Then I raise my axe with a guttural roar.
The Oracle’s eyes fly wide as my axe strikes toward the thread between us, but just when it would sever all three, they retract, vanishing. Even the one at her back disappears, and it’s unclear to me if they’ll return.
I don’t have time to think about it.
Now that the threads are gone, I’m ready for the consequences, the ice and fire that are about to rage toward me.
As fast as I can, I slip my axe into the harness at my back, sweep my now-free right arm around the Oracle, wrench her up against my chest, and then I’m running.
I’ve barely taken three steps when the explosion of ice and fire erupts around us.
Ember fire and Frost ice collide in an earth-shaking blast that threatens to strip the flesh off my back, no matter how fast I run from it.
My only escape is to the north. There are no buildings there, but it’s also where the Embers landed their serpents.
As I run, the Oracle wraps her arms around my chest and her legs around my hips, risking the safety of her limbs in the process, but she doesn’t have much choice.
She clings to me as I spin and let loose the two daggers I retrieved moments ago.
My power guides them in their flight, and each one strikes true.
One at Maxim’s chest. The other at Stellen’s throat.
Their reflexes are as fast as mine, their eyes no longer glazed. They pluck the iron blades from the air, their fists closing safely around the steel handles, right before the metal would have struck them, all while their powers clash against each other, neither defusing the other.
In the next heartbeat, their ice and flames hit the surrounding buildings, and the structures explode.
Shards of wood tear in all directions.
An object hits my back, piercing my right shoulder. I sense the impact through my armor and the instant flow of blood, but I can’t stop to discover what the object is or assess the extent of the damage. My arm still works, and that’s what matters.
Ahead of me, the golden serpents scatter, clearly panicked by the collision of power. Three of them shoot into the air, their riders’ shouts unintelligible as they’re wrenched upward.
One serpent remains on the ground, larger than the others, its scales a dark amber, its body crouched low to the ground, its tail thumping the rocks, and its focus on a point behind me.
It must be Maxim’s beast.
Several burned patches mar its scales. They aren’t fresh burns, appearing old and scarred over, the creature’s scales attempting regrowth. More evidence of the rumors that Maxim’s power burnsanything.
I lift my eyes to the sky as I continue to run.
All I care about right now is the red-eyed eagle swooping down to me through the chaos.
My roar when I wanted to cut through the Oracle’s threads wasn’t only a shout of anger.
It was also my call to him.
I’m conscious of three other eagles taking to the skyat the far corner of my vision. My sister’s bird is among them. A moment of fear rockets down my spine when spears of ice shoot into the air behind her and flames billow into her path.
I don’t have time to check if she’s okay.
My eagle is right above me.
Timing my movements, I use all of my strength to leap upward, lightly catch hold of his wing joint to guide my path above his wing, and land on his back, all while the Oracle clings to me, her head tucked against my neck, her body tense.
Maybe she fears I’ll throw her to the ground.
If there’s anything she shouldn’t fear, it’s that I would let her go.
