Page 61 of Of Blood and Fire
I adjusted the eyeglass to refocus as we drew nearer, and that’s when I spotted the odd deformation along one side of the tower—the stone looked to have been melted....
I swore again and swung the viewer right, scanning the mountain for the lava tube’s entrance. Saw instead the body of a man—or at least, what remained of him after the acid had eaten away most of his torso—midway between the tower and the tube. Beyond him, where the entrance should have been, was what looked to be a frozen black waterfall of stone that rather incongruously had a booted foot sticking out of its base.
The riders had been here.
The thought had no more than crossed my mind when Yara trumpeted a warning.
Gilded birds,Kaia said, rather unnecessarily. Yara wouldn’t be trumpeting for anything less.
How many?
Three.
Three we could cope with. Unless of course, there were more waiting ahead.
Again, just as I thought that, more riders appeared. Another three, flying directly at us.
Need stop thinking, Kaia grumbled.
I certainly did.Tell Taitia and Rua to help Yara take out the three behind. Order Aarvi and Cansu swing to the left and right of the ones in front of us.
If these riders had the same orders as those on the plateau, then it was likely that they’d attack Kaia and me directly and ignore the two younger drakkons completely.
The two drakkons immediately peeled away and, as I’d hoped, none of the riders ahead altered course to meet the challenge. The Mareritt also had a rather single-minded approach when it came to attack, but they at least reacted to the situational changes. These riders did not. Maybe it was against their code.
Or maybe the numbers approaching our shores were so damn large that they believed the loss of a few hundred men and birds was an acceptable price to pay for eventual victory.
Kaia didn’t alter her flight path; she arrowed directly at the oncoming riders, seemingly determined to smash right through them. But at the last possible moment, she told me to hold, then flicked quick orders to Aarvi and Cansu. As the riders raised their weapons to fire, she backflipped and swept her tail across the center and right birds, smacking them both off course. Aarvi dove in from the left, taking out that bird and rider, while Rayka and Beth hit the one on the right with twin blankets of fire. Kaia barreled down after the still-falling middle bird; the rider had enough time to look up and raise his weapon, but nothing else. Kaia unleashed a burning river of death and swept right through their ashes.
A pain-filled bellow echoed around the peaks. Yara. She’d been hit.
And Kele had fallen from her neck.
I swore vehemently and ordered Kaia back to them. I wasn’t going to lose Kele or Yara. No matter what instinct had said on the outset of this journey, we were all going to fucking making it home. Alive.
Kaia flew hard, and Yara came into view, her left wing partially collapsed but still moving. Taitia was underneath her, supporting Yara’s weight as she battled to stay in the air, while Jassy swung freely underneath the younger drakkon’s neck, attached by the rope clamped onto her harness. Rua and Hannity were circling above them all, providing lookout and protection.
Which left Kele....
I couldn’t see her. Not in the air, not in the sea, but the air here was thick and dark, the sea turbulent, and unless she flamed, I wouldn’t.
She wasn’t flaming. Maybe she was unconscious....
Kaia dove sharply, and after a moment, I spotted her—a small, tumbling blot of humanity dropping too fast toward the angry ocean.
Can you grab her?I asked.
Try.
Don’t try,I snapped, do.
Her mental snort filled the link between us, but she didn’t otherwise reply, all her attention on the small dot that was Kele. Closer and closer we got, but she was closer still to the waves, and if she hit them at the speed she was going, it would break every bone in her body. The sea was not a forgiving master at the best of times, but from height, she would be deadly.
White caps reached for Kele, spraying foam across her features, bubbling across raw patches of skin. She’d been hit by acid... I gulped, trying to contain my fear, my heart in my mouth as Kaia banked and reached for her. Her first grab missed; her second didn’t, but we were close, so damn close to the sea nowthat a massive wave hit us, sweeping Kaia sideways and down. How in Vahree’s name she maintained flight against its force, I’ll never know, but she did, and we were soon rising again.
I leaned forward, water sluicing from my hair and clothes, trying to see her, trying to judge Kele’s condition, but Kaia had tucked her claws—and Kele—closer to her belly in an effort to protect her from the wind’s buffeting.
I sucked in a breath and released it slowly in an effort to calm the fear and urgency, then said,Kaia, how’s Yara?
