Page 57 of Of Blood and Fire
I twisted around and my heart froze. There were at least a good dozen birds behind us, sweeping in from the left and the right. They hadn’t come from the ground; they’d been waiting for us, as the ones in front of us had been waiting. The birds on the ground had been the bait we’d willingly taken.
Maybe this was why we couldn’t find the barges. Maybe all the fucking birds that had been roosting on them had been restationed here.
Kaia, tell the drakkons to fly through the bastards ahead and drop over the Sheer into the storm; order their riders to twist round and burn those fucking spikes in the air.
She rumbled an acknowledgement but had barely finished speaking to the other drakkons when she jagged sideways, almost unseating me. A stream of brown skimmed under her wing; another barely missed the top of my head. I looked over her neck spines and spotted the bird coming straight at us, the rider raising a wickedly spiked spear… I swore and flung a ball of fire, melting the weapon and then the man.
Kaia bellowed a warning and snapped her head to the right, flaming the rider coming in fast. As a wave of heat washed over me, something splattered across the left side of my head, leaving a burning trail from just above my ear to the base of my neck. Acid—fuck. I hastily ripped off the hood, grabbed the water flask, and poured it over my entire scalp, doing my best to wash away anything that had gotten through the hood. A sharp screech had me quickly glancing up. Another rider, diving fast. I flung a thick stream of fire up at them, but I was too late, far too late, to stop it.
It crashed into us, a burning blob of flesh, metal feathers, and man that hit with explosive force; the impact dropped Kaia from the sky even as deadly shards of gold thudded into skin and scale. She bellowed again, a command filled with fury and pain, and drakkons swept in from the left and the right, driving through the birds behind us, scattering them.
Hold, Kaia barked sharply, then rolled sideways and snapped her wing closed. The still-burning remnants of the rider fell away... straight past another rising rapidly. I unleashed more fire, this time cutting it across the bird’s eyes. Aarvi swept in from underneath us and snapped at the rider’s body, tearing through metal and flesh. She spat out his top half, then smashed her tail across the distressed bird, breaking its neck.
As it fell away, more attacked us.
Us. Not the other drakkons.
They knew Kaia was the lead, I realized suddenly. Perhaps they believed that by taking her out, the other drakkons would become as directionless as their birds did when a control bird was taken out.
I swore again.Kaia, we need?—
Fly fast, she finished for me.Others protect.
Which was dangerous and unfair, but I couldn’t lose Kaia. Not just for my own sake, but for Gria’s.
Kaia dove abruptly, barely avoiding the claws of an incoming bird. I drew my sword and sliced open the end half of its body. As blood and innards rained across Kaia’s back, I twisted around and flung a blanket of fire at the rider—too late to stop the stream of acid shit now headed our way. I yelled a warning at Kaia, and she flung herself sideways, almost unseating me again; the stream caught the tip of her right wing. She bellowed in fury but kept on flying, her wings pumping so hard they were a blur. The other drakkons swooped and soared around us, ducking and weaving past metal spikes and acidic streams. Then Taitia screeched, and I twisted around; the end of a bolt had buried itself into her flesh between her shoulder and right wing. Jassy severed the rope connecting it and melted what could be seen of the bolt, but Taitia’s speed was dropping; something was impacting her wing movement, be it the depth of the wound or the metal remaining lodged within it.
Kaia, order Rua and Aarvi to fly interference, and tell Taitia to tuck underneath us.
It meant Kaia would have to slow down, but that was better than losing the young drakkon.
We were close, so close, to the edge of the Sheer now.
More riders came at us. We ducked, weaved, and flamed; fire, acid, and metal filled the air, and none of us escapedunscathed. But four drakkons and four kin made it to the edge alive and flew vertically down the Sheer’s mountain face. The storm closed in around us, heavy rain pummeled skin and scale that burned with acid, and lightning illuminated the thick gray shroud, showing no shapes following us into the murk. I didn’t relax. The riders would not be deterred. They would come after us; if not through these clouds then later, when we flew out over the sea or followed the shadows of the Black Glass Mountains home.
Which meant we couldn’t do either. Not until we were back in fighting condition.
What do then? Kaia asked.
I hesitated.Once we come out of the storm, head out into Mareritten again. It’s the one direction they won’t expect us to go.
Not safe there long.
No, but Taitia can’t fly far in her condition. We need to land and repair.
Yara and Cansu?
Where are they now?
Flame run over soldiers.
What? Tell them to get out of there, before the rest of the birds rise.
Have.
And?
Leaving now.
