Page 18 of To Sway a Prince (Tempting Thieves)

18

BEASTS OF THE STORM

Z ephyrus and Thalorion slid over the Chasm, taking care not to even brush against the mist as we followed the leviathan. The sunlight faded as the clouds darkened. I scanned the mist and the Chasm below, searching for any indicators of the massive creature's wound. He remained near the surface. Dark shapes stirred down below, occasionally creating pulses of dull light and void-like circles.

The wind picked up. My eyes ached despite the runes helping my vision.

We wove deeper into the valley, the mountain walls rising up around us into steep stone barriers. The spires and tors were thicker and larger here, some of the tors especially concerning with the way the erosion had left large chunks rounded and precariously balanced. The weather-polished stone contrasted sharply with the coarser chunks that had been recently broken off. With the wind howling louder and whipping at my hair, it was hard to tell whether the unease I felt was from my surroundings or my instincts warning me about something else.

Zephyrus growled. His head flicked to the right. I followed the line of his sight, seeing the leviathan turn beneath the mist, rolling onto his side.

There!

A spear embedded deep in the leviathan's shoulder, the flesh around it inflamed and infected. "What happened? Is that a bone fae insignia in the end cap?"

Ramiel's eyes widened. He leaned over Thalorion's side, his expression grim. "Yes. It was one of the last incursions a few months ago. Some bounty hunters from the bone fae and others." Ramiel urged Thalorion higher and out to the right. The rushing thunder of the winds intensified. His jaw clenched as he considered this. "Bone fae spears like that are enchanted. It'll keep burrowing deeper. We need to avoid disturbing anything else down there. Especially the leviathan. If we agitate them too much, the leviathan may attack the barrier sooner rather than later. Ithoks. Poor creature. No wonder he's been so aggressive. This will take very particular healing magic."

"Can we heal him from here? I know some neutralizing spells." I leaned down hard on the right, peering at the leviathan. He swam through the murky Chasm, sometimes vanishing within the mist and then reappearing. From this angle, the barrier looked like little more than clear gel, but the leviathan moved with the poised ease of a crocodile in tropical waters. "I don't know what your magic usage is at, so if you can't, could you show me the runes to make and I heal him?"

"It can't be done from this—" Another thunderclap interrupted Ramiel, closer now. He frowned, a muscle in his jaw jumping. "That wound is deep, but I know how to counter bone fae magic. It may not even require significant magical expenditure—more a proper mixing of reagents. If we can get it to the leviathan, it might be enough to allow him to heal himself. At least to start. Then we'll finish with runes if needed."

My shoulder throbbed again, a dull ache spreading across my old scars. I rubbed it absently, careful to keep my expression neutral. "Let's try it. Any solution that won't trigger your curse or advance its timeline is worth attempting." Getting the leviathan to calm down and avoid the barrier meant we'd have more time to heal Ramiel as well. I'd definitely take that.

The wind intensified, whipping my hair across my face despite my enchantment. The storm clouds had advanced with alarming speed, turning the sky an ominous charcoal gray. Lightning flashed, followed by a rumble that vibrated through my chest, louder and stronger than Zephyrus's growl.

We were in deep among the mountains now, and that meant we had much less room for maneuvering. Zephyrus slid around one of the spires and between another set. He scraped his claws across the rough granite and then thrust his wings down again as he got through.

Another boom of thunder shattered the sky.

Ramiel swore under his breath as Thalorion wove through another set. He vanished from sight though I could still hear him clearly thanks to the pendant. "We stayed too long. I'm sorry. I was too focused on tracking the leviathan." He glanced at the darkening sky. "We need to leave. Now." Thalorion uttered a long series of deep trilling calls.

Zephyrus growled in response and started flying up away from the Chasm, Thalorion leading the way. I scrunched down to shield myself better. The sharpness of the weather intensified, warning that rain was soon coming. It worsened by the second. My fists clenched tighter around Zephyrus's horns.

The wind howled around us, buffeting our dragons as they fought to gain altitude. Then the rain came, pelting hard and sharp. Each droplet stung. Zephyrus huffed and steamed, his wing thrusts steady. Thunder boomed directly overhead.

I tightened my grip, chafing at our pace. It felt as if we were hardly moving. Even Thalorion was struggling as the winds grew stronger. Lightning cracked across the sky in a jagged formation, nearly blinding me. I flinched and ducked my head. We were still amid numerous spires and tors which kept the dragons from going full speed as they had to weave through.

The air tingled, the hairs on my arms and head prickling. My focus snapped to a tall stone column that jutted up just a few feet away.

ZRAKT.

A blinding flash of light and a deafening crack shattered the sky. Thread rot! I barely had time to comprehend it. The bolt of lightning struck a copper-veined spire behind us.

My eyes widened. Stone shattered, chunks breaking free and crashing into a neighboring tor. The entire formation groaned, then collapsed directly toward us.

"Bank hard!" Ramiel shouted.

Zephyrus veered right as Thalorion swerved left, both dragons, desperately trying to escape the falling debris. I flung my right hand up. My magic zinged and spun over my fingertips in a ragged net. Narrowly, I swept it up and knocked one of the pieces away. Another chunk of the jagged rock still cut through and clipped Zephyrus's side. He roared in pain, faltering mid-air, wings stuttering.

"Zephyrus!" I clung to him as we dipped dangerously low. Vaguely I heard Ramiel shout something, his words booming in my mind but too distorted for me to follow.

Below us, the rocks struck the mist-covered surface of the Chasm. Instead of sinking through, they hung suspended, stretching the barrier like weights on a taut sheet, their points sinking into the gel-like substance.

Zephyrus struggled to regain altitude, his wing movements uneven. Blood seeped out from under the bruised and twisted scales from his wounded side.

I focused my magic, weaving golden threads into a healing knot. The poultice formed beneath my fingers, and I shot it down against his scales. His breaths were ragged, his shoulders rolling with the movement of his wings desperately seeking momentum.

"Come on, Zeph. You can do this," I urged.

Another gust knocked us sideways. My grip slipped, and I slid across Zephyrus's neck. No! I scrambled to get up, but my right hand plunged into a broad tendril of purple mist.

Cold—bone-deep, soul-numbing cold—shot up my arm. My vision blurred. Knots take me! What was that? I couldn't even breathe! Then my lungs loosed, but black dots danced in my vision.

Droplets of Zephyrus's blood fell into the mist like fat ruby teardrops. The tang of iron filled my nostrils. "You're all right, big guy, you're all right," I gasped, my right arm hanging limp and a band of fire along my wrist.

"Astraia!" Ramiel shouted, his voice now distant despite the pendant. "Astraia, get out of the mist. It's reacting to you!"

Howls rose from the depths—hungry, furious sounds that made my blood freeze.

The mist churned and bubbled below. the barrier warping and falling. My right arm hung limp, burning with cold fire from where I'd touched the purple barrier. I needed to focus. We needed height. "Up, Zephyrus! Higher!"

He pumped his wings, each beat labored. Blood oozed from his side, slowed by my healing poultice but not stopped. The storm's fury intensified, rain pelting us like tiny arrows.

Another shriek cut through the thunder, high-pitched and hungry.

Storm wyrms. Three emerged from the clouds, blue eyes glowing and serpentine bodies crackling with lightning-blue energy. They spiraled toward us, jaws open, rows of needle-sharp teeth bared. Two more storm wyrms appeared in the thunderhead. They hissed.

Thread rot!

The first wyrm dove at us. Zephyrus banked hard right again, nearly throwing me off. My wrist flared with pain so intense I screamed. It felt like something was sawing through bone and sinew, trying to sever my hand.

Ramiel and Thalorion swooped in from above. The old dragon's jaws caught one wyrm mid-air, snapped its neck, and flung it away.

Ramiel cut a series of silver runes that hung in the air and then wrapped around the other wyrm, sending it plummeting. It struck the surface of the Chasm, landing in the mist and on that strange slick gel-like substance. Its body twitched as it started to sink down with some of the fallen rocks, straining the barrier.

The third wyrm circled back, aiming for Zephyrus's injured side.

Zephyrus's breaths wheezed as he shot around one of the massive tors, talons scraping on the rounded stone. He thrust his wings down harder. The right one wasn't as strong.

I wove a golden knot with my left hand, fingers dancing and shaking despite the pain. "Hold fast, big guy," I gasped as I slapped the spell onto his side. The magic spread like warm honey, rolling along his scales.

Zephyrus made that chirring trill, warning me. I clenched my legs tight and wrapped my arm around his horns.

The world turned upside down. His wings stretched straight up and his body lengthened. We shot between two spires. The storm wyrm behind us followed, devouring the distance.

Ramiel pulled something from his belt—a curved horn etched with symbols. He put it to his lips and blew. A low, piercing call vibrated out into the air. A sharp scent like lightning and sulfur flared through the air, and a long beam of silver light formed in the sky like an eye irising open.

Zephyrus flew through another of the spires, trying to shake the storm wyrm that pursued us. Two more storm wyrms emerged from the clouds and swept toward Thalorion and Ramiel.

Below, the Chasm's surface bubbled violently. The mist coiled and thickened where... something... pushed against it from beneath the dead dragon at the weakest point in the barrier.

My wrist throbbed. Horror poured through my body. I knew what that was instinctually. Not the leviathan.

No.

Oily claws pushed through the gel, trying to rupture the surface. Where it touched, color leached away, leaving nothing but opaque shapes.

A chasm wraith.

Zephyrus faltered again, drawing up just in time as another storm wyrm cut in front of us. The purple mist boiled around us, obscuring my vision.

"Get out of the mist, Astraia!" Ramiel shouted. His voice thundered in my ears, fear clear. "The barrier is weakening."

"Up, Zephyrus!" I urged him, leaning lower near his ear. "Come on, big guy. Come on. You can do this."

My right arm was still useless, that burning pain through my wrist and my scars throbbing as if I had just burned myself.

The color drained from the storm wyrm as the surface rippled and warped beneath it. The sharp scales of the dead dragon along with the pressure of the rocks cut deeper. A large bubble formed near it—growing—growing.

The rocks sliced through.

Claws swept up at once and grabbed the storm wyrm like it was a toy. All the color faded as the chasm wraith tore through the barrier of the Chasm. It sluiced and slicked off its massive form as it rose from the depths, a creature that seemed to be made of oil and with ever changing features that were impossible to focus on. It gulped the dead creature down in a single bite.

The surface of the Chasm bubbled again as more dark forms pressed up. Zephyrus swept his wings down again in a desperate bid to gain more altitude. Ramiel and Thalorion battled more of the storm wyrms as that column of light in the sky flared and expanded wider and wider.

We had to get higher.

The chasm wraith twisted toward us. Though it had no eyes, I knew in my gut that it had focused on me.

Thread rot!

My breaths fled me. Everything spiraled down to that horrific creature as it snapped its hand out. Before I could even cry out, it seized me.

The whole world went ice cold as it lifted me away from Zephyrus. Some part of me was tearing. Color fled as my skin turned ashen. Black dots filled my gaze.

No! Let go. Let go!

I was tearing apart, my spirit desperately struggling to escape that soul-wrenching cold.

Ground. Breathe. I struggled to lift my head, pulling in memories. I was alive. I lived. My family's faces flickered through my mind. Each one darted out of my consciousness, thrusting me back into the void of nothingness.

The chasm wraith growled at me, claws clutching tighter as it brought me back to its rapidly distorting face. My heat and strength seeped away at every point of contact as its poisonous slime worked over me, but I held fast, rifling through my mind for a memory strong enough to ground me until I could get free.

One scene cut into my mind.

Those violet eyes gone soft and that deep voice low in my ears as I remembered him sitting across from me as we sipped mead in the calm: "I would tell her what I would tell you. When all of this is said and done, I hope you have a good life. I hope you find peace and joy. That you make a home with someone who loves and cherishes you. Someone who sees who you are and realizes that they are blessed to be able to experience life with you. You may have severed your mate bond, but that does not mean you severed your ability to find happiness, love, peace, and joy."

My spirit flailed and struggled in the chasm wraith's grasp. But I was here. I wasn't leaving. I had a future. I had a hope. And I—I wanted that life Ramiel spoke of. I…I wanted him.

If I got out of this, I was going to tell Ramiel I wanted to be with him. I loved him. I did. Knots take me, I loved him!

Ramiel and Thalorion shot around the chasm wraith. Ramiel carved out five runes in silver. His hands sliced through the air like blades, forming burning silver lines. Then the runes snapped out and embedded in the chasm wraith.

A deafening bellow shook the world around me. Zephyrus shot through the chasm wraith, his jaws snapping on the dark smoke. Color drained from him as he did, and the strangled roaring yelp he made cut me to my core.

But his attack worked with the runes. The chasm wraith evaporated. Black tendrils of greasy smoke vanished into the purple mist.

The world slowed as I sailed through the air and Zephyrus crashed in the opposite direction.

"Pulseport up to me!" Ramiel stretched out his arm overhead, staring down at me with terror in his eyes. His voice echoed in my mind.

It was perfectly clear. I'd land in the Chasm if I didn't act fast. But Zephyrus struck that stone island and rolled, his body limp. Pebbles ricocheted off. The force of his bulk and temporary weakness from the wraith would send him over the edge.

If I abandoned Zephyrus here, he'd be vulnerable. He was bleeding and stunned.

It'd be easier for me to get out of the Chasm than Zephyrus.

I had just enough magic left. My focus homed in on Zephyrus, and I wove a shaking lasso of knotted gold and swung it over. Only three strands and five loose knots. It barely shot over Zephyrus and stopped him from careening off the edge. Yes! It was enough! Some of the color had returned to his jaws and head.

SLICK!

Clinging greasy cold shot up my feet, my legs, my hips, my belly, my chest, my arms, my neck—my face!

I had plunged into the rift in the Chasm. The cold gel-like substance swept over me, freezing me and choking me at once as it engulfed my entire body.