We walked over and found Hawk lying there, blood soaked into his uniform.
Aunt Eldinar cut the fabric apart with her dagger and exposed the gash he’d received around one side of his ribs.
“Oh no…”
Aunt Eldinar immediately cut the fabric of his uniform into pieces of gauze and then secured it around his chest, applying pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding. “We have to get him back immediately. Movack will be able to slow the bleeding until we can treat him.”
Callum suddenly took off into the forest.
Viper and my father helped Hawk to his feet. He was still conscious but too weak to actually say anything.
Callum returned with a pile of branches and dropped them on the stone. Then he started to arrange them into a rectangle. “I need material. Cloth, clothing, anything.”
My father immediately removed his cape and handed it to Callum.
Callum worked quickly to bind the various branches together into a single hard structure, and then he used my father’s cape to tie around it, to create a small hammock for my brother. “We’ll carry him in this.”
They lowered Hawk back to the ground on top of the hammock, and then my father and Callum picked up two different sides before they lifted them again.
“We have to hurry,” Dad said. “Can you run?”
“Yes.” Callum led the way from the castle and down the steps, moving quickly but cautiously so my brother wouldn’t fall. Uncle Ezra and Viper gripped the other ends, all four of them carrying my brother to lessen the load overall.
We ran to the forest and left the castle behind, not stopping to take one more look at the horrible and dark place that housed the souls of those who were greedy…or evil. The servants and monsters remained behind at the castle, and without a god or a Covenant to lead them, I wasn’t sure what purpose they had.
What would become of this place?
Would this be the end?
25
LILY
When we emerged from the skeleton door inside the skull head, I realized we had to fly all the way back to the Southern Isles with my brother clinging to life. It was a day of flight, a day without treatment.
We set the hammock on the sand inside the ring of torches, on top of the piles of bones stored underneath.
It was dark when we emerged, but the torches didn’t light up when we were there.
Callum went around and started to light them, to bring illumination to the clearing.
The dragons came over and landed around us, and Khazmuda immediately walked over Hawk’s body and dropped his snout to his face, gently rubbing against his cheek.
“I need you to stop the bleeding,” my father said to all the dragons together. “Keep him stable until we get back and I can get him to a healer. I also need someone to carry him.”
Callum returned with the pack he’d left behind, pulling out a rope that he used around the hammock he’d built to create a harness. Then he strapped my brother down to the hammock so he wouldn’t slip out on the flight. “This should hold him in place while we fly back.” He hooked the harness to the strap underneath Khazmuda’s belly.
My father must have been utterly terrified, but he kept a hard expression and focused on the path ahead. “Let’s go. I’ll fly ahead first. That way, you can all keep an eye on Hawk from the rear.” He mounted Khazmuda, who immediately launched into the sky and glided away to give the dragons space to launch.
Callum and I were on Zehemoth again, while Viper took Scion, and Aunt Eldinar and Uncle Ezra shared Macabre. All our dragons launched into the sky, using their energy to fly and also sustain Hawk’s injuries as we made the long journey back to the Southern Isles.
My mother was there when we landed, like my father had already told her everything that had happened. A team of healers was ready to receive Hawk, so Khazmuda gently brought him to the ground before he dropped directly beside him.
Hawk was cut free from the straps, and then the healers lifted his hammock and brought him into the castle so they could treat him in his bedchambers.
My father slowly walked up to my mother, his eyes heavy from weariness and sorrow. “He’ll be okay.” His hands cuppedher cheeks and swiped her tears away with his thumbs. “If I can survive a stab from a cursed blade, he can survive this.”
She grabbed on to his wrists the same way I grabbed on to Callum’s when he held me like that. She gave a nod through her tears.
