I will, I say.Thank you for being the sisters I needed.
Then with a call to hunt, the sirens vanish in a flash of claw and scales, leaving me with the storm in my heart and above, in my world. Leaving me with the knowledge that I alone must end this.
That I am the storm that rights the world.
brielle watches, powerless to stopTanith’s fall from the sky. Her own drake streaks after Tanith, Brielle clinging on as the force of the dive loosens her from the drake’s back, snatching her breath away. She grips the reins, each inevitable thump of her heart charting Tanith’s end. Tanith collides with the earth north of the main town, flattening a deserted field. The air whomps in her ears as Brielle’s drake slows her descent, wings braced and pumping the air as she hovers, readying to set down beside her. Brielle leaps off as soon as the ground is close enough, rolling to spring to her feet, already running before her drake lands.
The battle of the sea, the storm localised over the armada, slips away as Brielle takes in the bleeding mass of Tanith’s flank. She stutters at the horror wrought by the wyverns’ raking claws and … worse … she’s still alive. Feeling every moment of this agony.
‘No …’ Brielle breathes, sinking to her knees beside Tanith’s jaws. Tanith’s eyes roll back as she huffs steamthrough her nose, then they close. The drake that carried Brielle moves closer, inspecting the length of her body, huffing, before a mournful rumble emanates from her throat. She hunkers down beside Tanith, and Brielle wipes a tear from her eye. The mournful cry from her drake sounds melodious, as though her drake is singing a death song.
A shadow ripples across the field and Nova streaks over the grass then Eli steps out of it, Joby releasing his hand as soon as they’re through. He runs for Tanith, sprinting across the field as Eli strides forward, trailing shadow in his wake. Brielle looks at them both, assessing them quickly. Injured from the skirmishes on the sea, but still in fighting shape. Not yet defeated. But this … this could end Joby. Brielle can see it in his eyes. The terror of loss, the shock of a love ripped away too soon, before they’ve had a real chance to explore it. She shifts back, moving to stand and give him space as Eli stops beside her.
‘Her wounds …’ he says quietly.
‘Too extensive to heal,’ Brielle replies. ‘In her drake form. She does not have long.’
Eli pulls in a haggard breath, running a bloodied hand down his face. ‘A great loss.’
Joby moves closer, placing a hand on the corner of Tanith’s jaw, bowing his head over her. Brielle’s heart breaks for him as his shoulders begin to shake. Two more drakes set down behind her and she turns, finding Dreska being lowered to the ground, bow still gripped in her fist, then Inesh, refusing help, leaping down fromthe drake’s back as Brielle did, hair unbound and wild all around her.
A hunter born, that one.
Brielle looks down to see Nova at her feet. ‘Indeed. If she sees the end of this battle, if I do, I will train her. Dreska as well – she has the same fierce spirit.’
It’s not like you to consider failure, Brielle, Nova says.I’m here to collect them. Lowri needs them both. She needs three to complete her work on the wards.
‘Take them,’ Brielle says. ‘Lor is well?’
Nova blinks.She has the blood of Tanith as her catalyst. My witch is power incarnate.
Brielle releases a steady breath. ‘Good. I’ve – I’ve missed her.’
And she you. Survive to see each other in the flesh, Hunter.
Then Nova stalks to Inesh and Dreska, whipping round their ankles. Brielle nods to them, whispering the witch words to send them to the castle, and they all vanish in pockets of light.
‘Is there any hope for Tanith?’ Eli asks, turning solemnly to Brielle.
She regards him, the clear signs of battle, the worry pinching his features, his eyes, troubled and deep, too old for such a young face. The weight of this too, this moment, this death … Is there a way to save Tanith? If only Tanith was in her human form, then perhaps, just maybe.
‘Can Joby coax her to become human, as he once did before?’ she asks. ‘There are still tales among the drakeriders of what he did, how she transformed for him. Their story has become legend in the Spines. If she can transform again, despite not remembering him, despite her wounds, then there could be a chance for her. I can traverse with her to the castle and work on healing her.’
Eli is quiet for a moment, contemplative. ‘Sometimes, it is not the memories that bind us together. It is when two souls call to one another across time and space, across lifetimes. It is beyond memory, beyond our understanding. It’s when two souls are cleaved into one.’
Brielle’s breath catches and she nods. ‘Let us hope you are right.’
Eli goes to Joby, placing a hand on his shoulder, and speaks quietly to him. Joby’s shoulders relax and he grasps Eli’s arm before Eli steps away, allowing him the space.
‘He’s going to try,’ Eli says as he comes back and stands next to Brielle. ‘He’s going to talk to her as he did when they first met, when he freed her. He’s going to lead her back. To see if there’s a way they can find that bond again.’
Joby sits by Tanith’s side, turned towards her, and begins talking to her, weaving the tale of the first time they met, in the Spines. Brielle dashes another tear from the corner of her eye and looks to the sky, then the sea. The drakes are still chasing the wyvern, witches firing arrows and crossbows at their eyes. But there are so many in this swarm, and already the drakes are weakening from their constant harrying. A wyvern is hit, falling from the clouds, and lands in the sea,slopping a wave that topples a small merchant vessel in the enemy’s fleet. Brielle shapes a fist, but the victory is short-lived. Five wyvern form a dive formation then swoop for one of Eli’s ships, their claws raking at the deck, bodies falling into the water. Eli stiffens, the shadows around him intensifying.
‘Hunter, I must go. My fleet, my crews …’
Brielle nods. ‘Leave this with me.’
Eli turns to her. ‘The Tresillian witches have never been as strong as now. May your magic stay true.’
