Blood poured from the wound, soaking through his shirt, staining my hands where I gripped his waist. Too much blood. Far too much.
“Darian!” I pressed my palm against the entry wound, trying to stem the flow, but the spear had punched clean through him. My other hand came away slick and hot when I reached for the exit wound.
“Don’t—” he gasped, wet and wrong. “Don’t pull it out. Need to—fuck—need to land.”
Caorath banked to the left, his flight pattern erratic as he fought against his own injuries and his rider’s failing grip. I could feel the dragon’s distress, pain and panic and a fury that levelled mountains.
“They’re not normal dragons,” Darian wheezed, his grip on consciousness clearly slipping. “Shadow-touched. Nyxarian war beasts.”
Nyxarian. Of course they fucking were.
Above us, Thessarian banked hard to the right, Varyth’s silver hair whipping behind him as he brought his dragon alongside our faltering flight. His eyes locked onto mine across the space between us, and I could see the calculation there. The way he was already weighing options, discarding the ones that wouldn’t work.
“Caorath’s injured,” he shouted over the wind and the sound of our pursuer’s wings. “He can’t carry both of you and stay airborne.”
The dragon beneath us shuddered, his flight becoming more laboured with each beat of his crimson wings. Blood streaked his scales where the shadow beast’s claws had found their mark, andI could feel the tremor in his muscles as he fought to keep us aloft.
“Jump!” Varyth’s voice carved through the chaos. “Now, Isara!”
I stared at him like he’d lost his gods-damn mind. “Are you fucking insane? I’m not jumping off a dragon!”
“You are, or you’re both going to die when he falls.” Varyth guided Thessarian closer, close enough that I could see the mist already beginning to coil around his arms. “I won’t drop you.”
Behind us, the shadow dragon let out a shriek that sounded like metal tearing. It was circling back, those sickly green eyes fixed on us with hungry intelligence.
Darian slumped forward against Caorath’s neck, his grip on consciousness slipping. Blood continued to pour from the wound in his side, and his breathing had gone shallow and ragged.
“Darian,” I pressed, shaking his shoulder. “Stay with me.”
“Go,” he wheezed without lifting his head. “Can’t—can’t hold on much longer.”
The shadow dragon was closing in, its wings cutting through the air. In seconds, it would be in range to strike again.
Varyth’s mist lashed out like a living thing, silver tendrils wrapping around the shadow beast’s wings and sending it spinning away from us. But I could see the strain in his face, the way his jaw clenched with effort. He couldn’t maintain that kind of defence and catch me at the same time.
“Isara.” His voice cracked with desperation.
“This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” I snarled, then threw myself from Caorath’s back into open air.
The world became wind and sky and the terrible certainty that I was about to die. Gravity seized me like a greedy hand, dragging me down toward the earth that rushed up to meet me with lethal enthusiasm.
Then Varyth’s hand closed around mine.
The impact nearly tore my arm from its socket. Pain exploded through my shoulder as my body jerked to a violent stop, the full weight of my falling form transferred to that single point of contact. I screamed—couldn’t help it—as fire raced down my arm and into my ribs.
But Varyth’s grip held. His fingers were like iron around mine, refusing to let go even as my weight threatened to drag us both from Thessarian’s back.
“I’ve got you,” he snarled through gritted teeth, his own body straining as he fought to haul me up. The muscles in his arm corded with effort, veins standing out stark against his pale skin.
My shoulder felt like it was being torn apart, ligaments screaming in protest as he pulled. But slowly, agonizingly, I rose through the air until his free arm could wrap around my waist and drag me fully onto Thessarian’s back.
I collapsed against his chest, gasping and shaking, my left arm hanging useless at my side.
“Caorath—” I started, looking back to where the crimson dragon struggled to maintain altitude.
“Will make it to ground,” Varyth finished grimly. “But not much further.”
The shadow beast had recovered, its wings spreading wide as it prepared for another attack. But this time, Varyth was ready.
