To watch her soar into the air on the back of a strange phoenix… only to plummet through the sky soon after.
Tristan thought his heart might have actually stopped, his very blood arrested in that one, single, terrified moment. Was that how he had looked, falling limply—and utterly helplessly—from Rex’s saddle? Was that how it felt to watch someone you loved die and be completely and utterly unable to help?
But then Xephyra was there—no longer locked up after all—shooting toward Veronyka like an arrow. They met in midair, Xephyra snatching Veronyka in her claws before curling around her bondmate and hitting the ground hard.
Everyone on the balcony stared, thunderstruck.
Had… had they survived it?
Tristan’s stomach clenched so tightly, he thought he might be sick, but then Val and her phoenix were plummeting after them, twisting and fighting to remain aloft as if buffeted by high winds or dragged down by invisible nets.
Their strange struggle continued until they too came careening downward and crashed somewhere near Veronyka and Xephyra.
There was a breathless, frozen instant on the tower balcony—then everyone moved all at once. Rolan barked orders, and the soldiers turned their backs on the Phoenix Riders and barreled down the stairs. Below, Tristan could hear more shouts and the sounds of horses being mounted up and ridden away, obviously in pursuit.
“Bondmates, now,” the commander bellowed. Tristan had already called Rex, summoning him back from the outskirts of Ferro where he and the other phoenixes were clustered together, out of harm’s way but not so far as to be unreachable.
They’d flown here as fast as they could, traveling all night and stopping only once, at Prosperity, to tell Fallon what was happening so he could relay it to the others. But by a twist of fate, Beryk was there with Alexiya, reporting on the recent happenings in the east, and they’d all insisted on coming. Darius had remained behind to man the front lines and keep a hold on Prosperity and Vayle, while the rest of Tristan’s patrol—who had to finish up their last-minute duties and assign their patrol shifts to the guards—were expected to arrive at any minute. Tristan’s Riders might be green and inexperienced, but it was better to withdraw Riders from Rushlea—which was safer than the other locations—than to remove anyone else from Prosperity or Vayle.
Though it seemed like a lifetime, the phoenixes arrived before the horse-mounted soldiers got even halfway to Veronyka and Val. Tristan leapt into the saddle and hastened to mirror, using Rex’s superior eyesight to get a better look at what was happening. Both phoenixes were back on their feet, and—Tristan released a shaky breath—so were Veronyka and Val.
Now they just had to beat Rolan’s soldiers.
Faster, Tristan said to Rex, who let out a resounding cry and a shower of sparks. One, two, three pumps of his wings and they overtook the commander, who had been in the lead, riding hard on Maximian.
His father didn’t object or fight for position, but slid back, filling the spot that Rex had vacated. With five of them, they flew in an expanded arrowhead pattern—Tristan now in the lead, with his father and Beryk to the right and Fallon and Alexiya to the left.
Tristan turned in his saddle and told the others to arrange themselves in a protective circle around Veronyka and Val. It seemed natural to issue orders at this point, and no one questioned it as they arrived at their destination and spread out to take up their positions.
Veronyka and Val had luckily avoided landing in any populous areas—or colliding with buildings—and the Riders found themselves making a stand inside a well-kept private garden.
Or at least, it had been well kept. Great clumps of earth were torn up, the stones from pathways scattered across the lawns, and Val’s phoenix, who was still behaving erratically and clawing at the ground, was smoking, causing the nearby plant life to catch fire.
Veronyka was on her feet, Xephyra by her side, facing down Val. They seemed utterly unaware of their surroundings, absorbed in some private battle, and Tristan had to trust that they would be okay. Veronyka could handle her sister; the rest of them would handle the soldiers.
But as Tristan and Rex banked and circled around to face the coming cavalry, Tristan knew they had their work cut out for them.
The soldiers separated and approached in three groups, two circling around to try to find weak spots to break through the Phoenix Rider perimeter, while the third halted their progress to