Chapter 27
VAELA
By the time we’d returned from our observation loop, the flames had eaten through the entire roof of the infirmary. Matty, Reo, and Talani had turned up, crowding around a still recovering Gunther while Nisse bandaged his cuts with strips from her shawl.
Min set us down next to them.
Reo ran his hands over his face, staring up at the flames. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to save any of it.”
“All that work Gunther did,” Talani murmured, staring at the fire. Bright orange was reflected in her glassy eyes. “It’s all gone.”
I grabbed their shoulders, shaking sense into them. “There will be time to mourn what was lost later. Buildings can be rebuilt. Supplies can be reordered. Right now, we have to focus on saving the town.”
Reo nodded. “How can we help?”
“Get as many of the townsfolk as you can to Cyrus’s lake. That’ll be the safest place.”
“Start triaging there,” Eden said to them. “Use the water to cool any burns. Treat what you can. Nisse”—she glanced over her shoulder—“when you find Poppy, have her take a group into the woods to forage. You’ll have to rough it, but you should be able to make some quick, rudimentary salves.”
Nisse nodded. “Of course.”
Matty hauled Gunther up with ease. “Why doesn’t it just fly away?” he said.
“Besides the fact the kingsguard insists on firing arrows at it?” someone growled. It was Dalton. He stalked out of the woods toward us, tunic torn, covered in ash.
I went to him, wrapping him in a hug that made him cough. I pulled back. “The nesting shed?”
He shook his head. “It’s gone.” He glanced at the rest of the group. “The chains they used to hold the Wretch have tangled around its wings. It physically can’t fly away.”
“That’s probably why it sounds so pissed,” Reo said.
“What does that mean for us?” Nisse asked.
“It means it’s going to crawl all over town, destroying everything it can get its claws on,” Eden said.
“And those screeches are going to act like a distress call,” I added.
Faces fell one by one.
“You mean it’s going to attract a herd?” Nisse murmured.
I nodded. “If we don’t do something quickly, Ember Ridge is going to be flooded with dragons. Very angry dragons.”
Min growled.
“What can we do?” Nisse whispered.
I pointed to the plume of fire that shot straight into the air, taller than any evergreen in the land. “We cut those chains.”
Eden’s head snapped in my direction. “How?”
“I have to ride the Wretch.”
* * *
“This is a bloody crazy idea,” Matty said, shouldering his way through the blacksmith’s forge.
“I’m aware.”
The air was heavy with choking smoke. It clung to us, coating everything in black soot, tasting of charcoal. Dalton couldn’t stop coughing. I ripped a strip of fabric from my tunic, handing it to him to cover his mouth.
Matty rifled through the blacksmith’s tools, metal clanking.
“Find anything?” I asked, covering my nose with the crook of my arm.
“Yes!” Matty held up a massive pair of bolt cutters. “These should work.”
“Hopefully,” Dalton muttered, his eyes watering.
“We’re gonna need a lot more than hope.” I took the cutters from Matty, testing them to make sure they worked.
He paused, picking up a pile of spears from a nearby bench. He handed half the bundle to Dalton. “We should probably take these, too.”
“For what?” Dalton asked as Matty led us back through the forge and into the alley.
“In case the kingsguard gets any more bright ideas about fiery arrows,” he said. “This is their mess, and all they’ve done so far is make it worse.”
“We all know half those soldiers have already fled by now.” Part of me hoped Trystan was one of them, but I knew he’d still be here somewhere, doing what he could to help the townsfolk. I couldn’t worry about him now, though. I had to focus on the task at hand.
If not, there’d be nothing left of Ember Ridge to save.
Eden and Min were waiting for us further down the alley. Dalton scrambled up Min’s back while Matty passed him the spears.
Eden caught my hand, tugging me aside, her eyebrows colliding in the middle of her forehead. I could feel her trembling where she held me. “Why does it have to be you?” she asked.
“Because I’m a wrangler,” I said simply. “This is what I do.”
I desperately wished there was another answer. But the only other choice here was to let the entire town burn to the ground. Ember Ridge would be no more. And how many lives and livelihoods might be lost in the process?
“I know,” she said, giving a humorless laugh. “I was just hoping you might have told me plans had changed.”
I squeezed her hand. “You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to be a part of it.”
“I’m coming.” She put on a brave face, catching her lower lip between her teeth to keep it from shaking. Then she nodded. Determined. “Someone needs to be your eyes in the sky.”
I kissed her forehead. “I’m glad it’s you.”
I gave her a nudge then, and we climbed onto Min, the four of us holding steady as she rose into the sky. I could hear the wheeze of her breathing with the added weight, but it wouldn’t be for long. I gave her a reassuring pat.
“Remember,” I shouted above the roar of the wind and the crackle of flame, “the moment I make contact, the Wretch is going to try to throw me. I’m going to need you three to keep it distracted.
The scales are going to be almost impenetrable.
Dalton, Matty, aim your projectiles for the nostrils or under the throat if you can.
Eden, you and Min bother it from above. The goal is to keep the Wretch so busy it doesn’t have time to unleash fire. ”
Everyone nodded.
Min swooped down, flying through coiling smoke, and we dropped Dalton into position on the upper balcony of the bakery. We soared around the other side of the Wretch, dropping Matty on a low-lying rooftop. Min darted toward some cloud cover, hovering above the Wretch in the darkness.
“Okay,” I said, turning to Eden. “She’s going to have to drop altitude quickly to let me off. Make sure you hold tight to her when she shoots off again.”
Eden’s eyes glistened. I didn’t know if it was from the smoke or the hasty goodbye, but I pulled her close, lips pressed next to her ear. “Some dragons were never meant to be ridden,” I said. “And some people were never meant to work. But we do. And this will work, too. Trust me.”
“I do trust you.” She kissed me hard. Kissed me like the brush of her lips might be able to seal a ring of protection around me. But Cai’amar was a land without magic. All I had were my wits and my strength and my heart.
Her heart now.
“Come back to me,” Eden said as she released me.
My pulse hammered desperately beneath my breastbone, every cell in my body screaming to hold on to her.
“Where else would I go, woman?” I bussed my lips once more against her forehead. “Min will protect you. Trust her, too.” Then I turned and pressed my hand to the side of Min’s neck. She lowered her head, blinking slowly as if to say she understood what Eden now meant to both of us.
“Just come back to me, Vaela Frixsar.” Eden’s arms tightened around me from behind. “I mean it. Or I’ll follow you into the next life.”
“Is that a promise?” I asked.
“It’s a threat,” she said. “You won’t know the real heat of a burn until you’ve tasted the heat of my rage.”
I laughed into the wind as Min dropped through the clouds. Stars, I loved this woman. And then I was sliding, falling, thudding down right between the Wretch’s massive, spiked shoulder blades.