Chapter 10 #4
I smiled and sent her an image of our path, which initially swept us out toward Jakarra before we swung around to the north and flew toward that small chain of islands that we’d used as a safe harbor when Rua had been injured hitting the barges.
If we kept relatively low, using them to shield us from any distant riders on the northern side of the chain, that should get us close to Ezu without being spotted.
After that, it was a matter of hoping Túxn was in a good mood.
We followed the Black Glass Mountains for a good while to ensure the riders’ sentries wouldn’t see and report us, then swung to the east and soared over the sea.
The bins proved to be less of a burden than I’d thought; as long as the chains between it and the two drakkons were kept tight, it remained relatively steady.
Or as steady as any large bin being carried via chain from the claws of two drakkons could be.
We flew on in single file, with Cansu and Rua soaring over and around us, constantly scanning for any sign of rider activity.
After several hours, we swung north and flew with the wind at our back, which helped our speed but made the bins a little less stable.
It was a relief for all when we reached the next turning point and the wind dropped.
We flew steadily along the wide channel between the string of unnamed islands and the distant specks that were the three belonging to the Jakarran system.
As we neared the approximate location of the Zergon channel’s exit point, I dragged out my long viewer and scanned for any ships.
There was nothing to be seen between us and the channel, so I twisted around the other way and searched the wide sparseness of the northern seas beyond the unnamed islands.
And saw, at the very end of the viewer’s range, two ships. Flags of red flew from the tallest masts of them both, and though I was too far away to see the finer details, I knew they’d feature a long-clawed golden bird flying over crossed spears.
These boats were the ones that had left Jakarra yesterday.
Should destroy came Kaia’s unsurprising comment.
Let’s just concentrate on our current mission and see how we feel once we’re done. And yes, I know you will always want to crunch and burn, but there is a limit to even a queen’s stamina.
Her mental sniff was a very unimpressed sound. I smiled, and we continued on, but as the sun began to fold toward the sea, we once again angled toward the south and headed for our target.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Ezu came into view, the jagged mountain peaks that lined this side of the island looking like dark fingers reaching for color-filled skies, as if in supplication.
I once again tugged out my long viewer, focused it on the farthest peak to the left, then slowly swept it to the right, looking for any glimmer of gold that would indicate there were sentries on this side of the island.
There were none that I could see, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.
Or that those on the other side wouldn’t be now rising to complete whatever their tasks or goals were for the evening.
Kaia, when we reach those peaks, tell the other drakkons to fly up beside us. And tell the kin we’ll give the go for release.
There was a beat as she passed the instructions, then, Cansu and Rua?
Tell them to fall back. We need the acid to hit the riders and their birds before they sweep in and flame.
Both drakkons fell back. I sucked in a breath and released it slowly, but it did nothing to ease the hammering of my heart and the fear that at least one of us would not be going home.
I’d felt that fear before, of course, and it hadn’t come true, even if Kele would forever bear the scars of her close call.
But Túxn could surely only favor us with luck so many times before she decided we’d had enough. ...
I shivered but did my best to ignore trepidation and instinct and did another sweep of the mountains.
Still nothing. I tucked the long viewer away and, as the sun sparked off the mountain’s sharp tops, lending them a final, bloody glow before it dipped below, asked Kaia to tell the other drakkons to form the line.
She immediately slowed her pace, and the other drakkons flew up beside us, Kiko and Lura on our right, and Yara and Aarvi on the left. They were flying so close it looked as if their wingtips might brush any second....
Won’t , Kaia said. Plenty space.
Logically, I knew that, but I nevertheless appreciated her reassurance.
We crossed the peaks. Ezu lay before us, a sea of sun-kissed golden birds and silver tents sitting in the blackened remains of what had once been forests and a vibrant if small seaport.
The Stymphalian birds hadn’t noticed us yet—most remained hooded and were still stirring from their daytime slumbers. Riders were few and far between, and those who were visible had their arms raised to the setting sun, as if in some sort of welcome ritual.
Kaia, ask Yara and Lura to tell their kin to grab the chain and get ready to release on my signal.
I unhooked the chain attached to the bin between Taitia and us and gripped it fiercely. The chain snaked out across Kaia’s wing, gleaming a bloody silver in the last few rays of the fading day. I hoped it was an omen of what lay waiting for the riders and their birds rather than us.
We swept down the slope, soaring silently over a burned and broken landscape; just as we neared the edges of the encampment, I gave the release order and hauled, as hard as I could, on the chain.
For a second, nothing happened. I hauled on it again and, with a clank that was audible above the wind of our approach, the feeder door at the bottom of the bin opened.
I twisted around. The liquid was surprisingly dark and fell at a shallower angle than I’d expected—probably something to do with our flight speed and the bin’s angle—but it nevertheless rained down, covering everything in its path.
The birds reacted, rising on their claws, their beaks open and their wings flapping; none could rise, however, as they were still leashed and hooded.
Riders were scrambling out of their tents en masse, some running for their birds, others for weapons.
Arrows and long bolts bit through the air, forcing the drakkons to dip and weave in unison.
We’d covered nearly half of the encampment with our acid rain when I unleashed Cansu and Rua.
They swept down the mountain behind us hard and fast, spaced far enough apart that their flames only crossed over a fraction, giving them the widest spread possible.
Even under normal circumstances the ferocity of their fire would have instantly melted at least the first few lines of bird and riders, but we wanted more than a couple. We wanted the whole fucking lot.
The minute the flames hit the liquid-drenched birds, men, and tents, the whole lot exploded, filling the air with heat and a gruesome blanket of cindered, ashen remains. The ground caught fire, and the flames chased the spray, burning whatever bloody remnants remained.
Ahead of us, birds were now rising, many of their riders not even fully dressed but still bearing tubes they aimed our way. As one, the six drakkons flamed, their fire exploding through the liquid and hitting rider and bird, cindering half and sending the rest crashing to the ground.
As they hit, more rose. Again, our drakkons flamed. Again, they prevailed.
The rain of arrows and spears intensified.
Kaia bellowed as several tore through wing membrane, but the sound was more fury than pain, and she didn’t slow.
I called to my inner flames and swept them down and around her body in an effort to cinder the next wave before they hit and got most. Several still got through; two bounced harmlessly off her scales, but one hit me, slicing through my clothing and lodging in the fleshy part of my right arm.
I swore, burned the fletched end off, then pushed the arrowhead all the way through and pulled it out.
I knew the danger of doing so well enough, but the last thing I needed right now was for my sword arm to be restricted.
Unless we went down, I wouldn’t actually need to draw my sword, but I might yet have to use Mom’s bow.
I raised enough fire to cauterize and seal the wound, prayed to Túxn I wasn’t causing further damage, and twisted around once again.
The bin’s deadly rain was finally easing.
If we were lucky, we’d have enough to reach the harbor.
If we weren’t, then we’d be using regular drakkon flame to destroy what remained.
Cansu and Rua continued to rain fiery destruction on the ground below, though they no longer flew in one line, instead soaring and weaving over the campsite, sweeping up the few riders and birds who’d escaped the explosive liquid with their claws, crushing their bodies, and dropping them back to the ground.
It was a dangerous play, given not all the riders were dead yet.
Kaia, tell them to rise. We need to be careful until the liquid has been fully deployed and most of the riders’ weapons taken down.
She did so. They obeyed, but the tension in me was rising.
There were still too many birds remaining. Too many armed riders remaining.
We were approaching the harbor at speed.
One boat lay at anchor, and all the buildings that had once stood here had been replaced by large metal constructions that were no doubt hubs catering to the needs of all the riders camped here.
But there were men on several of the rooftops, and they were racing toward large tube-like cannons.
Kaia—
See . She snapped an order, and the drakkons on either side of us flamed, blanketing the buildings with fire. Men were crisped, and the cannons exploded.
But if they had cannons on those rooftops, they’d have them elsewhere. I just couldn’t see where.
I twisted around again. The stream of dark liquid coming from the bins had all but ended, but it didn’t matter. We were close to the shoreline now, with only the buildings and the harbor itself left. Kaia, order the bins dropped on the buildings, and then we’ll sweep around and do a fire run.
Boat?
We’ll burn that on the way through.
The drakkons released the chains. As the bins tumbled toward the buildings, the drakkons on either side of us arced left and right and flew back to the heart of the destruction, adding their flames to the chaos Cansu and Rua were causing.
Kaia and I flew on to the boat. It looked to me like the sailors were desperately attempting to haul up the anchor and leave, but they never got the chance.
Kaia’s fire swept over them, setting the boat alight and ashing the men who manned her.
Hold , she said, and immediately belly rolled up and over.
As she straightened, I spotted the cannon to our left and, behind it, the rise of at least a dozen birds. Birds we’d missed. Birds we hadn’t even seen.
Control birds.
They’d obviously been roosting them in a separate area to the main encampment.
Fuck. Kaia.
See . She snapped her wings and went left hard, arrowing toward the rising birds. These riders, like many others, were half dressed, but most had tubes in their hands, and those tubes were aimed at us.
Kaia barreled toward them, not stopping, not flaming, fury in her mind. She didn’t want to flame. She wanted to kill them the old fashioned way—to rend and tear and bite.
And she wasn’t going to listen to reason.
I swore, raised both arms, and sent two large fireballs tumbling toward the birds directly ahead of us.
Just before they hit, I splayed my fingers, and the flames responded, exploding up and out, creating a sheer wall of fire between us and them.
It wasn’t intended to kill them. It was simply a means of hiding our position.
Kaia rumbled her approval, flicked her wings, and dove hard.
The ground came at us way too fast, and I was tempted to close my eyes.
At the last possible moment, just before it seemed we were going to crash, she banked sharply, swept under the flames, and rose into the midst of the birds.
She crunched three before they realized she was even there, smashed five others with her tail, sending them hurtling to the ground, and cindered the remainder.
Then she cindered the ones she’d sent to ground, just in case any remained alive.
As she banked and flew back to the main encampment, movement caught my eye.
Men, on a platform to our right, aiming the large cannon mounted on its top our way.
I threw another ball of flame, and the mote in my eye popped, making it hard to see properly through the blood.
But I didn’t really need both eyes in this case—the tank holding the acid was large, and it was sitting right next to the tube.
My fireball hit, and a heartbeat later, it exploded, taking the tube, the men, and the platform with it.
Kaia rumbled in satisfaction, flamed the remaining men on the ground, then rose above my fading firewall.
As we did, a drakkon screamed in pain and devastation.
Kaia bellowed an order, and six drakkons spun as one and flew into the heart of destruction. That’s when I saw Rua tumbling from the sky, one wing utterly destroyed and the other barely working.
And Hannity was nowhere to be seen.