Page 148 of With Wing And Claw

At the far end of the corridor, winged shapes were sweeping in through the open arches.

Fuck. Faster than she’d thought.

Change of plan, then. She burst through the nearest door to her left, into an intimate little parlour exceptionally suited for threatening troublesome fae nobles – then out of the window, where five floors overlooked what was little more than a glorified air vent. She flew two stories up, scattering red at every window she passed. Her pursuers didn’t need to know through which one she’d entered the castle again.

By the time she dashed into a fourth-floor office, the sky above her was already darkening with wings.

She was beyond panic, now. There was nothing but breathless, lightheaded exhilaration left in her veins, driving her back into the maze ofcorridors. Around this corner and the next. Into the spiralling stairwell with its twisted, thorn-like railings. Outside, behind the open arches, she could see the throngs of circling fae, and—

And another target they were after?

She stumbled mid-step.

What in the world? More and more of the soldiers on her trail were looking away from the tower through which she was fleeing. Instead, their gazes were turning towards two lone figures circling just above the gardens, shouting insults at the force above them, flinging up red magic at anyone coming too close.

Wait. She knew those faces.

Archivists?

Why in Korok’s flaming hell were two of Gadyon’s assistants hovering there, taunting an entire bloodthirsty army on their own?

The soldiers began to dive before she could figure out the answer to that question, shouts of annoyance rising from their ranks – and for a moment, they seemed to have forgotten about their chase entirely. Notallof them, of course. Enough others were already swarming over the roofs. But at least a few dozen of them were going after the intruders – far, far more than a couple of clerks could ever hope to survive.

Which wasn’t her problem.

Shereallyhad enough trouble to deal with already.

She dove after them.

It almost made sense, on some foolish, stupidly honourable level – because she would be dying anyway, and what was the use in dragging along the misguided idiots who seemed to be trying tosaveher? Even if they ought to know better, it was easy to draw the attention away from them again. The moment she swept into the army’s view, they seemed to remember their hunt; new howls of triumph went up behind her as she soared through the nearest open gate and back into the castle’s tapestry-covered hallways.

Too close behind her. Pinpricks of red magic bit the backs of her knees. A ruby chandelier flew apart above her head.

She was a fucking fool.

No time to slow down enough to open a door. No time to figure out an escape. All she could do was fly, fly, fly, faster than she ever had in her life, and pray for some miracle to save her for a few minutes more—

A wetsplatsounded behind her.

Someone roared in fury.

She dared to throw a single glance over her shoulder and found her pursuers suddenly farther behind her, glancing wildly around as—

Splat!

—muck smeared a blond fae male’s face.

Only then did she notice the handful of humans standing in the gallery high above her head, their faces pale, their jaws tight as they flung down a volley of eggs at the fae force hunting her.Rotteneggs, it turned out – the stench exploded with the cracking of eggshells against the floor.

What in hell?

A splatter hit another soldier’s face … and it was that hit that broke the baffled paralysis. With a series of furious profanities, the two sullied fae shot upwards, followed by at least half of the group behind them – after the humans, who were at the very least wise enough to make a run for itthen.

Too late, if no one stepped in to save them.

Biting back a curse, Thysandra launched herself after the fools.

She reached the gallery simultaneously with the fae who had, moments ago, been following her; red flickered as she took the first three, four, five of them down, managing to sweep through the gallery arches first as they dropped screaming to the ground. Close-by, a door slammed. The humans, wisely making use of the distraction to get the fuck out of there.