I watched it all in horrible slow motion.
He went for Kerstin.
Kerstin, weak from using her talent in a rare display of strength, struggled to lift her hands up to defend herself, but she couldn’t do it. I could see that at once. It wasn’t happening. He was almost to her, his arms outstretched, talons breaking free from the tips of his fingers, ready to tear into her and rip her apart.
I squeezed my eyes in a tight, quick blink. When I reopened them, the world was different. My vision changed, sharper. Everything was in full blinding color and clarity—even in the middle of night.
All of this I absorbed in an instant as the fire left me, blasting through the air, devouring him in a roaring inferno. I felt the snap and pull of my bones, the crackling burn of my fevered skin as river upon river of flame escaped me. My dragon pushed against my clothes, eager to fully emerge, but I resisted. I’d gotten better at this. Better at controlling and managing myself. I could now retrieve parts of my dragon while not fully turning until—unless—I wanted to.
The mountain collapsed at Kerstin’s feet, never reaching her, as the fire devoured him. He was just a body now, blackened flesh beneath rolling flames, melting the snow away and charring the ground around him.
I swallowed the fire back down, tucking it away inside myself. I moved to stand beside Kerstin, gazing down at the smoldering pile of flesh and bones on the ground. It was a moment I’d lived before. Perhaps not as shocking, but no less terrible. I didn’t want to kill anyone—especially not a fellow dragon. I didn’t want to be a creature that extinguished life with such ease. I didn’t want this to be my normal.
Kerstin was still panting heavily, exhausted from her efforts. I’d never seen her do anything like what she just did. When we trained, she was barely able to stir up dirt in the arena, much less dothat.
“You were incredible,” I murmured.
“Yeah. You too.” She blew out a shuddery breath and leanedagainst me as though she needed the support. “I didn’t know I had it in me. Too bad no one from the pride was here to see that.”
“I suppose you never know what you can do until you have to do it,” I said numbly, thinking of how I had been able—at last—to control my blood when Stig whipped me.
“Hate to break this happy little pat-yourselves-on-the-back moment, but we should get out of here.”
Our heads swiveled to the girl … woman …witch.
She stood, watching us back with an air of impatience.
I’d forgotten she was nearby. That the mountain had brought her out here to relieve herself.
Those wise eyes with their bruised shadows peered out at us solemnly from deep inside her hood.
We were still in danger, the skelm’s camp only yards away. “We should go,” I agreed.
The witch nodded. “There’s an earth dragon asleep in their midst that wouldn’t be nearly as easy to subdue as these two. He could bring down an entire mountain if he wished. I’ve seen it.”
“We would not like to face him.” I glanced at Kerstin for confirmation.
“Definitely not.” She nodded doggedly while fixing a suspicious gaze on the witch.
Together, we fled, knowing our time to escape was precious. It would not take them long to realize they’d been attacked in the night—their witch stolen right out from under them. Hopefully it wouldn’t happen until the morning. That only gave us a few hours. We needed to be far away by then.
23
TAMSYN
FORTUNATELY, KERSTIN WAS NOT COMPLETELY SPENT. SHEhad a little bit of energy left to help erase our tracks. The suggestion for this came from the witch. Not that her helpfulness endeared her to Kerstin. She still shot her wary glances, forever convinced she was our enemy. Kerstin would not be won over no matter how useful she might prove to be.
For the first hour, we eliminated our tracks, Kerstin brushing the snow over the earth with flicks of her fingers on the air, not actually physically touching the ground. Then we decided it was enough. Hopefully, we’d put a good amount of distance between us and the skelm. We still had a few hours before they woke and realized their witch was gone … alongside the two onyxes.
The one buried could still be recovered. They would notice the disturbed ground and find him. The earth dragon we had been warned about would make quick work of recovering him. When they did, he would tell them all about the fire-breather and earth dragon that had dared to attack them and take their thrall.
And they would come for us.
We had to make haste. Get as far away as we could. Put as much distance between us and them.
As dawn streaked across the sky, I started to relax, thinking maybe we had succeeded and gotten away. Still, I would have preferred to push on and keep going, but Kerstin insisted we stop. She was still quite depleted, and I didn’t like her ashen color.
As she wandered off to find some privacy to relieve herself, I tookadvantage of the moment, digging around inside my knapsack for some food and drink. I couldn’t remember the last time I ate, but I was starving. I passed the flask and some bread to the witch.
