Since crazy as fuck ideas seem to be a new forte of mine, I snatch on to another one. On the next spin, when we reach the point where gravity is working in my favor again, I let go of the whip swords and dive for Lazza’s gryphon’s neck. I call on my swoosh blades, and instead of trying to hold onto him with my hands, I dig the blades into the sides of his throat, hoping the speed of the roll he’s executing helps to decapitate him.
Warm blood leaks out of the wounds I’m pressing into his neck. It makes it hard to keep a hold of the weapons, but I grit my teeth and divert all energy into doing just that. Talons rake down my shoulder and arm as Lazza tries to rip me off him. I’m unfortunately within striking distance of his front legs again, but as he attempts to pull me around and off of him, he also helps to move the black blades in his throat. A gurgled scream rips out of his beak, and I send a mental, “That’s right, motherfucker, you’re going down if I am,” at him.
A roar sounds off behind me, but I don’t pull my focus from Lazza and my efforts to inch by inch remove his head from his body as we fall like a meteor to the ground. I dig in even harder as I start to make out the details of the ground.
Just a little longer and—I’m yanked off of Lazza’s back before I can even finish that thought. Strong, warm arms wrap around my waist and pluck me off like I’m a tick. I lose my hold on my weapons and cry out as I’m torn away.
I call on another swoosh blade, twisting in the arms of whoever has me so I can shove it in their neck. The sight of tan skin, onyx scruff, and wavy black hair that’s being windswept away from an entirely too handsome face makes me pause.
“What are you doing, little sparrow?” Zeph asks me evenly, like it wasn’t obvious.
“Saving the day,” I croak back in answer, pissed that he just rained on the hero shit I was trying to pull off.
Gryphons are battling in the distance, and I can hear faint growls and cries carried over to us in the wind.
“By killing yourself?” he demands tersely.
“No, by killing him,” I snap back, turning and looking for Lazza in the sky around us. I expect him to be trying to get away again, but I’m surprised to see he’s still falling to the ground.
I don’t get my hopes up that he won’t somehow be able to stop his trajectory; I’ve seen and also survived too much to think we’ll win this easily.
“Why aren’t you a gryphon?” I ask, settling into Zeph’s arms as his powerful black wings angle us down for a smooth gentle descent to the ground.
“Because you needed rescuing.”
I scoff.
“Totally didn’t. I had that handled.”
“If by handled, you mean a feather’s breadth away from being ripped off his back and shredded, then yes, little sparrow, I agree.”
I roll my eyes, and he nips at my neck as I watch Lazza continue to hurtle toward the ground. I’m certain that at any moment, he’s going to spread his wings and swoop back into the air, rallying impossibly like every fucking annoying villain in every movie ever. But I watch as he plunges wildly, and then with a deep boom and a plume of dirt and debris, Lazza smashes into the unforgiving ground.
I’m shocked and completely speechless. I thought for sure that wasn’t going to happen. A cheer rises up through my chest, but I bite it back down. I survived two falls just like that, and if I can, he sure as fuck will. Zeph aims for the crash site, and I catch Ryn’s and Treno’s gryphons already landing nearby. Red-purple dirt floats heavily in the air as Zeph and I land, and I push out of his hold and immediately call on my whip swords. I keep them in their sword form, and I see out of the corner of my eye that Zeph does the same thing.
Treno shifts out of his gryphon form, but Ryn stays furry and feathered as back up. Treno moves toward us, his mismatched eyes trained on his brother’s body. Worry starts to simmer in my chest. Treno knew that Lazza making it out of this alive was impossible, but knowing something and seeing it through can be very different things.
His gaze hardens, and I can’t even begin to imagine the rush of emotions that must be going through him right now. He closes the distance between us in a few strides, and just when I think he’s going to streak past me to either check on or maybe finish off his brother, he stops and wraps me up in a hug.
The gesture takes me by surprise, but I don’t hesitate to squeeze him back, hard.
“I’m so grateful you’re okay,” he tells me as he presses a kiss to the top of my head. I can feel the relief that washes through him from the contact.
I can only imagine what happened after I disappeared from Ryn’s lap. I’ll ask them about it later, but first we need to finish this. Treno puts me down and calls on his swoosh blades. He keeps his eyes trained on the sky, like he’s waiting for the stars themselves to shoot down in defense of his brother.
Looks like I’m not the only one who feels like this is suddenly too easy.
We cautiously approach the small crater that Lazza’s crash to the ground created, and I see that Lazza isn’t in his gryphon form anymore, but he’s still just lying there. I wonder for a brief moment if this is how Zeph found me after our first meeting, and this moment feels oddly full circle.
Lazza is bruised and battered all over,
