Page 79 of Of Blood and Fire
I hauled the other one to Kaia and, once she’d grabbed it, scrambled up her other leg and clipped on, attaching myself via the fresh rope I’d fetched earlier.
Garran reappeared from under Taitia, slung me the release rope, and gave me the thumbs up.
“I’ll see you soon,” I called out.
“You’d better, or I won’t be happy.”
I secured the chain, burned away the excess rope, and then gave Kaia the order to rise. We did so, slowly at first, so Kaia and Taitia could get used to the weight of the bin and flying in coordination.
My gaze went to the palace rooftop. Damon stood to one side of the fire, one hand shading his eyes as he stared up at us. We’d said our goodbyes earlier, but I blew him a kiss anyway. I doubted he actually saw the movement, but he nevertheless reached out, plucked the imaginary kiss from the air, and held it close to his heart.
Once again melting mine.
I sucked in a deeper breath and tore my gaze away. I couldn’t afford sentimentality, no matter how enticing. I needed to concentrate on our task, on getting through this with everyone alive.
Which way we go?Kaia said as we flew over the peak and swept down the other side toward the circling drakkons.
We’ll need to hit Ezu before Jakarra and decimate their forces on the smaller island.
Have no fire liquid left.
No, but we’ll hopefully still have eight drakkons, and that should be more than enough to kill the riders that remain on Jakarra and erase their foot soldiers.
Plan.
I smiled and sent her an image of our path, which initially swept us out toward Jakarra before we swung around to the north and flew toward that small chain of islands that we’d used as a safe harbor when Rua had been injured hitting the barges. If we kept relatively low, using them to shield us from any distant riders on the northern side of the chain, that should get us close to Ezu without being spotted.
After that, it was a matter of hoping Túxn was in a good mood.
We followed the Black Glass Mountains for a good while to ensure the riders’ sentries wouldn’t see and report us, then swung to the east and soared over the sea. The bins proved to be less of a burden than I’d thought; as long as the chains between it and the two drakkons were kept tight, it remained relatively steady. Or as steady as any large bin being carried via chain from the claws of two drakkons could be.
We flew on in single file, with Cansu and Rua soaring over and around us, constantly scanning for any sign of rider activity. After several hours, we swung north and flew with the wind at our back, which helped our speed but made the bins a little less stable. It was a relief for all when we reached the next turning point and the wind dropped. We flew steadily along the wide channel between the string of unnamed islands and the distant specks that were the three belonging to the Jakarran system. As we neared the approximate location of the Zergon channel’s exit point, I dragged out my long viewer and scanned for any ships. There was nothing to be seen between us and the channel, so I twisted around the other way and searched the wide sparseness of the northern seas beyond the unnamed islands.
And saw, at the very end of the viewer’s range, two ships. Flags of red flew from the tallest masts of them both, and though I was too far away to see the finer details, I knew they’d feature a long-clawed golden bird flying over crossed spears.
These boats were the ones that had left Jakarra yesterday.
Should destroycame Kaia’s unsurprising comment.
Let’s just concentrate on our current mission and see how we feel once we’re done. And yes, I know you will always want to crunch and burn, but there is a limit to even a queen’s stamina.
Her mental sniff was a very unimpressed sound. I smiled, and we continued on, but as the sun began to fold toward thesea, we once again angled toward the south and headed for our target.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Ezu came into view, the jagged mountain peaks that lined this side of the island looking like dark fingers reaching for color-filled skies, as if in supplication. I once again tugged out my long viewer, focused it on the farthest peak to the left, then slowly swept it to the right, looking for any glimmer of gold that would indicate there were sentries on this side of the island. There were none that I could see, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.
Or that those on the other side wouldn’t be now rising to complete whatever their tasks or goals were for the evening.
Kaia, when we reach those peaks, tell the other drakkons to fly up beside us. And tell the kin we’ll give the go for release.
There was a beat as she passed the instructions, then,Cansu and Rua?
Tell them to fall back. We need the acid to hit the riders and their birds before they sweep in and flame.
Both drakkons fell back. I sucked in a breath and released it slowly, but it did nothing to ease the hammering of my heart and the fear that at least one of us would not be going home. I’d felt that fear before, of course, and it hadn’t come true, even if Kele would forever bear the scars of her close call. But Túxn could surely only favor us with luck so many times before she decided we’d had enough....
I shivered but did my best to ignore trepidation and instinct and did another sweep of the mountains. Still nothing. I tucked the long viewer away and, as the sun sparked off the mountain’s sharp tops, lending them a final, bloody glow before it dipped below, asked Kaia to tell the other drakkons to form the line.
She immediately slowed her pace, and the other drakkons flew up beside us, Kiko and Lura on our right, and Yara andAarvi on the left. They were flying so close it looked as if their wingtips might brush any second....
