‘The stands are warded,’ the commentator booms as the crowd begins to shriek and scream, some scrambling from their seats. ‘The creatures will not harm you!’
‘Only us,’ says Sapira bitterly, blade in hand. ‘I should have forfeited; I should have left …’
‘It’s too late to think of that,’ Fey says, drawing herself up to her full height. ‘They’re pack monsters. They hunt for sport, and if we’re in a tight group, we’re more of a target. Spread out. Get into pairs. Sapira, come with me. Don’t try to bolt and forfeit, they’ll pick you off. Everyone, aim for the mouth, the eyes or the belly. The wings will burn, if you can somehow make fire.’ She flicks a look over us all. ‘It is my honour to fight beside you.’
Then she’s gone, Sapira chasing after her. I look to Kell, then back at the wyvern, now close enough for us to see the span of batlike wings, the mean eyes, the dark scales and vicious claws. ‘Sember? Heath? It’s your call. We can stick with you or split up like Fey said and try to draw some off.’
‘I can’t see how you’d have any control over drawing them away,’ Sember says. ‘We’re all pretty much done for.’
Kell opens his palm and pale flame ignites, curling upwards. ‘Surprise.’
Sember is quiet for a moment then laughs, a breathless, delighted sound. Then she pulls a coin from her pocket,flips it up, and into her hand lands a silver blade. She winks at him, holding two blades now, narrowed to deathly points. ‘Surprise, yourself.’
‘Nice,’ I say, nodding. And all those moments click into place. When Sember led us through that door in the side of the palace, she unlocked it as though by … magic. And it was. Her magic. The walls of the maze, the bronze sheer sheets of them, all metal. Of course she could open and close each door at will. She can manipulate metals. I smile, hope igniting in my chest, and jerk my chin at the twin blades she now holds. ‘Know how to use those?’
Heath rolls his shoulders, then twirls his sword in one hand, as if it weighs nothing. ‘In Skylan, we train from birth. Sember and I met in the military.’ He flashes me a wicked grin and I realise this prince has been holding out on us. He’s not affected or weak at all, as they both led us to believe. His eyes settle into a deadly stare and I know I’ve grossly underestimated them both. ‘First kill wins.’
I grin back, raising a hand to the sky. ‘You’re on, prince.’
Then as the first wave of three wyvern bear down on us, I dig deep inside myself. I don’t consider control, or how much it will take from me. I mould all I am, all the fury, the love, the burning need to live, to be free … and I call a storm towards me.
I call it down upon us all.
Thunder booms in the distance, answering my call.And Sember’s eyes widen, her head tilting towards me. ‘Did you … Is thatyou?’
‘Haven’t you heard? I’m dangerous. The ruling council want me dead. Either that, or to control me. Make me their weapon to wield,’ I say lightly.
‘It’s true, then,’ Sember breathes. ‘The ruling council intend to use you to make the Straits impassable. Now I understand.’
‘They call me Storm Bringer, but I am no one’s weapon. I intend to break themall.’
The sky darkens as clouds roll overhead. And as the rain begins to shower down, the first wyvern reaches the arena. Kell sets an arrow aflame, pulls it back and releases it. We hear the hideous shriek as it connects, exactly where he intended. Then the wyvern hits the ground, sprawling across the grass. One wing flutters, then falls still, an arrow sprouting from one eye.
Kell exhales softly, reaches for another arrow and nocks it against the bowstring. ‘I used to hunt the rabbits on Egan. They got too clever for traps, so I had to learn to use a bow and arrow. I believe I take the win, prince.’
Heath laughs, shaking his head as the other two wyvern beat a path around us, shrieking and hawking. ‘If you need a job after this, I could use a decent guard.’
‘It would be my honour,’ Kell says, then lights up a second arrow with pale flame from his palm, and lets it fly. It finds its mark, burying into a wyvern’s throat. The wyvern drops to the ground, already dead before it hits a small hill.
Heath doesn’t have time to reply as the third dives suddenly, claws reaching for him.
He ducks and rolls at the last minute, angling his sword up to nick the wyvern’s belly. It roars, flying upwards as the second wave begins to descend through the rain, the rest still hovering above, as though to draw out the spectacle of our deaths. Three more, bigger than the last, all splitting up to soar in a ring round the arena.
I steel myself, reaching towards the clouds and feel the first crackle of lightning, of the power I’ve been too afraid to unleash as a wyvern dives straight for us.
i hold my nerve asthe wyvern shoots like an arrow through the sky towards us. Kell dives to the side, crouching behind a hill as I plant my feet, staring it down. And, somehow, I know I can do this. I can unleash a storm of magic. I can bring lightning down on this creature of hate. I barely move, hardly breathe as it draws ever closer. When I can see its membranous wings, when I can smell the foul scent of its breath, I draw my hand into a fist. I call the storm to strike it.
Lightning forks from the clouds.
Piercing the wyvern.
It crashes to the ground in a wreck of smoke and crooked wings, smouldering in the spray of rain just a few feet from me. The charred scent of its wretched flesh fills my nose and I cough, breathing into my hand. Kell leaps up, awe widening his features as he releases a whoop.
I turn, victorious, the magic inside me, the side that is wholly siren fizzing in my blood. And my heart stops.The next two wyvern are circling Sapira and Fey. And they’re completely exposed.
‘Fey!’ I cry, already running across the arena, leaping hills and skidding across the soaking grass. They stand, shoulder to shoulder, blades in hand and the only sign of fear from either of them is the slight tremor in Sapira’s arms. I close the distance, barrelling towards them as the first wyvern dives.
A flame arrow streaks past me, released from Kell’s bow, but it doesn’t hit its mark. The wyvern extends its claws, reaching for Sapira as Fey throws her blade, straight into its wide, fanged mouth. Sapira rolls at the last minute, the wyvern falling between them, the blade buried in its throat, killing it instantly. I catch the glint in Fey’s eye as the wyvern twists and twitches on the ground, its reeking blood hissing over the grass. She is formidable. But there’s one more, readying to dive for them both.
