AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lynx swore at my back, but I barely heard him before I dove. For a second, I plunged through the salt-tinged air, the wind streaming around me. A few civilians on the street stared up at me in frozen terror.
The next second, my wings snapped out, and I soared above them. One of them ducked, throwing up his arms, as if I’d come terrifyingly close.
I flapped my wings in quick, desperate strokes. I soared as fast as I dared, winding between the buildings, staying low so the Scourge wouldn’t see me coming.
I whipped around a corner, so low the city gates loomed above me. Bodies—civilian and guard—were scattered across the cobblestones, and blood gleamed in the cracks between the rocks. A handful of embattled guards ringed civilians, three desperate faces who lit with hope when they saw me even as the Scourge pressed toward them.
The Scourge were too close to blast fire at them. Instead, I grabbed a Scourge and lifted him up, soaring high above the city gates, before I threw him over the walls. His flesh tore away under my claws, but he fell soundlessly, plummeting on the other side of the wall at the same time as I folded my wings and plummeted too.
One of the guards was down, pinned down by a Scourge who was about to tear into his throat. The Scourge looked up with terrified eyes the second before I snatched him and carried him up into the sky.
When I landed again, the Scourge were running. I breathed fire, sending a blast over them; cleansing fire rippled over their rotten flesh. The heat was reflected by the walls of the buildings and a child behind me screamed, but I blocked them from the worst of the smoke and damage.
I turned my head over my shoulder to see the guards herding the children to safety. The wounded guard struggled to rise. His shoulder was ripped open. I watched him, unsure how quickly the Scourge turned and if one bite was all it took; I was ready to strike.
“Thank you,” he managed, wobbling to his feet and reaching for his sword.
I wished him well but didn’t have time to try to keep him alive. I had to move, and I soared for the next gate.
I lapped the city, making sure every gate was sealed. One of those gates was near the Posselbaum Academy. The expansive white marble building pressed against the wall—I was pretty sure the Posselbaum girls had a hidden way out of the city—but no one was escaping now.
As I soared over, Scourge were swarming the steps.
Hanna.
The memory of Honor’s strawberry-blond shadow rose in my mind, along with a lurch. I liked Hanna in her own right—she had a fearless, wild spirit—but I also couldn’t bear for anything to happen to the last family Honor loved.
I dove. The Scourge on the stairs scattered, even before I breathed out fire, but I turned and caught them all in turn. Each of the running figures was haloed by fire against the city street before they crumbled away to nothing.
I’ve got the gates,I told Lynx through our dragon bond.Clean up the streets.
Except for the two who scrambled through the open door to the academy.
We need you here, Branok. We’ve got Scourge hiding all over the city, and we have to clear them out house to house.
I couldn’t enter as a dragon. I shifted forms and strode quickly up the stairs.
Sorry,I told my twin.I’m needed here.
Inside, several Posselbaum girls fought fiercely against a half-dozen Scourge, but they were being slowly edged up the stairs. Girls were screaming somewhere else in the back of the house.
Where?Lynx demanded.
I flashed an image of the destroyed hall and the sitting room beyond. Upturned potted plants, torn lace curtains, blood streaking the gilt wallpaper. The Scourge turned to me and snarled.
“That’s right,” I said. “Leave the little girls alone and come play with me.”
One of the girls on the stairs paused with her bloody sword raised in front of her and gave me an affronted look. “Excuse me?”
I raised my hand and palmed my fire, drawing my sword with my other hand.
The Scourge fled.
I chased them through the house, blasting fire at them whenever I had a clear shot, slashing with my sword to get them away from the girls. I stepped on Scourge underfoot as I pursued them relentlessly, trying to kill every single one of them.
That scream sounded again from the back of the house.
I burst into the kitchen, the world blurry with my speed. Two blond girls were trying to hold off a monster. They had knives, but that meant they had to get close, and it growled and leapt at them, trying to rip into the throat of the nearest girl.
