip tightened around the missive in my hand, frost veining outward across the parchment until the words bled into a blur of frozen ink.
The wyverns would find her easily, if they hadn’t already. Mana called to them like blood to wolves, and between my shards-ordained Visionary and her shards-blessed griffon, they were a veritable beacon in the sky.
I bit out a curse and snapped my head toward the windows, scouring the cloud-swept sky for the winged shadows.
Eryx shifted at my side, waiting for orders. Soren remained quiet for a change, but I felt his calculating stare.
If the wyverns caught her first…no…that didn’t matter right now.
My oldest friend was in danger, and if I didn’t hurry, I would have more than monsters to bury.
We rode hard,but still, it wasn’t fast enough.
The wind slashed against my face as the Aldrath steeds thundered beneath us. Their hooves ate the ground like flames devouring dry wood. Their breath steamed in the air, every stride carrying us closer to the smoke staining the horizon.
Fire cascaded through the air, too chaotic for me to risk icewalking until I was closer. Cursing, I urged the mounts faster, kicking my steed’s flanks to push him to his limits, especially as the wyverns’ shrieks grew louder.
The wolves had stayed behind, more chaos in an aerial attack than help, but Soren and Eryx were both at my back. However little I trusted the former, he had proven his battle skills more than once.
One beast bellowed out an ear-splitting cry, like steel raking over stone.
Another answered, then another.
Frost coated the reins, flooding from my fists in a wave of fury. We crested the ridge just as one plummeted from the sky, blue-fire spewing from its gaping maw. The air shook with its force, heat wafting out from the valley with the intensity of their flames.
Below, at the valley’s edge, right next to the mountain’s foothills, light fractured upward—bright, iridescent starlight splintering through glass.
Nevara.
She stood with her staff raised, mana unraveling from her in threads of searing brilliance. Each strike sent the wyverns back, elegant and exacting, as though death itself had chosen to dance at her command.
Two wyverns already lay broken on the rocks, their bodies twisted and smoking. Three more circled above, shadows eclipsing the sun.
Ice surged beneath my steed, racing outward to form a jagged bridge that lifted me higher, close enough to strike at the wyverns overhead.
Below, Eryx and Soren charged toward Nevara and Noerwyn, both trembling with the force of their mana.
Soren rose carefully in his saddle until he stood on it, balancing with a predator’s grace as Autumn’s fire coiled in his fists. The flames licked upward, growing larger, hungrier as they begged for release.
Eryx stopped at the massive griffon lying on its side, blood seeping through its pristine feathers.
Lady Noerwyn was nearby, standing guard over the injured creature. Blood streaked her temple, and one arm was bound haphazardly with cloth. She used her mana to fling rocks and splinters of ice in chaotic arcs, her furious screams echoing through the valley as she scrambled for everything at her disposal to draw attention away from my Visionary.
“Here! Over here, you flying shitbeast! Yeah! You!” she screamed.
I couldn’t afford to slow down, but I cast a shield around her just in time to stop a stream of fire from reaching her.
