Chapter 12 #2
A thin, darker line spread outward from what I thought was the point of impact. “I think so? Hard to tell. I’m going again.”
I leaned more on his good shoulder this time, bracing myself as I turned the crossbow over and grabbed another bolt from where they were secured along the underside. It popped free quickly, and I shoved it into the groove, my hands shaking just enough to be annoying.
Behind us, chaos was closing in fast. Wolves fanned out in long, powerful strides, their bodies cutting through the snow with terrifying ease.
Two launched at Night Court riders and dragged them down.
One of the soldiers screamed before the sound cut off into a wet, choking sound that turned my stomach.
No one else was looking at the sky or the snow shelf.
Gavriel rode close behind us with his head ducked like the light itself was too much, but he kept his focus locked forward.
“What are you even trying to shoot?” Kai demanded.
“The mountain.” I hooked the lever again and dragged the string back with a hard pull until it locked into place.
“The mountain?” His tone shifted, disbelief cutting through the strain.
I didn’t answer. I didn’t have time.
I lifted the crossbow again, sighting along the fractured edge just as the solumbra eagle burst over the mountain and shrieked overhead.
Its wings cut through the air in a violent sweep that made the snow shift.
The sound set the wolves off more, their howls rising frantically, like something in them had snapped.
Kai reached for my wrist to stop me, but I squeezed the trigger. The bolt tore free and struck a point high on the weakened edge. I didn’t hear the impact, but this time I saw it.
The crack widened and split outward in jagged lines, fast, like ice cracking beneath too much weight.
For one terrible heartbeat, nothing else happened.
Then the mountain broke.
The snow ledge let out a rumble loud enough to swallow everything else.
“Fuck!” Kai leaned forward, his good arm crushing me tighter. I twisted back around and sat, and he drove his heels into the caribou, forcing it harder, faster. “Hold on!”
I turned just enough to look back.
The wolves had slowed, their ears flattening as instinct kicked in, but many of them were already too deep in the pass to get out.
The caribou ran faster, upward and to the right, their hooves scrambling for purchase on exposed rock. The rest of the Dusk Court riders followed, mounts reacting before their riders fully understood why.
Then it happened.
The snow didn’t fall.
It detonated.
A wall of white tore free from the mountain with a roar that shook the ground, crashing downward and outward in a violent wave that swallowed everything in its path.
Night Court soldiers vanished mid-stride, their dark armor disappearing beneath the crushing force.
Wolves were gone just as fast, silver eyes snuffed out in an instant as the avalanche tore through the pass and spilled across the lower ridge.
The ground beneath us trembled hard as the sound rolled on, deep and relentless.
Our caribou lunged onto a strip of bare rock where the snow couldn’t reach us, and I almost dropped the crossbow. The animal’s sides heaved beneath us, but it held its steady pace.
Gavriel’s caribou leaped onto the ledge beside us a heartbeat later. He bent low over the animal’s neck with one arm braced there as he stared at the destruction. “By Fate!” The words were half-swallowed by the roar of the avalanche.
The mountain kept unloading itself in a crushing torrent of white, tons of snow swallowing everything in its path. It rolled over the pass and down the mountainside with terrifying force, taking Night Court soldiers, wolves, and any illusion of control with it.
Kai’s body had gone rigid behind me as he surveyed the wreckage.
I turned to look at him. He tightened his jaw, his expression strained with anger and blood seeping through the makeshift bandage on his shoulder.
Most of the avalanche had broken well beyond us.
The worst of it had funneled through the center of the pass and barreled downward, leaving our position mostly untouched, but his gaze moved over the scene with focus like he was still waiting for the mountain to change its mind.
“You reckless woman! If you had misjudged that by even a little—”
“Don’t you use that tone with me. I can see your soldiers,” I cut in, resting the crossbow on my uninjured thigh now that my hands had started throbbing from gripping it so hard.
“Everyone still riding was already past the break point. The wolves got a couple, I think, but they were about to overwhelm us anyway, and unless I’m hallucinating, the sun looks like it’s dying, so I stand by my choices. ”
I tipped my head up just enough to glance at the sky without fully looking into the sun.
My chest tightened.
The dark spot looked bigger. Oh, good. As if today hadn’t already been entirely too much.
The caribou’s sides heaved, and I took advantage of the pause to turn farther in the saddle and reach for the bag fastened behind us.
Kai stayed focused on the fresh expanse of snow.
The world had gone eerily still now that the avalanche had passed.
A few Dusk Court soldiers laughed hysterically, the sound echoing strangely across the snow. The wolves that remained were streaking away from the destruction with their tails held low. Overhead, the eagle still circled, higher than before, dark wings cutting through that warped light.
It swooped down and landed on the newly barren ledge where the overhang had broken away, its dark body huge and stark against the snow and stone. Its silver eyes glowed in the warped light and locked with mine.
A strange warmth slid down my spine.
Not heat exactly. This was different. It spread through my limbs in a rush that made my fingers tighten around the crossbow and my pulse stumble in my chest.
The eagle tilted its head.
I sucked in a breath.
Nope. Absolutely not. I had already survived wolves, soldiers, an avalanche, and whatever fresh hell was happening to the sun. I was not emotionally prepared for a giant, creepy bird to stare into my soul. Life was freaky enough.
Kai exhaled. “We need to move. It may—”
The eagle screamed.
Then it launched from the ledge and barreled straight at us.