When I turn to him, his concentration hasn’t wavered, his focus remaining on his symbols, but still, he speaks to me.
“Graviter Rex doesn’t see you right now, Asha,” Thaden says. “He doesn’t see Tamra, either. All he sees is me.”
Another symbol forms in the air, even more intricate than the one before.
“This is the last one we need,” he murmurs, but he’s still crafting it, and the beads of sweat on his brow tell me he needs heartbeats longer than he’s going to get.
Tamra throws her arms around his waist, her face upturned to his, her chest rising and falling with her rapid inhalations.
Graviter Rex is only two hundred paces away and closing fast.
I have a choice.
I can grab Tamra and pull her away from Thaden. I can force her to save herself. After all, Graviter wants Thaden dead, not her. She is simply collateral damage.
But I can’t shake the Valkyrie’s plea.
“Protect him.”
I cast a downward glance at my hammer, this powerful conduit that refuses to kill.
Death is final.
Life… well… it carries hope.
I exhale my doubts and fix my resolution in my mind. Then I adjust my grip on my hammer and prepare to jump—this timeatGraviter Rex.
I may not be able to hurt him, and I certainly can’t and won’t kill him with this hammer, but I sure as fuck can whack him across the side of his head and force him to change course.
I can make him miss his mark.
But I will need to time it perfectly. If I jump too soon, I’ll miss his head and fall into his flames.
If I leap too late, well, I might jump clear of the flames, but I won’t save my sister.
The heat is unbearable now. The wall of fire raging toward us, tearing up the ashen ground and flooding it with lava, is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced or even imagined.
But still, I stand my ground, counting down the final heartbeats as the distance between me and Graviter closes.
Now.
My muscles bunch, and I prepare to jump.
Just then, a flying creature hurtles in from my right.
Blackbird!
He soars over Graviter’s head, and from his back, Erik leaps.
Erik’s black claws are fully extended, and he’s shouting, but I can’t hear what he’s saying above the roar of Graviter’s flames.
In that instant, I take in the way he’s covered in blood, the tears in his clothing, the fact that he’s badly wounded, the gashes across his chest and arms and legs.
Despite that, the ferocity of his attack stops my heart.
I may not be able to kill a dragon, but Erik can.
His claws can cut through anything.
