Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
I growl, whipping my dagger backward, hoping to stab him and the one that’s crawling up my chest, just as I see Brynla wave her swords around. She doesn’t seem so hesitant to kill them now and starts hacking away at the ones closest to her, her eyes fierce and her jaw set in grim determination.
The other dragons suddenly release me and fly off, as if Brynla has terrified them, leaving the three of us with a couple of dead blooddrages at our feet.
“You’re bleeding,” she says to me, her chest heaving from exertion.
“I’ll live,” I tell her, wiping away the blood. “We should start heading back. I don’t know what you did to make those dragons fly away, but they might come back with even more reinforcements next time.”
She nods and opens her pouch, peering inside. “So far none of them have cracked. I can grab a couple more.”
She goes to the next nest and starts grabbing the shiny eggs and popping them into her pouch. I look around to see the damage. Most of my eggs are broken but I can at least extract the suen.
I crouch down and take out the extractor, making quick work of the mess.
“Uh, Andor,” Brynla says. “We have a problem.”
Fuck, what now?
I get up, the wind buffeting me in the face, smelling of sulfur. Toward the volcanoes where the valley opens up, fire starts to lick around the ground, swirling up and up toward the sky.
“Fire tornadoes,” I say gruffly.
She eyes me over her shoulder, and though she looks worried, there’s also a hint of I told you so in her gaze.
“We should start running,” she says, snapping her pouch shut and putting her swords back in the sheaths at her back. Though I shouldn’t, though there are far more pressing things to think about, the sight of her standing in Kolbeck-crested armor, with the wind whipping her lavender hair free from her bun, and the fire tornado burning and spinning in the background, I feel momentarily dumbstruck. Awed. Like I’m seeing an actual goddess come to life, and my first instinct is to get down and kneel.
“Andor,” she says, her voice sharp now, bringing me out of my momentary lapse in reality as she runs to me and tugs at my arm. “Now!”
I nod, feeling strangely dizzy, and I turn, running quickly along the valley floor toward the narrow entrance that feels more far away than I remember. I hold back enough to keep pace with Brynla, not wanting to leave her behind in the dust if I apply my full speed.
We’re only a few yards from the exit out of the valley when suddenly the air pressure changes and the sky rumbles with thunder, shaking the ground beneath us, enough that Brynla nearly falls and I grab her arm to hold her up.
Flames ten feet high appear at our only way out, making us skid to a stop. From above, the dark, ashy clouds reach down like a spiraling hand, and I watch in a mix of dread and fascination as the spiral and the fire connect.
In seconds the fire roars, whipping up high and fast, racing up to the sky, the heat blasting my face.
“Fuck!” I cry out, grabbing Brynla’s hand to make sure I don’t lose her and whirling around to see that the fire tornado that we were originally running from has spread into three, swirling across the valley floor to greet us. I look up the sides of the rift to see which one will be easiest to climb, only to notice the mass of dust, miles high and wide, coming from the east, lightning flashing sporadically.
“Sandstorm,” Brynla says grimly.
There isn’t much time to think.
“The caves,” I tell her. “We have to run for the caves!”
Brynla’s fear-widened eyes look over to them. They seem so far away right now. I don’t know how we’re going to outrun fire tornadoes coming from either direction, or a massive sandstorm, but we’re going to have to try.
“Lemi!” Brynla shouts at him. “Go back to the ship. Shift back to the ship and stay there. Wait for us to return.”
Lemi barks but Brynla yells back. “Go, Lemi! To the ship. Now!”
His ears flatten, a sad look on his face, and then he disappears into thin air.
Still holding on to her arm, I start running as fast as she can keep up, pulling her along. The heat from the tornadoes is coming from both sides of us now, the wind whipping us into each other as we run. The roar is getting louder, covering up the sound of the pumice rock crunching underfoot, the harsh sound of our breathing.
I dare to look behind me and all I see is flames.
I glance at Brynla and she holds my gaze for a moment.
“You can make it if you let me go,” she manages to say, her voice barely heard above the din.