“It’s not safe.”
“Dying isn’t safe! I’m never flying again.” She shrieks as I twist to the left. An arrow whizzes past us. For fuck’s sake! How many fucking assassins are hitting us at once?
The hawk is the steed of an infamous bitch who calls herself Hawk. What she lacks in imagination though, she more than makes up for in her ability to kill. But she always works alone.
The newcomer fires another arrow at us. I barrel roll, then drop. Arienna’s wild panicking is making it hard to fly smoothly, but it’s also making it near on impossible for our assassin to shoot us.
Dropping her bow, she draws her sword and charges for us instead. The rest of my guard is behind us, dealing with what seems to be the entire guild of assassins.
Forced to drop Arienna onto a branch so I can fight, I veer towards the closest one. “Hide,” I order as I turn around and pull out a knife. I throw it at the assassin’s chest. She isn’t as fast as Jace, and she gasps as it slams into her ribs. Her sword drops as I unsheath another blade. Already flying over to her, I slice open her neck. She falls, and I turn back to my queen.
To find yet another woman already there – sneaking up behind my wife.
“Arienna!” I shout as I fly towards her.
But although she turns to face her assailant, she doesn’t know how to fight.
With one easy shove, the assassin pushes Arienna out of the tree.
I dive as she screams. Another arrow aims for me. If I dodge it, I’ll lose the precious time needed to save my wife. If I take the hit, I’ll lose her anyway. Then I’ll be dead too and unable to avenge her.
Yelling in anguish, I twist to the side. The arrow splinters apart in front of me as a rock slams into it from the side. A crow dives past me, heading for my wife.
I fly after it, my heart in my throat as the forest screams with clashing blades and whistling arrows. A ball of magic explodes somewhere behind me, but all of my attention is on the crow infront of me. It’s blocking the view of my wife. We’re too close to the forest floor. It isn’t going to make it.
Spreading its wings, the crow catches itself right before it hits. I cry out, expecting to see Arienna’s splattered body on the ground, laid out across the root of a tree, but there's nothing there. Just the life of the forest.
I look up at Petre’s crow and see it clutching my wife in one talon. She screams as she kicks her legs and holds on tight to the claws wrapped around her shoulders.
“I want to be on the ground.”
But Petre’s bird flies up.
I whistle as I rush after it, praying that Maeve is alive. My heart tightens when I don’t hear an answering caw.
And then there it is.
Full of irritation and ruffled feathers, but it's strong. Both of my girls are going to be okay.
Petre’s crow deposits my wife gently on a branch, then lands beside it. Arienna drops to her hands and knees, clutching at the bark. The Dragon stands guard over her, two knives drawn, as the rest of the Court and my guards battle it out a few trees away.
“Arienna,” I say as I land, then kneel beside her. She flops onto the branch, with her arms and legs spread out as if she’s trying to hug it with all four limbs.
“No! No! No! No! No! I’m staying right here!”
“Are you hurt?”
“Yes! That was terrifying!”
“Physically?”
“No.” Then… “The belt is digging into my vagina. I think it’s halfway into my belly by now.”
“You need to get up.”
“No.”
“We need to get out of here.”
