Page 19

V ahly held on, gasping as Dramour banked left and dove toward Nix, Ibai at his side.

The wind whistled in Vahly’s ears as Dramour swooped under Nix and put a wing under her body.

Ibai did the same on the other side. Then, extending the wings that weren’t supporting Nix, they soared toward the earth.

Vahly tried to see what happened to Arcturus.

She assumed Kemen had gone after him, trying to catch him before he hit.

They’d been roughly one hundred fifty feet in the air.

Could elves survive such a drop?

The world was a blur of green and gold and Vahly fell, rolling on the ground until she came to a stop, panting.

Dramour and Ibai shifted immediately, and Vahly shielded her eyes from the light before running forward to bring them the satchel with Ibai’s medicinal items.

Nix lay on one side, chest shuddering. A massive arrow shaft sticking out of her side. Her wing sat at an angle that was all wrong. It was broken. The worst kind of injury for a dragon. Worse than the arrow.

Vahly was numb. Who had shot her? And why? Who even had arrows like that?

Ibai, naked, face drawn with worry, dumped the satchel and rummaged through their things. “Don’t shift, Nix. The wound will be too large for your kynd form. Where is Kemen? Did he save the elf from the fall? He might be able to help here.”

The scales around Dramour’s temples and mouth paled. “It was his kynd that shot her! If he arrives safely with Kemen, I’ll see that he learns what an arrow feels like under the arm.”

But then Kemen was there, rushing toward the ground in a full dive. He shifted before he even hit, his magic crackling.

“Any sign of the elf?” Dramour asked him. “Splattered fancy blood? Please tell me he suffered.”

“It’s not anything Arcturus did,” Vahly snapped.

“No sign of the elf.” Kemen sounded more troubled than Vahly would have guessed he would be. He quickly pulled on his wrinkled clothing. “Vahly, you all right? That was a rough tumble.”

Vahly’s mind was finally catching up. “I’m fine. Thank you.”

She hurried to Nix’s side and put a gentle hand on her head. Nix’s pain showed in her half-lidded eyes and the wrinkle between her eyes. The sun glinted off the glassy spikes near her ears and down her back.

“That was a bit dramatic, don’t you think?” Vahly’s voice cracked despite her determination to stay positive. “If you wanted our attention, you could have just asked.”

Nix’s mouth lifted at the corners, showing white teeth the size of Vahly’s hand.

Moisture gathered at the edges of Nix’s eyes before she shut them.

Nix never cried. No matter the fight, the hurt, the loss.

She joked and continued on. The tear that wove its way down Nix’s snout before dropping into the tall, dry grass panicked Vahly more than the ruby red blood streaming from the wound or the cracked wing.

Ibai applied a greenish white poultice to Nix’s wound, then joined Dramour and Kemen behind the broken wing, hands on their knees, studying how far in the arrow had gone.

“I think we should push it through,” Dramour said. “Remember Baww’s run in with the bald pine? Same spot.”

Ibai clicked his green and blue mottled tongue against his teeth, his copper eyes over-bright. “I agree.”

“Truly? Because you never agree with me.” Dramour was trying to joke, Vahly could tell, but he also looked like he was about to vomit.

“I’ll keep a watch out for Arcturus. And for any further company we might receive.”

“Receive into our flaming maws,” Dramour muttered, rage ringing through his words.

Vahly ignored the fact that her own bandages were hanging loose as she drew her short sword.

A scant number of trees grew along the uneven ground; the land not quite free of the marshes’ heat and poison fumes.

The slender oaks spread deep green leaves to block a few rays of the powerful sun.

There were no paths here, no obvious sign of elves or any other highbeast.

If the elves could see well enough to hit Nix in one of her rare soft spots why hadn’t they noticed their own kynd rode with her?

Or had they actually aimed for Arcturus?

He had, after all, been left in the Fire Marshes with his memory wiped and his magic dampened.

Was this attack aimed solely at Arcturus or was this simply the age-old elf and dragon feud?

Vahly didn’t know which truth to prefer. Neither helped Nix. Neither meant their entry into the Forest of Illumahrah would go smoothly.

A branch snapped in the distance. Vahly held her weapon at the ready.

She lifted her gaze to see the plateau where the elves’ great forest thrived, but the surrounding trees and the slope of the land blocked her view. They were close though.

If a load of elven warriors rushed her, she was toast. Well, these weren’t dragons, so maybe not toast. Perhaps more like a pincushion for their throwing knives.

A subtle breeze drifted by, tickling Vahly’s cheek, and a tingling sensation touched her back like eyes were on her. She turned to see three elves walking out of the trees, one with an arrow nocked and aimed, two with knives drawn.

Fear tried to grip her arms and lock her down.

Amona would not appear to save her here like she had so many times.

Vahly lifted her sword and set her jaw. The vicious drive to live flooded her veins as it did during battles and feuds.

Her body was used to the adrenaline rush, the fear, the counterbalance of courage.

“You shot down one of your own kynd. Did you realize that?”

The three looked somewhat like Arc, tall and ethereal in appearance, with pointed ears and that burnished skin that looked more like brushed metal than flesh. Their presence didn’t shake Vahly like Arc’s did though. Was that only because he had been the first elf she’d seen?

Her throat squeezed. She hoped he lived. Pushing panic to the back of her mind, she studied these potential enemies facing her.

The one with the bow had red hair like Nix, although the shade was more poppy than copper, a color she’d only seen in illustrations of elves.

The first knife-wielder was thinner than Arc, less muscular in the arms and shoulders, while the second, a female, was far older, with silvery hair and wrinkles around her eyes and mouth.

It had to take ages for an elf to show age.

She must have been around when the Source brought the world into being.

“We have none missing. The dragons carried deer or some such kill.” The female’s gaze traveled the lines of Vahly’s face. “The wind tells me you are what you cannot be.”

None missing? Did they not know Arc? Elves only lived here, as far as Vahly knew. How could they not realize he was missing? Perhaps the same elf who had spelled Arc had spelled them too and their minds no longer held the memory of him.

The red-haired elf glanced at her. “What is she, old mother?”

The aged elf shifted her long legs and pointed a knife at Vahly. “Look at her forehead. Do you see the mark?”

The elves’ eyes widened.

“She is an Earth Queen,” the red head whispered, lowering his bow a fraction.

Vahly breathed in and out, keeping her wits about her. They could strike her down at any second. She longed to spill her tale and beg them for help. Nix and Arc could be dying right now.

“It can’t be,” the thin elf said. “All humans died.”

Vahly made a show of sheathing her sword.

It had to be her best bet. They hadn’t killed her right away so there was a solid chance they would listen to reason.

They were all on the same side. The Sea Queen was after the entire island—the only land left in all the world.

She’d made that clear with her declaration.

Vahly had read all about it in the dragons’ scrolls.

“I’ll tell you everything, but first, will you consider helping my friends heal?” she said, trying an angle that didn’t involve the mention of an elf they couldn’t remember. “You shot them down.”

The red-haired elf gave a shrug. “Well, only a human would befriend a dragon so at least that much rings true. Maybe she is what she seems to be?”

Vahly smeared a hand across her Blackwater mark. “No magic could make this.”

The old mother nodded and jerked her pointed chin toward Nix. “We are no friends to dragons, but since you are what you are, we will consider it.”

Nix’s eyes were closed when Vahly escorted the three elves into the clearing. Vahly’s heart constricted at the sight of her friend, lying there in a pool of blood. Tears burned her eyes.

Ibai and Dramour had clothed themselves while she was gone. Dramour held a cloth against Nix’s wound while Ibai and Kemen worked to bind Nix’s broken wing to a tree branch. Nix’s breath shuddered in and out as they approached.

Ibai froze. “Vahly?” he said, not turning to see them. He had smelled them.

Dramour turned his head to look, then drew his blade, keeping one hand on Nix. “Which one wants to die first for this crime?” he snarled. “I’ll be merciful to the first. The second two, not so much.”

Murder filled Kemen’s face, but the dragon stayed where he was, where Nix needed him.

Vahly heartily approved of their fervor, but the end game was what mattered here. “Dramour. Stand down, please. They are here to mend what they have broken as best they can.”

Ibai’s face was icy when he did finally turn. “Why would you do that?” His slitted eyes focused on the red-haired elf.

The old mother spoke up. “Because she is an Earth Queen. And I thought we had no chance of seeing another.”

Some of the fire left Ibai’s glare. He stepped around, took Dramour’s place, then explained Nix’s injuries.

Dramour kept a hand on his hilt as he walked to Vahly. “Did you find Arcturus? Is he good and dead?”

“Dramour. I want him alive. And no. I should go look for him, but I can’t leave Nix. This is awful.”