Page 39 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

He was halfway down, trying not to think of anything else that would widen the hole in his chest, when something like a roar rattled the walls. He slipped and barely caught himself on the railing, his jacket falling and landing with an invisible thump as another roar ripped the air.

Fumbling to grab the Cerl pistol from the back of his pants, Kase retrieved his jacket and dashed down the rest of the stairs.

That sound.

Another roar. This one crackled like lightning. Familiar.

Hiding behind the ruined door, he peeked outside. The estate across the way was blackened with soot, as well. Kase could just see it beyond the Shackley gate and the ruined wall. The Cerl hover waited just a few feet away, the rolling sunset clouds reflecting off its wings.

He didn’t see whatever had made that unearthly sound, but he knew what it was.

Dragon.

There was no question. It sounded exactly like the two he had seen on Tasava last autumn. The question was how it had gotten here —and where was it now?

He ventured a little further out the door, Stowe’s footsteps clomping behind him.

A distant tremor shook his bones. The rumble grew louder and more piercing, like the air itself crackled. That sound was even more familiar to him than the dragon’s roar.

Seconds later, hovers sped overhead, their blue bellies shining as they zoomed at top speed above the manor. The grass and trees that had survived the initial attack bowed to the speed of the Cerl hovers.

The city was destroyed. Surely they wouldn’t continue to…no, no, no.

They were headed straight for the airfields.

Kase sprinted from his childhood home, not caring if anyone saw him. He didn’t know what in the blazes had happened, but if they took out the airfields, there was no chance they’d recover. He scrambled up the wing, the metal cold and hard underneath his hands.

He had just thrown his pilot’s jacket into the cockpit when the first bomb fell.

His shout was buried by the next one. And the next. And the next.

Each one shook him to his core, to his bones, to his soul.

All he could do was gape at the plumes rising above the city wall.

Gone.

Gone.

The airfields were gone. Just like that.

He swayed on his feet. He couldn’t catch his breath.

He wracked his brain for the words—but there were none.

Despite the evidence staring him directly in the face, he had hoped to find someone at the airfields who would be willing to help.

He’d known the electricity was out. He’d known thousands were dead.

He’d known it was a lost cause, but he’d still had that stars-blasted hope.

Wind thrust him forward, nearly knocking him from the hover. Stowe, who’d climbed up the wing shortly after him, barely caught himself on the dash.

Kase looked up, his chest heavy, still breathing erratically—and found a sight he’d hoped he’d never see again.

The serpentine body was covered in glittering gold scales.

Its maw was as big as a hover, and its body the length of at least three.

The wings stretched wide as it soared above, its eyes searching for…

for something. On his back sat a figure, a man with blond hair.

Kase couldn’t make out details, but instinctively he knew the man’s features would be fox-like.

Skibs.

It wasn’t over. The attack wasn’t over.

Blood drained from Kase’s face. He hit the deck, grabbing Stowe on his way down. They hunkered in the too-tight foot space. If only they could disappear.

The hover responded with a soft beeping. Kase bit a curse at it from under his breath.

Another great beating of wings shook the windshield hinge and snapped the whole thing shut. It was a miracle it didn’t break.

Another roar.

THUD.

The ground quaked. Kase nearly hit his head on the acceleration pedal, but caught himself just in time. His teeth rattled from the impact, and his jaw still ached from dodging Cornhead’s bullet earlier.

The memory of facing the dragon in the Yalven hunt came back to him. He’d fought one before, but there were two differences now. Firstly, he didn’t have trained Yalven hunters with him to take down the beast when he inevitably failed. Secondly, this one had wings.

For several seconds, everything was quiet. Maybe the dragon hadn’t landed as close as he’d feared it would. If so, the beast had to be even more impressive than he’d originally thought if its landing could affect him this far away.

Or was it still out there, sizing them up? They were in a Cerl hover, which might have given it pause. Was Skibs still astride it?

So many questions. Hallie would’ve had twelve more.

Holding his breath, Kase raised his head just enough. If nothing else, maybe he could get a good glimpse of the dragon, even from afar, so he could tell Hallie about it later. She’d wanted to sketch it so badly in the forest.

A glittering golden eye gazed directly at him.

That answered one question. The dragon had definitely not landed far away.

Kase ducked his head once more and waited for the teeth to come. Stowe’s face was so pale, he could’ve been a ghost. Kase just shook his head, knowing anything he said or did wouldn’t project the confidence he needed.

Think.

He needed to do something. Maybe if he could figure out a distraction, he could fly them out of here. The Cerl hover had the speed.

Clearly he had a death wish, because he braved another peek above the dash.

But the dragon was no longer looking at him.

Instead, it watched the horizon, smoke leaking from its nostrils.

Its neck stretched and craned toward the sky, its shining scales proud in sunset light. Probably not a good sign.

A second later, its rider slid down the gigantic foreleg.

Kase stopped breathing.

Skibs looked a little different than the last time Kase had seen him. His hair was longer, his chin coated in red scruff. His blue eyes stood out against the tanned skin of his face. Wearing armor that glowed a soft blue, not unlike the hover, he looked like a hero out of some sprawling epic.

“This home is off-limits.” Skibs’ voice was just as Kase remembered, strong and commanding when he meant something, a tone that brokered no arguments.

His old friend stopped a few feet from the hover.

He didn’t look directly at Kase, which probably saved him; instead he looked past him, at the Shackley estate.

Kase’s fingernails bit so hard into his palms, they broke the skin. The stinging pain kept his head clear—kept him from doing something incredibly stupid.

Skibs crossed his arms. “The General will have your head if you’re out here looting. Return to your station at once, or I’ll personally dole out your punishment.”

Kase nodded, praying his old friend wouldn’t look directly at him. Skibs stood there another moment, still watching the estate, before climbing back up the wing and mounting his dragon. Kase recoiled as the beast’s head faced him head-on, certain all over again he was about to get eaten—

And with a great leap and thrust of wings, Skibs and the dragon took to the sky.

The air slammed into the Cerl hover, and Kase banged his head on the dashboard for real that time. He cursed, rubbing his forehead and looking up as the dragon flew toward the distant forest.

Holy blasting stars.

Forget a sketch. He could give Hallie enough detail for a portrait if she wanted to try her hand at it.

Even though Hallie had helped him remember what had happened in the Gate chamber with Skibs, Kase still couldn’t quite believe it.

Even when Saldr had revealed Skibs had been the one to bring a dragon through the Gate and destroy Myrrai, he still hadn’t been able to line up the man he’d known with the one Skibs had become.

Skibs had been his best friend, the only person to care about Kase after Ana died—after Eravin abandoned him.

The Cerls had killed Skibs’ parents and kidnapped his brother.

Only Skibs had survived; he’d made his way to Kyvena on his own.

Skibs had spoken callously of his life before, telling tales that made Harlan seem like a saint.

Skibs had seen the Cerl attack on his small border village as an escape.

Had that all been a lie? Was Kase simply a terrible judge of character?

He strapped himself into his chair. “We need to find my brother.”

If he was still alive.

If anyone in the government had survived the initial attack or even the ones afterward, they would be holed up in a bunker somewhere. Maybe. The airfields had one underneath the Hover Colonel’s complex, but that was probably a ruined heap of burning rubble by now.

He started up the engine to the hover. To the Jayde Center, then. Hopefully he could find something there—anything at all—that could lead him to his family and a way to save whatever survivors they could find.