As soon as the fire’s heat above me disappeared, I jumped back to my feet. I avoided looking down andstepped backward. I needed to put more space between me and thatthingbefore it shot fire at me again.
I kept my eyes on the arthropodic monster while stepping backward. It didn’t move toward me, but a rumbling chittering sound filled the bridge behind me. I spun to see what made the noise.
The sight snagged my breath. Giant crabs—hundreds of them—skittered onto the bridge between me and the elves I’d just fled. They swarmed over each other, forming a new moving, writhing surface on the bridge.
I whipped my head around again to check on the first monster. It was no longer alone either. At least a dozen more giant crabs had joined it, and they all started unfurling their unusual mouths.
Blood rushed to my head. I couldn’t dodge them all. I turned back to the larger group, and they opened their mouths too.
My breath shortened. Would they burn me from both sides? I risked a look at the lake down below, and the entire landscape tilted. I grabbed my head.Not again, I silently shouted at myself.I can’t keep losing my entire sense of up and down. Not when I need to make decisions.
I glanced at the lake again. Could I survive a fall hundreds of feet like that? I shook my head. Not likely.
But these fiery crabs? Would I survive their flames? Definitely not.
I didn’t have time to convince myself to jump. Their mouths opened. Flames filled my vision, and I closed my eyes.
Heat enveloped me, surrounding my body on both sides. But the searing pain I expected from fire did not come. Instead, the air warmed like a hot, summer day.
My eyes flew open, and my stomach flipped as I realized what had happened. A great black, leathery wing wrapped in front of me, shielding me from the giant horde of overgrown crabs, while a drekkan body protected me from the monsters behind us.
A new warmth rose inside my chest, and it overwhelmed me with feelings for the cursed drekkan king. He had come. He told me to leave, but he came anyway. He’d protected me again, even though I’d broken his rule, invaded his rose cavern, and run away. He’d come and rescued me from my own rash decision. I reached out and touched his wing. Heat met my fingertips. Such beautiful heat. “Thank you,” I whispered.
He roared and, even from within his wing, I felt his fire sear the air. Then he unwrapped the wing around me just enough that he could turn and blow flames behind us both.
After a few seconds he lifted his wings away from my body and backed up until he made eye-contact with me. He was so big that the bridge looked very narrow and unstable under him. I wanted to tell him to hold still before he fell, but I didn’t. I didn’t say a word.
Piles of ashes littered the bridge, and the smells of burnt and combusting shells reached me as soon as the drekkan stepped away. Burnt shells and cold air. I wouldn’t be able to cross the bridge, in either direction, until the ashes cooled and cleared. I was going to get very cold before I could leave the bridge.
The king’s gravelly drekkan voice rumbled through the air. He seemed to be attempting a soft volume, but it easily carried through the morning chill. “I’m going to pick you up unless you say not to.”
I raised my arms so his claw could wrap around my waist more securely, and then I relaxed into his warm, scaly hold as he lifted me off the bridge.
Chapter 11: Aedan
Iswooped down from the bridge with Callista in my claws and let the cool wind rush into my face. My heart had nearly stopped when I saw her on the bridge surrounded by the karkins.
I hadn’t realized the threat of her death would affect me so dramatically.
Now that the danger had ended, my heart needed something stronger than cold air to help it recover. The burns on my skin needed help too, but at least I knew what would soothe them.
I skirted above the lake, behind the stone pillar that held my fortress, into the forest on the opposite side of the Ancestral Bridge. I dropped into a canyon barely wide enough for my wings.
Callista gasped. Had her fear of heights resurfaced?
“Do you need to stop?” I asked.
“No,” she panted. “I’m fine. Just startled.”
She spoke honestly, so I continued until the mountain cut away to reveal a small grotto. I landed on the edge of a large pool that was half covered by a gaping cave. Its still water reflected icicle-covered trees and frozen rock. The cave hung over half the pool, extending backward a hundred feet.
I set Callista down on the stone and stepped away from her in an effort to be less intimidating.
Her eyes widened as she took in the grotto. “This place is… incredible.” Her voice quivered, and she wrapped her hands around her arms.
“The ice crystals are beautiful,” I answered, “but perhaps I can warm a space for you.” I pressed a clawed hand to the large stone she stood on and filled both the stone and the air above it with a heat that sent steam rising above her head.
She took a huge breath and smiled. “Thank you.” It was an attractive smile—the kind that came from genuine happiness or gratitude instead of expectation or obligation. I clenched my teeth, reminding myself that I no longer trusted her.
