“We’ll be the first,”Liza said.
Leo studied the approaching dragons. A blue and two greens. He kept flying because there was nothing else he could do.
“Do you recognize them?”
“Not yet.”
“What will we do?”
Leo’s heart soared at Liza’swe.
“I intend to keep flying toward our destination. In about five minutes, I should be close enough to the approaching dragons to identify them.”
“And the ones behind?”
“I think we can assume the ones following us are chasing with evil intent.”
Fatigue swept Leo, every bruise and cut aching now that their destination was in sight. How the devil were they going to get through this?
Liza’s heart fluttered against her rib cage, fear an itch along her spine. Her head angled back to spot the five dragons behind them who were gaining. The three dragons in front were closer.
“Do you recognize them, Leo?”
“Friend,”he said after a lengthy pause, his voice lighter than it had been earlier.
“Plan?”
“Keep flying toward my friends and hope we reach them before those chasing catch us.”
Liza wished she’d thought to grab a handful of rocks. Leo wasn’t as speedy now, and she sensed his exhaustion. Frustration thumped her over the head since there was nothing she could do to help. She glanced back at the chasing dragons. They were nearer now.
“They’re flying in formation,”she said.
“Do they have sashes or breastplates?”
Liza squinted through the constant rush of air.“Yes.”
“Security. Either my parents or my brothers sent them after us.”
“How did they know where we were?”
“They might have discovered my brother’s body or spotted the burned forest.”
“Your friends are closer than the soldiers.”
Leo didn’t reply but kept flying, his wings moving in a steady beat. When Liza glanced behind them again, she gasped. The soldiers had slashed the distance between them. They weren’t going to make it.
Without warning, heat seared behind them.
Leo angled upward just in time, the flames missing them by inches.
“Leo, fly lower and drop me into the sea. I’m a powerful swimmer. I can make the shore by myself.”
“No,”Leo shouted, his reply a blast of deafening sound.“I can’t lose you.”
“If you keep holding me, you’re at a disadvantage. You can’t use your talons. Please, Leo. We have no alternative.”Liza prayed the water was deep enough for what she intended.“Leo, listen to me. If I die, I leave my daughter at the mercy of my ex-husband. I need at least one of us to survive. If something happens to me, find your way to the mainland. Save Joanna. Will you do that for me? Leo?”
After a long moment, he replied,“Don’t die, my lodestone. Please. Without you, my world will have no light.”
