25. Desperation
Iraced down the last four stairs to Corvin and crouched beside him, not even watching as the portal came to life once more. "Corvin? Corvin!"
I jammed my fingers against his throat. No pulse greeted me. Not even a thready one. His skin was like ice.
Tagger squeaked and cried, thrusting his face against Corvin's.
All I wanted to do was lay down and sob. To curl up on his body and mourn for what might have been. My body ached. Everything was cold. The darkness intensified, suffocating and powerful.
The doors shook and grated, the steady slamming on the door and foul curses sworn with each blow.
The portal continued to form.
Sunlight poured through the portal, mixing with the pale-blue of the runes and the orb. A golden afternoon in a birch forest in the mountains. Birdsong reached me through the hum of the portal over the grunting and shouting of the warriors fighting their way through the door.
Then it flickered.
Wait.
Was this one not stable either? What if Mama was wrong?
I set my jaw.
It didn't matter. This was our one way out. As long as Corvin, Tagger, and I went through together, we'd go to the same place.
There was no way in the abyss or the expanse that I'd leave Corvin behind. Not even if he really was dead.
I stooped down, grabbed his arm, and dragged him up. "Come on. Tagger. We're getting out of this place."
Tagger squeaked faster, his high-pitched voice frantic as he raced around me. He hopped on Corvin and nudged him, then ran up the stairs and looked at me.
Corvin's body sagged against the stairs. I dragged him up, focusing on each step, grunting as we moved toward the portal.
With a deafening crack, the doors finally splintered open. Lishen and his three warriors forced their way in.
Lishen's eyes glowed as he pointed at me. "Halt, whore!" Black Claws and two others shoved in behind him. They had their swords and daggers drawn. As if they couldn't tear me apart with their claws and teeth.
"Tagger, come on," I gasped.
Almost there!
Tagger hopped up on to Corvin's chest, squeaking.
Something sharp clipped my shoulder and stung like a hornet. I startled.
What? How?
A dart stuck in my shoulder.
Oh. Oh, salt's bane!
The edges of my vision fuzzed. Heat burned through my arm.
I staggered forward, wincing under Corvin's weight as I glanced back.
More warriors poured into the room. One stood on the far side of the room, readying another dart. The other had reached the base of the stairs. Lishen and Black Claws were halfway up the stairs, thundering toward me, eyes blazing.
No!
I lunged forward as best I could, pulling Corvin with me. The portal crackled and flared around us.
My foot caught on the ledge. Tagger and Corvin fell out along with me. We struck the stone platform and rolled. The dart twisted in my arm.
The ground fell away. Plants and branches along the side of the platform and stairs struck my face as we rolled down.
Hackles bristling, Tagger leaped.
We crashed, rolled, and slid down the staircase. Corvin slid away from me. My hand grabbed for his arm. My fingers raked over his throat.
Did I feel a pulse?
His body slipped to the side.
No, please, wait!
I couldn't hold on to him.
Couldn't even scream as I skidded down the stone. Blood filled my mouth. The edges of the stairs scraped and gashed my legs and arms. The world tumbled around me. Somehow I clutched something. My bloodied fingers raked over the surface.
Something seized me by the back of the head, digging into my scalp. It hauled me up, bending me back.
I screamed in pain.
Black Claws stood over me. He'd come through the portal. But where were the rest? Was he alone? Had it closed in time?
I clawed at him and struggled to break free. "Your reward, you human whore," he snarled, lifting his hand. A blade flashed. "Did you really think you could escape?"
My breath caught. I lifted my arm to grab his wrist. He moved to slash at my throat.
A blur of dark fur sprang onto his face, knocking him back as the blade nicked the side of my neck. Tagger bit down on the bridge of his nose, his eyes blazing.
Black Claws screamed. My hand remained wrapped around his wrist, and I wrenched the dagger back away from him, then fell back, unable to close my fingers around the handle. The edges of my vision got fuzzier.
Black Claws released it and grabbed at the furious otter, but Tagger had latched on, his claws digging into the sides of the fae's face as he gnawed and shrieked.
Black Claws staggered back, teetering on the edge.
I shoved myself up, put out my arm, and struck my shoulder to show the otter where to go. "Tagger!"
Tagger leaped like a cat and landed squarely on my shoulder as I struck Black Claws and shoved him off the edge of the staircase. Black Claws crashed over the edge with a rage-filled shriek.
Staggering back, I started to turn, my chest heaving.
An arm slammed me into the wall.
Tagger fell off as well with an angry squeak.
I barely drew in a breath before my attacker struck me. The rough metal of his bracers cut into my chest and against my throat.
Lishen!
Pure hatred burned in his eyes. A sneer twisted his face. Then he struck me in the chest, the blade cutting deep before he ripped it back. Behind him came the other warriors, pouring out of the portal.
All the wind was driven from my lungs. I couldn't even scream. All I managed was a wheezing gasp.
"What did you do to her?" a deep, familiar voice raged from above.
Corvin? It sounded like him and yet not. As if he had changed and gotten higher than us. I tried to twist my head around to see him. Pain sliced through me, then dulled as I faded. My blood pounded in my ears. Lishen shoved me against the wall again, his fist wrapped in my bloodied dress.
Heat blossomed in my chest.
I was far away now.
So far away.
Blood filled my mouth, but even its taste faded.
Shadows pulled at my vision, and Lishen filled my sight.
Lishen snarled at him. "She's already dead, flesh scraps. What?—"
A massive reptilian roar followed along with the infuriated, lecturing squeaks of an otter.
A dragon? That was a dragon. A dragon with an otter?
Lishen's eyes widened, his nostrils flaring as every muscle in his body tensed.
He dropped me to the staircase and reached down for his sword.
But it was too late.
A black-feathered dragon lunged onto him, thunderous in response as he reached for his sword. Feathers and scales and a hooked black beak and glittering green eyes.
I stared.
That—he—Corvin was a raven dragon.
I watched through hazy vision as he attacked, his claws raking over Lishen's chest and sending him sailing. The other two fae attacked, their blades slicing at his feathers. The feathers fell away, catching the sunlight with iridescent radiance.
He dispatched them with equal ease. One by one, each one fell. Some torn apart, others flung.
I slumped down against the stone. The world was fading too fast.
And I was tired.
So tired.
He didn't know about the poisoned dart.
I couldn't even speak. Could barely breathe.
And…I hated this.
But not as much as I might have.
This was where it would end.
Once more, I had no voice.
But the sun was on my face, warm and golden.
I could—I could see him.
He was flying. And he was glorious.
And we weren't going to die in that wretched cave.
What was it he had said about falling asleep? That's what this felt like.
He spread his wings as he tossed another of our attackers off the cliff. The hints of green and yellow in the feathers were only afterthoughts of color, similar to the iridescent traces of color on a grackle or a starling.
Then he spun in the air, and his gaze fell on me once more. His bright-green eyes widened.
He saw me. "Mena!"
Darkness misted my vision, leaving only those bright-green eyes burning.
Tired. Heavy.
My eyelids slid shut.