Page 109 of The War of Wings
I couldn’t do it again.
Because he hadn’t fallen from Gehenna. I knew my brother, even after the years we’d spent apart. Even after the years he’d spent building his own life, becoming his own person. He’d jumped to his death, saving me the agony of driving a blade through his heart.
“Saints fuckingdammit!” I bellowed into the night, tears flooding my eyes and spilling down over my cheeks before I collapsed atop Obitus’ back again, hitching my feet between his scales. “Dammit, Tobyas.”
I wasn’t sure how long Gehenna searched the waves before she finally lifted into the sky once again, but suddenly, we were over land, headed back to Araqina, one rider short.
My brother was dead. But with him, a small part of Malosym.
???
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the empty waves. And every time I opened them, they immediately found Gehenna and her empty back.
My brother was dead. He was dead. I thought it hurt when I lost Tobyas. This was far, far worse. What had been waiting for him on the other side? Where was he now?
Obitus’ wingbeats faltered then, and my stomach jolted as we plummeted for a moment. As we evened out, a growl rumbled from Adorex’s throat, her head shaking where she flew beside us. Rixa and Gehenna suddenly seemed agitated too, steam puffing from their nostrils.
“What’s going on?” I asked, but it came out as a croak.
Petra, Obitus answered.
My heart skittered over its next beat, my back straightening. “What’s going on?”
Hurt.
She was hurt? Fear gripped my chest, squeezing the grief from my ribcage, demanding all my attention. “Where is she?”
Nothing filtered through from Obitus for a moment. The sound of wind was replaced by a ringing in my ears, amplified by the pounding of my heart.
Fire.
All at once, the drivas’ wingbeats quickened, dry mountains giving way to the dunes and scrub of the desert, the land blurring below us as we flew. How long had we been flying? How long since we’d left the shore?
“Come on, come on, come on,” I growled, not to the drivas, but to time and distance, willing them to pass quicker. I’d lost Miles tonight. I sure as hell wasn’t going to lose Petra, too. What if there had been another attack? And I’dstupidlytaken all the drivas with me? They all wanted to come, and… “Fuck!” I shouted out over the desert, dropping my head as I rose anddipped with Obitus’ movements. What the fuck had I been thinking?
Finally, a glow shimmered on the horizon, the sight of Araqina in the distance lighting a fire in me. Almost fucking there. The desert seemed to stretch farther in front of us, as if the city were taunting us, moving farther away as we neared.
As soon as I could pick out the walls and castle, I scanned the sky above the city, trying to pick out the silhouettes of Occulti drivas. There were none, and I breathed a short sigh of relief. But then I saw the thin, almost transparent streak of smoke stretching into the sky. I might not have even noticed if I hadn’t been looking for signs of Petra, but it was all I could see now.
The only thing I could do was hang on as the drivas pushed forward, finally soaring over the city walls. The streets below quickly turned chaotic as people began running, surely fearing another attack from Malosym. I was sure Laion would be pissed once again, but I didn’t care. I kept my eyes on the smoke and my grip tight on Obitus as we descended.
And there she was, her limp form laying at the side of a dirt street. A man with dark hair was crouched over her, his face craning to the sky when he heard the sound of Obitus’ wings.Miles?No, of course not. Whoever the fuck that was, he was a stranger, and panic reared its ugly head in my chest.
No. Land,Obitus thought.
He couldn’t land here. The streets were too narrow. I pivoted, looking out over the city for any breaks in the buildings, signaling a square or park. The only one I saw was half a mile away, and I’d have to sprint through the city streets to get to Petra. It would take too fucking long. Who the fuck was that man?
I winced when the idea hit me, but there was no alternative. “You see that awning right there, Obitus?” I called, pointing to the canvas that was stretched over the window of some sort of shop or cafe. “Get me as close as you can. I’m going to jump.”
Petra. Alive.
“I still need to get to her!”
Cal. Stupid.
“Yeah, well she’s hurt!” I barked back, sliding my feet from between his scales for the second time tonight. I couldn’t jump for Miles, but I was going to jump for Petra.
Body. Break. Human. Weak.
