“Know someone that will give you good coin for her.” The guard perused Vali from head to toe. “Maybe the other, too, if I can get a look at her.”
He was guessing, and I knew it. The cloak hid Vali’s curves well. “He’d stick a knife in you if you tried,” I replied easily. “And the Satyr is a done deal. We’re just delivering her.”
Well done,Iskar said. A Satyr female and three males guarding her. Enough to give this cretin pause.
Hopefully.
The guard exhaled. “Too bad. Could use some entertainment around here.” He backed away, cradling the coins, but continued to trade glares with Havoc as we left the building and entered the streets of Drundas.
Clouds hung low in the sky, and the drizzle, so fine it was more a mist, had every surface dripping. I pulled my hood as far forward as it would go.
“You usually kill the gate guards when you come here?” Vali asked Havoc.
The red Dragon glared at her, but to my surprise, he answered. “They don’t dare bother Brock’s pinions.”
That was an important distinction. Havoc knew this world well, but he wasn’t used to flying solo in it.
It will color everything he does,Iskar cautioned.So it’s best if you take the lead.
I doubted that Havoc would agree, but I wasn’t about to ask him, either. There was more than one way to lead.
“What’s the fastest way out of town?” I followed, but scouted for alternative routes.
Havoc turned us to the left.
“Do the Claws run the entire city?” I asked.
“Yep.”
I gazed at the mountain range in the distance. Their snow-covered peaks disappeared into the clouds. “We’re going over those?”
He snorted. “Not over. Through.”
Vali chimed in. “I read that this mountain range averages 25,000 feet. Too tall to fly over.”
Havoc shrugged. “I could do it.”
Kiko stared at him. “You’d suffocate. The air’s too thin up there.”
“Might freeze first. Didn’t say I’d be comfortable,” Havoc growled. “But there’s no need, not when there’s a pass through them.”
I glanced around. “So I am assuming it would be best not to sprout wings until we are clear of the buildings?”
His copper eyes flicked my way. “You planning on growing wings?”
“Don’t need to. Not with two Dragons on the team.”
He snorted, this time with steam. “No one rides me.”
“Seriously?” Vali’s tone was acidic. “That is your response?”
When he said nothing, merely stalking a step ahead of the rest of us, she continued. “I can carry two. But we’d be faster if each carried one.”
“I will take one in my talons,” Havoc insisted. “Not on my back.”
Vali’s hood turned toward him. “They can’t hang from your talons for hours, you idiot.”
“I. Am. NOT. An idiot.”
