a path back down, but Valeron blocked his descent.
A new fear rose in Tauran and he urged Leyra higher, her larger form painfully slow to catch up. They had to make it. They had to.
Two-hundred feet. One-hundred.
They were thousands of feet in the air, far higher than even Kel Visal’s peak.
“Hang on, Kalai,” Tauran hissed through gritted teeth.
And then it happened. Kalai’s grip slid from Arrow’s neck strap, head tilting back before his body followed.
As he’d been trained to do, Arrow followed Kalai’s movements and leaned back, tugging in his wings in preparation to drop. Straight into Valeron’s path.
Valeron twisted sideways, parting his jaws to clamp around Arrow’s neck.
Leyra reached them first, gaping wide and seizing the end of Valeron’s tail in her jaws with all her strength. Valeron screamed, curling around to free himself from Leyra’s grip, wings frantically beating. Arrow whipped past them, disappearing into the blanket of smoke.
“Are you going to kill me?” Roric’s voice was full of anger. He clung low on Valeron’s back as the statera struggled for balance. He reached for his pistol, swore, and gripped Valeron’s neck strap again. “Are you going to kill your best friend, you fucking traitor?”
“Release him,” Tauran said, and Leyra opened her jaws.
Valeron cried out, falling backward before righting himself. He vanished into the smoke and Tauran followed.
After the fresh air above the ashes, descending back into it nearly made Tauran choke. Leyra coughed, shaking her head, and Tauran hissed when the tip of her left wing grazed the top of the Solar Tower.
A dragon raced close by, squeezing between Leyra’s body and the tower. A second dragon followed, less lucky and less experienced, strapped in striking leather. It slammed head-first into the tower.
Tauran hissed, turning Leyra away. “Find Kalai!”
How much more of the toxic fumes could the dragons breathe before it would kill them?
A familiar call rose from below and Leyra dove, dodging the edge of the guard ground wall before landing in the open space before the gates. Arrow called again, and then a white form darted from the shadows of an alley and curled underneath the shadow of Leyra’s belly.
Leyra rumbled softly and curled her wings around Arrow, the right one raining droplets of blood onto his scales.
“Kalai!” Tauran leaned sideways to see over Leyra’s shoulder. Arrow’s head appeared, and then the rest of him, Kalai awake and looking up at Tauran from the saddle.
“I’m all right,” Kalai said, breathing deep despite the smoke. “It was a close call, but Arrow brought me down before I blacked out. What happened? Where’s Valeron?”
Tauran allowed himself a moment to get his nerves under control. “I don’t know. Leyra bit him. I hope he’s retreated to lick his wounds. Will you be all right?”
Before Kalai could answer, another Swiftwing called. Leyra called back. Some of the ice inside Tauran gave way to relief at the sight of Sorcha. She spread her wings to slow her descent and landed beside Leyra. Catria sat astride her.
“Are you two all right?” Catria asked.
“We’re fine.” Tauran inspected Leyra’s torn wing. The blood made it a grizzly sight, but it would heal.
“Emilian could use a hand,” Catria said. “This needs to end, now.”
Tauran nodded. “Stay with Kalai.”
Leyra spun, spread her wings and leaped clear of the guard ground wall.
Nearer to the ground, the smoke was thinner and the scene unfolding before Tauran filled him with equal parts worry and hope.
People donning the Ground Guard uniform crowded the open space between the tower and the lower buildings. The crowd was split in two, the group by the tower backed by a dozen dragons, Excellor largest among them, although his head was bowed and his breaths came quick and shallow. On the right, Emilian fronted the smaller crowd. At the sight of Leyra, they all looked up.
Leyra extended her legs and Emilian’s side of the guard made way for her beside them. Tauran met the eyes of some of them and they nodded back, a bit of the apprehension in their eyes fading. Looking ahead, Tauran understood their fear. They faced a dozen dragons, and a single swipe of Excellor’s tail could hurt and kill most of them in seconds.
This scene was a minefield. And Tauran wasn’t going to help settle things from the back of a titan.
Tauran swung his left leg over Leyra’s shoulder. She crouched, letting Tauran use her front leg as a step. A sharp shock of pain shot through Tauran’s leg when he dropped the last distance to the paved ground.