RED
Rana's freshly healed wings snapped out like a sail, catching the northern wind and yanking us back from the wall. I did that! I thought, glowing with pride as my thighs clenched down on her sides. I tried to lean into the momentum instead of being carried away by it, but I would have slipped off altogether if it wasn't for Sebastian's arm wrapped around my waist, stronger than any rope.
He reeled me back in, anchoring me against the hard planes of his chest, but I was still wise enough to wrap both hands around the spike in front of me. I had no idea how Gretchen was managing on her own two spikes ahead, right where Rana's shoulders joined with her serpentine neck. The Witch of the East hadn't thought to braid her hair and now it snapped at her shoulders, whipping them raw.
The wind changed, pulling us back towards the wall. Rana cried out as her wing wrenched backwards, the tearing sound making my organs wince. Her flapping faltered and we spun out of control, careening into the rock.
Crunch. The impact rocked my very world as rock crunched under bone and bone crunched under rock. My foot was pinned against the wall, but it wasn't until Rana pushed off that the pain set in, ramping up with every second. I gritted my teeth and clenched the spike even harder as black started to close in from the corners of my vision. My knuckles went white and my breath sawed in and out of my lungs, but there was no time for pain, because we were spinning again, a frail kite caught in a whirlwind of rain and ice and rock —
"Jump!" Gretchen shouted, her voice snatched away by the wind and the rain.
The best I could manage was to swing my leg over Rana's side, almost passing out from the pain of my crushed foot. Sebastian pulled me the rest of the way, legs bunching and then propelling us off Rana's back, just as she slammed into the wall again.
This time she didn't fight for air. The wyvern slid down the wall and out of sight, leaving a bloody smear behind. Gretchen's scream echoed through the canyon, so shrill that my eardrums ached.
Sebastian and I reached the arc of our momentum, the ruby facets of his eyes catching the lightning and holding it prisoner. His hair became a silver halo streaked with the faintest hint of blue, wreathing his head in pearlescent mist. For an instant I was transported back to a flowery grave, confronted by the Orchid Mantis's vision of my perfect match, but this was so much more. The crooked bridge of his nose, broken one too many times; the fierce and wily arch of his brows, lending a mocking air to his every expression; the silver freckles that almost eluded notice, only rewarding those who were brave enough to get close. His canines were a little too sharp, his expression a little too mean, his body always primed for fight or flight, but I savoured the contrast of his wild demeanour with the sensitive side he saved only for me.
I wanted it all. I wanted him.
And then we were falling, spinning together, wild and out of control. I tried to turn us around so that I could cushion his fall, but he wrestled me for the same right, his skin taking on a metallic gleam as we plummeted to our deaths.
Silver ringed his dilated pupils. The hand on my shoulder became icy cold, biting into my skin as the ground rushed up to meet us. Power rolled off his body in waves, putting Hunter's flashy shows of magic to shame.
This wasn't a temper tantrum. Sebastian was tapping into a force of nature, becoming that force with every passing second, until he lived and breathed the icy power of the cosmos itself.
All of a sudden we were floating, scant inches from the snowy rocks. We hovered there for a moment, the only sounds our sawing breath and the lonely whistle of wind through the peaks.
"Are you okay?" he shouted.
I was about to answer when Gretchen let us go without warning. We landed heavily on our sides, the snow soaking through my cloak. I curled into Sebastian on instinct, gritting my teeth against the pain of my jarred ankle as I thrust it into the snow, trying to numb it in the process.
His lips mashed down upon my forehead, still cold as ice, but that little gesture spoke volumes and made my heart work double time. Heat flooded my body as my blood roared to life, singing with the realisation that he cares about me, he cares!
"I couldn't do it," he gasped, fingers clawing in the fabric of my cloak. Hot water soaked my hair, and I realised he was crying. "I got so close, but I couldn't do it."
"Do what?" I asked, pushing back to look at him.
"Over and over again, your life is in the balance and I still can't make myself use it," he babbled, barely making sense. "If She finds me... If I reach out and She reaches back..."
"Who?" I asked, wiping away his tears. "Nya?"
"I was her slave for so long," he whispered. "I did things, Red. Horrible, horrible things. If She made me hurt you —"
"Red!" Gretchen screamed. "I need your help!"
Both of our heads snapped towards the sound. At first I thought Gretchen was surrounded by craggy boulders and dilapidated trees, but then I blinked and they were moving, closing in on the auburn-haired woman and the prostrate wyvern behind her.
The clouds funnelled overhead, a black whirlpool that rumbled ominously as seven Kirin stallions advanced, lowering their horns in smooth succession. They looked like they'd been hewn from the mountain itself, but the power pulsing beneath their scales was all too alive as their leader pawed at the ground, summoning a bolt of lightning with a callous shake of his head. It split the sky and struck his horn in a shower of sparks, little rings of electricity rippling through his slate-grey coat as he charged it on the tip of his horn.
I tested my ankle, my breath escaping in a hiss. It looked like Mysandra's trifle, a sloppy mess of curdled cream and purple jam, topped off with a wobbly layer of jelly. Sebastian's head whipped back and forth as he tried to decide who to protect, eyes widening with alarm as they registered my busted leg.
I shoved him away with a surprising amount of force, enough to make him stagger. "I'll be right behind you!"
He hesitated only for a second, peeling away to join the others. His bones shattered and rearranged themselves, silver hair sprouting all over his body, until it was a wolf that slunk between Gretchen and the Kirin, back arched and hackles raised, red eyes glowering with menace. The Wraith's snarl was loud enough to rival the sudden boom of thunder that shook the rock beneath our feet, preceding another blinding flash that caught the Kirin leader's horn.
"Come on," I muttered, seizing my ankle with both hands. My eyes rolled into the back of my head at the pain, but I forced them forward, reaching for the anger that was always simmering just below the surface. "Heal, you stupid thing!"
I was so used to my body failing me that my mouth dropped open when buttery light oozed through my splayed fingers, seeping into my swollen ankle and draining the inflammation. It was back to normal in a matter of seconds, and I didn't even bother to test it before leaping to my feet and sprinting towards the others.
Another boom, another flash of lighting. This time it chained between all of seven Kirin, arcing from horns to antlers, crackling as it charged up one final time. The leader whinnied and reared, catching the rebound on his horn before slamming both hooves on the ground, pointing it at my friends.
"No!" I screamed, running forward. Gretchen wasn't ready; she still had one hand on the wyvern's caved-in chest, green light spilling between her fingers as she tried to fix what should have killed Rana on impact.
The Wraith reached the stallions before I could, pouncing on the leader — or so he tried. The stallions flanking him screamed with outrage and barrelled the Wraith over, rearing and stamping, their hooves clapping on the ground like thunder. He managed to writhe away from most of the blows, but one caught his tail, pinning it to the ground.
Bone crunched and electricity leapt from hoof to fur, spearing through the silver wolf's body in an effort to reach the ground. The smell of burning hair flooded the clearing as the Wraith yelped and convulsed, the snow melting beneath him, bloody foam collecting at the corner of his mouth. All those needle sharp teeth, clamping down on his tongue —
"Enough!" I screamed, skidding to a stop between them. I waved both arms, trying to spook the Kirin, but it snorted derisively and lowered its horn like a sword, pressing the tip against the hollow of my throat. I froze, trying to watch the others out of the corner of my eye. One wrong move, and the force of the entire storm would be ricocheting through my body, burning out my nerves as it sought the path of least resistance to the earth beneath my feet.
"Please," Gretchen sobbed. "We come in peace. Rana isn't like the others —"
The lightning on the leader's horn flared as he lowered his head, aiming past the witch — straight for the wyvern's chest. Ancient enemies, I remembered, shifting towards my friends on instinct.
I heard a small zap, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground, my body shuddering from something other than the cold. Blood filled my mouth as I bit down on my tongue, and I almost missed what happened next altogether as I inched forward, trying to evade notice as I crawled towards my friends.
Eddy intercepted the lightning, catching the crackling bolt upon her horn. Sparks flew and melted the snow in fat, sizzling clumps. A ripple ran through the gathered Kirin, and the leader made a sound like the wind whistling through the mountains, to which Eddy replied with an equally unintelligible rustling of leaves.
The leader snorted, pawing at the ground and summoning another bolt of lightning. Again, Eddy caught it, glowing brighter every time she pulled their power. I had to rub my eyes when she started growing larger, her spine stretching, flanks swelling with muscle.
Thanks to the distraction, I made it to Rana's side unscathed, placing both hands on her bloodied ribs, careful to avoid the upturned scales. Gretchen's wide, terrified eyes met mine over her scaly foreleg, and together we focused, willing our healing energies to course through Rana's body. While the witch repaired things according to her own expertise, I encouraged Rana's body to right itself according to its own memory of good health. Together, we stitched muscle and bone, chasing away the chill that had settled in her heart and slowed it to barely a pulse.
All of a sudden the wyvern reared, the faint stripes along the back of her neck flaring orange as she summoned a fire to rival mine. Her gullet flexed and pulsed like a bird trying to choke up a meal, and the Kirin scattered in alarm, leaving the Wraith where he lay panting on his side, eyes glazed over with exhaustion. I ran forward, shouting for him to transform so that I could drag him to safety, and he complied with a single shudder, slumping into his human form.
"Don't hurt them!" Gretchen shouted, waving her arms to get Rana's attention. "They're just scared. They saw all those wyverns take flight after the cave collapsed and thought it was an organised attack."
Rana's eyes narrowed into feral slits, the whirling stars in them flaring brighter. It was like asking a mother bear not to protect its young; she had always been violently passionate, loyal and reactive to a fault, and by some stroke of good luck she counted us among her friends.
Rana's long, serpentine neck twisted, jaw splitting to reveal jagged fangs dripping globules of magma. She let loose a torrent of flame that scorched the earth, making stone older that she was bow to her will, blistering and blackening.
Brimstone and smoke stuffed itself up my nose, reminding me of my dreams in a sudden flash. For a split second, the mountainside blurred with the walls of the opal castle, and I could have sworn that I was melting.
Then the smoke cleared and the cold settled in. All that remained of Rana's flames was a sigil of concentric circles on the wall, smouldering as the red embers cooled to black. Something deep within me stirred in recognition as I mouthed the word, somehow translating a language I'd never laid eyes upon in my life.
Sun. Moon. Earth.
Harmony.