I spare Nyx a quick glance and if it's even possible, he appears to be lounging. Is he asleep? There's no way he's not experiencing a bout of motion sickness or freezing from the extreme cold.
Before Thrane notices Nyx sleeping, I flick a tiny ball of light at him. It slaps him across his face. I suppress a chuckle when he jerks forward, ready to fight whoever struck him. He manages to keep ahold of his seat despite his thrashing. I would have felt awful if I initiated him plummeting toward the ground thousands of feet below us.
Nyx flashes me the grumpiest look.
The wind has picked up and icicles strike my cheeks with needlepoint precision. He won't hear verbal commands this far apart, so I motion downward and point toward Thrane leading our pack. And just for good measure, for him to remember our bet, I pretend to drink a stein of beer and smirk.
Message received.
Nyx's body goes taut and he leans forward, giving into the decline toward the jagged mountaintops.
It's no wonder mortals don't traverse this far north. Brutal would be a grave understatement. My bones feel as if they'll snap in half and my joints ache so badly I fear I won't be able to dismount Seraxes without risking injury.
I watch as Artax approaches our landing position and before the dragon's feet come close to touching down, Thrane slides down his side. His boots sink into the snow and Artax flies to aneighboring mountain. The plateau isn't large enough for all of us to coexist comfortably so the dragons will be nearby when we need them.
My mother and Corvex follow suit with Kamari and Syrinx right behind them. I turn to look at Nyx and give him a little wave as Seraxes zooms past him with little effort. Drexel flaps his wings faster, but Seraxes takes a commanding lead, asserting her dominance. She might be small, but she's quick.
I praise her efforts and promise her spoils for our victory the moment we reach Tronovia before I slide down her side and fall into the deep snow.
Thrane offers me a hand, pulling me to my feet and ushers me out of Nyx and Drexel's path. The snow nearly reaches my knees, though it's only up to Thrane's calves. Hell, just when I thought it couldn't be any colder, I'm proven wrong.
Rejoining the others, I take a moment to gaze at the view. The sun is high in the sky and the thick coats of snow across the endless mountain range twinkles in the sunlight. Gusts of wind nearly knock me off my feet once or twice, so I dig my heels into the ground and bend my knees to steady myself. The last thing I want is to fall off the side of the mountain. I have faith Seraxes would dive to catch me before I met my grisly end, but I don't want to test that theory. Or her patience.
Nyx is the last to land, but in contrast to me, he lands effortlessly in the snow. I'm covered in it from my fall. He walks over and brushes snow off my shoulders and picks it from the indentures of my helmet. He smiles.
"Having fun playing in the snow, Kitarni?"
"I'm having a great time," I grin through chattering teeth. "Can't wait for you to buy me that stein fromPrue's."
He laughs and bows. "I admit defeat. I knew Seraxes was fast. I didn't realize how fast. She'll be lethal in battle."
My stomach drops. The idea of Seraxes and I flying into battle together is always in the back of my mind, but then all the tales of how other dragons and their riders died during war flood me. Seraxes is indeed quick, but the fear something else might be faster grips my heart and squeezes.
I shake those thoughts free. We will just have to be better. That's all there is to it.
"Welcome to the Northern Crest," my mother's voice rings out as she stomps through the snow toward me. "Now to find what remains of the portal to Orabelle."
There's hope in her eyes and I will do whatever I can not to shatter her belief that maybe the portal can be reforged.
"What are we waiting for?" I smile.
Although it's been years since Sylvane has seen the portal, she marches with sure steps toward a clearing further inland. I'm hot on her heels, praying we can discover just a shred of evidence the portal was once here. She stops abruptly and I slam into her back, quickly side-stepping when she doesn't react and stare in the direction she is.
There are smooth stones scattered around the ground. I would assume they were ruins from a building, but there aren't nearly enough for anything to have been built. However, they could have been used as an archway nestling the glass of the portal.
I slide by my mother and kneel next to the rocks and scrape the snow off. These were definitely carved and purposely placed.
"This is where it used to be," Sylvane says softly behind me.
I shoot her a glance over my shoulder.
"Your father destroyed it from his side."
Meaning there might not be any pieces left to replicate the glass. When my father destroyed the portal to Malvolio, he did so from our side so the shattered pieces could be gathered and meticulously reforged.
Shit.
As much as I hate to admit it, there might not be a way to open this portal. But I won't lose faith quite yet. If for nothing more than my mother's benefit.
