Emberhawk - Jamie Foley Page 0,108

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Sa’alu

“I don’t read Malo very well,” Ryon said, “but this looks more like a receipt than an order.”

“Oh, no,” Kira breathed. “Does this mean—”

A deafening boom shuddered the earth above them and rained dirt from the ceiling. Kira covered her head as the children screamed and ducked into their cloth tents. Lee grabbed Kira and curled over her.

“Get moving!” Felix snapped as Ryon dashed to the largest tent and pulled his shirt off in favor of a leather jerkin. “Mom! Aeg—”

Ryon was cut off by another explosion that rocked the tree above them. And another. And another.

Kira’s knees hit the dirt with a jolt of pain. She covered her head as her heart froze and dripped icy blood through her veins. We’re too late!

Felix dashed around them and into the tunnel. “Come with me!” he yelled back to Ryon. “I’m going to need you!”

“I won’t leave them!” Ryon shielded a golden-eyed girl who clung to his leg.

Tekkyn ran to the cluster of children’s tents and stumbled as another wave of thunder sent a dozen mushrooms and their glowing spores to the ground. “I’ll stay.” He covered a boy’s head from a shower of dirt. “Sa’alu can’t see me here.”

Ryon didn’t move. He stared back into the other rooms as women screamed. “Stay calm!” he yelled.

Kira ran from Lee’s shadow and grabbed Ryon’s arm. “Tekkyn will protect them. We need you.”

Orange eyes snapped to her face. “I can’t.”

“He won’t let anything happen to them.” Kira looked up to Tekkyn. “I promise.”

“On my life,” Tekkyn swore.

“Ryon!” Felix’s roar from the tunnel thundered like a lion’s.

Ryon began to stand, but a tiny hand had clamped down on his jerkin. “Are you leaving?” a girl asked, her voice quivering.

He leaned forward and kissed her dark gray locks. “I’ll be right back, yeah? This man will keep you safe.”

“Let him go, Mayla! He’s going to save the city!” one of the boys with wild hair shouted. He scowled at Tekkyn. “And the root rats don’t need no outsider to take care of us.”

Pride shone from Ryon’s face. He ruffled the boy’s hair and dashed for the tunnel.

Kira raced after him, but Lee grabbed her wrist as she passed. “Kira, I’ll go. Stay with—”

“I’m going.” She ripped her arm from his grip and plunged into the tunnel. “Think your lasso will work on Emberhawk?”

Lee snorted and ran at her heels.

Kira squinted in the daylight as she stumbled from the tunnel. It revealed a colossal black wyvern with clawed wings digging into the ground, poised for takeoff.

The beast’s head whipped around, its vivid green eyes as wide as a crocodile’s. Felix?

The wyvern opened its fanged maw and spoke. “Get on!”

40

RYON

Shock anchored Ryon to the ground. The voice had sounded like Felix’s, but the beast looked like a monster from the ocean’s abyss. It must have been a lake wyvern—a draconic creature not hunted from Lake Mossu since his grandfather’s generation.

Black scales shone from a fanned tail to a snake-like head, but its underside was covered with thick brown hide. The bend of its wings pierced the road as the wyvern hunched over. It held its neck close to the ground and eyed them through emerald slits.

“You can admire me later,” Felix growled.

Ryon dashed forward and climbed a wing. He landed on the beast’s neck and straddled it, the bow on his back clacking against Felix’s scales. He held a hand out to Kira.

“Felix?” Kira hesitated, but her eyes were alight with wonder.

The wyvern snorted with enough force to blow her over. “Get on, human, or I’ll leave you behind!”

Kira lurched toward them, and Ryon clapped his hand against hers. He pulled her up to land in front of him, and she swung a leg over Felix’s neck. Her flowing split skirt fluttered and settled as if it had been designed for riding wyverns.

Felix lifted his chest from the road, and Ryon swayed and cursed. He gripped the black scales, but they were as smooth as a snake’s skin.

He slipped his hands around Kira’s waist instead. “Hang on to his neck.” He leaned into her back as Felix raised his head. Her soft curls smelled of rosemary and lavender. Don’t think about it!

“Got room for one more?” Lee yelled from the ground.

Felix’s growl reverberated up through his scales. “Don’t move.”

Ryon’s blissful thoughts of Kira were blown away by the sudden beat of Felix’s wings. She clung to the wyvern’s neck as it lurched into the sky.

Lee cried out below them.