Page 141 of Riftborne
I had never felt such heaviness. Such emptiness.
Everything went black.
CHAPTER 51
“Why are we bringing her?”A female voice hissed through the night. Wind whipped past my face, throwing my hair into violent swirls. My consciousness was in and out, drenched in a thick haze and my body remained limp as though an invisible weight clung to my bones.
“You saw what she did.” The man's voice was deep, commanding. I could understand them, but the captors had strange accents that seemed foreign to me. Their words were sharper, more guttural and clipped.
“But she’s one of them,” the woman urged, irritation breaking through her words.
“Clearly, she is not,” he responded coldly, “Her soul is bound to the dusk.”
“That’s impossible.”
And my vision went black again.
“We can’t lether see the route.What if she escapes?”
The voice stirred my mind, which was swirling with fog. I held onto consciousness by a thin rope.
“That’s why we’re counting on Rethlyn to keep her out until we reach Ravenfell,” a woman said. “If Rethlyn fails, I’m slitting her throat myself.” I heard the clank of a dagger echo through the night.
“No one touches her until Aether gives the go ahead,” a man said flatly.
Suddenly, gravity shifted, and I felt arms lifting me.
“Who wants her?” the female asked, a mocking tone to her voice.
“She’ll ride with me,” a deep-voiced male said. He seemed like the leader, the one they called Aether. Suddenly, I was being carried. I did my best to keep my body limp.
Large hands grabbed my waist and hoisted me onto what felt like a saddle. A strap was wrapped around my shoulders and chest as I felt my back slide against a rigid torso. My consciousness began slipping once again.
“She’s strapped in. Let’s go. Vexa, you lead us off. We should make it to Ravenfell just before dawn.” I felt the chest behind me rumble with the words, and in an instant, we were being propelled forward. Strong hooves hit the ground, racing across rocky terrain.
Just as my vision went black again, I felt my stomach twist as the beast jumped, leaving the ground behind us as we launched into flight.
All of it felt like a dream.
The wind whippedthrough my hair as consciousness returned. A shock ran through my body as I realized we were flying. I bit back a scream and forced my body to still, to stay limp against the chest of the man behind me.
My eyes opened slowly through my lashes. We were soaring up above the clouds.
How was this possible?
We hit a strong gust of wind, and I let my head slump further, giving me a better view of whatever creature we were riding.
Giant black wings stretched out a length of at least double my height. They were lined with velvety fur but webbed like a bat. I peeked through my other eye, finding the back of a horse’s mane. But if this was a horse, it was much larger than the ones in Luminaria.
My eyes became heavy again and I urged myself to stay awake, fighting remnants of the unnatural unconsciousness that was being forced upon me by the one they called Rethlyn.
“Prepare for landing,” I heard the woman’s voice shout, and suddenly, we were nosediving. My hair shot forward violently before flying back across my face. A scream built in my throat, but I swallowed it down.
As we tore through the clouds, dark towers appeared in the distance, looming over what looked like a dimly lit city.
Ravenfell, they had called it.
The architecture seemed like something out of a nightmare. Black and sharp, with bladed detailing. The skyline was made up of daggers. Horrifying statues sat on landings throughout the spires.
