Page 210 of The Cradle of Ice

Rhaif winced—then a loud crack of boards overhead made him jump. Henna cringed low. Kalder growled outside. Footsteps pounded up top, accompanied by muffled voices. Darant’s men had climbed to the roof, to inspect the lodged spar.

An ax struck hard overhead. Boards splintered. More hacking followed. Rhaif grimaced. Especially as Brayl’s eyes pinched with each strike, clearly feeling the impacts reverberating down the impaled spar.

Then the chopping stopped, followed by three loud splashes.

Darant’s men came clambering inside.

Perde called over in a hushed voice, “Sodding bastards are coming.”

No one had to ask who.

The cries of the raash’ke filled the skies all around them. The bats, with their keen hearing, must have been drawn down by the chopping.

Rhaif hated to abandon Brayl, but he shifted to Floraan and Henna. “Make for the smoke. It’s our only hope.”

But it was already too late.

Dark shapes crashed into the shallows all around the raft, trapping them inside.

Then something explosive struck right at the stern, sending them all scurrying back. Water splashed high. As it washed down, it revealed a figure of shining bronze down on one knee.

“Shiya…?”

It looked as if she had fallen out of the sky.

More large shapes swept down.

Huge wings flared past Shiya’s shoulder. A massive raash’ke landed in the shallows. It tucked its wings and bowed a furry head.

From the arch of its back, a figure straightened in a saddle. Her dark hair, flung high by the descent, settled to her shoulders, shining with strands of gold that scintillated with bridle-song. Her eyes glowed with the same fire as she stared fiercely into the hold.

Rhaif recognized her, but he still stepped away.

“Nyx?”

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EXHILARATED, STILL FLUSHED from the cold, Nyx shook ice crystals from her hair. Ahead, Shiya stalked into the sailraft to make sure everyone was safe.

Nyx twisted in her saddle, checking how everyone had fared from the flight. Graylin and Vikas shook free of the claws above and dropped into the shallows with loud splashes. The raash’ke who had ferried them swept high.

Jace waited until his boots dragged the water before shoving free. He scurried out from under the huge wings. He got nearly flattened as those sails of leather beat higher and away.

Bashaliia spiraled toward her, keening, elated to have been able to share the skies with her, even if it wasn’t atop him. Once above the shallows, he snapped his wings wide and landed with the lightest of splashes. There, he rocked on his legs, clearly still full of joy, hardly able to contain himself.

Moments ago, as Nyx had swept toward Iskar, a sharp noise had cut through the wind. Flashes of steel drew her eye below. She made out figures hammering or chopping atop a broken sailraft. It made no sense to her. Then she spotted the whitewater splashing of a large shadow. She recognized that dark silhouette against green water.

Kalder.

Anxious and confused, she had sharpened her bridle-song with both demand and hope. The horde-mind had heard it, too, and shared it with the others. They all descended to surround the raft, wanting answers.

For everything.

To her side, Graylin and Vikas waded swiftly toward the sailraft. Graylin frowned at Nyx, not in anger, but silent inquiry. Are you all right?

She nodded back, still speechless, a part of her still in the air. All those memories of prior flights were nothing to experiencing it herself.

Still, those memories had gotten her here.