Landing in a clear patch of ash, my boots finally hit the ground for the first time since Asha and I took to the air.
I sprint toward the city wall, away from Graviter Rex as fast as I can.
My father’s sword is safely sheathed at my back, but I no longer have a bow and arrows. I used up all of my arrows fighting the flying creatures in the sky, after which I snapped the bow in half and used the broken pieces of wood like daggers.
An upward glance tells me that the other dragons and their riders are making short work of the flying creatures that remain in the sky.
None of those dragons are breathing fire, but they don’t seem to need it. Within seconds, they plow through the swarm of beasts, sending monstrous bodies falling to the ground.
The dragon flying at their head has crimson-red scales, eerily similar to the color of the clouds, which camouflages it against the sky. It’s especially difficult to make it out since I still have bright spots in my vision from Thaden’s magic, but its rider?—
Damn!
My eyes widen as the female silhouette riding that dragon jumps up from her seat, leaps off her dragon and out into the air, and slices through the body of a nearby beast with a weapon that I can’t quite make out—Is it a sword?—before her crimson dragon safely catches her.
Seconds later, she does it again, executing a fearless display of life-threatening attacks that send monsters falling to the ground.
My eyes narrow.
She can’t be human.
But I don’t waste any more time studying her because Graviter’s roars continue behind me, along with his thudding footfalls.
He’s coming after me, as I expected he would.
Blackbird has soared ahead of me, nearly reaching the city wall, and is circling back, his frightened eyes seeking me acrossthe distance. But then his focus flies past me to the dragon coming after me, and he veers away again.
Blackbird is right to keep his distance.
Graviter can’t see past his own rage right now. The fact that he came close to burning Asha to death is evidence of that.
My arms and legs pump as I race toward the stone wolf that rests on its haunches in front of the city. If I can reach it in the next few moments, I’ll have time to jump all the way to its head, where I can call Blackbird to me. He can circle behind the monolith, protected from the dragon’s attack for the few seconds it will take me to leap onto his back.
We can fly away from here, and I can find Asha.
Above me, the sky has remained dark. The flying creatures may be nearly completely annihilated, but soft flickers of lightning remain, and the scent of blood is strong in the air.
This land…
Something has changed.
I don’t have time to figure it out.
The stone wolf is still fifty paces away. The last time I took shelter in front of it, I was more badly injured than I am now.
Ever since Asha removed the device from my heart and made me whole, my ability to heal my physical wounds has increased exponentially.
I can feel my skin knitting together across my thighs and arms and chest, but even so, it seems it’s impossible to outrun a dragon of Graviter’s strength and speed.
His paw swipes across the air, and I’m forced to duck and roll to avoid it, coming up in a crouch to face him head-on, prepared to use my claws again if I have to.
He rages at me, his roar so loud that it hurts my ears. “You protected Thaden Kane Ironmeld!”
But at least he hasn’t taken another swipe at me, his front paws digging into the ash and his talons clawing the ground.
No matter how loudly I shout back at him, I can’t compete with the volume of his voice, but I take a deep breath and shout all the same. “Fuck Thaden Kane! And fuck you, dragon king! I protected the woman I love!”
“The woman you—” Graviter jolts back from me, his forehead suddenly creasing, his scales rippling with the change in his facial expression. “The woman?—”
