In the corner, thesarkiashuddled around their fallen members, pulling them close. Their whispered prayers started up again, praying over their bodies, even as the Dead Mountain rumbled.
“Vorakkar, thesarkias,” Besik said and I saw that Natevik’s brother was in his arms. We would bring him back to the horde, give him a proper burial.
“Leave them to the mountain,” I growled. “It is what they want.”
Besik inclined his head and then ran from the throne room, heading towards the entrance where thepyrokiswaited. If the barrier was breaking, we needed to reach the edge before it crumbled, before the fog rushed back in and fed from us all.
When I turned back to Mina, I scooped her up in my arms, gritting my teeth against the pain.
“Stay with me, Mina,” I ground out. “Stay with me.”
With one last scan of the throne room, I saw that it had been cleared. Of the humans, of mydarukkars. Only thesarkiaremained.
Just then, a large rocky shard, bigger than Okan, fell from the ceiling, crashing into the dais, splintering it with a loudboom.
Vok.
The mountain wasfalling.
With my queen in my arms, I turned from the room and raced through the doors. Behind me, more pieces of black rock fell, quaking the ground. My teeth gritted so hard I was surprised they didn’t crumble into dust.
Underneath us, I swore I felt the lower levels caving in, violent and loud. I narrowly dodged a large boulder that crashed just before us, managing to dodge it but never breaking in my sprint to the entrance.
Her head lolled against my shoulder.
“Nik,” I growled out, shaking her until her eyes peered up at me. Softening my voice, I rasped, “Hold on,rei kassiri. Just hold on for me.”
“Rei kassiri?” she asked, her voice sounding more brittle by the moment.
“My love,” I translated for her, the words growling from my throat. “So do not fall, Mina, or I will surely fall with you.”
More tears of blood streamed from her green eyes. A sob burst from her throat and I fought through the dizzying wave of pain that accompanied it.
“Rei kassiri,” she whispered, reaching up her hand to touch my jaw.
“Lysi. Yours,” I told her, my voice guttural and husky. “And you are mine.Lo rune tei’ri. Remember?”
I felt the surge of her power at the words.
Mina screamed, her body tightening in my arms.
Fighting.
She was fighting against the pull of sweet relief, of darkness. She was fighting tofeelthe pain because it was the only thing that was keeping us all safe.
I saw the open darkness up ahead, saw mydarukkarsas they jumped onto the backs of their ownpyrokiswith the human villagers. Though, they lingered at the entrance, as if waiting for me.
“Drak!” I bellowed out.Ride. “Ride hard for the western edge!”
The command in my voice was unmistakable and they didn’t hesitate. Right then, I heard a crack, likethunder, reverberate across the plains, making mydarukkarscrane their heads up, looking towards the sky. Whatever they saw spurred them into motion.
“Wrune,” Mina breathed in my arms.
“Just a little while longer,” I promised, my arms tightening around her.
Then we burst from the mountain’s mouth. Above us, I saw what thedarukkarshad. For a moment, I thought it was lightning. Blue lightning streaking across the sky, never striking the ground.
But then I saw the red fog just above it, swarmingintothe streaks. And I realized what it was. It was Mina’s shield. It was fracturing, cracking, weakening above us.
