AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Their agonized cries fill the air as the skin melts from their bones and they turn to ash.
The ice breaks beneath them and I watch in horror as Freyja collapses and then falls through and into the icy water below.
CHAPTER63
AURDYN
Idive into the icy torrent, panicked at first when I do not see her. But a flash of red catches my eye as sunlight filters through the water, lighting the crimson strands like a beacon in the ice-cold darkness.
I wrap my arms around her and kick my legs, beating my wings furiously to reach the surface. I grit my teeth against the stabbing pain of my wing joint, injured when we fell to the ground.
As soon as we break through, Brovyn flies up behind me, gripping my arms and taking us to the Healer, on the opposite side of the clearing.
King Davin lays his heavy woolen cloak down on the ground and I quickly lay Freyja atop it. The Dwarves turn their backs as the Healer slices away her wet clothing, but someone else quickly covers her with another cloak.
Freyja’s face is deathly pale and her normally pink lips are tinged blue. She lies with an unnatural stillness that stops my heart as the Healer moves her hands over her in assessment.
A tear slips down her cheek as she lifts her gaze to me. “She is beyond my abilities.”
Pain spears my chest. “You are wrong,” I grind out, refusing to believe it. “She will live. I know she will.”
She exchanges a glance with the Dwarf Healer beside her, and the other one tilts her head to me. “Perhaps her own people… maybe their Healers could—”
“Ruhaen is chaos.” He gestures to the human soldiers, each of them walking around as if in a daze. An effect of the lifting of an enchantment held over them for too long. “It will be that way in the rest of their kingdom. Your best hope is the human kingdom of Florin.”
“Stand back!” I yell.
Despite the searing pain in my wing, I transform into my Dragon form and scoop Freyja’s limp form up with my front paw.
“The humans will likely attack you if you show up in their kingdom,” Brovyn says quickly. “If they have black arrows—”
“I will have to chance it,” I grind out.
“Then, I’m coming with you,” he quickly replies. He signals to five others. “With us!” he commands and we take to the skies.
CHAPTER64
AURDYN
The flight to Florin feels as if it takes forever, although I know it is little more than a few hours away since we cut through the mountains. I cradle Freyja to my chest, holding her close so she can warm with the heat from my body.
Desperate to hear her voice, I reach for her through the bond.“Freyja, please. Say something, my T’kara.”
The silence that echoes in reply is deafening.
The moment we cross the border into the kingdom of Florin, alarm bells begin to ring throughout the countryside, alerting their people of danger.
Soldiers scramble to nock their arrows, but we fly past before they can hit their mark. Not that it would matter, since none thus far have been those that can pierce Dragon scales.
I suspect they keep those at the castle, and although we are likely to be in danger when we reach it, I cannot turn back. Not now. Freyja’s life depends upon it.
As we fly over the city, panicked cries and shouts fill the air. People scatter, fleeing for shelter, afraid they’re being attacked by Dragons.
It’s been at least three generations since my people visited these lands, but I’m sure the stories have survived the long years, sprung up from the ashes of the cities my kind razed to the ground.
When we reach the capital city, I’m vaguely aware of colorful banners and decorations scattered throughout, as if they are in the midst of a celebration of some sort. A festival perhaps.
The guards along the wall shoot their pitiful arrows and they bounce harmlessly off my scales. Panic quickens my heart when I notice the large bows on four of the castle turrets.
