Page 53 of Forged By Heart and Claws
I feel the same way about you. Be careful with the wire, and get up here.Still, I kept my focus forward, refusing to allow anyone else to die on my watch.
I'll be up there as soon as I set up as many layers of this razor wire as I can.
The wire glinted in the lamplight but blended into the wall. The trap was silent and deadly.
Vyraetos yanked a thick bottle of oil from a pack and hurled it past the wire, the glass shattering in a splash across the stone.
“Catch!” Quen shouted, grabbing a dropped bag and throwing it up to me across the ten-foot gap.
I snagged it and passed it to Elara. Myantha scrambled to sit up just as Quen lobbed another pack. This time, Myantha caught it with a grunt.
Quen turned and nodded sharply at Vyraetos.
Thalen limped toward us, his injured wing dragging behind him. “Come on, Badger Claw.” He grabbed Elias by the back of his tunic and began to fly him up. His wings pumped hard, and he managed to get high enough for Elias to slam chest-first into the ledge with a loud grunt. But Elias’s hands immediately began slipping.
“I’ve got him!” Elara yelled, grabbing Elias’s shoulder.
I rushed forward and wrapped my hands tight around one of Elias’s wrists. The weight nearly dragged me over, but I held tight, my feet braced on slick stone.
“Hold on!” Myantha cried, leaning over to grab Thalen’s arm as he reached up, face pale.
Snarls echoed from the tunnel, and shadows streaked into view.
Quen’s red, leathery wings flared wide, and she launched up and snagged Elias’s other arm. Her right wing clipped a stalagmite with a sickeningsnap. She screamed and twisted violently as she slammed into the ledge, her injured wing snagging on a jagged rock jutting below the edge.
“Quen!” I shouted, yanking Elias up another inch. “Grab me!”
Warmth exploded and then constricted in my bond with Vad as his concern and anger swirled together.
Quen’s nails bit into my shoulder. “My wing’s stuck, and Elias is slipping!”
“Don’t fight it.” My heart pounded against my ribcage. “Let go of him and put your weight on me.”
“I’m all right.” Elias strained, sweat sprouting on his forehead. “Don’t tear your wing?—”
Quen whimpered but released Elias. She leaned her weight onto me, and I nearly collapsed under her, my ankle throbbing. I locked my knees and braced against the ledge.
“Get her off Elias and Thalen!” Rhielle shouted from below. “Quen, you’re going to shred your wing if you keep thrashing!”
Athudsounded beneath us. Silus had reached them, and he didn’t hesitate to shove Thalen up with a groan while still gripping Elias. His talons scraped for purchase on the rock wall, his legs shaking from the strain.
Snarls and the scrabble of claws on stone echoed all around us. A guttural howl reverberated off the walls so fiercely that the ledge itself seemed to shudder.
The first wolf leapt over the oil and smacked the razor wire full-force. A sickening wetripechoed as it was caught mid-air, the wire tearing deep into its shadows. The beast howled, its body jerking as it thrashed against the nearly invisible blades, trying to reach Vad and the rest of our group, who were still on the path below. Blood sprayed across the drop, dark and glistening in the lamplight.
The other beasts slammed to a stop, growling, pacing, too feral to retreat but too wary to follow. Two slipped on the oil.
Myantha and Elara yanked Elias and Thalen to safety, and I caught Quen under the arms and hauled her up with everything I had. Her wing ripped free with a tearing sound that made my stomach turn. She shrieked, but I didn’t stop.
Below us, Veralt lifted Rhielle onto his shoulders, and then he leaned forward, tilting her over the pit, and Rhielle gripped Quen’s legs and lifted her up. I wrapped my arm around Quen’s waist and helped her lift her wing, my ankle screaming in protest. With another scream of pain and a deepening ofthe tear, we got her wing free. Quen spasmed and flailed as I clutched onto her with all my strength.
Rhielle yelped with surprise as Quen’s foot clipped her, and she lurched back. Veralt tried to compensate, but the two slid backward and crashed against the far wall on their side of the pit. Rhielle braced herself against the rocks and leaned forward over Veralt’s shoulders as he struggled to gain his balance again.
I skidded forward with Quen's weight but dug my knee into an indentation. Grunting, I dragged her up the rest of the way. She gasped with relief and tucked her torn wing in close.
As soon as she was safe, I leaned out over the edge and saw Silus clinging to the wall below the ledge. His fingers were jammed into a crevice, and his muscles shook while one wing hung limply, dragging him off balance. Blood ran from his palms onto the wall.
The ledge bit into my ribs as I stretched down and reached for him. His arm trembled as he tried to wedge his fingers deeper into the fissure. He glanced up once, sweat slick on his brow, eyes stark with strain.
