Wingborn (46 page)

The bells began to toll.

Figures scurried to leave the Lawn,
evacuating the courtyards, running for the eyries and readying the
nakhounds. Miryhls appeared, with and without Riders, and Cumulo
fled towards them. Shadows rippled over the river and outbuildings
behind them, filling the valley with gleeful shrieks.

The kaz-naghkt had come to Aquila.

“Hold on!”
Cumulo shouted, gliding swiftly towards the falls.

He jolted and Mhysra yelped at the
kaz-naghkt holding her miryhl
’
s tail. She had nothing to throw: no weapons, no
rocks, not even her water bottle. Cumulo strained against the
restraint as the kaz-naghkt opened its wings, filling the great
leathery sails and slowing them all down.

Grinning, the kaz-naghkt opened its claws
and lunged
—

S
TRAIGHT INTO HURRICANE
, who caught the kaz-naghkt full
in the face with his talons.

“Go!”
Lieutenant Lyrai shouted, while the kaz-naghkt screamed.

Freed, Cumulo needed no further urging.
There was time for one snatched breath before he folded his wings
and entered the darkness beneath the bridge. Mhysra huddled against
him, wondering if her heart would ever recover. The shadow seemed
to go on and on as they dropped closer to the water, their momentum
lost after the kaz-naghkt had grabbed them.

Sunlight blinded her on the other side and
air surged beneath Cumulo
’
s wings again as he banked upwards, swinging back
towards the citadel. He flapped hard to lift them over the eyries,
now swarming with miryhls and kaz-naghkt. A familiar eagle appeared
through the chaos, his wings tipped with silver.

Keeping an eye out for attack, Cumulo glided
closer and, when Latinym was directly overhead, Dhori dropped a bow
and quiver into Mhysra
’
s
hands.

“Luck!” he
called, Latinym already racing back to the fight.

“
I think
we’
ve already had more than our fair share today,
”
Mhysra muttered, securing the
quiver to her saddle before testing the balance of the pre-strung
bow. It was perfect. She frowned and wondered how Dhori had managed
to bring her particular bow to her.

“The gods can
spare us a little more,” Cumulo shouted. “Wake up!”

Blinking, she looked up and found they had
company. Three kaz-naghkt screeched down the wind, outpacing the
miryhls on their tails. If the pursuit got too close, a kaz-naghkt
would twist and lash out with its tail, barely losing speed along
the way. Spotting Cumulo all alone, they grinned and stooped to
attack.

Mhysra drew an arrow from her quiver with
shaking hands.
“
Steady,
”
she called, and Cumulo levelled his wings calmly as if they faced
murderous kaz-naghkt every day.

“Maegla aid
me,” she whispered, aimed at the kaz-naghkt on the left and
released.

The wind snatched at the arrow, driving it
away from the pale chest she
’
d aimed for and striking the thick muscle beneath
the kaz-naghkt
’
s right
wing instead.

Shrieking, the creature curled around the
wound, swinging its broad left wing across. The kaz-naghkt next to
it lashed out as a leather sail clouted it in the face. Black blood
sprayed and the wounded creature fell, injured in both wings. While
it could have easily recovered from the arrow wound, there was
little it could do with its other wing in tatters.

The kaz-naghkt that had done the damage
shook its head, too dizzy from the slap to spot a miryhl dropping
on it from above.

As they battled, the final kaz-naghkt
continued onwards, flexing its claws. Wings spread, holding steady,
Cumulo waited for Mhysra to nock another arrow. Her hands were
shaking and it was all she could do to draw. She released too early
and cursed when the arrow went harmlessly wide.

“Hold on!”
Cumulo warned, and she gripped her bow in one hand and grabbed the
saddle with the other as her miryhl dropped.

The kaz-naghkt screamed with glee and
swooped after them, wings tucked in tight. It screamed differently
when Cumulo rolled over, grabbing its torso and face with his thick
talons. Claws scrabbled, trying to reach the miryhl
’
s belly, but Cumulo thrust his
legs out, completed his roll and dropped his prey. The body tumbled
and struck an outcrop; a black smear on grey granite.

While Mhysra watched it fall, Cumulo took
them back to the fight, far more prepared than she was for what
they faced.
“
Stay with
me,
”
he called, sensing
her distraction.

Her voice failed when she tried to speak, so
she licked her lips and took a deep breath.
“
Always,
”
she croaked, checking her quiver with shaking
hands to make sure that none of her arrows had been lost in their
tumble. She ensured her safety straps were still nice and tight,
selected another arrow and lifted her bow, ready for whatever came
next.

LYRAI PAUSED TO
wipe the sweat from his face as Hurricane circled above the battle.
His right arm ached. It had been too long since he
’
d last fought, but this was what
he
’
d trained for, had
gotten so good at and been denied when he was grounded. Now he had
Hurricane and was a true Rift Rider again – but it had never been
like this with Froth.

Hurricane tensed and Lyrai leant against his
back, holding his sword close and ready. They needed no words to
know what the other would do next or where each wanted to go. This
miryhl had been born for him, Lyrai could feel it in every tilt of
Hurricane
’
s wings as he
darted between scraps and fell talons-first on the tangle of
kaz-naghkt gathered around Stirla.

While his miryhl battled, Lyrai brandished
his sword, catching the first kaz-naghkt by surprise as he swept
off its tail. Unbalanced, it struggled to turn and was impaled on
Stirla
’
s sword.

Lyrai swung again and again, defending them
on all sides while his miryhl fought. Most of the kaz-naghkt fled,
seeking easier prey, while the less fortunate were already in
Atyrn
’
s or
Hurricane
’
s talons.

Another creature banked overhead and dropped
towards Lyrai, claws outstretched. Bracing himself, Lyrai raised
his sword and swung, slicing through one arm and catching the
kaz-naghkt
’
s other
shoulder. Hurricane stuttered at the impact before Lyrai diverted
the kaz-naghkt
’
s weight
downwards. It snarled, battered but by no means defeated yet.

Licking its bloodstained lips, it smiled as
fresh skin, bone and muscle writhed and crawled out of the severed
stump. Knowing what was to come and what he had to do, Lyrai
adjusted his grip on his sword and hauled.

Still attached to the lieutenant through its
shoulder, the creature keened. Lyrai pulled again, bringing the
writhing creature within reach. It sank its claws into his leg and
opened its mouth to bite, but the angle of the sword restricted its
head movements and it couldn
’
t quite reach.

Jerking his knee up, Lyrai shoved the
kaz-naghkt off the blade and exposed its chest. Then he struck. His
sword cleaved through the softer flesh with ease, stopping only
when it reached the scaled skin on the other side. The whole weapon
juddered as the kaz-naghkt
’
s heart pulsed. Twisting his wrist, Lyrai braced
his foot on the creature
’
s shoulder and pulled his sword free. The
kaz-naghkt convulsed and dropped into the river.

One less enemy to worry about.

“Are you
wounded?” Stirla shouted as Atyrn circled counter to Hurricane.

Lyrai pressed on the puncture wounds in his
thigh and cursed, forced to sheath his sword as he shrugged out of
one side of his flying jacket. Using his belt knife, he cut through
his shirtsleeve and dragged the material off, before pulling his
jacket on again. Slicing the sleeve into strips, he bound his
thigh, wadding material over the worst of the wound and tying the
binding as tight as he could. It wasn
’
t perfect, but he wasn
’
t going to retire from the field now. Not when they
were still needed.

“Lyrai?”
Stirla called.

“
Fine!”
he shouted, patting Hurricane’
s neck when his miryhl glared
at him.

Satisfied,
Stirla raced back into the fray, aiming
for an oversized kaz-naghkt who was causing a trio of Riders a
mountain of problems. Knowing his friend had the situation well in
hand, as Atyrn hit the creature from behind, Lyrai urged Hurricane
up high.

They weren
’
t alone up there – Captain Myran circled the
battle, shouting orders and guiding Riders into place. Several
archers also surveyed the fight, picking off targets. Hurricane was
heading towards the captain when something else caught
Lyrai
’
s eye.

“Maegla blast
her,” he cursed, tugging Hurricane’s reins in the opposite
direction. The miryhl shot him an aggravated look, then spotted
what his Rider had seen. He growled and banked into the wind.

“My thoughts
exactly,” Lyrai replied, scowling at Cumulo and the untrained girl
upon his back. “This is no time for glory hunting!”

Cumulo continued his focused glide without
glancing at them. Mhysra, however, looked over and calmly raised
her bow. Then, as steadily as if she were on the practise field,
she loosed.

It happened so fast that Lyrai barely ducked
the arrow speeding towards him. Only when something screeched did
he look behind. A kaz-naghkt clawed at its eye, barely a
spear-length from Hurricane
’
s tail.

“Maegla!”

A dark blur with a flash of silver darted
under the wounded kaz-naghkt, the Rider on its back ripping open
the creature
’
s chest
with a neat sweep of his sword.

The miryhl ducked out of the way of the
falling body and Dhori grinned at Mhysra.
“
Great!
”
he called.
“
Aim for the chests. Only a heart blow will kill
them.
”
Then he was
gone.

Stunned, Lyrai turned back to Mhysra – she
had her hands over her face.

“Gods, gods,
gods,” she squeaked. “I almost killed my lieutenant. Gods!”

And he
’
d thought she looked calm. It was so absurd, Lyrai
laughed, giddy with his near-escape.
“
You can use me for target practise
anytime,
”
he called, as
Hurricane swept past and dived back into the fray.

“BOWS!” LIEUTENANT HLEN’S
shout made Derrain and the watchers jump
.
“
Fetch your bows. Be of
use!
”

“Aye, sir!”
Greig darted down the stairs, a group of students following. The
rest of the crowd remained at the windows, watching with awe as
Riders battled kaz-naghkt overhead. There were bodies in the river,
on the Lawn, on top of the eyries and in the courtyards. Feathers
drifted down like brown snow and black blood hissed wherever it
landed.

The sky was clouding over, but there was
already a storm in the valley – a seething mass of leathery bodies,
feathers and action. Miryhls screamed, kaz-naghkt screeched, metal
rang and voices shouted. No single sound was clear in the noisy
whole and all of it was just background noise to the thundering
pulse in Derrain
’
s ears.
He
’
d been out there, had
nearly been one of the victims lying broken and bloodied on the
ground. The kaz-naghkt had almost caught them.

Now Zephyr fought on alone, having returned
to the sky after leaving him to raise the alarm in the bell tower.
Like most of the young miryhls whose students weren
’
t yet trained, Zephyr had joined a
flock to hunt down kaz-naghkt. Teaming up with the nakhound packs,
the Riderless-eagles wove in and out of the fighting pairs, helping
wherever they could. It was breathtaking to watch the lethal birds
in action, but heart-stopping too. Whenever Derrain lost sight of
Zephyr he feared the worst.

What would he do if she was killed?
They
’
d only been
together for a few months, but she was already such an important
part of his life.

“Here.”
Something hard was pressed into his hand and he stared mindlessly
at the bow.

“Pick your
shots and be careful,” Lieutenant Hlen ordered, pacing back and
forth behind the row of students, full of unexpected authority.
“Don’t loose if you fear to hit one of ours. We’re here to help.
Spread out around the tower. When you’re ready!”

Derrain shook himself and strung the longbow
he
’
d been given. It
would have been useless on miryhl-back, but for shooting through
windows over distance it was perfect. He looked for arrows and
found Corin beside him.

She had her own short bow, at which
she
’
d grown even more
skilled over the long winter. Smiling, she gestured to the quiver
at his feet and handed him an arrow.
“
Take
‘
em
down, Derry.
”

He smiled, shrugged the quiver onto his back
and shoulder-to-shoulder they faced the window. A kaz-naghkt
dropped on a Rider pair right in front of them, its hind claws
lashing the miryhl
’
s
back, while its hands and teeth gripped the human.

Derrain and Corin drew, loosed and grabbed
fresh arrows in one smooth move.