Page 114 of A Thief Among Fae

“Climb, or we’re leaving you behind!” I warn.

She tenses, then sprints toward us. I focus on the reins in Desmond’s hand. One whip of my magic, and I crack them hard. The horses bolt, their hooves thundering, dust rising into dangerously obscuring clouds.

“Cyn!” Desmond shouts in reprimand, but I trust myself. This is the right plan.

Auri swears from the carriage’s hind ledge as the wheels bump hard enough to jerk our chins. She made it.

The ground shakes as the lindwyrm smacks itself against the mountainside. Dislodged boulders roll toward us. One hits the path ahead with a heavy tremor, and the horses rear back.

My blood runs cold as the lindwyrm climbs onto the path, swatting the boulder away with its giant head. A chortle rumbles deep in its throat. It grins, bearing fangs dripping with venom.

To my horror, Desmond jumps off Enbarr and cuts the horses loose. Enbarr runs back the way we came. Aether hesitates, his ears flattening as he bares his teeth at the beast.

The lindwyrm strikes, its jaw unhinging before it snaps around Aether in one bite. It swallows. The large lump of Aether’s body slides down its massive throat.

Finnian sucks in a breath. “Shit. He was my favorite horse.”

“It is time to fight,” Min says. She opens the hatch beneath our feet and dispenses weapons.

Desmond throws the carriage door open, takes his sword from her, and looks at me. “How this ends depends on you. Will you listen to me?”

There isn’t time to debate it. One heartbeat. One breath. “Yes.” Somehow that admission feels more dangerous than the lindwyrm roaring before us.

“Then let me take the lead.” His hazel eyes shine, the golden-brown of dappled sunlight on soil and the green of whispering summer leaves. So much assurance, so much faith in me.

I nod as my stomach somersaults. Then I grab my bow and quiver, and I follow everyone out of the carriage. There’s no time to be flustered. Distraction is just as dangerous as fear.

The lindwyrm rears back, head swaying as it watches us. I get the sense it hasn’t attacked yet because it’s biding its time, toying with us.

“What’s the plan?” I ask.

“Launch me.” Desmond unsheathes his sword and jumps atop the boulder on the path. He looks at me in expectation.

When I realize what he wants, I almost hesitate. He’s crazy, and crazy just might work. I draw a deep breath and thread magic through my veins. If I miss, the fall will kill him. I let just a whisper of fear out of my mental bottle, enough that I wait for the right moment.

The lindwyrm rears back to charge. Now.

I lift the boulder, pull it down, and slam it up like a spring. Desmond flies through the air, landing with enviable finesse atop the lindwyrm’s back.

“Min, Finnian, we need its mouth wide open. Cyn, help Auri!” he shouts. He runs along the spiked ridges of the lindwyrm’s spine, then jumps its whipping tail as it tries to smack him off. It spits poison onto its own scales in an attempt to strike him. The globs hiss and smoke.

“I don’t need your help,” Auri tells me as she readies her bow. “Stay out of my way.”

Clenching my dagger is the only thing that stops me from saying, Sure, fight it on your own! and leaving her side. As much as I might fantasize about a monster biting her in two, I’d rather survive. She’s our best chance against the lindwyrm. I glare at her. “Desmond told me to stay with you.”

“And I don’t trust a human to watch my back!” She shoots. The arrow pierces the soft flesh of the lindwyrm’s eye. It screeches as lightning blinds it and burns its eye into a smoldering wound. The lindwyrm rolls off the mountainside.

“It’ll crush Desmond!” I shout.

Auri scoffs. “You underestimate him.”

A rumble shakes the pass as the wyrm crashes down the ditch. Debris tumbles. Dust clouds rise. Desmond emerges, running across the creature’s underbelly as he rakes his sword along it. Blood flies in its wake. He runs like it’s a dance that he was born knowing every step.

I can’t help my impressed gasp as he leaps off its body and lands on both feet.

The lindwyrm hisses and writhes. Its belly scales have dulled to a translucent white, splotches of blood and darkened tissue underneath them. What in the gods’ names. . . Is Desmond’s blade poison-coated?

There’s no time to think on it as the beast charges after Desmond. “Cyn!” Min calls out. “Boost me!” She shifts into the same beastly feline as last night, then leaps atop a rock.