Tairn puts us into position, hovering about twenty feet aboveground as Liam flies for the gryphons above us, wielding spears of ice into the injured wyvern’s throat. Blood streams as the wyvern falls from the sky with an ear-piercing cry.
One down.
The venin reaches the road, and the wyvern skids to a landing on the dirt path so she can mount.
“Now!” I shout.
Tairn breathes in deep and exhales pure fire as the wyvern takes off, sending the outbuilding up in a blaze that ignites whatever is within. Heat rushes my face, singeing my cheek as the building explodes, engulfing everything around it.
The firestorm nearly catches us, but Tairn banks left, narrowly missing the blast.
I shout, throwing up my fist as we circle back, the wind easing the sting in my cheek. We have one wyvern down, a good share of the townspeople evacuated, and there’s no way anything survived that blast.
Tairn dips his right wing low and we turn sharply, getting set up to make another run through town. I glance to the right and gasp. Not only did that blast not kill the wyvern, but its rider is alive and well, too, flying toward—
Shit. Shit. Shit.
There are more wyvern than dragons exiting the valley to the south, and I’m trying hard not to panic when blazing-hot blue fire streams past us. I pivot in the saddle and see a wyvern on our tail, approaching frighteningly fast as we circle the post walls.
“Any idea how to kill that many wyvern?” I ask Tairn, panic sitting on my chest like an anchor that threatens to pull me under into the chaos of my thoughts.
There are at least six wyvern, from what I can see, all with terrifying wingspans and sharp teeth, and they’re heading straight for us.
“The same methods that can kill us,” Tairn says, leading the wyvern away from the post’s center, where Garrick and Bodhi are both on foot, chasing down the venin from the clock tower, daggers in hand.
“I don’t exactly have a cross-bolt handy!”
“No, but you do have lightning, and a bolt of that will stop any dragon’s heart.”
“Tell me you warned the others how Soleil and Fuil died.” Everyone touching the ground is vulnerable.
“They all know what they risk.”
Gods, there are still kids down there, some screaming, others heartbreakingly silent as their mothers drag their dead bodies from the streets.
There are no words.
“We need to draw them away from the city,” I tell Xaden, turning back in the saddle as far as the bands across my thighs will let me to get a better vantage point of the airspace and the wyvern, some of which seemed to have slowed in order to circle the remains of the clock tower.
“Whatever they want must be there,” Tairn says.
“Agreed on both counts. Do what you can to give the rest time to evacuate,” Xaden responds. “We’re clearing the edge of town now.” He pauses, and a ripple of worry pushes through our emotional barrier. “Try not to die.”
“Working on it.”
A wyvern dives only to climb again with a human leg hanging from between its teeth.
We circle back, then head south through the trading post, away from the city’s center and whatever Bodhi and Garrick are doing. “They’re not following,” Tairn grunts. “We’ll need to draw them out.”
“That venin didn’t seem to like when I wielded lightning.”
“You’re a threat.”
“So let’s get their attention and threaten.”
He growls in approval.
I open the floodgates of Tairn’s power, letting it roil and billow beneath my skin.
As soon as we’re outside the walls, I throw my hands up and let it burst free.
Lightning streaks the sky, earning us the notice of the horde of wyvern, one of which peels off its flight pattern and soars in our direction, its poison-barbed tails flicking behind it.
Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.
“We’re committed now,” Tairn reminds me.
Right.
They’re finally outside the city walls.
I summon more power and wield, my arms trembling with the effort to control the deluge of raw energy. Lightning strikes once, missing the wyvern by more than I’d like to admit. Dread fills my mouth with the taste of ash. I’m not ready for this.
“Try again.”
“I don’t have enough control—”
“Try again!” Tairn demands.
