I didn’t bother letting her know I had planned to dissolve the engagement the moment I returned to Rivale. Instead, I climbed onto the invisible seat floating just above the piece of wood. It was much wider than I’d expected and might’ve been comfortable given different circumstances.
The red contents of the globe swirled into a frenzy, and the staff darted forward; we were traveling down the alley at a sickening pace. Turn after turn, we stayed low among the empty streets. I looked up, expecting to see my wyvern, but she’d left. I was torn between disappointment and relief.
“Audryn!” Sky’s voice boomed as she turned from a side street and ran behind us. The staff lifted higher just as my friend nearly made it to me.
Soaring high above the capital, twelve women on staffs rode on the breeze in the center of the valley. My gaze shot to the surrounding mountains as a dozen shadowy beasts stood tall and patient. My breath stuttered as I found three wyverns sitting on the nearest ridge.
“Shit!” the witch screeched as her gaze found the beasts waiting for us. She trailed the other witches flying in a circular pattern.
“You’re not going to be able to leave,” I said through a bloodied lip. “Not with me.”
“Shut up!” Her voice pitched. “They’ll be smart to let me pass with you on the back.”
The woman made wide circles near the cliffs to show the prize she’d captured. My eyes found Col’s, and I took in a long inhale urging my emotions to remain level when all I wanted to do was sob at the sight of him.
Breeze whipping through his unbound hair, his expressionremained stoic. Unsurprised. He kept his face plain as he tracked us with inky eyes.
Amalee sat at his side, Ralti shrieking at the witch as we passed. A riderless Dysis hissed in my direction, and I felt her threat deep within my belly; it was a promise I was certain she would keep.
As we made one last pass, a red streak of flame shot through the sky with a large beast flying behind it. Two dozen wyverns descended upon us all at once.
The woman's maneuvers were quicker than the beasts. She soared through the legs and under the beating wings of wyverns like she’d practiced the exact path to take in order to sneak past. Turning took the creatures longer than the women flying.
My faith in the rescue began to fade. If I were taken back to Oras, I’d be killed, and if I fought while in the air, I might fall to my death. But doing nothing wasn’t an option.
Ralti, Zalzre, and Dysis kept close as they all worked together to stay triangulated on my kidnapper. Dysis snapped her mouth at the witch as Amalee called out to me. But with the wind and twirling moves, I couldn’t make out a single word.
Athela’s brown hair floated in the breeze as she sat high on Vek’s neck. The beast scorched a witch only to catch the charred body in its mouth and shake her around like nothing but a blonde doll that had already lost its stuffing.
Dysis sped up and quickly clamped down on the staff behind me, her maw dripping with blood from the point stabbing into her. I turned to my creature, preparing to climb to her. but the witch dug her bladed nails into my thigh, shredding my flesh like a pair of shears.
“Sisters!” my abductor called out to the half-dozen women who’d yet to fall.
Two women sent staffs soaring through the air, striking my beast on either side. Dysis released the wood and shrieked in pain as she fell. A lump formed in my throat; her terror and painwere my own. I cried out as she spun toward the ground in a twirling nosedive.
Amalee pitched down—and though I hoped—I wasn’t certain she’d reach her in time. My beast realized the same as panic filled the both of us.
High-speed climbs and dives at that altitude, in combination with the severe injuries I acquired, took me to the verge of unconsciousness. I teetered on my seat and looked over the side at Ralti chasing Dysis. My body followed my gaze. There was nothing but blue sky as I toppled over and fell.
“Don’t think so!” The witch clawed into my wrist as her razor-like nails drove into my skin. My descent stopped the minute her nails anchored into the bone at my wrist, leaving me dangling.
“Audryn!” Col’s voice was loud enough I swore it passed next to my ear. My mind was playing tricks on me.
“You’re coming home with me,” the woman shouted as her super strength began drawing me up. “You belong to me.”
With stars pricking at the corners of my vision, I knew I had one last-ditch effort to make. “I belong tono one.” I clamped my teeth into the side of her bare abdomen and bit down with the last strength I had.
Darkness closed around me as the witch released her grip and soared away, leaving me to the mercy of the cool afternoon air.
20
COLGRAVE
“Get Micah!” I shouted as my sister dismounted onto an injured ankle.
Amalee and Ralti had taken the brunt of Dysis’s impact, but it wasn’t enough to leave any of them unscathed. Gritting through pain, she mounted Zalzre as Ralti and Dysis lay on their sides in the street. Dark sticky blood seeped from large gashes, Ralti looking the most injured of the two.
“Towels and hot water,” Sky shouted to a half-dozen gawkers as she assessed the two wyverns. “Get to the apothecary and tell them we need yarrow, garlic, and whatever else they have on hand!”
