“I’ve already told Fuil. She’ll protect Soleil,” Tairn says, angling toward the threat.
“Get us away from the crowd.” Power already sizzles beneath my skin.
A child stumbles on the dirt road, and my heart lurches as her father scoops her into his arms and continues to sprint.
Deigh passes, and I see him land out of the corner of my eye as I lift my arms and let my power rip free, focusing on the venin.
Lightning cracks. A section of the city wall crumbles.
Fuck.
“Keep going. Deigh says they need more time!” Tairn urges.
I make the mistake of turning in the saddle, noting that both Liam and Soleil are unseated, ushering the townspeople into the mine, while Deigh and Fuil guard separate sides of the evacuation path. If anything happens—if one of those wyvern circling the town decides to take notice—they’re vulnerable. But so are the people they’re protecting.
A trio of gryphons flies in, all three dangling townspeople from their talons, dropping them off at the entrance to the mine and looping back for another run.
Energy rips through me as I aim a bolt for the venin, this one shattering an outbuilding along the hillside to our right. Boards split and wood flies as it collapses.
The venin’s attention whips upward, and my stomach twists when she spots me. There’s pure malice in her red eyes as she reaches forward with her left hand, then flips it, fisting air.
Rocks tumble down the mountainside.
Soleil throws up her hands, stopping the slide before it can crush the people running into the mine below. Her arms shake, but the boulders fall on either side of the evacuation path, leaving the escape clear.
I whip back toward the venin and gasp.
Raw power is palpable in the air, lifting the hairs on my arms as the venin stands with her palms lowered to the ground. The grass around her turns brown, then the flowers of the wild clover bushes wilt and the leaves curl, losing all their color.
“Tairn, is she…”
“Channeling,” he growls.
I fling another flare of energy as the blight spreads outward from the venin, as though she’s draining the very essence of the land, but it hits too close to the road, and the straggler racing toward safety, for my comfort.
“Watch out. Deigh says that building on the other side of the road has a crate of something marked with Liam’s family crest,” Tairn tells me as I fire off another blast that lands nowhere near the venin. “He says it’s highly…unstable,” he finishes, pausing as he relays the information.
“Not worried about the building,” I reply as the circle of death expands under Tairn’s beating wings, and I draw more power from Tairn, poising to strike again.
Soleil charges toward the venin with Fuil on her heels, her dagger palmed and ready as the rest of the group of townspeople make it into the tunnel.
This is all worth it as long as they survive.
The wave of death pushes forward from the venin, flowing outward and catching up with the fleeing civilian in the middle of the road. He falls, then screams soundlessly, curling in on himself as his body becomes nothing but a husk of a shell.
Air freezes in my lungs and my heart stutters. The venin just…
“Soleil!” I yell, but it’s already too late. The third-year stumbles a few steps into the dead zone, her dragon reaching for her as they both buckle and fall, Fuil throwing up a cloud of dirt with her heavy impact.
They desiccate in a matter of seconds, their bodies shriveling. A vise clamps around my chest, and for a second, I can’t breathe. The venin has even more power now.
“Tell Deigh!” I look back over my shoulder to see Liam sprinting for Deigh. He needs time.
“Already done.” Tairn rolls left as a fireball churns up at us, the first of a volley that causes us to retreat across the road.
“We lost Soleil,” I tell Xaden.
The only acknowledgment is a wave of sorrow, and I know it’s his.
The gryphons take flight, their riders wielding what looks to be lesser magic at the venin as two wyvern approach, both riderless.
“Tell them to change tactics. They don’t stand a chance if they can’t get close to that venin,” I tell Tairn.
The gryphons change course, and I loose my power again, hitting closer to the venin. She glares up at me, then turns at the sound of flapping wings.
Garrick and the other marked third-years are coming. She’s outnumbered, and damn, I hope she knows it.
The gryphons team up, tearing into one of the approaching wyvern as Liam mounts and Deigh launches, escaping the spreading ring of death, but the other wyvern dips low, heading for the venin.
Right on course to pass by the outbuilding.
“You said that building has unstable material in it, right?” I ask.
“Yes.”
I can’t be sure I’ll hit it, but—
“Excellent idea.”
