Chapter 34 Calytrix
THIRTY-FOUR
CALYTRIX
“Faolan.” I tapped his shoulder.
He stirred. “Hmm?”
“Wake up.”
“Mmmm…wake,” he muttered, rubbing his face and stretching.
I hated having to disrupt the warmth of his arms around me, but he’d told me to tell him if that feeling of being hunted got worse, and it really had. I itched with it. It woke me before dawn, and I’d lain with it as long as I dared, but I’d had to wake him.
“Remember the feeling I had?”
“Yes?” He opened one eye and barely smiled in that roguish way he did.
“You told me to tell you if it got worse.”
With that, he was awake.
He rose quickly from our single bed we’d squashed into and turned to look at me. “Tell me,” he asked simply.
“I don’t know. It’s just that feeling of them closing in around us, and I can’t shake it. I guess—I feel like we should be moving and not laying here making ourselves a target.”
“Let’s go then.” He stood. No doubt, no question, just a trust in my instinct and a willingness to act to keep us safe at all costs.
As we dressed in silence, he listened and even glanced out of the tiny attic window.
He didn’t seem stressed, but I was on edge.
We made our way down to the tavern, and I was surprised that even at such an early hour, there were fae who’d stayed at the inn gathering, beginning to start their day and head out into the town.
I looked at every face, but Faolan just pressed on. Neither of us had cloaks anymore, lost in the mayhem of the last couple of days, so keeping moving was the best thing we could do.
Faolan tossed the key on the innkeeper’s counter and swiped a warm loaf from the basket as we slipped out of the inn without speaking to anyone, into the early morning bustle of a river port town.
I would be glad to see the back of this kingdom and the feeling of being hunted that was always over my shoulder.
We moved quickly through the milling fae and headed for the forest from where we’d arrived. The faster we were out of sight, the safer I would feel. In the cover of the trees, we stopped.
He slowly turned, staring out into the trees and listening. I was grateful to have his heightened senses on my side.
“Anything?” I whispered.
He shook his head, but kept listening, narrowing his eyes in the direction we’d come in. Then he blinked and looked down at me.
“Are you good?” he asked, checking in.
“Yeah, just nervous.” I didn’t want him to think I was overreacting.
“Are you ready to go?”
I nodded.
“We need to get away from this town towards the coast, then I’ll risk flying us.” He offered his hand.
I took it. “Okay.”
We set off, walking quickly while sharing the bread he stole.
That itchy feeling never stopped, but I felt better to be on the move again.
We kept a good pace for about half a candle mark, leaving the town far behind us.
We kept clear of rivers, which was no easy feat as they were everywhere, intersecting across the whole kingdom.
We approached a clearing and slowed, both sensing the need for caution. The space was empty, but the forest surrounded it on all sides, providing plenty of cover for anyone wishing to stay concealed, like us.
“We could keep going, stay hidden and probably walk for days before we reach the coast, or we could fly now that there is a space for me to take off. What do you think?”
I looked around, wishing I could sense something more than my own anxiety. It was a risk to fly and expose ourselves, but if we didn’t, we would never get to the First Kingdom. And as much as I never wanted to set foot there, if Nova was alive, that was where she would be.
I decided we need to be moving much faster than we have. “Let’s do it. It’s the only way.”
“Agreed,” he said, beginning to strip his tunic.
“Wha—” Button by button, my gaze followed his fingers. Heat rose to my cheeks, and I swallowed.
Warmth stirred inside me, and I knew I shouldn’t enjoy watching him undress so much.
He smirked. “You think I can afford new clothes every time I shift, on a first mate’s salary?
” He bent to unlace his boots, and then his leathers and under garments hit the floor.
I drank him in, flashbacks from last night heated my cheeks.
To distract myself, I tied his boot laces together to keep them safer.
He laid out his tunic and set the folded leathers and under garments in the middle while I watched with interest, ignoring the fact that he was naked.
He held out his hand for his boots and put them on top, then wrapped the tunic around the bundle, leaving the sleeves free.
He picked up the parcel and lifted it over my head, setting it on my back, then put one sleeve under my left arm and the other over my right shoulder, tying them in a knot on my chest.
I looked up into his eyes. “Clever.”
He smiled, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “Ready?”
I nodded, lost for words.
“I’ll go out into the clearing and shift. Wait until I’ve shifted before you come out, then climb on. Okay?”
I watched as he stepped out, feeling oddly detached.
I’d seen him as his dragon, but I was about to watch the male that was inside me last night turn into a dragon before my eyes.
It did not disappoint. His skin scaled over in shiny, tough-looking, sunrise-colored scales, limbs stretched and changed.
He was even more magnificent in the morning light.
His color flowed molten, burnt orange in parts to almost yellow in parts, but as the color darkened between his scales, he had blue undertones.
Wings grew out of his back and spread, and the structure of them was also in deep blues, like between his scales.
It was as if he was colored like my favorite part of the day.
When the light first crests the horizon.
He looked back at me with the bright dragon eyes of his majestic beast form.
I stared for a long moment until he tilted his head with a huff.
That spurred me into action. I approached his flank, assessing my options for mounting, and quickly decided that using his bent leg as a step was my best bet.
In a surprisingly practiced move, I hopped up, leant forward, and slung my leg over his back.
“Just like mounting Finn,” I chuckled mind to mind.
“Watch it,” he shot back.
I snorted.
Settling in, in front of his wings, I found reliable handholds in the spines that jutted out of his leathery skin. I was confident I could make it work.
“Are we going then?” I asked, fighting the urge to tap my heels at his sides.
“Wait,” he muttered, cocking his head and staring into the trees. He huffed out a short plume of smoke suddenly and lowered slightly, tensing. “Hold on!” he yelled into my head, and we launched.
I held on for my life as we shot into the sky, trying to look back at what had him spooked. Below, that itchy feeling I’d been having revealed itself as dozens of undead bled into the clearing. That was shocking enough, but then I saw the weapon they’d used to capture us before.
Panic filled my throat, and I barely bit back a scream. Drawing more attention to us wouldn’t do any good. I had to help him the best I could. I glanced back to see what they were doing.
“They’re going to fire,” was all I could get out to warn him before a missile of some kind shot past us, trailing a rope.
They’d missed, but I knew they were reloading.
The loud crack cut through the air a second time, and this time, they did not miss.
Faolan roared in agony, pounding his wings to get us out of their range. The rope snared us, and I looked back to find a bolt with barbs through his wing. He yanked at it, and the barbs ripped into his skin but didn’t shake loose. He roared and twisted, spitting a stream of fire their way.
We were too high for his fire to reach them, surely? Then I realized he was burning the rope. Another shot was fired, and it hit him in his other wing.
We dropped.
Crying out in a guttural pain I never wanted to hear again, he fought as I hung on, unable to stop them from attacking him.
He spread his wings again, beating them against the pull of the ropes and trying to keep us airborne.
Why in the God of Light’s name did I not have some more useful power? What could I even do except escape by myself? What use could I ever be to him?
Another shot fired and anchored in his wing just as he burned through the rope of the first. He went to work on the second, but they’d come prepared. They had to know we’d fight back this time.
But I knew if they captured us again, we would not be able to escape a second time. If they even let us live.
“Faolan!” I screamed, feeling the tug as they began to pull us in.
“Don’t let go,” he managed through the pain he was undoubtedly experiencing.
He swung his mighty head around, aiming his fire at the other ropes.
It felt hopeless, and I sent a prayer to the God of Light that he might survive this.
Bellowing his agony at the rising sun, he fought the pull.
Before, he was powerless to prevent being drawn in, but he was a dragon now.
Far more powerful and twice as stubborn.
I could feel his resolve. He would not let them take us again.
He thrashed against the burning ropes, losing some height, then gaining it back.
It was a fierce battle he fought alone while I hung on helplessly.
Then one wing finally broke free, the burning ropes giving way under the strain of the massive beast, and he flailed and dipped, furiously flapping to force the other ropes to snap.
But there were too many holes. He couldn’t gain altitude like he could before. He was fighting against the damage and the ropes. I clung to him, utterly helpless.
They dragged us down until we were low enough to hear the noises the undead made as they waited for their prey to fall into their waiting arms.
We were done for.
I vowed to kill them all if I got the chance.
I held my breath as we inched closer and closer and then, with a blessed final creak, the ropes broke.
With a terrifying bellow, Faolan turned and rained fire down on them all, setting light to that horrendous weapon before beating his wings clear of the scene.