Chapter Forty-Nine
Skylar Cathal
And with the gods above as our witnesses, the children of the Labyrinth feasted.
The valley snapped back into view, reeking of ruin.
Smoke hung low and heavy, carrying the bitter scent of burned earth and a pungent decay of friend and foe below.
The air tasted metallic, bitter on my tongue, as though the battle itself had left its teeth marks on the world.
Heat shimmered from scorched patches of earth below, while a cold wind flowed east from the mountains.
I shifted into my phoenix the moment my boots sank into the torn soil. Fire rippled through me, rushing to my wings until they burst outward in an arc of light and heat.
“Go, Skylar. I’ve got it covered on the ground,” Daxton said.
“I’ll be back and fighting at your side soon.”
“I’m counting on it.”
I soared upward, the battlefield spreading beneath me as the Labyrinth and its children assailed the unknowing enemy. Below, shadows moved, too large and wrong to be anything mortal or of this world. I didn’t dare ask the Labyrinth what his children were. All I knew was they were hungry.
Some prowled low to the ground on four legs, others held reptilian tongues that forked from the shadows, tasting for their prey, while others towered over five meters tall on two legs, their forms barely holding together as shadows warped and flickered around them.
Their silhouettes shifted every time I tried to focus, limbs bending wrong, bodies stretching and collapsing as if they couldn’t decide what they were.
The darkness didn’t just hide them—it clung to them. Making it impossible to see where they ended and the void began.
The valley raged as the Labyrinth’s children screeched and tore through lines of humans, hunters, garmr, and fallen alike.
“We’ve returned,” I said to my pack. “Hold on. Help is coming.” My voice carried through the valley, reaching for any heartbeat still fighting.
A shriek split the sky, shrill, sharp, and way too fucking close.
I twisted mid-flight with a horde of harpies diving from the smoke above, their tan, feathered wings beating the air around me in a chaotic gust. Talons snapped at my feathers, their snarling faces far too eager for blood, as I called upon my flames to keep them at bay.
I flared my wings and rolled, heat bursting off me in a molten wave. One harpy recoiled with a hiss, but two more closed in, circling my tailfeathers. They were close, but thankfully, I wasn’t alone.
Thunderous wings cracked against the sky. Idris burst through the clouds astride her mighty pegasus. Her dark skin glowed in my firelight with her crimson-painted armor. Braids snapped like whips behind her as she drove through the clouds. She leaned forward, a wicked grin curling across her face.
“Dive, Skylar!” she shouted.
I dropped instantly.
Idris swept over me in a blaze of speed, her pegasus neighing its battle cry as she swung her flaming spear.
Fire spiraled around the tip of her blade, trailing brilliant arcs of flames as she struck.
One harpy exploded into embers while another spiraled downward, wing shredded where her spear had sliced through.
Idris pulled alongside me, eyes bright with her fighting spirit. “Come on, then,” she said, smirking. “Let’s show these feathered pests who owns the skies.”
It was official. Idris was now my idol.
The remaining harpies screeched in fury, banking hard to regroup. Three of them formed a flying V formation, with strange shadows rippling across their twisted wings as they drove toward us.
Idris laughed, twirling her flaming spear so the fire spiraled up her arm. “Finally,” she rasped, “I was starting to worry Minaeve had left this fight.”
I couldn’t believe I overlooked it. Minaeve might not be in the midst of this battle, but she was reaching out with her magic to reinforce her armies with the Heart of Valdor still in her grasp. Even with Istar gone, she could still overpower us all with the Heart.
The first harpy darted for Idris, talons outstretched, and jaws open wide. She shifted her weight, and her pegasus veered sharply, allowing her to thrust upward. The spear met the creature’s chest with a burst of flame, sending it tumbling backward with a howl.
I dove after the second, heat rolling across my feathers as I released a blast of fire.
The harpy shrieked and swept her wings forward to shield herself, but the flames caught the tips, forcing her off balance.
I seized the moment, slamming into her with all my momentum from a steep dive.
With a crack of her bones, she spiraled downward, vanishing into the smoke.
Turning, my breath caught as I released a warning song, Behind you, Idris!
Idris didn’t even look. She spun the spear in a flawless arc, and the blade caught the harpy across the neck, sending her reeling with a screech. I rose beside Idris, smoke curling around us as the last harpy beat her wings wildly, trying to escape.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Idris growled.
She kicked her pegasus into a charge, and the mount launched forward with a powerful stroke of its wings. Idris’s spear flashed one final time in a merciless pursuit, and the harpy fell, her tan feathers scattering like dust.
Silence rushed in behind the battle, broken only by our breathing and the distant growl of monsters on the ground.
Idris flipped her braids back and shot me a cunning grin. “Not bad, Sky. But next time, try not to let them get so close.”
I huffed a plume of embers her way in reply.
She laughed, catching the flames and spinning them around the tip of her spear. And then, we turned back toward the valley where more enemies were already stirring below.