Page 138 of Throne of Ice and Blood
A second later, ice flames streak past in the space we used to occupy. Bane roars in anger again and opens his jaws. Ice flames shoot towards us.
And slam right into a thick wall made of ice.
Atop Galen’s back, Isera stares at Bane as if she is going to rip the dragon emperor’s heart out with her bare hands. The freezing and utterly otherworldly fury on her face snatches the breath from my lungs and makes fear ripple down my spine. Whatever held Isera together back in the Seelie Court has snapped now. And I have no idea what she is planning to do anymore.
Fire crackles through the air as Draven breathes flames back at the Icehearts at the same time as Galen and Lyra do the same. The fire shoots towards them from three directions, joined a second later by a massive torrent of flames from Alistair.
It forces the Icehearts to dodge, breaking their headlong flight towards us.
But dragons from the Silver Clan are soaring over the ice walls and heading straight for us. In a matter of moments, we’ll be outnumbered. I whip my head from side to side. The other dragons from the Black Dragon Clan are speeding towards the horizon, just like Draven ordered. We only need to buy them a few more minutes.
But thenwealso need to get out. And how we’re supposed to do that, I have no idea.
My stomach lurches, and I press my legs harder against Draven’s scales, as he turns sharply and flies around the Icehearts, coming up at them from behind. As if they have done this move several times before, Lyra and Galen do the same from the other directions.
Black clouds gather around us as Draven summons his magic. I grip his spikes tighter as lightning cracks through the air, missing Jessina’s wings by a hair’s breadth. She roars inoutrage and shoots ice flames in our direction. Draven dives right on time.
But then the other silver dragons reach us.
My body jerks back and forth as Draven veers and dives and twists to evade the mass of dragons now attacking us. Black clouds and storm winds and lightning flash around us, forcing parts of the attackers back.
Fire and ice clash in the air, lighting up the night sky and making explosions echo across the landscape.
Lyra breathes fire at her attackers while Alistair works in perfect tandem with her and uses his fire magic to protect her from the dragons that try to swarm her from behind.
Isera, on the other hand, isn’t protecting anyone. She is attacking Bane with such fury that the mountain itself trembles. Ice shoots through the air like massive spears, aiming for Bane’s wings in a relentless hail of attacks. And it’s all he can do to block them all with his own ice flames.
Draven swerves around a cluster of attackers, slashing them with his claws. One of them screams. Draven clamps his jaws around the silver dragon’s neck and rips his throat out. Blood rains down over the mountainside, followed by the body of the silver dragon that slams into the stones with a thud that echoes against the ice walls.
And all I can do is to just sit there uselessly on his back. I don’t have any magic that can help them fight the way Isera and Alistair can. But Goddess damn it, I need to do something.
Silver flashes all around me as the horde of dragon shifters try to overwhelm us with sheer numbers. Just Bane and Jessina alone are dangerous enough. We need to get the rest of these shifters away from us. Especially before they can get any more dragons out here.
An idea flashes through my mind.
“Draven!” I scream over the rushing winds. “Take us out over the city.”
He rips his claws into another dragon while sending bolts of lightning straight at Jessina and dodging another attack from the side.
“Trust me!” I yell.
He lets out a roar and then breathes a torrent of fire in a long wall before us. As if they could understand him, Lyra and Galen immediately disengage and follow him as we race towards the city.
“Take us down lower,” I call at him.
Rooftops flash past right below us as Draven dives so that he is flying right above the buildings. The crowds of humans, who had come out onto the streets to see what was happening up by the castle, scream in fear and duck down.
“The Red Hand has been captured!” I bellow over and over again at the top of my lungs as we soar past street after street. “The human resistance has been captured! They’re about to be executed!”
And then I summon my magic.
I don’t even know if this will work. It’s going to require an enormous amount of energy. And even if I am somehow strong enough to do it, it’s only going to work for a few seconds. So I need to make this count.
Gritting my teeth, I reach deep into my energy reserves.
And then I shove my magic across the entire city of Frostfell.
It latches on to the pale red flames of anger that I have been building in the humans’ chests for weeks now. Those flames have flared up even brighter at the news that the Icehearts are about to execute the Red Hand and the rest of the resistance.
