A small wyvern, in bright shades of purple and blue, was struggling desperately to escape two uniformed soldiers that were cornering it. One of them had launched a hook that had caught the baby in its wing as it tried to fly up and away, tearing at the soft tissue within its webbed limb. A painful cry broke from it as the other soldier tried to herd it back toward the first with flames, searing its scaled skin every time it moved too far in the opposite direction.Holy fuck.
I didn’t hesitate to act—my dagger was instantly out of my backpack and slicing through the air toward the angel holdingthe ropes to the hook. It hit him directly in the chest and far faster than the time with the guard on the perimeter wall, the small hilt glowed with runes and the soldier exploded in flames, instantly falling away. The ropes went loose and the wyvern tried to push upward and away, taking advantage of the distraction.
“Who the—” The second angel didn’t have a moment to react before my dagger appeared back in my hand and I launched myself toward him, aiming right for his chest.
I grunted as he let out a battle roar, pulling his sword out to attempt to hit me. The steel of his sword met my dagger for a flash of a second, and the force of the impact reverberated through my frame before I disengaged. Flying out of the way, I avoided another swing of his sword and began looking for the small, wounded creature he was after.
“Shit.” I cursed, noticing two simultaneous problems—the first being that the baby wyvern was falling, the heavy hook caught in its wings weighing it down. It was clear as day that it wasn’t an adult in miniature form, as the creature was half the size of myself—no, this was just a very young wyvern.So what was it doing out here?
The second problem was the approaching flight of six soldiers, yelling out commands at the sight of me.
Dodging the soldier who had traded in their sword to instead shoot flames toward me, I dipped down in the air and sped toward the baby wyvern. Sweeping them up in my arms despite their sizable weight, I flew as fast as I could in the opposite direction of the soldiers, trying to maintain some distance between the threat and us.
I winced as I pulled the hook out and a pained cry left the small wyvern’s throat, watching as the skin around the hook sizzled—as if acid was dissolving the hide where the hood had punctured it. Tears welled in my eyes, my gaze seeking outthe second of the two individuals responsible for this—fury pulsating in my chest.
I would kill him too…or maybe I wouldn’t.
Maybe I wouldn’t need to, because it appeared my men already had it handled. Pulling the baby wyvern close to me, trying to keep the seared skin from pressing on my chest, I watched in awe as my men met the soldiers head-on in defense of the small wyvern.
My eyes widened as Bastian targeted two of the men with his magic. Their blood seeped from their skin in rivers, instantly turning them into dried-out corpses left hanging in the air. In a clap of what sounded like thunder, their bodies snapped in half before dropping toward the forest floor.
My ears absorbed the clash of battle swords as Gabe and Steele met three members of the assaulting force. I relished in the sound of Steele’s sword slicing through one of their throats, instantly decapitating the soldier. These Alfemir soldiers were no match for either Steele or Gabe on their own, let alone together.
My nose twitched at the sudden scent of burnt flesh as Ronan drew a gigantic dragon from the mass of shadows that grew around him—black flames eliminating the three individuals left. The creature burned them to a crisp, leaving them to disintegrate into ashes in mid air.
In seconds, it was over. A complete, victorious slaughter.
I swallowed down the hollow victory at their fast and swift defeat, because in my grasp was an injured baby wyvern. One that was beginning to struggle—shifting its wings back and forth in a panicked motion as I winced, trying desperately to hold onto them. Despite clearly being a child, they were big enough to dislodge my hold.
I was suddenly thrown back by the force of it, only stopped by Gabe who caught me mid air. As the wyvern dropped, unable touse its injured wing, Niz appeared out of thin air, catching them in his claws before soaring upwards and back in the direction of the caves.
The kingdom would surely have someone who could help him.While we weren’t as quick as Niz in his full form, we followed as fast as we could, tears welling in my eyes at the limp form of the smaller wyvern in his claws.
“I don’t understand. Why are they even close to the Northern Forrest?” I called out to the others. “Is that how they normally tame beasts? If so—that is so fucked up.” I refused to believe that Ronan would ever be part of something like that.
“Nothing about that was normal!” Ronan yelled over the wind rushing past us. “None of them were Beast Tamers, and they were physically hurting the wyvern—submission techniques for taming are allowed, but a hook? Absolutely not. I have an idea what they were doing, so that is bad fucking news for everyone involved.”
“What do you mean?” Gabe asked.
“If they’re forcibly taming wyverns, or attempting to, then they’re actually enacting a plan I heard about years ago. I assumed it would go nowhere, but clearly they’re now implementing it. Likely because of the recent attack and realizing how powerful the fallen are. Seeing Niz be so successful in battle probably only bolstered that thought process, so now they’re taking drastic measures to even the playing field.”
Which meant thateverywyvern was in potential danger now.
“They would capture the small and young to demand the subjugation of the older,” Steele spat through clenched teeth.
Before I could comment further, we landed on the cliffside by the entrance as Niz shifted back, laying the unconscious wyvern on the ground. Changing into clothes Ronan provided, he easily lifted the wyvern back up, careful to not hit the injured wing,and carried it into the cave without hesitation. We followed, but I couldn’t help but stare down at the wyvern in dismay.
I just had to hope that we weren’t too late.
23
BASTIAN
“Just keephim stable until we reach the castle.” Niz’s voice was filled with a plea I couldn’t ignore as I nodded sharply, knowing now was not the time to mess with him.Especiallynot at the expense of this young wyvern’s life.
To say that our arrival into the wyvern kingdom was far louder than the last time would be an understatement.
As we entered, the low, loud sound of horns filled the air. My heart thundered in my chest, wondering if these were war horns, and if so, were they announcing our arrival as enemies? But the shouts of the guards as they spotted the injured child in their crown prince’s arms calmed me. The shouts drew the attention of others, and within minutes, our group was being ushered into two carriages drawn by a pair of pegasus each that would fly us in the direction of the castle. It was then that I offered to keep the child as medically stable as I could until we reached the castle infirmary.
