Sirki nodded. “Yes. But it will be a bit of a squeeze.”
Jacques’s face lightened and Dani glared at him. “No squeezing.”
“I will just—”
“No.” She raised the metal bin, and garbage swirled into the air.
His face fell. “No squeezing,” he agreed.
Dani set the bin back down. Sirki crouched and Dani scrambled onto her foreleg, and from there to her back. Jacques mounted between the spikes behind her. His thighs moved up alongside her hips.
She shot him a look over her shoulder and sent a tin can bouncing off his head. He winced, sighed, and moved his legs away again.
“All aboard?” Sirki’s head twisted back to peer at them.
“Yep. Let’s go,” Dani urged.
Sirki leaped for the sky, and Jacques uttered a small squeak of surprise. Instead of clutching the spikes in front of him, he grabbed Dani’s shoulders.
In moments, the buildings were far below them. Dani gave him until the Dragona’s flight leveled out before snarling back at him, “That counts as squeezing.”
His hands snatched back. “Touchy.”
“Not if I can help it.”
“Where are we going?” Sirki’s words whipped back to them on the wind.
“Head deeper into the mountains,” Jacques shouted back. “There should be a series of river valleys between us and them. They will point the way.”
Sirki rose higher, and the valleys became visible. She banked toward them and followed their outlines in the moonlight.
“That mountain with the double peak,” the Satyr said, pointing. “The fortress is built into the side. Red stone, very different from that surrounding it. But there will be guards, so stay high. If they come after us, we will have to run.” He sounded tense.
Sirki rose, her wings catching a thermal that spiraled them higher.
The fortress was only visible as a dark blob below them, and there was no sign of life. Dani’s stomach twisted into a knot. “Shouldn’t there be lights?”
“Yes.” Jacques sounded even more uneasy. “Unless it is currently unoccupied. He does have other residences, but this is his main one.”
“Maybe Tyrez moved on from here?” Sirki sounded worried as she cocked her head for a better look. Then she hissed. “The fortress is damaged!”
Without warning, she tucked her wings close, and dove.
“There might be guards!” shouted Jacques, once again clutching Dani’s shoulders.
Dammit.Dani let go of the spike to remove his grip, and their world exploded with fire.
The energy surged through them and turned night into day. Sirki screamed and writhed, ripping Dani’s remaining hand away from the spike. Jacques shrieked, a long, thin wail of despair as the Dragona’s wings flailed.
Sirki flipped right over, and Dani’s legs slid free. She was in freefall, dropping like a stone. In desperation, she reached out with her power to try to slow down her fall by pushing off the cliffs coming at her...
She slammed into them and knew nothing more.
25
Tyrez drifted in a fog of pain.
A muffled shriek pierced it, shattering the darkness into a million pieces. It was a scream he recognized.Sirki.And then came the sensation of falling—plummeting earthward without any control.
