Page 109 of A Trial of Two Worlds
I sheathed Valencia across my back and darted toward the stone steps carved into the outer layer of the tower, combating my instinct to fight instead of run.
Climbing the steps, I searched down the bond for my mate. Relief and a swell of pride surged through my chest as I felt Skylar’s presence. Her fiery spirit fueled me with a surge of power even from a distance.
Skylar was alive.
She was close, and she was heading this way.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Skylar Cathal
“You breathe a gods-damned word of this to Talon or Rhea, and I swear I will—”
“I know!” I said, gripping Shaw’s coarse fur, urging him to run faster. “Hurry up, we’re almost there.”
Shaw’s powerful legs thundered beneath him, carrying us across the wilted earth toward the tower where Daxton and Adohan were trying to fix the wards. Up ahead, I could see the mist encroaching on the tower. The remnants of dark magic were far too close, threatening to swallow the tower and everyone else with it. If Dax and Adohan didn’t repair the ward, Crimson City would fall.
“Shift your weight!”Shaw shouted inside my head. “And don’t fall. It’s embarrassing enough that I’m carrying you into battle like this.”
Shaw was right as usual, although I didn’t dare admit it to his face. He wasnota pony.
Riding on his back felt like tumbling down a cliffside while trying to remain balanced. He was remarkably fast and powerful, but riding along his shoulders and clinging to his neck for dear life was not the most enjoyable experience.
“You’re the one that said I was too slow on mytwolegs.”
“And I still stand by what I said.”
Shaw took another sharp turn and leaped over a stack of boulders leading to the rolling hillside. The blackened earth and dried trees cracked under the force of his bounding paws as Shaw pushed forward.
“Warriors are fighting at the base, and I can see two figures climbing outside the structure up ahead.”
“Dax and Adohan must be ascending to the relic at the top to reactivate the ward’s magic—good. Let’s help buy them some time.”
“With pleasure.”
Shaw surged forward, closing the distance, his roar causing even the garmr to flinch. He skidded to a stop, allowing me to slide from his back to join in the fight.
“Champion, here!” a dark-skinned warrior said as he tossed me a quiver of fresh arrows to draw from.
I was capable with a sword, but deadly with my bow. I nodded a quick thanks as I readied an arrow, searching for a new target. My silver bow felt weightless in my hands as I took a deep breath to steady my arm. The fletching of the feathers gently caressed my cheek before I released the string and sent my arrow flying.
Thud, one harpy down. Then two, and then three. Yet the massive horde looming against the horizon was still circling nearby, almost as if they were waiting for something.
Shaw released a deafening roar as he rounded on a pack of four garmr, attempting to guard the base of the stairs Daxton and Adohan were climbing.
“Shaw?”I reached out to my friend and listened for his answer.“Shaw!”I screamed.
“I’m fine.”
“Why am I having a hard time believing you?”I grabbed the quiver, attached it to my side, and ran for the stairs outside the sandstone tower.“Give me a way through, then. I’ll have a vantage point from the steps to cover you.”
Shaw swiped at the garmr, forcing them to step back and create a small opening for me to leap onto the steps. From there, I could keep the wall to my back and help cover the others from above. I drew on my bow, arrow after arrow soaring across the battlefield. Crimson entrails stained the scorched earth. My nose wrinkled at the aroma from the High Fae and wilted creatures alike.
There was so much death… Andwhy?
Why were these creatures here? Why did the ward fall? Why was all this happening now?
A chill crept up my spine as I turned to see black mist gathering fifty yards from the tower’s base. As the seconds turned into minutes during the fighting, the enemy silently grew right in front of our eyes. I cursed myself for being foolish enough not to recognize this sooner. The fear-gripping feeling of death loomed around us as the mists began to encircle the tower.
