“So Awlon the Dark sent you back to clean up his mess?” he growls at me, trying to knock me away with a harsh blast of air as he reaches out to slash me with his other dagger-filled hand. I give him a taste of my secret sauce and block the wind with Bond magic, while blocking his blade with the hand he assumed wasn’t dominant.
His eyes widen for a fraction of a second in surprise.
That’s right, fucker, look...both hands.
And then karma promptly kicks me in the face for getting cocky.
Okay karma doesn’t do it, but some other gryphon I don’t see coming does, and as I fall to the ground, I decide it’s about the same thing. I shove back to my feet, but Lazza is on me in a flash.
His fist knocks my head to the side as it connects in the exact same spot the kick just did, and black spots battle for my attention. I fight to stay on my feet, but I quickly learn that, while I have mad skills for training only a week, Lazza has been training his whole life.
He wraps his massive hand around my throat and squeezes viciously. I blast him with Bond magic and shove him away, but his eyes spark with something, and he suddenly changes the way he’s looking at me. He reaches back and rubs at the back of his neck like my power pulse is doing something to him.
“I can feel your magic waking mine up,” he tells me creepily, and I suddenly feel like he’s looking at me the same way a person addicted to their cell phone looks at a phone charger when they’re down to one percent of their battery.
“I planned to just kill you or, better yet, kill your mates in front of everyone if they showed up to try to protect you, but now I think there’s a much better use for your coveted abilities.”
The look in his eyes makes my skin crawl, and when he takes a step toward me, I have a spear in my hand before I even realize I’ve called on the runes. I stab out at him and feel the sharp end sink into his flesh.
Rage fills Lazza’s face, and I ready myself for the hit I know he’s going to deliver. What I don’t expect is for him to explode into his gryphon. Power shoves me back as Lazza loses himself to his massive light gray gryphon. A sharp charcoal-colored beak snaps out at me, and I flinch back, just barely dodging the snapping maw. What I don’t dodge is the swipe he sends my way. I go flying at least ten feet from the hit. I land on my side, blood pooling in my mouth and what feels like half my ribs screaming in protest. I’ve been hit in the head so many times at this point it’d be a miracle if I didn’t have a concussion.
Surrounding gryphons watch the struggle lazily like this is just some everyday event. I figured they’d all jump at the chance to kick me while I’m down, but no one moves near me.
I try to push up from the purple-tinted ground, but this time I can’t. Lazza’s gryphon leaps for me, and I can’t tell if he’s going to kill me or snatch me away. I call on my whip swords, unable to stand but not willing to go down without a fight.
The air shifts oddly around me, and I prepare myself for another attack from Lazza’s rune fueled air ability. A roar fills the air all around me, and then out of nowhere, an almost pure ebony-colored gryphon slams into Lazza, knocking him away from me.
Lazza’s gryphon squeals and snaps at the sky shadow, but Zeph is all over him like shadows in the night.
Relief floods me, but I’ve learned my lesson about letting my guard down. I white knuckle hold my whip swords as I slowly and very painfully look behind me to see gryphons pouring into the dusky night sky through a portal I’m sure Wekun is responsible for.
Help is here.
I sigh and try to stay up on my one elbow, but man I’m heavy. Way heavier than the guys always make me look when they get all manhandly.
“Falon!” Ryn screams out at me, and then he’s there scooping me up and quieting my pain-filled whimpers. “I have you. Fuck, what did he do to you?” he snarls, panic and fury filling his voice. “Shhhh,” he tries to reassure me, and I don’t even know I’m saying anything until Ryn drops his ear closer to my lips to try and hear me over the sounds of war all around us.
“It didn’t work,” I tell him, more whimper than words.
Ryn pulls away, his gray eyes confused and bleeding concern. “Wekun!” he bellows. “I need Vian!”
I flinch away from the booming command of his voice, not sure how he even expects Wekun to hear him. He pulls me in tighter against his chest, and I can hear him saying something, but it takes me a minute to understand what it is.
“Please, please, please, please, please,” he whispers against my head, the plea spilling from his lips over and over again.
I try to lift a hand to his head to try and comfort him, but my arms suddenly don’t work. Shit, I think I’m in bad shape.
A warm hand touches my forehead, and another pushes against my stomach. I wince but can’t open my eyes to see what’s going on.
Wait, when did I even close them?
A flash of heat rockets through me, and suddenly the throbbing pain that’s been coursing through my whole body starts to fade. My panted breaths start
