“You must leave. Now,” she said. “Quickly. Go from this place.”
An icy fist squeezed my lungs. “What? Why? Won’t you help us?”
“Child, I cannot help you because if the primordial evil has wrested control of Iblees, then I and mine are at risk of becoming his minions, and you…You are at risk of becoming nagrata food.”
Her words sent a spike of panic through me, but I pushed it aside. “He doesn’t know about you. At least, I don’t think he does.”
“But if we come with you into battle, hewillfind out, and he will take us from you. We took an oath to fly in Iblees’s name. His enemy is our enemy, and we have loaned our wings to thedevouring force in his name. But if he is compromised, then so are we. Go now, before…” She trailed off, a crimson sheen passing over her violet eye. “No…He sees us. He calls on us.”
Icy fingers gripped my nape. “What?”
She growled and shook her head, dispelling the red sheen. “Go…I will hold back my children for as long as I am able. Live and free us all. Now. Go!”
C’ael grabbed my arm. “Hurry.” He drew me in front of him, onto the steps above, and followed as I climbed.
The chasm rumbled with the sound of awakening nagrata. The click and scrape of scales on scales was loud as they unfurled their epic bodies. Below us, Ganjani growled and shook her head, fighting the control of the primordial evil.
How had he found us? How could he know?
The shimmer in the corner of my eye when we’d been flying here, then again once we landed…ankh.
Shit. The primordial evil had ankh in his control.
We made it to the top of the stairs and ran into the tunnel where the others waited.
“What’s happening?” Yudh demanded.
I didn’t stop, yelling as I ran past. “Run! The primordial evil has control of the nagrata!”
Bootfalls echoed mine, running out into the gray light of day.
I beelined for Raja, pulling my scarf from my waist and wrapping it around my face as I went.
The chaysavar let out a sound that was somewhere between a snarl and a whinny, stomping his hooves as if to hurry us along. Kalani reached him first, hauling herself up then throwing an arm out for me. I grabbed her wrist and swung up behind her.
Yudh and Dhoona were already mounted.
“I’ll find you,” C’ael said. “Go!”
Raja ran for the edge of the platform, wings flaring, and the next moment, we were airborne, rising toward the blizzard.
A terrifying screech tore open the air behind us as nagrata burst from the aerie. Four massive beasts, two with black scales and two with green. The green ones were slightly smaller than the black ones. Their eyes gleamed red—a clear sign of the primordial evil’s control.
“How the fuck did this happen?” Kalani yelled.
“The ankh.”
“We have to shake them off.”
The nagrata shrieked, the sound filled with impotent rage.
“We’ll try to lead them away!” Yudh yelled.
The brothers peeled off in opposite directions, and the green dragons split from the group of four, one on each of their tails. But the two huge black ones stayed on us.
The blizzard dropped over us, the wind howling and dragging its icy talons across my cheekbones. My vision blurred, ice crystallizing on my lashes. The world around us whited out, the elemental sounds muffled. We flew through rocky terrain with zero visibility. How the fuck was Raja able to see through this?
My question was answered when he let out a godawful screech, body jolting so hard it almost knocked Kalani and me off his back. He twisted midair, legs coming up as he tried to avoid the rocky ledge that he’d impacted with.
