was relieved not to have been killed back at the old Community.
The mountains all around were strong and sheltering, casting the sensation of safety over the plateau. The woods, while cold and unfamiliar, seemed peaceful enough, and they were beautiful.
This was an area I could learn to love, even with the strange wall and tower rising just to the north.
Besides, I had my brother and best friend with me. As long as I had them, I had everything I needed.
At last, a voice filled with authority sounded, and I dragged Fayden to where Meuric stood atop his wagon —a much grander affair than ours.
“The scouts have informed me of archways in the white wall. In the morning, we will enter the structure and set Janan free!”
People cheered.
“He’s not wasting any time,” I muttered to Fayden.
He chuckled. “Would you, if your favorite person were in there, perhaps unjustly?”
If it were Fayden or Stef? “No. I’d do anything to save them.”
We lingered for a little while before turning toward to the outskirts of camp. We made it only a few paces.
That was when we heard the noise.
Though the sky was clear, with the moon shining brightly and the stars scattered like sparks across the blackness, thunder cracked the night.
11
“WHAT IS THAT?” I searched the sky, but there was nothing. Just moonlight and stars, faintly obscured by cook fires and smoke, as a moment before. “It sounded like thunder.”
My brother was pale, wide-eyed. “I don’t know.” We were still in the thick of the camp, where Meuric had been speaking minutes ago, but now everyone had returned to their duties and the Councilor was nowhere in sight.
As the strange thunder came again, a hush fell over the entire camp. The crackle of fires and susurrus of wind became the only sounds as everyone looked to the sky.
Movement caught my eye, near the immense tower that pierced the heavens. Something long and sinuous twisted through the air, and as thunder clapped again, a long stretch of darkness blacked out the stars.
Others followed my gaze, some pointing, some rooted to their places, as though fear had rendered them immobile.
If fear were sound, it’d be a low humming and the quick tempo of an accelerating heartbeat, punctuated by gasps. It’d be ringing. Deafening. Paralyzing.
More snakelike shapes slithered across the sky, wide wings making the sky black. A dozen of the flying creatures followed that first one, all of them in formation, like birds or . . . or an army.
The winged beasts dipped and adjusted their path through the air, flying straight toward our camp. Panic surged, contagious and violent as the plague: screams and shouts and trampling to reach the perceived safety of the wagons.
But as the beasts drew back their wings and dove, even I knew the wagons wouldn’t provide any safe form of shelter. The wagons would become tombs.
“Warriors! Protect the perimeter!” Meuric called, though the din of screams and feet pounding the ground swallowed the sound of his voice. No one paid him any heed. Many fled toward the forest.
While I had no doubts those enormous creatures could snatch people out of the woods, the trees would provide some coverage.
“Come on!” I grabbed the collar of Fayden’s jacket. “We have to make sure Stef and his aunts get to the forest, too.”
We ran, cutting between wagons and people, trying not to shove them aside, even as people jostled us to get wherever they were going.
At the edge of camp, horses stomped and whinnied, while cattle and other livestock scattered as the beasts dove.
I dodged and ducked as a sharp and horrible scent filled the air. As I glanced up, a dragon spat something brilliant green onto a wagon. People fled the structure, screaming as the wood began to dissolve from top to bottom. The odor of burning filled my nose as Fayden yanked my wrist and pulled me onward.
“What was that?” I shouted. But Fayden didn’t hear me, or couldn’t answer. In the wan light, his face was pale and etched with terror.
Ahead of us, the ground shuddered as one of the beasts dropped to four legs.
It was huge—the biggest creature I’d ever seen. Its fangs were as long as my forearm. The serpentine body stretched into the trees, and wings held just aloft were big enough to throw a shadow over the entire camp. A thick talon gouged a trench in the earth.
I scrambled to a stop, and stared. Giant eyes met mine, and there was a moment when it seemed to look
The beast’s head pulled back, and a faint, glowing green came from within its mouth. Its jaws opened wider, and that sharp, burning scent filled the space between us.
“Dossam, come on!” Fayden snatched my hair and dragged me away from the beast, just as the green stuff spilled across the earth, shining with an unearthly glow.
I staggered after my brother, head jerked at an awkward angle until he released my hair; bits still clung to his sweat-dampened fingers, and then floated toward the green stuff.
The strands sizzled and burned up.
It was acid.
The beasts spat
Quickly, I was off and running behind Fayden, ducking and dodging as other people flailed.
Fayden was just ahead of me, his tall form rising above many of the others. Every so often, he glanced back to make sure I was following. I pushed myself faster to keep up as he raced toward the wagon we shared with Stef and his aunts.
Nothing looked familiar, though. We’d been here for only an hour before everything fell apart, and with the beasts, the panic, and the uncertain light, nothing looked remotely like it had earlier.
Immense wings blocked moonlight, but the world suddenly flickered bright. A fire bloomed toward the center of camp, and the screams crescendoed.
“Fayden! Sam!” Orrin waved to us from beside our wagon, which had fallen in and glowed eerie green on one corner. Bit by bit, the wood crumbled. The horses were gone. “Whit and Stef are trapped inside.”
I glanced at Fayden for orders.
“Check on them,” he said. “I’ll find help.”
Relieved to be told what to do, I surged forward, and with Orrin’s help, began lifting away pieces of wood.
“Careful of the green stuff,” I shouted over the crackle of flame and chaos.
She glanced up at the wagon being eaten away, and nodded.
“What are those things?” Splintering wood pierced my hands as I hurled debris out of the way.
“Dragons.” She jumped back as the wheels collapsed, and the wagon dropped all the way to the ground. Shouts came from within. “They’re dragons.”
Boards and debris that dripped acid jammed the door to the wagon, keeping it from fully opening. No matter how I pulled on the door, it refused to open more than a handspan. I couldn’t remove the debris, and there wasn’t time to wait for the acid to eat away the wood and loosen everything.
I peered into the dark wagon. “Stef! Can you push from inside?”
Whit’s face appeared in the gap instead. “Stef is hurt. His leg.”
I checked around, but Fayden wasn’t back, and the dragons were prowling around the edges of camp, huge
