Page 258 of Vasmora

Corwin had opted to ride with the men, their horses whickering, anxious to leave. Had my nerves not strangled my every thought, I might’ve taken a moment longer to appreciate how handsome Zevander looked astride his black mount.

A dark shadow to the other men.

An omen of death to the god who’d stolen his family.

He gave the whistle, and the men set off, heading toward the gate.

I ran my palm along Raivox’s scales. “Ready, Boy?”

He chuffed and snorted, clawing at the ground.

“Then, fly.”

His wings unfurled at either side of me, and he hopped forward, flapping them, until the wind carried him upward, the force of our ascent pressing against my body. He skimmed past the men on their horses below, sending gusts of wind at their backs that had Zevander’s cloak billowing out.

My stomach rose toward my throat as he surged higher, carrying us up into the dark sky, and I dared a glance behind to see Adira following after us, her head low, body clinging to Achlys. Within minutes, we had reached a nauseating altitude, and the Corvugons leveled, allowing my stomach to climb down from my ribs.

The horses galloped below us as Zevander led them tearing across the stretch of open land toward the bog I could see in the distance. The sight of it took me back to the first night I’d arrived in Eidolon. The first night I’d met him.

Focus.

I squeezed my eyes shut, but visions of Rykaia seeped into my thoughts instead. How terrified she must’ve been right then. And Branimir. My chest tightened. Could I rid him of the infection? Was it possible to spare him, as I had Kazhimyr?

The questions muddled my head enough that I almost didn’t see the danger heading straight for us, until Raivox let out a roar.

I lifted my gaze to see shapes flying straight toward us.

“Dragons!” Adira called out.

Damn it. If they were as aggressive as the one back in Draconysia, their presence did not bode well.

Pulse hammering in my throat, I searched the ground for Zevander, suddenly wishing I’d rode horseback. He and the men were nothing more than specks below me, reminding me that, from that height, a losing battle would be a deadly one.

I could only imagine what would be going through Zevander’s mind right then. Whatever protests he might’ve thrown at me, they couldn’t reach me so high up.

Craning my neck to the left showed Adira wearing an equally uncertain expression. Fear clamped around my lungs so tightly, I couldn’t even mouth the command to retreat. The wind whipped at my face, pulling my hair in all directions. I gripped Raivox as firmly as I could, and that was when I felt it. A hum of exhilaration pulsing through the horn I clutched.

“You damned bird! This is no time to be excited! Land!” The words screamed inside my head but failed to move the stubborn Corvugon.

He flew straight toward the approaching dragons.

Three of them, from what I could make out of their winged forms.

Their roars carried through the air, shaking my ribs, my hands slipping over the horn and slick with sweat.

Flames tore across the sky in blazing flashes, as the dragons zipped toward us.

Raivox banked right and tucked in his wings, the movement jerking my body. Bile climbed my throat in acidic waves as the world spun in my periphery, blurring into a spiral as he barrel-rolled through the sky.

A scream tore from my chest, my body clinging between sky and land. I slid from the horns, claws scraping across his scales, muscles shaking as I fought to hold on. “Raivox!” I managed to scream.

His wings snapped outward, an unbearable force pressing down on me, as he flattened again, skimming low, soaring above the ground. Breath sawed in and out of my lungs in raspy heaves. Fighting the weakness in my muscles, I reached for the horns again, seating myself close to his neck.

The rival dragons surged toward us again, one of them heading straight for Raivox.

My body jostled as he shifted right, the movement of his wings humming in my ear. Gravity threw me forward as Raivox stopped abruptly, and I slammed face-first into his neck, a fiery burn streaking across my chin when the scales scraped over my skin. A hard thud knocked me to the side, and my gaze latched onto the dragon’s stomach below me, as Raivox locked talons with the beast midair, its back hurtling toward the ground. I pressed myself flat to Raivox while the three of us plummeted toward the gorge in a dizzying spin. Both creatures tangled together, fighting for dominance, and guts rising to my throat, I braced myself for a horrible impact.

The dragon snapped its maw, those sharp teeth only inches from my boot. Raivox spat a torrent of silver over the other creature’s opened maw and wrenched himself free from its talons.