Soul Forge (Book One of the Soul Forge series)

Chapter Forty Four...

"Fuck!" Sypher hissed. "She must be insane!"

"Why? Does she not have the control to keep going?" Elda asked. Sypher's eyes were wide, his throat bobbing when he swallowed. Her heart dropped into her boots when she realised he was afraid.

"It's worse than that," he answered.

"Then what?"

"Ose. I've never been close enough to the mountains to recognise her, but it's unmistakeable."

"Who's Ose?" Elda asked reluctantly.

"The only Behemoth to ever escape me. She almost killed me the first time we crossed paths." He was still flying towards Lillian at breakneck speed, intent on catching the Fae. "She concealed herself in the mountain where she's been resting for over six hundred years, and now Lillian is using ancient magic right beside her."

"She's going to wake her up," Elda gasped.

"She's going to get us all killed." His voice became a growl as he allowed Vel to take the reins, hands clamping around her thighs. His skin paled, dark veins spreading out around his left eye. The pupil expanded to swallow the red, blacker than sin as he shot forwards like a cannon ball. Elda flattened herself against his back, stomach lurching when his speed threatened to unseat her.

"What are you going to do?" she called out, eyes watering in the gale.

"Rip her off that fucking mountain and drag her back to Valdren myself," Vel snarled. "Lillian!" At the sound of his voice, ice laced with a razor sharp edge of steel, the Fae dropped onto a rocky ledge and turned, her head whipping round to gawk at them. She yelped when Vel switched courses and gripped her around the waist, the very tip of his left wing skimming the mountain side as he yanked her from the rock.

"Let go of me!" Lillian screamed, slamming the hilt of her katana against his hands, but Vel was enraged. He kept a firm grip on her, wings beating fiercely to put distance between them and the mountain before the beast inside could wake.

"Lillian, stop! You don't know what you're doing!" Elda called.

"Oh fuck off, Princess!" the Fae screamed, swinging her legs to try and throw him off course. When that didn't work she slashed the air with her sword.

"Lillian, no!" But Elda's scream was futile. Vel threw out his wings, grunting when they caught the wind and strained in an attempt to arrest their flight. It was too late. They hurtled through the portal and straight into the mountain side. All Vel could do was turn his body to stop the two women taking the brunt of the impact.

There was a crunch as the fine bones of his left wing shattered and Elda gasped when the air was pushed from her lungs, her brain rattling in her skull. Vel's grip faltered and she fell. Lillian dropped too, landing heavily on a ledge of rock and rolling until her back touched the flat side of the mountain.

Elda was in a free fall, hurtling towards the ground with enough speed to smash her bones to dust. She knew Lillian wouldn't try to use her portals to help, if she was even conscious. The elf couldn't even close her eyes as the ground rushed up to meet her.

Something constricted around her waist and then Vel's feathered wings were in her view and she was looking up at the sky. Somehow, even with his shattered wing, he'd caught up to her.

The impact was hard enough to rattle her bones, sending stars bursting across her vision when she bounced along the hard-packed sand and rock, coming to rest a few feet away from where she landed. She laid in a daze for what felt like hours, too winded to move.

When she finally remembered where she was, she sat up slowly and looked over at Vel. He was on his hands and knees, his wings battered and twitching in pain. Blood dripped onto the sand, pouring from his nose and mouth. From the way his chest heaved, it was obvious he'd sustained serious injury. It was a miracle he was even conscious.