Chapter 33
Talon
I cradled Zara’s limp body close to me as every wingbeat seemed to echo the same thought: Don’t die on me.
How could I have been so spectacularly stupid?
I never should have let her risk her life.
I should have gone with my first instinct—to get her the hell out of here and damn the consequences.
Every time I glanced down at her pale face against my chest, desperation burned through me.
The whole mission had been a mistake. Baz, Zamir, and Kestrel—all dead.
The suffocating weight of grief pressed down on me, threatening to pull me under.
I didn’t even have time to mourn them because Zara so desperately needed my help, but I knew it would hit me powerfully later.
I had led three riders—trustworthy and loyal friends—to their deaths.
Had I thought because Zara had blown our asses out of the sky that she could take on that demon?
Even I hadn’t been prepared for that level of evil.
Did you bring this First Daughter to me as an offering?
The worst of it was that we hadn’t even succeeded. Just before I grabbed Zara and made a run for it, I had seen the Devourer’s bloodred eyes staring back at us menacingly—and still very much alive.
I tried to shake free of the memories as I watched Zara for signs of movement.
Her eyes fluttered like she was still struggling to stay conscious, and I wrapped my arm around her tighter to keep her warm.
My jaw flexed as I clenched my teeth. I wasn’t sure exactly what the Devourer had done to her, but seeing that silvery-white substance being pulled from her destroyed me.
It reminded me of the king of Mistral’s letter: It has only one goal: power.
And the means with which it gets it is the most disturbing of all. I dare not even write about it.
Was that what the Devourer had done to Zara? Consumed her power?
I cradled her closer to my body, trying to keep this all-consuming fear at bay.
Before I could think about it more, Zara began to shake violently, her lips turning bluish. The wind roared by, unrepentantly frigid.
Neo, it’s too cold for her! She’ll freeze to death.
There’s a plateau in the distance with some trees—that will provide shelter from the wind.
Go there, then. And quickly.
Neo banked, and I held Zara as tightly against my chest as I could, hoping to impart some warmth. But I could feel the wind snatch it away, weakening her even as she fought whatever the Devourer had done to her.
Hurry, I thought, my jaw clenched so hard my teeth creaked in protest.
I am, Neo thought back, with more than a little irritation in his tone. I hadn’t meant to think it across our bond, but now that I had, I couldn’t stop thinking it.
Every beat of my heart urged me to hurry.
By the skies, if you don’t stop saying that, Neo said, pumping his wings even harder. What can you even do? You’re not a medic.
I only know she can’t endure this cold much longer.
Suddenly, a tremor ran through Neo, and he tightened his grip on us. He let out a deafening shriek—a sound of challenge.
What’s going on?
There’s a wild eagle flanking us.
My blood ran cold. Where had it come from?
They were so rare that this was colossally bad luck.
Wild eagles could pose a threat, even to a war eagle like Neo.
Our eagles were hatched in the palace aerie and so had been at our sides since the moment they emerged from an egg.
Livestock were kept solely to feed them so that they didn’t have to hunt to eat or feed their young.
They were trained in the art of war and flying with a rider.
The wild eagles spoke their own language, were indifferent to the lives and fates of humans, and grew large and powerful thanks to having many different bloodlines to choose from.
They were also extremely aggressive, attacking and killing anyone who flew too close, and asking questions later.
I’m going to need one of my claws, Neo said. Hold on tight to her, and I’ll shift you both to my right one.
I wrapped my arms even tighter around Zara, hauling her against my chest as I tried to make us as small as possible. Zara didn’t even stir. Dread coiled in my gut. Had the Devourer taken too much from her? Was she dying?
Neo barely had time to carefully shift us to his other claw before a screech pierced the air above us.
This is going to be bad, Neo said in the obvious tone of someone remarking on the fact that it was currently raining. Hold on.
The wild eagle dove and collided with Neo in midair as they met each other talon to talon with Neo’s one free claw.
I gritted my teeth against the pressure of Neo tightening his grip on my ribs.
As I’d feared, the other eagle was bigger than Neo, his wingspan so much wider that every beat of his wings pushed Neo back from sheer force.
And with their talons locked together, their backs were nearly vertical.
My muscles strained to hold Zara against me as gravity tried inexorably to pull her back down to earth.
We spun round and round in a deadly dance, the other eagle holding tight to Neo’s claw.
The world tilted and twisted around us as the mountains rose fast below.
Pressure filled my head, like it would soon burst. My vision narrowed, until it was like I was peering through a tunnel.
I couldn’t imagine what it was doing to Zara’s already drained body.
And then suddenly the eagle released Neo.
We somersaulted through the air, so violently that Neo lost control of his flight.
My arms were on fire as I fought against the wind to keep hold of Zara.
Neo’s hold around us weakened. Just as Neo leveled out again, the wild eagle dove, talons spread.
At the last moment, Neo met the bigger eagle’s talons with his own, spinning us wildly around again.
This time we flew only five hundred feet above the rocky ground.
The other eagle used his free claw to tear at Neo’s chest, his talons as long as swords. Neo’s strong feathers repelled the attack at first, but eventually, the other eagle made contact, puncturing his chest and tearing a scream from Neo.
I shouted his name helplessly as blood stained his golden feathers.
Neo’s grip on us loosened.
The other eagle took advantage of his weakened state by lunging toward Neo’s neck with his enormous beak. Neo thrashed and tried to avoid having his throat ripped out in midair. At the same time, his claw loosened enough that we dangled in the air.
I’m losing her! I shouted mentally and verbally as the wind tried to tear Zara from my arms.
The only thing that came through our link was desperation as Neo tried to defend himself from the bigger eagle. Finally, Neo wrenched himself free, but the force from the wind and the other eagle was so strong that it ripped Zara from my arms.
I watched her plummet past us, horror choking me as I watched the other eagle dive after Zara.
He’ll kill her! I shouted to Neo, and he, too, dove to catch her.
Just before she crashed into the rock, the other eagle snatched hold of her, cradling her in his claws.
He turned and shot back through the sky, his speed even greater than Neo’s, until he was like a golden blur through the clouds.
We pursued him, the blood pounding in my ears along with the screaming wind.
The eagle was without a doubt taking her back to his nest, where he would kill and eat her.
Now that my hands were free, I gripped the hilt of my sword; I didn’t care if it was an eagle or not, I would pierce his heart before I let Zara be killed in such a brutal way.
The wild eagles had no regard for humans and saw them as just another food source, though they tended to avoid us since we put up too much of a fight.
Apparently, Zara falling through the sky right in front of him was impossible to resist. And I’d made it all possible by losing my hold on her in the first place.
The thought made me desperately want to turn back time and not be so damned weak. Why couldn’t I hold on to her?
We’ll get her back, Neo said, but he didn’t sound like he meant it.
We will, I tried to assure us both. That thing will land, and then he’ll have to contend with both of us instead of just you in the air.
A plateau loomed in the distance. I didn’t think I’d ever wished for an arrow so badly.
I pictured firing it now, piercing the eagle’s wings enough to force the bird to land.
His nest could be anywhere—the top of a tree, the edge of a cliff, or even somewhere that would leave us little room to maneuver.
Do you think you can get above him? I asked Neo, quickly sending him my concerns about the nest locations. Force him to land on that stretch of land?
He’s too fast for me.
But it was the mountains that ended up helping us, slowing the wild eagle down enough while he maneuvered past craggy rocks and outcroppings, while a strong headwind made it difficult to push forward.
Neo soared higher and higher, until the clouds pressed thick around us. There was no headwind now, nothing to hold him back. He beat his wings harder, shooting forward until the wind was stealing the moisture from my eyes.
Without warning, Neo dove, forcing me forward against his claws.
I couldn’t see—my eyes were too blurry from the wind—but I could see from Neo’s mind that he was now directly above the other eagle.
Neo and I dropped from the sky like a stone.
I soon saw that Neo had planned it so perfectly that it was a thing of beauty.
His talons slammed into the other eagle’s back just as we flew over the plateau, forcing the wild eagle to land because of the sheer weight and momentum from above.
Pull up before he lands on top of Zara, I shouted, every muscle straining at the thought that the eagle would crush her.
Neo did so at the last second, and I watched with my heart in my throat as the other eagle laid Zara down gently before landing.
Why would he do that if he considered her nothing but meat?
When we landed seconds later, he stepped in front of her with his wings spread and screamed so loudly my ears rang.
I froze. He was clearly protecting her, but was he doing so because he thought Neo wanted to steal his meal? The way he was acting didn’t seem to just be aggression over food.
Can you talk to him? I asked Neo.
He doesn’t speak Zephyrian, he said. I’ll have to resort to half-remembered screeches and peeps.
Neo made a soft sound in his throat, almost a warble, and the other eagle answered with another deafening screech. It didn’t take a psychic to know he wasn’t responding well to whatever Neo had asked.
Translation please, I prompted.
I said the girl is someone important to us and we’d like her back. He answered rather aggressively that she was his and he wouldn’t let us have her.
His what? Meal? Tell him over my dead body. I held my sword in front of me as I tried to peer around the eagle to see Zara, but all I could tell was she was still unconscious on the ground.
Neo made another series of sounds, ranging from those mild-sounding warbles to high-pitched screeches, and the wild eagle responded.
He says she is the one he’s been waiting for, Neo said, and I could hear the confusion in his tone. He says we had injured her, and that you were letting her fall to her death.
“That’s not even true,” I shouted. “If you hadn’t attacked us, I wouldn’t have dropped her.”
Neo shot me a look as if to say, Who are you even arguing with?
Neo said more in that strange eagle language, but before the wild eagle could respond, Zara awoke.
The other eagle turned toward her as she came unsteadily to her feet, and I took a step toward her but had to jump back again when the wild eagle snapped his beak in warning. I watched, speechless, as the eagle helped her walk forward, supporting her with his wing.
“Zara,” I said, “are you all right? This eagle won’t let us get close to you.”
She nodded, but she looked pale.
“Have you ever seen this eagle before?” I knew it had to be impossible, but I still asked.
“No,” she said as she took careful steps toward me. I squeezed the hilt of my sword; I was barely restraining myself from rushing toward her. I wanted to see for myself that she was uninjured.
When she got close enough to reach out to me, the wild eagle wrapped its wing around her, effectively cutting her off from us.
“Let her through,” I said, holding my sword in a way that required no translator.
The eagle screeched in my face.
“I can understand him,” Zara said, her eyes full of awe. “He doesn’t want me to go to you.”
“Tell him no one asked his opinion,” I growled.
She laid her hand on the eagle’s wing. “This man and eagle are my friends.” She tilted her head, quiet for a moment as she listened to the eagle’s response.
“He says he could sense that I was in danger, and he thought it was from you and Neo. He came to find me.” Her voice dropped, soft and disbelieving.
“Talon, I think…I think we may have bonded.”