Marcus ducked the darts, just as the water below the oncoming Dragon boiled, and Havoc erupted from beneath. He buried talons and teeth in the Dragon and hauled it back into the water with him.
I heard a scream coming from above—Tyrez and Talakai had found us. Tyrez was in hot pursuit of another Dragon ridden by a woman with long white hair, while Talakai chased four Wyverns away from the lake.
There was a flash of red-hued energy that rippled over my skin, and for just an instant, a portal appeared in the sky. The mounted Dragon and Wyverns vanished in an instant. With ascream of frustration, Tyrez banked away, while Talakai hovered in the wind before dropping our way.
Marcus banked again, his gaze scanning the water. “Where is she?”
I wrapped my hands around his feathers and tried to reform the connection. But it wasn’t there. Pushing back on my panic, I retraced my impressions. They’d dived into the water—and then swum beneath it, toward the shore. I backtracked even more, fixing random images in my mind. Of that strangely hooked peak, which had been to her left when she’d gone into the water. Of the direction they’d swum. Of the nature of the silty bank.
Boulders rimmed much of the lake’s shoreline, but the western edge had a beach that was half frozen. If she was hiding there, why hadn’t she come out when Havoc killed the Dragons?
The thought had clearly occurred to Marcus, too. “Why isn’t-t she c-coming out?” he asked.
It wasn’t until then that I remembered the other thing—the sense of losing strength, of her mind fogging…
“I think they drugged her,” I said.
His beak clacked. “The dart-ts,” he hissed.
“Fly over that beach.” I pointed.
He banked and did so, slowing until he was almost hovering, while we scanned the frozen shore. My eyes traced it—the very edges of the water had thin ice. Then I saw a small section, where it seemed thicker.
“Wait!” I said. “There!”
He hovered over it, and his eyes flashed.
Havoc dropped from above, and braked at the last possible second, sending the vicious tailspike arching down to smash into the ice.
It splintered into a million tiny pieces. Marcus landed on the shore, and I was off him and sprinting for the spot before he’dfully touched down. I waded into the ice-filled water—and found the opening beneath the silty bank.
I reached beneath and touched skin.
Not warm.
Icy cold, and unmoving.
15
Tez
I watched Nemi flit among the swamp flowers as the sun sank below the horizon.
At least, I assumed it was sinking. The unending clouds had darkened substantially in the half hour that I’d been out here, and the fucking nature sounds increased, warning me that wandering the swamp at night was not the wisest thing I could be doing.
The densest foliage had been hacked back from the stronghold for a few hundred feet in each direction, but the ground still squished beneath my feet, and I didn’t dare step off the beaten path. It wouldn’t be there at all if it weren’t for the staff collecting smokebush for the mercs, which grew thick along each side.
But apparently, the plants that liked constant dampness also bloomed with abundance, and Nemi was in her glory. She never seemed to get wet, even when it poured, dodging the drops with ease. I worried that the sweet solutions I fed her wouldn’t give her everything she needed, so I had dragged myself out into the rain to give her access to other sources.
When yet another rivulet of water crept beneath my hood, I turned and headed back. Nemi immediately flitted along with me.
Slade stood beneath the entrance overhang, arms crossed, watching me.
He had escorted me away from Victor’s suite without uttering a single word, and left me where he’d found me—at the mess hall. So I was surprised to see him now. His gaze tracked past me, and upward.
I turned to see the four Wyverns winging their way below the cloud level, but only one Dragon was with them—the one carrying the white-haired woman.
As Nemi returned to my shoulder and twittered nervously, they landed. Victor must have been watching—he stalked out onto his ledge.
