Chapter 11 Briar #2
I trust you, I told him. Now trust me. I looked over his shoulder in time to see glowing yellow eyes rounding the bend.
I don’t like this one bit, he growled, but ran to the edge of the drop-off and launched me into the air.
Wind roared past my ears, and my palms slammed into stone, followed by my body, my fingers curling over the lip to hang on.
Pain exploded in my injured foot, but I gritted my teeth, trying like hell to ignore it.
I hooked my good leg over the top and dragged myself onto the ledge, then rolled flat against the rock.
Breath heaving, I turned fast and braced myself at the edge.
Silus flew toward me, carrying Elara, his face red with strain.
His dark, feathered wing hit a stalactite.
He hissed but powered upward while bracing his feet against a thick ridge on the wall below the ledge.
Elara reached for me, and I grabbed her arms and dragged her onto the ledge with a clumsy yank.
“Your ankle!” Elara exclaimed.
“It’s fine,” I rasped. Heat flared through my foot, and the bandage warmed like blood was spilling into it.
Briar, what the feck are you doing? You’re injured! Vad’s horror blew right through me.
Helping our sister. Don’t worry about me—focus on setting a trap. I flung myself back toward the edge just as Quen’s wings sliced into view. She shoved both oil lamps into my hands. “Take these,” she cried.
The glass burned my palms, but I jammed them safely into a nearby crevice. As I ducked back, my head slammed into an outcropping of rock. Stars sparked behind my eyes, but there was no time to react. My pulse thundered in my ears, loud and erratic.
I struggled back to the end of the ledge just as Thalen shoved Myantha through the opening, but her hips and legs remained dangling over the edge.
His right wing clipped a stalactite, and a sickening crunch echoed.
He groaned, blood spilling from the joint of his wing.
“Climb over!” he barked through clenched teeth.
Myantha seized the end of the ledge. “Thalen!”
His face twisted and reddened as he fell backward and kicked off the rock. He crashed back onto the path we’d come from on the other side of the abyss, then pushed himself up slowly, grimacing.
Elara grabbed Myantha’s arms and tried to drag her up, but she started to slide with the added weight. Myantha yelped and dug her fingers into any crevice she could reach.
I jolted forward, my ankle screaming as I wrapped my arms around Elara’s waist, preventing her from sliding further. Tears streamed down my cheeks, but my hold didn’t falter. Elara and I leaned back and pulled Myantha to safety while my muscles screamed in protest.
I hate that you’re always getting hurt. Vad tore through Quen’s bag and pulled out the razor wire and pinchers.
He darted back toward the bend in the tunnel and looped one end of the wire around a thick stalagmite.
With no anchor on the opposite side, he had to stretch the coil diagonally to another stalagmite farther back.
Using his claws, he wove the wire between jagged points, tightening and twisting the line fast with quick, brutal movements.
I feel the same way about you. Be careful with the wire, and get up here. Still, I kept my focus forward, refusing to allow anyone else to die on my watch.
I'll be up there as soon as I set up as many layers of this razor wire as I can.
The wire glinted in the lamplight but blended into the wall. The trap was silent and deadly.
Vyraetos yanked a thick bottle of oil from a pack and hurled it past the wire, the glass shattering in a splash across the stone.
“Catch!” Quen shouted, grabbing a dropped bag and throwing it up to me across the ten-foot gap.
I snagged it and passed it to Elara. Myantha scrambled to sit up just as Quen lobbed another pack. This time, Myantha caught it with a grunt.
Quen turned and nodded sharply at Vyraetos.
Thalen limped toward us, his injured wing dragging behind him.
“Come on, Badger Claw.” He grabbed Elias by the back of his tunic and began to fly him up.
His wings pumped hard, and he managed to get high enough for Elias to slam chest-first into the ledge with a loud grunt.
But Elias’s hands immediately began slipping.
“I’ve got him!” Elara yelled, grabbing Elias’s shoulder.
I rushed forward and wrapped my hands tight around one of Elias’s wrists. The weight nearly dragged me over, but I held tight, my feet braced on slick stone.
“Hold on!” Myantha cried, leaning over to grab Thalen’s arm as he reached up, face pale.
Snarls echoed from the tunnel, and shadows streaked into view.
Quen’s red, leathery wings flared wide, and she launched up and snagged Elias’s other arm. Her right wing clipped a stalagmite with a sickening snap. She screamed and twisted violently as she slammed into the ledge, her injured wing snagging on a jagged rock jutting below the edge.
“Quen!” I shouted, yanking Elias up another inch. “Grab me!”
Warmth exploded and then constricted in my bond with Vad as his concern and anger swirled together.
Quen’s nails bit into my shoulder. “My wing’s stuck, and Elias is slipping!”
“Don’t fight it.” My heart pounded against my ribcage. “Let go of him and put your weight on me.”
“I’m all right.” Elias strained, sweat sprouting on his forehead. “Don’t tear your wing—”
Quen whimpered but released Elias. She leaned her weight onto me, and I nearly collapsed under her, my ankle throbbing. I locked my knees and braced against the ledge.
“Get her off Elias and Thalen!” Rhielle shouted from below. “Quen, you’re going to shred your wing if you keep thrashing!”
A thud sounded beneath us. Silus had reached them, and he didn’t hesitate to shove Thalen up with a groan while still gripping Elias. His talons scraped for purchase on the rock wall, his legs shaking from the strain.
Snarls and the scrabble of claws on stone echoed all around us. A guttural howl reverberated off the walls so fiercely that the ledge itself seemed to shudder.
The first wolf leapt over the oil and smacked the razor wire full-force.
A sickening wet rip echoed as it was caught mid-air, the wire tearing deep into its shadows.
The beast howled, its body jerking as it thrashed against the nearly invisible blades, trying to reach Vad and the rest of our group, who were still on the path below.
Blood sprayed across the drop, dark and glistening in the lamplight.
The other beasts slammed to a stop, growling, pacing, too feral to retreat but too wary to follow. Two slipped on the oil.
Myantha and Elara yanked Elias and Thalen to safety, and I caught Quen under the arms and hauled her up with everything I had. Her wing ripped free with a tearing sound that made my stomach turn. She shrieked, but I didn’t stop.
Below us, Veralt lifted Rhielle onto his shoulders, and then he leaned forward, tilting her over the pit, and Rhielle gripped Quen’s legs and lifted her up.
I wrapped my arm around Quen’s waist and helped her lift her wing, my ankle screaming in protest. With another scream of pain and a deepening of the tear, we got her wing free.
Quen spasmed and flailed as I clutched onto her with all my strength.
Rhielle yelped with surprise as Quen’s foot clipped her, and she lurched back.
Veralt tried to compensate, but the two slid backward and crashed against the far wall on their side of the pit.
Rhielle braced herself against the rocks and leaned forward over Veralt’s shoulders as he struggled to gain his balance again.
I skidded forward with Quen's weight but dug my knee into an indentation. Grunting, I dragged her up the rest of the way. She gasped with relief and tucked her torn wing in close.
As soon as she was safe, I leaned out over the edge and saw Silus clinging to the wall below the ledge. His fingers were jammed into a crevice, and his muscles shook while one wing hung limply, dragging him off balance. Blood ran from his palms onto the wall.
The ledge bit into my ribs as I stretched down and reached for him. His arm trembled as he tried to wedge his fingers deeper into the fissure. He glanced up once, sweat slick on his brow, eyes stark with strain.
Briar, Vad linked to me. Let the others handle it! You're just going to get yourself— His message cut off, and pain filtered through the link. When I glanced up, I saw that the razor wire had cut his palm.
Why don't you let someone help you? I linked back, wincing. “Someone hold my legs,” I shouted. “Silus, hold on!”
As I leaned over, I realized how much more precarious Silus’s position was. He was too far down to easily jump up and reach us, and with his one wing badly wounded and his position unbalanced, he’d never be able to correct and jump high enough.
Vyraetos ran to the edge of the pit on the lower side and prepared the last items to fling up as Vad finished binding up another layer of razor wire. Concern flashed through Vad’s eyes. “Silus?”
Thalen struggled to push himself up, his wing also sagging, and I feared it was actually broken.
He panted for breath and ran back to the edge with me.
Myantha and Elara grabbed me by the backs of my legs, and I folded over the edge and strained to reach Silus.
My heart shredded when Silus’s eyes widened, his hands wedged in.
“No. Don’t let go. Hold on.” I shook my head and leaned down.
I needed to grab him at a good angle, or else we’d all be dragged over.
“Guys, lower me a little farther. Silus, I can almost reach you.”
“Don’t let go, Silus!” Elara cried out, her voice raw. “Don’t you dare let go!”