Page 101 of Of Blood and Fire
I drew my sword, leaned over her left wing, and brought the blade down, tempering the force behind the blow until I knew how the solidified fog would react. The blade dug lightly into it, and cracks opened, a network of tiny veins that ran away from the blow, spreading swiftly over the portion of wing closest to her shoulder. I tried again, and the cracks deepened, widened. Chunks fell off, and her wing moved. She screamed in fury and tried to raise the upper part of the wing in an effort to create drag and drop our speed, but it didn’t seem to be doing much.I shifted to the other wing and hit it several times, all too aware of the ground rushing toward us and the Mareritt closing in. A third blow. More cracks, and then this wing was moving too. But not fast enough. Nowhere near fast enough.
We were going to crash, and it was going to be nasty.
I swore, unclipped my bow and quiver, and tossed them to the ground. Then I undid the harness rope and leapt onto the wing, the wind of our fall so fierce I immediately slid toward the edge. I shifted so that I was side-on, raised the sword, and brought it down hard. This time, the rest of the stone encasing her wing shattered and huge chunks began to fall away. As I slipped off her wing and fell underneath, she banked, then snapped her left wing closed, allowing the still semi-open right wing to pull her around in the air so that she was facing the oncoming Mareritt.
Then we both hit the ground.
Hard.
I did my best to bend at the knees to absorb the worst of the shock but was still thrown forward. I let go of my sword and threw my hands over my head in an effort to protect it. Felt something give in my leg and somehow ended up on my back, staring up at the sky, pain erupting up my throat but never making it past my lips.
Another scream echoed through me.
Kaia.
I swore and scrambled upright. Fire immediately hit the lower half of my left leg, and I almost went down again. I swore again and hobbled toward my sword. I couldn’t feel my toes and really didn’t care. I moved on quickly, found my bow and quiver, and then ran—hobbled—as fast as I could over to Kaia. She was struggling to her feet and seemed uninjured aside from a deep gash down her right side, which had perhaps been caused by her own wing claw, because that wing trailed behind her like abroken flag. Even without any of the fog stone, she was never going to get back into the air without that wing being mended.
We fight, she said.We no die.
We no die, I echoed, and didn’t for one moment believe it.
There were at least six groups of Mareritt bearing down on us now, all of them surrounded by that shimmering shield. A shield that had already proven impervious to drakkon fire. Still... I wasn’t about to stand here and wait for them to reach us. If nothing else, we could make their journey toward us more uncomfortable.
Kaia, burn.
She opened her mouth and unleashed, filling the immediate world with a fire so fierce that the air became hot and thin and difficult to breathe. The grass exploded into ash, and the ground went black, but the flames made no mark on those under the shield.
How the fuck were they anchoring it? There were no carts in use here, no wheels to connect the magic to the ground. Was the key portable pins of some kind that were being fueled by those mages under the main shield?
If so, that made it even more vital that the earth mages got their collective act together and literally moved the ground underneath it.
The Mareritten battle cry echoed through the air, the sound haunting, frightening. I shifted my weight, sheathed my sword, and readied my bow. They continued to run toward us, spears, swords, and acid tubes raised. Kaia unleashed her flames again and again, but they continued to have no effect. The bastards yipped and yelled andlaughed.
She roared in frustration, then lumbered forward and snapped at the nearest bubble. Her teeth skidded over its surface, encasing it rather than breaking it, so she picked it up and shook it violently from side to side. The Mareritt tumbledfree, and I unleashed my flames, burning them before they hit the ground and exploding their tubes. Kaia spat the bubble out and roared in satisfaction, then continued on toward the next one. The other soldiers paused their headlong rush toward us, raised their weapons, and fired. As one, Kaia and I flamed, pushing a wall of sheer heat in front of us. The acid exploded, spraying flaming droplets into the air while the metal in the spears pooled on the ground... ground that was now shaking, moving, sending both me and the Mareritt staggering sideways.
Our earth mages—attacking the main shield.
Hope surged. If they could bring that thing down and the drakkons could find and kill the mages, we had a chance. We just had to survive until then.
In the distance, horns sounded, a battle signal to charge, and one that sounded more like Esan’s than Mareritten’s. Movement caught my eye, dragging my attention back. Another wave of spears and acid was cutting toward us. Again, it was destroyed. Kaia lumbered forward and stretched her neck out, snapping at another shield... just as a silvery ball tumbled through the air, spreading out as it drew closer. A net. It was a fucking silver net—the same damn kind the riders had used on her at Hopetown.
I shouted a warning, but before I could flame, before Kaia could flame, it lashed around and around her nose, encasing it, locking her mouth closed. She shook her head violently from side to side, but there was no shaking it free. I swore, drew my sword, and hobbled toward her. More spears and acid bit through the air. I unleashed a thick wave of fire and cast it in front of her; felt the mote in my eye pop, the warmth of blood flood down my cheek. My head hurt, but I didn’t care, because nothing mattered more right now than trying to free Kaia.
Lower your head, and I’ll cut the netting free.
No time. They come. You flame.
Kaia, that stuff retracts?—
Know. Flame. Now
I swore and flung out a hand, exploding the acid streaming toward us. As flaming droplets fell to the scorched ground and the amount of blood coursing down my cheek increased, I swept my fires around us, encasing us in a thick wall. This time, I didn’t release it, keeping the connection alive instead so that I could keep feeding its ferocity. Hopefully, it would explode the acid and melt the spears—or, at least, render them so soft they became useless—before either got anywhere near us, but it would also drain me extremely fast. I’d have to draw on Kaia’s strength sooner rather than later, or risk sending myself into Vahree’s hands. But if he did indeed intend to take my soul this day, then he could fucking wait until I took some of these bastard with me.
Right, I said, then glanced up sharply at a distant, eager bellow—Yara.
Big shield down, Kaia said.They attack.
I couldn’t see through the thickness of my fire, but the Mareritt continued to attack from underneath the safety of their shields. I was a little surprised they didn’t rush them through the flames, but perhaps the ease with which Kaia had picked up and disposed of both the bubble and the Mareritt inside had made them a little more cautious.
