Chapter 44 #3
Veyrix fell into formation at Rimeclaw’s flank. Their paired downstrokes sent concussions through the air with enough force to jar Jassyn’s chest.
The king lowered his hand, and the dark Heart disappeared into his armor. Rimeclaw angled south, and Veyrix followed, captive at his flank.
Galaeryn had taken what he’d come to claim—all the power he’d siphoned, every Well he’d plundered, had only cleared his path to the Zephyrfang. Abandoning the Aetherveil, Galaeryn soared above the bleeding alliance, as unhurried as he’d been when he’d arrived.
Jassyn didn’t bother organizing a pursuit as every gaze followed the two receding dragons. Any order he gave now would only spend more lives.
Blossom. Rimeclaw. Veyrix. The hatchlings stolen from Asharyn. Galaeryn had gathered a dragon of every element to offer to the Aelfyn. Lykor had gone after Skylash, but whether he reached her didn’t alter the fact that the king had already won.
Whatever Jassyn could still salvage belonged to the aftermath.
One of the lower islands shuddered.
The rupture reached Jassyn through his awareness before the sound of cracking stone crossed the distance. Beneath the cloud layer, far beyond sight, an island strained against a force he could only feel, the pressure traveling through the earth.
The foundation buckled.
The island tore loose from its place in the floating chain and plunged into the haze, hauled violently out of the sky.
Jassyn cast his awareness after it through empty air until stone returned beneath his senses. Roots cinched around the island’s base and dragged the entire landmass down.
Blossom.
Her power surged through the lower reaches of the Aetherveil, strong enough that Jassyn felt the force reverberate through the surrounding isles. Roots climbed from the earth far below and snared the next island.
People were still stranded across the lower chain. Families remained there, along with prisoners whose tethers made escape by portal impossible. Every pair of wings that could fight had already risen toward the battle.
Jassyn sent his mount into a dive.
The razorwings still circling Vesryn, Serenna, and Fenn broke formation at his command and plunged after him, wings folding tight as the swarm knifed toward the clouds.
Gray swallowed them. Mist struck cold against Jassyn’s face, beading on his lashes until sky and earth disappeared together. His stomach climbed his ribs as the razorwing dove blind.
With no horizon to measure against, his mind supplied the distance. Deeper still, Blossom’s assault traveled through his senses, stone grinding somewhere below as she hauled at land beyond his sight.
Then the clouds thinned, and the lower chain of the Aetherveil opened below.
An island hung half-torn from the sky, caught in Blossom’s roots, one edge heaving upward as the other pitched toward the earth. Fractures raced through the stone as the landmass lurched, whole sections shearing loose.
People fled across the breaking ground. Others clung to ledges already falling away, figures spilling into open sky.
Jassyn sent his swarm without thinking.
Razorwings dove, legs closing around tumbling bodies.
As the creatures carried survivors skyward, Jassyn circled the falling island. Stone sheared past his mount close enough to score its carapace as the whole landmass plunged to the river.
One order turned the razorwings toward the intact islands higher in the sky, beyond Blossom’s reach. They climbed past the collapsing tier and skimmed the nearest refuge, lowering people onto stone before wheeling back down.
Another island groaned through Jassyn’s awareness as Blossom’s roots found purchase.
He turned every razorwing he had left toward it.
The unity he’d imposed upon them shattered into conflicting motion. One plunged while another climbed. Three twisted around slabs of stone. Six reached for bodies tumbling through separate reaches of sky. Others fought to save themselves while Jassyn forced them back toward the falling.
His vision blurred. Pressure mounted behind his brow as blood ran from his nose, hot against skin gone cold.
A child spun through one set of faceted eyes. Falling stone filled another. Wings snapped wide against a downdraft somewhere beyond the borders of his own body while the razorwing beneath him twisted past debris Jassyn only registered after it was behind him.
The swarm pulled against him in a dozen directions, the boundaries of his own awareness blurring against the crush of borrowed minds.
Dive. Catch. Rise. Veer.
The impulses collided faster than thought.
Something inside his skull ruptured, and the coercion snapped with it. Every mind vanished from his awareness at once. The razorwings tore loose, scattering across the sky.
His mount shrieked and bucked, and Jassyn’s vines withered around his legs.
The razorwing rolled. Jassyn’s fingers skidded over chitin as the last tendrils slipped free, the saddle spinning out of sight.
Pain flared behind his eyes, stone and clouds smearing across his vision.
The islands spun above him as he fell.