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Slithering, hissing, and the sharp sting of silver scales slicing at my heels. I spun, horrified to see a large naga female lunging at me, her four arms and sharpened nails poised to pierce my vital organs, face distorted, fangs protruding, ready to cut me down.
Chapter 13
Kiar
Idove toward the other naga, intercepting her just as she reached Sun. Her coils were nearly around him before he realized that she was there.
Fury shot through me. I saw nothing but red as I wrapped around her.
“You dare touch what doesn’t belong to you?!” I snarled in her ear, and I cracked her neck, letting her limp body fall, barely registering the surge of power her death gave me.
Sun glanced at me with wide eyes but did not linger as he ducked the swoop of a nightwing, the owl-like creature screeching.
I jumped up, catching the thing by the claws and throwing it down onto the beaten earth beneath us.
Sun beheaded the creature without hesitancy, his bloodstone weapon going through bone and sinew like it was butter.
“I did not realize that I was bought and sold to you without my knowledge,” he remarked, and I was impressed to note that he wasn’t even breathless. Perhaps I did not need to worry about him as much as I did. Perhaps, he truly was my equal.
“You may as well have been,” I said, “because I will not allow anyone but our tethered partners to touch you.”
A shriek suddenly tore through the air and as one, we looked up. Immediately I knew that now was the time to prove my word because the shape of the large bat above us, though familiar, did not belong to Bracken.
“Get behind me!” I shouted, moving myself to block Sun’s body as General Kovit swooped toward us.
Sun gasped–finally recognizing the noc for who he was. The head of the noc army, the being who had tortured Sun for information on the moonstone’s whereabouts. The very stone now held in Sun’s flimsy pocket.
He spread his wings out, blotting out the sun, and let out a screeching laugh. My gaze darted around the field, seeking out Bracken.
He was in the distance, overcome by nocs, and I knew that we were on our own.
Behind me, Sun remained silent, but I could feel the tension radiating off of him.
“Are you surprised to see me?” the general asked with a wicked grin. “Did you think your foolish lie would have gotten rid of me for good? Oh no, little noc killer, you will not stop me from getting the stone or burning Black Lantern prison to the ground with all of your little friends locked within its walls.”
Behind me, Sun gasped at the threat to his comrades.
“I won’t allow it!” he shouted and with absolute precision and breakneck speed, he threw a sharpened shard of bloodstone directly at Kovit.
It would have hit him directly between the eyes, but he pulled in his wings as soon as Sun moved and dropped several feet before righting himself, laughing.
“You weaklings can do nothing to stop me from taking what is mine!”
With that, Kovit swooped towards us without warning, ignoring me to reach for Sun.
Before I could react, Kovit stopped in midair, a look of horror crossing his face. He looked as though he had seen a ghost.
That was not far from the truth. I glanced in the direction he stared and realized that Hadi had arrived. Clearly vengeance mattered more to him than subterfuge. I could not say that I blamed him.
“What’s the matter General?” Hadi asked, smirking. “Aren’t you happy to see your beloved king back from the killing blow you so kindly bestowed upon me?”
Kovit drew in a ragged breath, as though unable to believe it was real.
“Yes,” Hadi snarled, “I am alive and well despite your best efforts, as are my only truly loyal followers.”
“But–but how?” he demanded.
Behind Hadi, Clem fluttered, still uneven on his healing wing. He was glowing once again and just as promised, had come to our rescue. He lowered now, as though he could possibly be ignored as he dropped next to Sun, grabbing him by the arms, clearly intent on running with him.
