Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
FOX
Fox kept his arms tightly around Sofia, his legs clenched against Chalia’s side as they spun up and out of the trees. The wind above them was loud in his ears as Chalia twisted to the left, heading toward the mountains. A roar on their tail made Fox’s stomach drop.
Eha rose above the trees directly behind them, the black dragon not far back.
“Shit,” Fox said, throat going dry. “Fly, Chalia!”
The dragon didn’t need his direction, she was already shooting forward.
“Backup is coming,” she said. “Hold on!”
“Backup?” Fox asked, by Chalia ignored him. Fox flung himself and Sofia forward, pressing her into the dragon’s back. She’d finally stopped screaming, but she was still shaking, her entire body wracked with it. He felt helpless, unable to do more than hold on to her and pray.
He reached out, vaguely sensing Eha’s presence behind him.
“Eha,” he said, not knowing if he was even reaching her. “Please stop. Please fight this.”
He was met with only silence. He kept his head down, unable to look back, but he could feel her on their tail.
A blast of ice shot to the side, and Fox turned just in time to see Chalia’s wing flicking violently, the ice that had coated it shattering. He covered Sofia’s face, not knowing if she was aware enough to do so herself. Chunks of ice flew at them, slicing into the exposed skin of his forearm.
Chalia twisted back, sending her own roar of ice at the black dragon. It reared up, nearly throwing the soldier on its back. It fell back just enough that Fox let out a breath.
“Go go go,” he urged Chalia on. His eyes swept the horizon. They were nearly at the mountains now. But it didn’t do them much good. Eha and the black dragon were still coming up behind them.
“How are we going to lose them?” Fox asked.
He turned, briefly making eye contact with Harlow.
The man’s eyes were unlike anything he’d ever seen before—hatred, rage, disgust. For the first time, he wondered if he’d ever truly known Harlow.
He finally saw the side of him Sofia saw.
This was what the Dragonborn in the city had been fighting against. This was him unmasked. And Fox hated it.
“You won’t win!” he yelled out into the wind, baring his teeth. “You think you know about the dragons. But you don’t!”
Harlow smiled, Eha pulling ever closer. “You know your father wanted me to kill you when you joined the king’s men training.” His booming voice somehow cut through the wind. “He said it would be better if you simply died early and saved everyone the trouble. I should have listened.”
Fox didn’t flinch. The words didn’t hurt. His father had hated him out of fear. What did it mean that Harlow lashed out now?
“You’re afraid,” he said, eyes sharp, “and you should be.”
“Hold on,” Chalia said.
She dropped, but Fox was ready, his legs clenched tight around her sides, Sofia wrapped in one arm. The world flipped for a moment as Chalia twisted and shot ice at Eha’s wings, both the left and then the right.
Eha’s growl made Fox’s chest tighten, but he saw Harlow losing control, nearly slipping from his saddle as the dragon tilted to the side. She plummeted as she attempted to break the ice around her wings.
Harlow was screaming, pulling at something around his neck as he twisted Eha right side up.
The dragon’s jaw opened, a swirl of white ice forming in her throat even as the sky above them rumbled. Her eyes were a milky white, but as they met his, an ache shot through him.
“Eha, please!” Fox shouted in his mind.
Eha let out a stream of icy water, but the spout went wide, barely skimming Chalia’s wing. They hurtled downward again.
“Hold on and stay low,” Chalia said, the shout so loud that Fox’s head thrummed with it.
He did as she said, but his eyes widened when he realized her plan.
They were heading toward a thin canyon, a slot cut between two high stone walls.
The narrow opening was shooting toward them too quickly, and Fox didn’t have time to register how Chalia planned on squeezing through, especially at their speed.
Chalia jerked back, and she growled. Fox turned to see the black dragon, teeth sunk into Chalia’s tail as she jerked and writhed.
“Come on, Chalia,” he said, fists clenched around the feathers on her back.
A white streak flew past them.
Suddenly, the black dragon dropped back, its face covered in a layer of ice.
A small dragon, with his icy white scales and a stub for a tail, snapped at the black dragon’s wings and twisted his talons to yank the soldier off its back. Jobin—their backup—was here.
Chalia didn’t wait to see what happened. She shot forward, aiming steadily for the thin break in the rocks.
They hit the crevice, and Fox braced for impact. She turned sharply, wings stretching flat as she twisted to her side. Fox clung to Chalia and Sofia, shouting a prayer to the dragons and kings alike.
He turned carefully, twisting his neck just enough to see the small white dragon following behind them.
“There are caves to the right, just after the left ice shelf,” a masculine voice echoed in his head.
Chalia followed his directions without question, twisting to the side.
What little light that had been filtering in from the sky above disappeared as they entered a large, black cave.
Fox closed his eyes—it made no difference one way or another.
They were shooting through an underground cave system without light or any idea where they were going.
“I know the way,” Chalia said, as if hearing his doubt. His shoulders relaxed incrementally, but he kept his eyes closed, forcing his breathing even.
They flew through the dark long enough that Fox lost track of time.
White, blinding light told him when they’d finally found the other side.
He blinked his eyes open as Chalia slowed and landed along a wide, empty slope.
The snow here was pristine white, the air silent.
Jobin landed beside them. For a few minutes, they stood there on the slope, silent and waiting.
But no one followed them, and the only sound was the soft whistle of the wind somewhere above them among the peaks.
Fox slipped from Chalia’s back, his legs shaking and stomach heaving.
But he swallowed back his own aches, helping Sofia down.
He held her at the waist as he lowered her to the ground, not letting go as she collapsed under the weight of her own grief.
He wrapped himself around her as her sobs filled the air.
“You saved us,” Fox said, turning to Jobin. The dragon was frantically checking Chalia’s injuries.
“Chalia asked for my help.” He puffed out his chest, stretching his neck long. “I snuck out of the nesting grounds after you left. I came to join you..”
“Thank you,” Fox said, mouth dry and throat raw.
“I should tell the others what I saw. Perhaps your parents will listen now.”
Chalia gave a slow growl, but didn’t argue. The dragon was gone a few minutes later, and they were left alone, the only sounds the whistling wind and Sofia’s sobs.
Fox resisted the urge to scream and shake her. She’d tried to sacrifice herself. And he’d watched. He was going to let her do it. His fury burned within him, but he could do nothing but hold her. She was already breaking. She’d already lost too much.
His own failures echoed through him. He hadn’t convinced Harlow of anything. He’d almost let Sofia sacrifice herself. He’d watched helplessly again as Harlow stole from her and broke her.
Chalia nudged against his mind, and he pushed her away, closing his eyes as he rocked with Sofia.
He breathed in the scent of her and swallowed down his own pain.
He wouldn’t let it happen again. He knew what it meant to protect Sofia now.
He would kill Harlow himself if it came to it.
He would kill every Dereyan who threatened her.
He would burn the kingdom down to warm her by the flames.
For her. For Leon. For everyone who’d had something stolen from them simply because Harlow wanted more.
Fox didn’t open his eyes until the resolve had hardened in him, and his breathing evened out.
He let Sofia cry. Even if just for this moment, she was safe within his arms.