I turned to Onyx and cradled his massive head between my hands. “Listen to me. I know you don’t like to fly with people on your back, but I need you to work with me. Okay?” I ran a tender hand through his feathered mane and dragged my fingers under his chin. “Please?”
He must’ve sensed the building anxiety in my voice, because he didn’t object. Instead he simply kneeled and tilted his wing to the ground. I would’ve used Reine, my other legendary feline beast. But her teleportation magic was still depleted, and the gap between the butte and the safe side of the canyon was too great. We’d never make it. It had to be Onyx. And we had to survive long enough for him to make multiple trips.
“Good boy.” I gave him one last pat and then turned to Calem and Oz. “You two are up first. He’ll carry you to the other side of the canyon.”
“What about you? And Noc?” Oz asked. Another disastrous current of wind screamed through the air, and we jumped in place.
“It’s already a risk for him to carry both of you at the same time. He’s used to only transporting me, but he can do it.” I glanced at my beast, and he huffed in anticipation. “He’ll come back for Noc and me.”
“Leena, no. This is—”
“Don’t argue with me!” I snapped, cutting Calem off. “If you don’t do it now, we’ll all die.”
Calem slammed his mouth shut and nodded, making a beeline for Onyx. Oz paused only for a moment, casting a worried glance toward Noc, then to me. He clambered onto Onyx’s back behind Calem, and I gave my beast a pat on the haunches.
“Fly like hell.”
Onyx let out a war cry and then sprinted toward the ledge, heavy paws thudding against the ground. Just as he reached the lip of the plateau, another monstrous channel of wind erupted right in front him. Followed immediately by the Prentiss.
My whole world stopped. A scaled, serpentine body large enough to wrap itself around the butte emerged. Using the talons at the joint of its bat-like wings, it anchored itself on the edge of the cliff. Gleaming eyes targeted us with unparalleled ferocity. The Prentiss cracked open its maw, revealing monstrous fangs longer than elephant trunks and twice as thick, and inhaled. Air whirled in a vortex down its throat.
I threw myself to the ground and summoned my Graveltot. Grundy, my small, spherical beast covered in stone, rolled into place in front of me. The slate rocks hiding his feet shifted, and he thrust his hooves into the ground, activating his power. A dome of gravity formed above us and shoved me face-first into the ground. My lungs threatened to collapse with the weight, but I’d stopped sliding toward the Prentiss’s gaping mouth. I barely had the strength to turn my head and look for Noc.
He was completely immobile, head still bent in a reverent pose. Whatever commune he was having with the gods, it left him in a trancelike state. The Prentiss’s wind cut around him, doing nothing more than tousling his hair and confirming my fear—only royals were welcome here. And while I was his intended, I still wasn’t yet one of them.
A sharp yowl rattled my ears. Onyx skidded wildly against the Prentiss’s vacuum. His claws left deep wounds in the earth, but it wasn’t enough. The beast reared back, pulling even more air into its once-deflated belly, and Onyx lost all control.
And tumbled right over the edge of the butte.
“Onyx!” Body trembling under Grundy’s magic, I reached for Onyx. Black spots dotted my vision, and my chest heaved. Onyx. Calem. Oz. Myfamily.
Tears filled my eyes. The Prentiss paused his attack and sniffed the air around me, as if trying to determine why I hadn’t moved. A low growl simmered from his throat as he targeted my Graveltot.
From somewhere in the canyon, a triumphant caterwaul echoed through the air. And then Onyx exploded from the deep, wings furiously beating and chasing away the red dust. He climbed higher and higher with Oz and Calem still safely secured on his back.
“Thank the gods,” I whispered.
But Onyx’s call had pulled the Prentiss’s attention, and it once again cracked open its maw. A dangerous vortex formed and Onyx slowed, fighting against the current with all his might. Calem and Oz desperately tried to help by throwing shadow blade after shadow blade toward the beast. Maybe if the Prentiss inhaled one, it’d damage its organs and halt the assault. The first one came hurtling toward its maw, and just before it could be sucked down into the beast’s guts, the blade simply disappeared. The beast’s wind magic was too strong for the shadows to hold their forms.
Think, Leena.I was painfully aware of how small, how insignificant, I was in comparison to this S-Class beast.S-Class.My mind whirred. The Prentiss had either sucked up or dispersed most of the dust with its whirlwinds, which meant the air was at least semi-clear and free enough for another substance to settle in. Say, mist.
I’d been waiting to call on Aeon, giving him room to adjust after his time with Yazmin, but I needed him now.
Inhaling deeply, I channeled all my power toward the symbol on my hand. The beast realm door rumbled open, and I sent Grundy home just as a wolf-sized creature manifested before me. My Vrees’s usual, playful demeanor was nowhere to be found. Aeon’s burning white eyes targeted the Prentiss with deadly accuracy, and his ears pinned to the base of his skull. With hackles raised to the heavens, he let out a threatening snarl. The ball of lightning in his center sparked with blue electricity, visible due to his sieve-like body composition. Mist gathered in the negative spaces, flooding outward around him, and he took a predatory step forward.
The Prentiss stopped inhaling, its once-deflated belly now swollen with air. Still focused on Onyx, it peeled back its maw with ferocious certainty.
“Protect Onyx.” I backed up, nearly colliding with Noc, to give Aeon as much space as possible.
Immediately, Aeon grew, towering above us and shielding Noc and me with the underside of his belly. Mist fell in droves from his frame as a swell of static energy filled the air. The hairs along my arms stood on end. It’d take him a few more minutes yet to fully charge, meaning his lightning would have to wait.
Before that could happen, the Prentiss attacked.
The wind stored in its belly swirled outward from its open jaw like a tornado, aimed directly at Onyx, Calem, and Oz. Onyx cut hard to the left, barely avoiding the devastating torrent and nearly ousting Oz and Calem from his back. But the Prentiss followed them, jerking his head sharply to bring the violent stream of air their way.
Aeon lunged. With a loud snap, he gnashed his teeth around the Prentiss’s neck, cutting off its wind supply and eliciting a bloodcurdling growl. A far less forceful gust eked through and hit its mark, knocking Onyx off course. But at least he was alive. At least Calem and Oz were still clinging to his back for dear life.
The Prentiss screeched and dislodged from the butte’s edge. Wings flapping erratically, it tried in vain to break Aeon’s grip. Each gust of wind threatened to chase away Aeon’s mist, but he kept pouring more and more from his body. Soon, the air was thick with moisture. Breathing hard, I edged toward Noc.
