Page 77 of The Lost Princess

Instead she clung to me. My sweet, sweet Kaida.

I drew strength from her presence next to me until the arrow pierced my belly, burrowing deep into my flesh. Then another into a wing. I bellowed in agony, my grip on Kaida slipping. Another arrow found my other wing, and I was plummeting toward the ground.

“Nasi, let me go! Let me go!” Kaida pointed at something behind us, but I couldn’t look. It took every scrap of focus to concentrate on staying airborne. I asked the magick to give me more, but nothing happened. Kaida was fighting me, and I didn’t understand why.

My grip was loosening on her. No! I wouldn’t let her go, she wouldn’t fall!

I screamed as she slipped free, plummeting to the ground.

I had lost my soul. My very reason for living.

I gave a few more flaps, then stopped. My body dropped toward the ground as it raced up to meet me. I didn’t care. My life was nothing without Kaida.

I closed my eyes, but didn’t feel the ground meet me with its kiss of death. I landed hard on something large and covered with short hair. It bounced up and down and I automatically tried to hang on. A small hand grabbed my arms and pulled.

“Don’t hurt the horse!” Kaida called out, and I bumped against her back and dug my claws into the leather saddle.

Kaida! ALIVE! Unharmed!

I blinked rapidly and jerked my head as another horse raced next to us. A strange man rode it. He held the reins of our horse as well, grim determination on his features as we ran.

That was the point I lost consciousness.

* * *

I jerked awake, gasping for air as pain assaulted every inch of me. I looked up and realized the other man on the other horse was carrying me in front of him like a drakling or a human female. I flashed my fangs, knowing I didn’t have the energy to attack him. Intimidation was all I had left.

“Whoa, there. Your girl is ahead of us. See?”

The man pointed in front of the horse, and I dimly registered Kaida, riding on her horse’s back in full draken form. Blessedly, Tarta had stopped firing arrows at us. I felt on the verge of passing out again, so I made my questions quick.

“Why?” I stammered.

The man shifted in his saddle, adjusting his grip on me.

“Because it was the right thing to do, and there hasn’t been much of that lately,” he stated mournfully. “And because I have a daughter her age. I can’t even imagine.…” He paused and his voice took on a happier lilt. “Not to mention if they hit me with an arrow, my king will use it as his excuse to go to war. Alfred wouldn’t dare.”

Ah. He was clever, this man. A different kind of darkness threatened to swallow me, promising rest and peace. I accepted it gratefully. The moment before I embraced it, Kaida slowed her horse and called to the man over her shoulder.

“We’re here. Think you can help me get him up? I think we have enough up there to cobber together and pulley. He’s still not out of the woods.”

The man mumbled something back, but it didn’t register with me. He wasn’t important.

“Thanks Jarrett. For everything.”

The darkness overtook me.

* * *

The next time I woke, I was back in my cave. Had it all been a dream? The racing pain in my body argued otherwise. I tried to get up, then collapsed in a heap on my stomach. My wings were torn in multiple places, making me sick to my stomach. My body shook with the aftershocks of so much magick. My nerves felt raw and scraped. I twisted to my side and threw up bile.

“Nasi!” Kaida cried in dismay, falling on top of me and rolling me to my stomach, mindful of my wings. I groaned in agony.

She put a hand on my back, then drew away as if electrocuted. Her hands tangled in her hair and pulled. “What do I do?”

I wanted to help. I wanted to reassure her. I couldn’t do any of those things. I was clinging to the edge of consciousness, and wasn’t convinced I wouldn’t lash out with uncontrolled magick again. A flash of memory came to me, clear as a bell. Males with dark tattoos snaking around their upper torsos. Their arms and chests. Their necks. It all made sense now!

“Tattoos,” I managed, my tongue thick and heavy in my mouth.

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