Chapter 24
i hold my nerve as the wyvern shoots like an arrow through the sky towards us.
Kell dives to the side, crouching behind a hill as I plant my feet, staring it down.
And, somehow, I know I can do this. I can unleash a storm of magic.
I can bring lightning down on this creature of hate.
I barely move, hardly breathe as it draws ever closer.
When I can see its membranous wings, when I can smell the foul scent of its breath, I draw my hand into a fist. I call the storm to strike it.
Lightning forks from the clouds.
Piercing the wyvern.
It crashes to the ground in a wreck of smoke and crooked wings, smouldering in the spray of rain just a few feet from me. The charred scent of its wretched flesh fills my nose and I cough, breathing into my hand. Kell leaps up, awe widening his features as he releases a whoop.
I turn, victorious, the magic inside me, the side that is wholly siren fizzing in my blood. And my heart stops. The next two wyvern are circling Sapira and Fey. And they’re completely exposed.
‘Fey!’ I cry, already running across the arena, leaping hills and skidding across the soaking grass.
They stand, shoulder to shoulder, blades in hand and the only sign of fear from either of them is the slight tremor in Sapira’s arms. I close the distance, barrelling towards them as the first wyvern dives.
A flame arrow streaks past me, released from Kell’s bow, but it doesn’t hit its mark.
The wyvern extends its claws, reaching for Sapira as Fey throws her blade, straight into its wide, fanged mouth.
Sapira rolls at the last minute, the wyvern falling between them, the blade buried in its throat, killing it instantly.
I catch the glint in Fey’s eye as the wyvern twists and twitches on the ground, its reeking blood hissing over the grass.
She is formidable. But there’s one more, readying to dive for them both.
And Fey is now weaponless.
I reach up with my fist as time seems to slow, as the wyvern dives with a feral shriek, eyes locked on Fey. Sapira staggers up, already moving towards Fey, the crowd going wild, hungry for human blood. The clouds bloom and darken, lightning streaking to the ground, once, twice …
But every time it misses.
I pump my legs faster, watching in helpless desperation as the wyvern’s claws extend just above Fey’s head …
Sapira jumps, both hands holding her blade aloft, spearing it in the eye.
The wyvern shrieks, crashing into Fey, and they’re a tangle of limbs and claws, Sapira and Fey both lost to view for a moment.
I finally reach them, clearing the rain from my eyes, and find Sapira in a heap.
She blinks up at me and groans as I hold out a hand to haul her back to her feet.
‘Anything broken?’ I ask quickly, checking her over. She has a gash down her temple, but otherwise she seems all right. She’s survived.
‘I’m … I’ll be fine,’ she says and swallows. ‘But Fey …’
We both move towards the wyvern carcass, finding Fey trapped beneath.
Her breath is shallow, and I hear the cry of alarm from her drake in the distance.
Then I see it. A claw, wedged over her middle, restricting her breathing.
She must have cracked ribs and if one of them has punctured a lung …
I blink quickly, pushing the blare of panicked thoughts away.
All I can do is try to get her free. One step at a time.
Sapira falls to her knees, feeling for Fey’s hand, gripping it tightly and Fey’s eyes are unfocused as she turns to her.
‘Dying defending someone from a wyvern is an honour,’ she manages.
Sapira sobs as I move to take Fey’s other hand. ‘Fey, look at me. Fey!’
She huffs softly, but turns her head towards my voice. ‘Siren. Storm bringer.’
‘You will not die today. Do you hear me?’ I say, throwing all my will into my words.
‘You. Will. Not. Die. Today.’ Then I turn to Kell as he reaches us, dropping to his knees beside me.
‘Kell, we are going to shove. Sapira, you are going to grip Fey under the shoulders, dig your heels in and pull. Hard. Are you with me?’
‘We’re with you,’ says Sapira.
Kell nods, moving to my side as Sapira wipes at her face, then levers her hands under Fey’s shoulder blades. ‘Ready?’ I say. ‘Count of three. One, two, three.’
And I shove.
Kell puts his shoulders into it, Fey releasing a strangled moan as the monster shifts … and Sapira drags her clear.
The rain pours down in a torrent around us and I brace my hands on my thighs, pulling in a breath.
When I turn to Fey, Sapira is speaking to her quickly, testing her bones, wincing when Fey cries out.
She looks at me and Kell. ‘Three fractured ribs, I believe. And a sprained wrist. But I don’t think there’s internal damage. Her lungs and her heart are intact.’
‘What you mean is lucky to be alive,’ Fey grates out, eyes turning skyward. ‘I’m fresh meat for them to pick at when they tire of chasing you. Leave me. Guard yourselves.’
So much death. So much suffering. And all so that men in power can take more and more.
I stand, staring straight at the balcony where the ruling council hold Agnes.
I see her, blanched features, tears streaming from her eyes.
So afraid. So full of bitter rage. Then I look past her, to the three men who sit, delighting in this spectacle, in the show of power over this warrior from the Spines.
And I roar.
As more wyvern circle above us, more than those nine I first spotted arriving, as the storm smothers us all in its heady wrath, I release all my hate, all my anguish, and in my heart, I promise retribution.
I promise revenge. This is more than Renshaw, more than the watch.
It’s always been them, behind every decision, every move to swipe at our lives on the isles.
They are the puppet masters and we have all been controlled by their wants, their desire for power, for control. But no more.
I am not powerless.
Breathing heavily, I turn to Sapira, who looks up with shining determination. Then she strips the killing blade from the wyvern, extracting it from its eye. When she rises, I see only fire and a will to fight. I see … myself.
‘In Valstra, the merchants take everything. They leave us with nothing but hard lives in their mines. And now I see them, all around this arena. That they will keep taking, unless we stand up to them,’ she says, her voice a soft, vicious hiss.
‘I thought it was an honour, fighting for Stanvard in these Trials. But now I see it is just another way for them to control us. It’s just a huge game to them, with the continent as a playing board. They play with our lives. For profit.’
‘But together …’
‘Together, we can stand against them,’ she says, then looks past me, to the sky. ‘I will guard Fey until we can get her out. You focus on the wyvern horde, keep them from us.’
Looking around, I find Kell has joined Sember and Heath and they have downed another wyvern, with the last swooping up to join another wave. I gasp, staring upwards, through the driving rain.
At a skyful of wyvern.
I go to join them as they stop to wipe the rain from their eyes, drawing the wyverns’ ire from Sapira and Fey. We are ready to face the final assault.
‘Do we have a plan?’ asks Sember.
‘Kill every one of them, and try not to die?’ Kell replies.
I stand tall with my blade, counting them.
Ten wyvern now and only four of us. The crowd grows strangely quiet, and I glance up at the stands.
They’re all watching us, horror on their faces.
Perhaps this is too much death even for them.
Perhaps the ruling council, in their need for blood sport to unite the people and entertain them, have taken it too far.
I seek out Agnes’s eyes and touch my heart with my fingers, then hold my hand out to her.
She does the same and I know in this moment it could be goodbye. The only goodbye we’ll be able to make.
I blow out a breath and look at the others: fierce, proud, clutching weapons, not ready yet to break.
The council pitted us against each other, yet we’ve banded together.
I’m not ready to die yet. Not here, not today.
Not with my people so far away, not with so much at stake.
And not with Eli a world away. The thought of him leaves me raw, and all I want to do is cry out for him, for all we have lost. The pain of wanting him is suddenly so deep, so sharp and searing.
I murmur to him, as though he is here with me.
I whisper, I love you, into the storm. Then I gather myself, pushing him gently away in my mind. Perhaps it’s my final goodbye to him too.
‘Kell, pick off the outliers if you can,’ I say, my voice hardening. ‘Sember, Heath, you spread out, but stay close enough so that you can support one another.’
‘And you?’ Sember asks.
‘It’s time I find out what the ruling council were so afraid of. What they seek to control, to use for their own gain,’ I say with a smile. ‘It’s time they learn what a storm bringer can really do.’
I take a step forward and then say over my shoulder, ‘Kell, add your flame at the right moment. You’ll know when.’
Then I set off, striking out alone across the vast arena, as the wyvern soar ever closer, like winged death against the thunderous sky.