Chapter 46
CHAPTER FORTY SIX
I n the blink of an eye, I shifted through space and appeared between Drake and Austyn, running across the roof tiles, chasing after Cassius as if I had fallen from the fire drake’s back too and hadn’t been left behind at all.
“Thank fuck,” Drake muttered as he spotted me, throwing me a dazzling grin before powering on after Cassius with the Dragon chasing after all of us as we ran. The monster’s gaze was only fixed on the ex-guard as he waved that glowing scale above his head, drawing all of her attention onto him.
Austyn glanced at me then drew in a sharp breath as she did a double take, her eyes sweeping over me from within the helmet which covered her face.
"Where did you-” she began but the dragon bellowed a roar and fire blasted from her mouth, setting the roof of the building that Cassius was charging across on fire and sending lumps of it crashing down onto the streets below.
“We can follow that way, right Kyra?” Drake called, pointing to the roof of a building adjacent to the one we were sprinting over, and I nodded.
“Yep. That way,” I agreed, magic flowing from my body and subtly creating a path ahead which hadn’t been there before, wooden planks appearing between gaps parting rooftops and making a route towards Cassius as he continued to lure the dragon after him.
Drake leapt from the roof onto the closest plank, running across it with practiced agility which spoke of the number of rooftops he had traversed like this when he was nothing but a street thief.
“Come on,” he called, looking back to us as Austyn hesitated, glancing down at the drop below.
“It’s easy,” I urged her. “Like chewing on nails.”
“What?” she asked with a frown, and I shrugged because my inner me was telling me that wasn’t easy at all, and I wasn’t certain what was.
“Like riding a fire drake?” I suggested and her frown deepened.
“You weren’t on that fire drake so how did you even catch up to us?” she asked suspiciously.
“Sure I was – I was just on the arse end, by the tail…underneath.” I cleared my throat as an internal groan sounded from within me and I blew out a breath, swiping at my brow with the back of my hand as if I’d also just survived that madness.
Wow, your acting skills are truly awful.
“Shut up,” I hissed at myself, pretending I couldn’t sense Austyn’s confusion.
“What did you just say?” she asked, and I balked, realising she thought I’d told her to shut up which probably wasn’t ideal.
“Look up,” I said, pointing and by luck, Azurea wheeled around above us with a tremendous roar as Austyn looked skyward.
“Run!” Drake bellowed and Austyn forgot all about her hesitation as she took off across the plank at a furious pace and I ran right on her heels, magic brimming within me and hunting for an outlet.
The dragon chased after Austyn instead of Cassius, roaring her fury as she blew out fire at our backs, the heat of the flames licking up my spine as she barely missed us.
“This way!” Cassius yelled from a rooftop to our left and Drake stopped to wait for us, ushering Austyn on ahead and meeting my gaze with concern in his dark eyes.
“Spear?” he asked, and I nodded, making one appear in his hands and pausing at his side as he raised the thing, aiming it at the dragon as she came for us once more, her eyes set beyond him while my magic still kept us invisible from her.
Drake threw the weapon as she swept overhead, the spear tearing through the dragon’s wing just as I caught sight of something sparkling from within a large fleshy pouch on her belly. Azurea howled in agony and wheeled aside as red blood sprayed the street below from the wound.
“Nice,” I commented, and he grinned.
“Damn right.” Drake jerked his chin in a command for me to chase after the others.
I did as I was told, running towards them and leaping onto the roof where Cassius and Austyn were taking cover behind a huge chimney stack, the two of us joining them behind it.
“You struck the beast?” Austyn asked Drake in shock. “With what?”
“I used a piece of broken wood as a spear,” Drake replied, lying so beautifully that she didn’t question it any further.
“But it won’t stop her for long. We need to lead her out of the city.
” He gave Cassius a pointed look and I realised the princess was stopping us from doing just that.
They didn’t want her to witness my power, so we couldn’t leave to summon the dragon away from here.
The look in Cassius’s eyes said there was no way he would abandon her here either.
“If only the oath breaker hadn’t been such a fucking fool,” Cassius ground out.
“Maybe they had a good reason to break their promise to her,” Drake said. “Maybe the dragon was a rude cunt.”
Cassius glared at him while Austyn snarled. “There can be no good reason for bringing this hell to my city. I’ll see the perpetrators hang for bringing this danger here,” she hissed, and I raised my chin, moving to place myself between her and Drake as I sensed the truth to that threat.
“Well, I guess it could all just be some misunderstanding,” Drake said. “Either way, I say we all focus on just leading her the hell out of here.”
“Agreed,” Cassius ground out and I relaxed as Drake gave me a reassuring look. “The north wall is the closest. Let’s try and get her out into the desert.”
“Or kill her before she causes any more carnage,” Austyn growled, nocking an arrow in her bow.
“Bloodthirsty suits you, princess,” Drake commented, and Cassius’s growl only deepened but he was already on his feet and leading the way on.
I broke into a sprint to catch up to him, the wind whipping through my hair and the thrill of this game bringing a wild smile to my lips. The sound of Azurea’s roar made the entire world tremble around us, and I knew she was hunting for us again.
The others chased us as we leapt from rooftop to rooftop, the dragon coming after us at speed, the wound in her wing magically healed already and her fury only seeming to have increased.
Eyes peered out at us from the houses below, fearful expressions watching our passage and cowering from the beast that hunted us while we aimed for the distant sands of the Lyrian Desert ahead.
“We aren’t going to make it,” Drake cursed, throwing a look back over his shoulder as the dragon gained on us.
“That’s the spirit,” I encouraged, and he shot me a frown.
I hate you.
“Mutual,” I muttered to myself.
A huge gap opened up ahead of us and I cursed as I realised the gap was far bigger than any that had come before now. The roof of The Temple of Saresh, the keeper of the sun and giver of life, shone in the moonlight as it beckoned us closer, the only option as Azurea closed in on us once more.
“We can make it!” Drake bellowed. “Don’t slow down.”
“Oh fuck,” Cassius cursed, spotting the huge gap between the roof we were on and the temple ahead of us, but as the dragon blasted fire at our backs, we were left with no choice but to jump.
I whooped excitedly as I leapt from the rooftop, spreading my arms wide and feeling the exhilarating sensation of the wind streaming through my hair as gravity relinquished its hold on me for several unending seconds before I began to descend.
It felt so freeing, so right, and I wanted to hold onto that feeling with all I was.
Drake’s fingers locked around mine as we free-fell towards the temple roof, and I sucked in a breath at the shocking sensation of him touching me.
My skin buzzed with a power I just managed to contain within my own flesh, stopping myself from hurting him with it as I focused on the way his skin felt against mine.
I was real.
He’d said the words and I’d felt them right down to the core of my being.
I was broken, fractured, twisted beyond repair and less than a shadow of the girl I couldn’t quite remember even being, but I was real.
And I felt it even more so as I soared through the sky, holding the hand of the man who had set me free from my eternal prison.
Drake released me as the roof of the temple loomed and he threw himself into a roll as he hit it.
I mimicked his movements, laughing as the golden painted tiles slammed into my flesh with punishing brutality, feeling every bit of the pain of my landing as it only served to prove my existence in this harsh world further.
I ended up flat on my back, grinning up at the stars as Cassius and Austyn rolled to a stop to my right and I watched as the enormous shadow of Azurea shifted across the moon above us, her head tilted down as fire glowed in her jaws.
“I will take all from this city until the oath breakers meet with my vengeance!” Her voice echoed through our skulls, and I breathed in deeply, tasting the smoke of her fire as it built and built.
“Osaria will never fall while I still draw breath!” Austyn cried in reply, pushing up onto one knee and raising her bow as she nocked a silver arrow and took aim.
A whisper of power shivered through the air as I looked at the princess of Osaria on her knees before a beast of the old gods, and I felt an unseen energy dancing all around us as if the gods themselves were stirring in recognition of this act.
Azurea roared, fire blossoming from her throat and I sucked in a sharp breath as Austyn roared right back at her, releasing her arrow with a deadly precision which made the energy surrounding us shift and grow, though no one but me seemed to take note of it.
My eyes remained glued to the passage of the arrow as it carved a path through the air, puncturing the crimson flames which billowed towards us and shooting straight through the centre of them towards the heart of the beast.
The world seemed to come to an utter standstill as the arrow pierced the dragon’s flesh, the cheers of an unseen crowd cracking through the air as Azurea’s flames guttered out and a cry of purest agony escaped the dragon’s lips.
“By the Fallen,” Drake breathed, his voice a soft touch upon my senses as we watched the dragon begin to fall from the sky, a cry of celebration going up as all those looking on from the relative safety of their homes watched the beast fall.
A sense of victory was thrumming through the air but at the same time, a pang of sadness tugged at my heart as I watched what was likely the very last of the immortal servants of the gods begin to topple from the sky, her great journey coming to an end in this place after a life that must have been so full of knowledge and adventure.
My eyes widened as I realised the monstrous creature was going to land right on top of us and Cassius yelled a warning as he took hold of Austyn’s arm and propelled her to her feet.
All four of us broke into a run, sprinting away across the golden roof of the enormous temple even as fate sent the dragon crashing down towards us at an unstoppable pace.
“Kyra!” Drake called, and I looked to him, expecting some command to save his life but finding nothing there aside from his concern, our gazes colliding barely a moment before Azurea crashed into the roof of the temple with the force of a comet falling from the sky.
Austyn screamed as she was knocked from the edge of the tiles, Cassius leaping right after her without a moment’s hesitation while Drake and I continued to try and outpace the crumbling rooftop as it fell apart beneath our feet.
“Tell me to save you!” I cried as I reached for Drake, desperation clawing at me as I felt the wings of fate thundering closer. He was mortal. So incredibly, fragilely, fleetingly, mortal. And I wasn’t sure if I was anything at all without him.
But before any words could pass his lips, the tiles beneath our feet fell away.
The only thing I heard amid the crashing of the building as half of the roof was torn apart, was the screaming of my own heart.
Everything I had just begun to believe in was falling away from me so fast that I was powerless to stop it.
It was real. I was real. If only it hadn’t been so brief.