I barely tightened my grip in time before it dropped lower through the air.
Twobble cursed under his breath as the tower rushed toward us.
“Please tell me this thing knows what it’s doing.”
“It always has so far,” I shouted over the wind.
The broom slowed abruptly near one of the balconies.
The balcony doors stood partly open, but darkness stretched into the room behind.
The broom hovered closer.
Below us, another explosion shook the compound so hard that dust burst from sections of the upper walls. Orc battle horns answered from the western ridge while wolves surged through the broken eastern entrance.
The assault was forcing the Priestess inward.
Exactly where she wanted us.
That realization settled heavily in my chest.
“She’s drawing everyone toward the center,” I murmured.
Twobble went still behind me.
The compound groaned again beneath us, deeper this time, and the blue fire burning through the upper windows flickered violently.
Then something moved above us.
A massive shape swept across the tower tops so quickly that I only caught glimpses of feathers and claws before it vanished back into the darkness overhead.
The scream that followed rattled through the compound hard enough that witches throughout the skies scattered instinctively.
Another shape burst from behind the central tower.
The creatures looked wrong in a way that made my eyes struggle to focus fully on them. Wings stretched too wide across the sky while black feathers drifted downward in slow spirals around bodies that seemed half-shadow and half-bone.
One dove sharply toward the courtyard below.
A witch barely avoided it in time as claws scraped across the stone hard enough to leave deep gouges in its path.
The creature rose again immediately, circling back through the air with glowing white eyes fixed upward toward us.
Toward the pendant.
My stomach dropped.
It shrieked once more and lunged.
I pulled the broom sharply sideways, wind tearing through my hair as the creature swept past close enough that its claws ripped through the edge of my sleeve.
Twobble shouted behind me as the broom spun hard near the tower.
The creature circled back instantly, but faster this time.
The pendant burned hot against my chest as something silver-gray exploded upward from below.
Keegan hit the creature midair with enough force to drive both of them straight into the side of the northern tower. Stone cracked beneath the impact while black feathers burst outward around them.
