Chapter 36 - Cammon
Cammon
XXXVI
I quickly outpaced Glory and pulled her after me, but it didn’t take long to accept there would be no outrunning these creatures. There were too many and we were fresh meat in a region where they’d obviously wiped out their resources. There was no way they would let us escape.
I gauged the distance back to the tunnel, but the entrance was already blocked by three lurking figures. It wouldn’t have been much of an option anyway. We knew they could fit through the opening.
The only advantage we had going for us was that they couldn’t fly.
I shrugged off my pack and the leather vest and shoved them into Glory’s arms, then bared my wings.
A snapping maw caught a few feathers between its sharp teeth, and I leapt to my left, not having realized one of the drakes had gotten so close.
Scooping Glory into my hold, I launched into the air.
Our packs were lighter this time than they had been during our flight over the waterfall, but the weight was still more than I was used to—more than I was capable of carrying for any extended period.
The drakes screamed their frustration, and I crowed in triumph as I aimed for the treetops.
We just had to make it far enough that we were no longer an easy snack and the drakes would return to their mountain.
Glory wrapped one arm around my neck and kept the other tight around my pack. Her heart raced against mine, and her elation was an unexpected dessert after the heaviness of her fear in the tunnel.
Then it pivoted to a terror so sharp it stabbed the back of my throat.
“Holy mother of—Olodin’s piss!” she cried out.
I followed the line of her attention and cursed as a great shadow blocked out the sun. The scream that echoed over the mountain was so much louder, so much more piercing, yet so much deeper than those of the drakes.
One of the dragons had woken, had spotted us, had flagged us as its midday meal. Being in the air wouldn’t help us here—it would make us an easy fucking target.
“Hold on!”
I tightened my grip on Glory and circled back down, doing my best to evade the drakes that were fleeing out of range of the fiercer beast. I landed not far from the worn trail, as close as I could get to the trees while not losing my grip on Glory or knocking my wings off balance by crashing through the trunks.
The dragon screamed again, and I spread my wings across my back and over my head, drawing on the full breadth of my demonic nature.
My skin grew thick, my horns pierced my scalp, and my tail erupted through the waistband of my breeches.
A breath of fire swept through the air, so much hotter than the paltry attack Tersey had created for his amusement, and I curled myself tighter around Glory to cover her from the flames.
They crackled over my feathers and tickled my skin, and the world went dark as the dragon flew over us.
“We need to run,” I said, my voice rumbling with exertion and demonic energy. “Fast as we can, okay?”
“I don’t know if—My legs—”
“Come on, Buttons, you can do this. Do you trust me?”
She met my eye, fear oozing from her pores. “I do.”
The speed with which she said it, such a changed answer from the one she’d given the first time I’d asked, squeezed my chest. “Then trust I won’t let you fall behind.”
She nodded, and we were moving, her hand tight in mine.
I was just shy of dragging her behind me as I sprinted down the trail into the shade of the trees.
We heard the dragon circling, coming back around to make another attempt at cooking its dinner, but I wasn’t about to let it get any closer to Glory than it already had.
Getting her to safety was my only ambition. I needed her safe. Needed to ensure that her trust in me was deserved.
The dragon screamed a third time, shaking the trees, and a few of the high branches toppled from their trunks with the gust of wind created by its giant wings.
Cold air wrapped around us once we entered the woods, but I didn’t stop running until the start of the trail disappeared from view.
No doubt there would be a few drakes hiding in here, hoping to catch what the dragon had missed, but I didn’t care about running into them.
If I had to rip out their hearts, I would.
“Cammon,” Glory said between pants. “I think—I think it’s gone.”
I didn’t want to stop. Not until the mountain peaks were no longer visible through the trees, but she was right. All sound of the dragon had faded, and the stench had lessened. The danger had passed for now.
I released Glory’s hand, and she collapsed to her knees, sucking in air and letting it out with painful-sounding retches.
I frowned and looked her over. The last time we’d had to run like that, she’d outpaced me. “Should you be this tired?”
“I’m fine.” She shook herself off and slicked her loose hair out of her face. “Got a cramp, that’s all. I’ll be all right in a moment.” She eased herself to her feet and stood facing me, her hazel eyes large and open. “How are your wings?”
I extended them, flinched at the pain, and spun around for her inspection. “A few more singed feathers, a few more blisters, but nothing that won’t heal after a day or two.”
“The blisters look awful. We’ll see if we can find what we need for a salve.” As I turned back around, she ducked her head. “Thank you for saving me. Again.”
I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek, my fingertips stroking the back of her neck where her hair had fallen loose. “Of course.”
Glory turned her face into my palm. “Not of course. Most people wouldn’t have gone through such effort, regardless of what some king promised them. They would have saved themselves and left anyone else behind.”
“Yeah, well…” I met her eye, and the words on my tongue threatened to fall before I could stop them.
But if I said anything remotely like the things I wanted to say, I’d be making my desires real.
As long as they stayed in my head, they were fantasy—they were safe—and I could continue down the path I’d set out for myself without looking in another direction.
I cleared my throat. “Most people don’t want what I do badly enough. ”
Her eyelashes flickered, and when she lowered her gaze, I tasted a new emotion from her. Disappointment? If so, it wound a thread of regret around my heart that I’d been the one to disappoint her. At the same time, it created a traitorous warmth that I forced myself not to read into too deeply.
“Besides,” I continued, “what would I do without your company? We’ve proved we need to work together to reach this amulet, right? I’d be letting myself down if I didn’t do everything I could to keep you safe.”
Her answering smile was strained, and I wished she’d heard just how genuine my final words had been.
“You’re right. We’re in this together, for better or worse.
” She stepped away from me, handed me my pack and vest, and adjusted her bag on her shoulders.
“So let’s keep on, shall we? I’m still hopeful for that stream.
” Her nose wrinkled. “If I wait much longer, I might regret not letting that dragon incinerate me.”
As Glory walked away, it took everything I had not to call her back.
I wanted to race after her, throw my arms around her, and tell her how relieved I was that she was okay.
If that dragon had been any closer, or if I hadn’t been there to cover her, I would have lost her.
Her brushes with death were happening far too often on this journey, and I didn’t know how much more I could stand. I was not ready to say goodbye to her.
Yet in a week and a half, that was exactly what I would be doing.
On leaden legs, I followed her through the woods, wishing time would grant me a gift and slow the fuck down.