A Girl From Nowhere (The Firewall Trilogy #1) - James Maxwell Page 0,144

Selena thought he might be searching; perhaps trying to find Taimin. A wyvern’s eyes were far sharper than a human’s, but, even so, to pick out one man in the streets below must be close to impossible, particularly with nightfall fast approaching.

All of a sudden Selena felt her whole world tilt. She leaned forward and gripped the ridges of Griff’s shoulder blades, hugging the wyvern’s body. Her knees tensed as she tried to prevent herself from falling. Griff was turning, banking sharply to head back toward the middle of the city. The tower approached, becoming steadily larger.

“No,” Selena said sharply. “Not there.”

Griff’s wings gave another series of sweeps, and then in an instant the tower was behind Selena rather than ahead. From her height she saw a great crowd at the city gates. Farther away, past the wall, was a multitude of dark figures that could only be Blixen’s army.

Griff began to swoop down toward one of the wider streets, but a handful of people saw him and cried out in fear. The wyvern’s wings came down again to lift him up and away.

Selena leaned forward and brought her face as close as she could to a pointy ear. “Griff? Where are we going?”

Griff gave a piercing shriek, which she took as the only reply she would get.

As the wyvern’s body leveled once more, Selena’s eyes stung from the constant stream of air against her face. She tried to guess Griff’s destination, and then she saw a huge, oval-shaped structure directly ahead.

Her breath caught as she realized where Griff was going. The arena was somewhere he knew, and was the last place he had seen Taimin.

Griff shot over the arena’s perimeter and immediately Selena spied the sandy, blood-stained floor. Bodies lay strewn across the sand on one side of the fighting pit. While she took in the grim sight, Griff tucked in his wings and dived. Her stomach churned as the wyvern pulled up sharply, broad wings blowing up sand. Griff found a secluded place to land, away from the scene of recent fighting, where he probably thought she would be safe.

Selena slipped off Griff’s back. With sand below her feet and her chest heaving, she turned to face the wyvern. Griff watched her for a moment, eyes filled with concern. His face was different, more tapered, but his gentle, sad eyes were the same.

“Griff . . .” Selena said. She stepped forward and reached out to stroke his face. He had changed, but she knew him, just as he knew her. “Thank you.”

He moved his head slightly to nuzzle her hand. Then, giving another shriek, he startled her by launching himself once more into the sky. Selena followed him with her eyes until he was gone, and she was alone in the fighting pit. She guessed that Griff would continue to search the city for Taimin.

After the frantic pace of events, Selena took a slow, steadying breath. The bodies of so many uniformed soldiers told her that the uprising had been successful. She tried not to look at them, but then her gaze alighted on the corpse of a man she recognized.

Galen’s body was on the far side of the fighting pit, but his close-cropped white hair singled him out. Taimin had done it; his enemy was dead.

Thinking about Taimin, Selena tore her gaze away and instead scanned the sky, wondering if Griff might soon appear with Taimin on his back. As she stood on the sand, in a cleared space that was hers alone, it was growing dark and, as blue shifted to black high above, stars began to shimmer across the expanse.

Wherever Taimin was, she was going to see him soon.

But even as she had the thought, a strange feeling of dread crept up unbidden. She couldn’t explain it at first. Her talent was trying to tell her something. The sense of unease grew stronger. There was terrible danger behind her,

She whirled.

Arren stood facing her.

His pinched face looked haggard. He was wheezing, and a wide patch of crimson stained the material of his white tunic.

But the wiry mystic was wounded, not dead. He held something in his hand.

It was the dagger Selena had stabbed him with. Arren snarled as the dagger came forward.

Aware that she was unarmed, Selena freed herself from her body faster than thought. In an instant her ethereal consciousness was floating in the air. She shot toward Arren’s skull and dived inside.

Stop. She sent the single, strong command, just like she had with the