Page 175 of Vasmora

“Go back, Raivox! Help the boy!”

The Corvugon veered to the right to turn around, tilting us a nauseating degree. Lothare’s unconscious body swayed, dangling from Raivox’s claw, and Zevander slid to the side, catching himself on a protruding scale. Raivox straightened again and flew head-on toward the spider mutant that scrambled toward the boy.

It raised its fangs for attack.

As it lunged for the strike, Raivox swiped up its leg in his beak, carrying it up into the air. From that angle, I could see the human-like face embedded in the underside of its body staring back at me. The spider thrashed and hooked its legs around the Corvugon, attempting to lodge its fangs into those impenetrable scales.

Raivox released it, and for a moment, the stubborn spider clung to him, frantically smashing its teeth against his neck. One of the legs twitched over me, only just out of reach.

“Grab the horn!” I called back to Zevander, and as if he understood my intent, he kept one arm braced around me and clutched Raivox’s horn alongside my own hand.

Eyes pinched tight, I took a deep breath and pushed myself up just enough to take hold of its twitching limb. Wind pummeled my face, tossing my hair around as I fought to grab hold. The death glyph shimmered in my head, and the once-solid surface of the spider’s leg crumbled in my palm.

My arms flailed, throwing me off balance.

Still gripping my midsection, Zevander yanked me down, and I grappled for the horn, clutching it tightly.

With deep, heaving breaths, I peered down to see the boy running from three more spiders, the creatures gaining on him.

“Grab the boy!”

Raivox tucked in his wings and, like a shadowy arrow, shot through the sky, gliding over top of the spiders, the flap of his wings whipping up the dust. Sparks glinted off the cobblestones as his metallic claw swiped up the boy. With Lothare still safely clutched in his other talon, he lifted him into the air, only seconds before the chasing spider’s fangs slammed down.

Screams tore out of the boy, his legs kicking as he dangled in the air. Behind us, Achlys and Viatrix sent a burst of silver flame over the spiders, freezing them in place. A roar snapped my attention to the left, where one of the spiders held Viatrix by a silken web attached to the Corvugon’s foot. As spiders scampered up the length of the web, Viatrix railed a torrent of silver flame that crawled and crackled along the fragile strand, hardening it to metal. With one violent shake, he broke free, and I exhaled a relieved sigh.

Having finally reached the healer’s cottage, Raivox dropped the boy a few meters off the ground, then hovered for a moment and eased Lothare onto the grass. We touched down a few paces away from where he lay and the tightness in my throat finally eased. Achlys and Viatrix landed a short way off, kicking up plumes of dirt and dust.

Zevander released me, my thighs burning and trembling with the tension of gripping Raivox. “Let me approach her first. She’s not exactly friendly.”

“You know her well?”

“The poison he’s suffering from is the same variety I use. She’s the only one I know who concocts it.”

The poison-laced blade he used to cut himself.

Another glance toward Lothare showed a slight tremble had begun to settle over him. “You’re certain she has an antidote for this?”

“I know she does. I’ve had to take it before.” He slid down the side of Raivox, where he dropped from the corvugon’s muscled shoulder to the ground. “Wait here.”

On his way toward the healer’s door, Zevander stopped alongside the boy and gave him a pat on the shoulder before continuing to the cottage. The sound of retching pulled my attention to the left of me, where Corwin hunched over himself alongside Achlys.

Drawing my palm down Raivox’s rough scales, I gave him a quick pet. “Stay here,” I said and climbed down his foreleg.

The boy cowered and crawled away from me when I approached. His smooth, rounded face gave the impression of youth, though it was hard to know his exact age, with the hardened weariness of his pink-rimmed eyes. As if he’d seen too much at his age.

“I’m Maevyth,” I offered in a gentle voice that seemed to soothe the lines of tension pulling at his shoulders. While I’d never been entirely good with children, not like Aleysia, I’d always made a point to be kind.

He turned to face me. “I’m Gavroche.”

“Are you hurt? Bitten?”

Shaking his head, he held out a bony arm, examining a cut there. “Cut myself when I fell, is all.” He nodded toward Raivox. “Does he eat people?”

Well, yes. But I didn’t want to frighten the boy. “Only the bad ones.” I winked and smiled at him. “His name is Raivox.”

Gavroche gave a reluctant smile. “Raivox.”

As if delighted by the sound of his name, Raivox let out a caw and a hop.