Chapter 23 #2
“There!” I shout, and Ebron dives, a living battering ram. The force of his landing rips the air in two. I almost lose my grip, and one of the men is instantly vaporized under Ebron’s foreclaw. The rest stagger back, eyes huge.
Ebron lets out a sound I’ve never heard before, a sound that makes even the other dragons hesitate.
It’s more than a roar. It’s the sound of a creature as ancient as the earth bellowing into the night.
Then he opens his mouth and just… inhales, and the two nearest men are swept off their feet and drawn straight into his jaws.
He chews once, then spits out what’s left of them.
Having cleared a place for me, he lowers his head. Save your mate. I will protect you.
I’m off his head before I know what I’m doing, running full tilt toward Sevrin.
The last Gore Rock bastard sees me coming and tries to draw his sword, but Rosanthra launches herself forward and pins him with a single swipe of her talon.
She clamps his head in her mouth and twists.
I hear the wet pop, and then she’s tossing the body aside, eyes on me.
Sevrin is lying on the stone, a mess of blood and bruises. His arms are wrenched behind him, wrists raw and purple. His face is so swollen I can barely recognize him, but the eyes—even though one of them is barely open—are all him.
I drop to my knees. “Sevrin!” My hands shake so badly I can barely get the knots undone that bind his wrists.
He coughs, a spray of pink. “My Heart,” he whispers, and his smile is all teeth and blood.
I bite my lip and keep working at the ropes. “I’m here. I’m here. Everything is going to be okay.”
He groans as the bindings come loose, and I pull him to me, cradling his ruined head against my chest. His hair is sticky with blood, but it’s still soft, still Sevrin.
The battle isn’t over. Above us, the dragons are shrieking, fire pouring down on the fortress.
I glance up and see Sylvara take a spear to the wing.
She howls, but keeps flying, twisting to snap at her attacker.
Verdraxa is circling Ebron, her scales catching the torchlight as she rams another dragon midair, sending the rider flying off into the abyss.
Nythera is strafing the walls, breathing fire into every window.
Rosanthra nudges me, her nose cold and gentle on my shoulder. He lives? she thinks, the words trembling with worry.
“He’s alive,” I say.
She huffs, then flares her wings and launches herself upward, smashing into another Gore Rock dragon and sending both tumbling away.
Sevrin clings to my shirt, breath hitching. “You’re hurt,” he manages, and I want to laugh and cry at the same time.
“So are you,” I tell him, and I try to lift him, but my side gives out and we both end up sprawled on the ground.
Ebron lowers his head, eyes gold and fierce. We must get you to safety. Your weak human bodies will be destroyed in a dragon fight.
I nod, wiping my face on my sleeve. “Can you carry us? Get us closer to the fortress? I can try to hide with him inside and get him healed.”
Yes. I can do that.
I haul Sevrin onto Ebron’s back using all the strength I can muster. Sevrin groans but doesn’t complain. I climb up after, bracing him with my body as Ebron leaps skyward. The wind whips the blood from our faces, and Sevrin sags against me, alive but barely.
We’re not out of danger. The fortress is on full alert now. Dragons wheel above, riders bristling with lances and swords. I see the glint of crossbow bolts whistling up at us. One skims Ebron’s scales, and he roars in outrage.
“Where are Gareth and the others?” I shout, clinging to Sevrin as we bank hard left.
There!
I look around and spot Gareth, Lucien, and Alaric, each on the ground outside the fortress. They’re standing there for the briefest moment, seeming to take everything in, and then I know they’ve called their dragons to them, because the three fierce females appear.
The men climb up onto their dragons’ backs and fight their way through a swarm of hostile riders.
Before long, Gareth’s hair is wild, his sword dripping with blood.
Lucien is screaming curses at his opponents, swinging his sword like a madman.
And Alaric is just laser focused as his dragon crashes around into the enemy dragons.
“Get us to them!” I yell.
Ebron pumps his wings, surging through the fray. We cut a path through the chaos, dragons veering aside as Ebron roars a challenge. Ahead, I see Gareth spot us. His face flashes with relief, even with a cut streaming blood down his temple.
“Harper!” he bellows, raising his sword. “Is Sevrin…?”
“He needs help.”
Lucien and Alaric close in, flanking us. “They’re everywhere,” Lucien snaps, eyes wild. “We have to get out of here. Now!”
But there’s nowhere to go, just ocean in all directions for days, and Sevrin needs help. If he doesn’t get it, he won’t make it.
Below, the fortress gates burst open, and a stampede of dragon riders pours onto the rocks. One of them points up at us, and I don’t know what he says, but I know it’s not good.
A dozen dragons peel off, angling for us. I count at least twenty more on the ground. Ebron is bigger. Stronger. A male dragon. But even I’m not sure he can handle these odds.
Can you get the female dragons to obey you? Can you stop them? I ask Ebron.
Unfortunately, no. I tried, but they are not listening. However, the females from the Island of Dragons are on our side.
The enemy dragons have nearly reached us, all flying at full force against my very tired dragon. I don’t know what to say or what to do, but I know I have to warn him.
“Ebron—” I start, but he’s already banking hard, dodging a spray of fire from a blue-scaled dragon. Sylvara and Verdraxa close in on either side, shielding us with their bodies.
We may be able to fight these enemies, but not with you on our backs. Things are going to be all flames and smoke. I would prefer to put you somewhere safely on the ground, Ebron says, his tone grim.
I don’t know if there’s anywhere safe, but I say, “Do it!”
Ebron tucks his wings and dives, aiming near another entrance into the fortress.
The other dragons give chase, claws outstretched.
We hit the rocks with bone-jarring force, but Ebron doesn’t pause.
He barrels straight into the waiting riders outside the fortress, jaws snapping.
The first man to get close is bitten clean in half; the next gets whipped off the edge of the cliff with a flick of Ebron’s tail.
Gareth, Lucien, and Alaric land beside us, and the three of them form a circle, eyes blazing. Their dragons lash their tails. The ground shakes with every impact.
Thorne’s riders close in, weapons out. I brace Sevrin in front of me, trying to prepare myself for anything. Every inch of my body is screaming, but I won’t let them take him again. No matter what it costs me.
One dragon rider stalks forward. “Give us the Hollowborn and the girl. They’re who we want.”
“You just want us to let you murder our wife and our bonded partner? That’s it? Well, that’s reasonable,” Lucien says, voice laced with sarcasm.
But Gareth is more straight-forward. “You will have to kill your princes to get to them! Traitors!”
The dragon rider looks uneasy, then shouts, “Take the princes alive!”
The dragon riders launch into action. It’s chaos. Ebron viciously bites a dragon when it tries to land on him. Sylvara uses her wounded wing as a club, smashing riders left and right. Verdraxa breathes fire so hot it melts three men at once.
Another dragon moves to attack to our left, but Ebron swings his head and grabs the dragon rider off the back of the dragon in his jaws. For a heartbeat, the world stops. The man is too shocked to scream.
Ebron’s teeth close.
The sound is wet, final, and the other riders hesitate, fear in their eyes.
Gareth and Alaric press the attack, trying to drive the riders back, but more and more dragon riders gather until there’s a sea of them stretching out in front of us.
More than we could ever possibly fight. Ebron was right.
He and his mates might have a chance, but we won’t.
When these dragons start flaring everything, we’ll be toast.
Then an idea hits me.
Ebron.
Yes?
Stop focusing on talking to the female dragons that are attacking us. Reach out to the ones that belong to the dragon riders who are imprisoned by Thorne and his men. Get them to fight at our side.
I will try.
The dragons around us continue to attack, left and right. Ebron continues to do what he can to shield Sevrin and I from the flames, but I can feel heat all around me. Prickles of sweat roll down my spine.
And then something happens. I spot dragons in the distance coming. First, just a few of them. Then, dragons in all directions. Other dragons rise from the opposite end of the island and launch into the air. Soon, the tides turn, and there are more dragons on our side than on theirs.
For a minute, Thorne’s men and their dragons are just being surrounded from all directions, and then their dragons drop from the sky and land on the island.
Ebron?
The female dragons are surrendering. They did not want to battle against a male dragon in the first place.
Seeing that they might be killed by their own kind, a thing that almost never happens amongst dragons, they have chosen to surrender, as long as we agree not to kill their riders.
We have agreed to such a thing. You have not.
His meaning is clear.
Thank you.
Ebron takes us a short distance from the fortress’s main doors, away from the other dragon riders.
We land, with my men around me. Sevrin doesn’t move, doesn’t react to any of it.
He just breathes unsteadily. And I know without a doubt that it isn’t wise to go to the fortress, but that Sevrin will die without proper treatment.
Tonight. We can’t risk heading home. There won’t be time to save him if we do.
I have to go into the fortress, I tell Ebron.
Will you be safe?
I don’t know.
There’s a long pause. I will be ready if you need me.
I drag Sevrin off of Ebron, and he helps me by lifting his wings and bringing us gently to the ground.
Gareth limps over, sword on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
I nod, aware for the first time that there are tears streaming down my face. “I’ll be okay, but Sevrin–”
Lucien comes and crouches beside Sevrin, checking his wounds. “We need to get him help…”
“We have to go to the fortress.”
Alaric comes closer, helping me to lift Sevrin. “Then we go to the fortress.”
“But what if…?”
“We’ll handle it if there are more enemies inside.”
Ebron and his mates don’t seem happy, but they stay put, watching us, knowing that if we need help, we’ll need our dragons close by. But I can’t focus on them now. I have to focus on Sevrin.
He needs to live.
He needs to.