Bloodlines: Dragon Rider Book 2

Chapter 51: Cry of Decay

Easton nods, suddenly stoic. "Yes, sir."

The air hisses. I whirl, a glint of steel gleaming through the air as Dagen hurls a dagger. It lodges into a creature made of solid ice and shatters it, his blade clattering to the ground. But more come, seven of them. They have no wings, yet they slither through the air like sea snakes in water, their long, skinny tails flicking behind them. Cold froths off their nearly-transparent bodies, much like Norah when her hands are laced in ice. They hiss at us with wide, pointed mouths, their icy-white teeth curling and shining in the dim cavern.

Adam gasps. "That's what she was feeling."

Norah back arches so high I think it might snap. I almost reach to hold her down.

"Ice Wraiths," Adam says, shooting to his feet to send a wave of air at them. They roll and spin in the air but always slither back.

"Easton," I say, voice hard like iron. "Go with him. Stand behind us."

He stands, unsheathing his sword, and takes up a spot behind me.

"Kinda makes you wish we had the dragons," Dagen muses, angling his second dagger at a Wraith. "Or a frost mage."

Adam says, "They're different, Norah wouldn't be able to control them and only dragon fire can melt them."

Easton swings his sword, the wraith breaking like glass. "Steel kills them," he says and I wish they would shut up and focus.

I turn my attention back to Norah, now clawing at her neck and arms and chest. Her voice breaks, breathing coming shorter and shorter. It's not safe to take her and run, but the urge to do so makes my fingers twitch and flex.

Removing her from the tree could kill her, I tell myself.

My mind spins with plan, after plan to get everyone out of here alive. I don't know how I would get Norah through the tunnels if she wasn't conscious. It would take longer than if she could move on her own, but I would find a way. I could do it.

Part of me hopes that she'll pass out instead of enduring the pain. I could get her to the cliffs if she did, where it might be too high for the wraiths to reach.

But for now, there is nothing for me to do but wait.

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I don't know how long it took for her to stop screaming. Two hours? Thirty minutes? Time was not its usual self with me, too fast and too slow all at the same time. But she's stopped screaming, stopped drawing more Ice Wraiths. And the tendrils are gone, the tree releasing its hold.

Norah stares at my knee, her mind and eyes gone somewhere far away where pain does not exist. I stare at her, my mind had been whirling and spinning, trying to think of everything to try and help her. Now it's heavy and silent.

Metal clashes. Ice shatters, a thousand pieces of broken glass.

My mind sharpens, the world coming into focus.

Dagen and Adam count their kills, each one trying to beat the other. But Easton is a silent warrior behind us, cutting and slashing wraiths as they come.

"Norah," I say, shifting on my knee and lower my knuckles from my cheek. Squirm lays on her chest with his head on her jaw, glancing at me. His antlers flare slightly, curious and wary, as if asking me what to do.

But she doesn't move. Doesn't blink.

I try again, leaning closer. "Norah."

More wraiths slither up the roots, trying to slip around the dragon rider. Easton doesn't let that happen, his sword hissing through the air.