Page 75 of Blood of Olympus

Vel roared in agony, reflexively jolting away from the tower — to no avail.

The serpent was acting as an anchor, entwined as it was in the metallic structure of the spire. Her wings flapped fiercely, succeeding only in rapid lurches away, only to snap back immediately — no better than a mouse caught by only its tail.

Her pain was so extreme that it reverberated down our bond, rattling my spine. Despite her best efforts to shield me, it still left an echo of agony in my own right thigh.

Hang on, Vel! I called, gritting my teeth, unlatching the straps holding my thighs captive in mere seconds.

Her answer was nothing more than another sharp cry threatening to split open my skull.

I’d never attempted this maneouvre before but she had to be extricated from the serpent’s teeth before she damaged those beautiful wings against the ruined temple — or before its venom could succeed in turning her leg to stone. Without giving myself a chance to doubt the decision, I leaped to my feet, wobbling precariously on the smooth leather of the saddle.

Nightshade! Caelus shouted up the bond, sending a hefty dose of his alarm along with it.

Vel shrieked again, the agony of the bite increasing tenfold. The serpent had made use of the opportunity she’d unwittingly given it, fighting to maintain some sort of steadiness in the air so as not to dislodge me.

Hurry, she moaned. Her accompanying whine tore slivers from my heart, shredding them as easily as her talons would.

Using her spines to navigate the length of her back, I halted an arm's length from the massive, dark head of the amphisbaena. Its dull mud-coloured eyes glared with open hostility and no small amount of pain, hissing when I dared to glare back.

Vel’s skin surrounding the fangs had already turned a mottled shade of grey, petrifying further as I balanced, watching. Her keen wail ricocheted off the tower, slicing off more strips of my heart.

“You dare to hurt what’s mine?” I snarled at the beast, unsheathing Nightbreaker as I spoke.

I raised the weapon, relishing the dark fury that filled me, and levelled the tip with the snake’s nearest eye. Something within it flickered as the sword’s lightning and shadow magic twined around the blade; something akin to fear.

Good. Recognise your end, monster.

As I raised the sword in one swift stroke, half a breath from unleashing it upon the creature’s maw, it jolted without warning, releasing its fangs and drawing back into the relative safety of the spire. Vel, having been unprepared for such a quick unlatching, propelled us sharply upwards with the next beat of her wings, dislodging me from her spine and sending me careening towards a shattered window.

The combined burst of Vel’s anxiety and Caelus’ panic hit me like a fist to the sternum — hitting almost as hard as the jagged pillar I slammed into instead.

Dazed and winded, I lay on the filthy, cracked tiles of whichever floor of the spire I’d landed in. My lungs ached with both the pain of impact and the desperate panic of oxygen deprivation. Stuttering, short rasps plagued me — nowhere near enough to provide any relief — and I clawed at my chest, succumbing to anxiety.

Breathe, urged Caelus, breaking through the haze of panic. Breathe, he said again.

Strangely, just the knowledge that he was there with me in the thick of it — even via a tenuous mental link — helped to ease the feeling. My lungs pulled in more air, the stridor less noticeable.

I’m okay, I reassured. Thank you.

Rolling over, I took quick stock of the room. It was a small space, made even smaller by the mass of black scales taking up half the available space. In such close proximity, I was afforded a view of the amphisbaena’s engorged midsection.

Its scales absorbed the daylight, reflecting back only a third of the sun’s rays. Muscles contracted, forcing more of its body out the open window, and the sound it made as it slid — slowly at first, then faster and faster out that jagged hole — clawed at my ears like the whining scrape of chalk on slate.

It knows you’re in there! Vel boomed through my mind. The frantic beat of her wings echoed through the spire, sending gusts of air past me, carrying all the shattered remnants of coloured glass and crumbled stone along with it.

Get out! I’ll catch you! she called.

No. I’ll end this now.

Readying my stance just as Charon taught me, I gripped Nightbreaker’s pommel in both fists, holding it aloft above my right shoulder.

Inhale.

I emptied my mind.

Exhale.

I lifted my chin.