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Standing on an outcropping of cliff, I peered down with helpless fear at the dozens upon dozens of wights. They’d been standing motionless, but now their hollow-eyed skulls tilted up toward me. They began to moan and move toward the cliff where I now stood not too far above them.
“Una!” bellowed Ferryn with fury.
I glanced back to see the bats still doing my bidding. I pulled at the bindings, trying to get free. I’d need my hands to climb down. How could I climb down with the wights right there waiting for me?
Then I shut my eyes and called the bats to me. I could only give them one command at a time as they were all intertwined, connected with the same will as one. Instantly, they shot toward me, winding around me in a tornado of beating wings, many attacking the bindings at once, the others whirling around my head, still squeaking and screeching.
A few nicked my skin with their sharp teeth, but I didn’t care. I peered through the swarm at Ferryn coming toward me. But then Dalya was behind him with a rock raised above her. She slammed it hard against his head. He yelled and whirled around, lunging for Dalya.
The bindings were loose enough. “Go!” I shouted, sending the bats back after Ferryn, hoping it would save Dalya.
Then I turned and looked out in desperation at the treetops right in front of me. Lumera’s moonlight glowed on the few leaves still grasping the trees, like glittering stars in the night, showing me the way.
“Una!” yelled Ferryn again from somewhere behind me, still in the cave.
Then I bent my knees and leaped off the cliff. Beating my wings wildly, I lifted right over the wights with their skeletalarms stretched toward the sky, reaching for me. But I was too high. This time, I had my wings, and they carried me away over the treetops, my boots touching branches, breaking a twig here and there.
I kept flying, realizing I was crying now. The cold wind struck me hard, freezing my skin, but I pushed on, flying just above the trees whose branches looked like arms reaching up to me. Tears poured from my eyes, not because of fear, but for the gratitude of my new wings. Ones I’d thought useless before the gods breathed new life into them. They carried me farther and farther until I began to grow tired.
Like any muscle in the body, wings needed exercise to grow strong, and I hadn’t used mine long enough to carry me far. I hadn’t known how high I could fly till now.
Beyond the thin line of trees, there was a rolling hill in the distance, the winter grass shining under the moonlight.
Windolek.
That was the hill I’d seen as we came into shadow fae territory, the one Goll pointed out to me from the parapet of the castle. Windolek wasn’t that far.
“Thank you,” I murmured to the gods.
Realizing I’d already lost the connection to the banshee bats when I’d leaped off the cliff, I now reached out to Drak, wanting to show him where I was going. If I could get to Windolek, I could summon Drak, and he’d know exactly where I was. I couldn’t close my eyes, which always helped me concentrate and form a connection with another winged creature, so I tried with my eyes open as I flew over the treetops, my body growing heavy.
My booted feet scraped the tops of branches, breaking more thin branches. I’d have to go back to the ground soon. The thought of those wights lumbering after me had my heart racing even more.
Concentrating, I tried again to reach Drak, but I couldn’t connect. I’d spent so much energy rallying the banshee bats to my aid that my magick felt almost completely drained. My leg hit a branch hard that had me spiraling through the air, down through the trees.
I cried out, fluttering my wings, but my momentum was lost, and my wings were too exhausted to pull me back up. I crashed through more branches on the way down, the limbs tearing at my chemise and scraping my bare legs and arms as I fell.
Landing roughly, I pushed out with my hands to brace my fall, not wanting to land hard on my belly.
My baby.
Something cracked in my wrist. I rolled into a ball on my side, cradling my wrist to my chest, my breath coming out in white puffs. The forest was quiet, only the sound of my soft whimper as I swallowed down the stinging pain in my wrist.
Then something moved beyond the tall oak in front of me. I lurched up into a sitting position, staring at the trunk where I had seen the movement. Two narrow yellow eyes glowed in the dark.
Slowly, I pushed up with my good hand, rising to my feet. The yellow eyes blinked, then a slender figure stepped out. A dryad with green skin covered in small, shiny golden leaves, like scales making a pattern over her body, crept around the trunk, one dainty hand still clinging to it.
She darted her gaze back into the forest, tilting her head, the leaves in her long green hair rustling. She heard something. Then those glowing yellow eyes found me again.
“You must hurry,” she whispered. “They are coming.” She tilted her head again. “They are coming fast.” She crept back behind the tree, her eyes still on me. “Hurry, Mizrah.”
I didn’t need any more encouragement. I ran. The wights were coming after me. The thought of their gnashing teeth andbony fingers taking hold of me had me running faster as I cradled my wrist to my chest.
The end of the trees was up ahead, but before I reached them, I heard the distant clicking of bones and stomping of feet. I ran faster.
Coming out of the trees, I was at the base of the tall hill. I didn’t stop, pumping my legs faster and faster, for I knew it wasn’t my imagination that I’d heard something clomping through the woods not too far behind me. The dryad was right. The wights were coming fast.
Once at the top of the hill, I took a second to look back. The thin trees and bright moon allowed me to see movement in the forest. I sprinted forward again, running through the open field toward the dark silhouette of Windolek.
