Page 72 of The Dragon and the Dove

The sky was opening.

More Strix were alighting on the Appoline.

Another shadow circled overhead. The beast landed less than twenty feet away, its red eyes glowing across the quad.

They looked right at Anouk.

Reeling backwards, she shoved Val into the nearest shrub, diving after her. They collapsed in a heap in the dirt.

‘Are you trying to kill me?’ said Val, spitting out a leaf.

‘The opposite,’ huffed Anouk. ‘Stay down.’

Overhead, more beasts circled, their screeches joining in a terrifying aria.

They crouched in a sea of hydrangeas as the Stargrazer slid from their mount like a drop of oil.

Moonlight moved across the quad, and Anouk saw that she was a woman. Tall and broad-shouldered, with braided hair the colour of wheat, and dark eyes rimmed in kohl. Eyes that flashed with menacing curiosity as she moved towards them.

Anouk’s stomach knotted. They had not hidden themselves fast enough.

Fear stoked the fire of her magic. The Appoline groaned as a raft of slates slid from the roof. The Stargrazer reached for the hilt of her sword: a long curved blade made for lopping off heads and asking questions later.

‘We should run,’ hissed Anouk.

‘To where?’

They were surrounded.

The Necromancer occupied the clock tower to the west. The Appoline and its Rose-bearers lay to the east. The wall at their backs was far too high – and shaking from the rush of Anouk’s terror.

Ahead of them, four more Strix landed.

More circled overhead.

‘We’ll get picked off if we run,’ said Val, with the kind of chilling certainty that made Anouk wonder if it was spoken with truth magic.

She raised a counterpoint. ‘Or we die squatting like cowards in the mud.’

Val swallowed. ‘You’re right. We should fight. Stand our ground.’

The ground was trembling violently but their resolve held steady. They might as well go down swinging.

‘Let’s charge her,’ said Anouk. ‘On the count of three.’

One.

Footsteps squelched in the wet grass as the Stargrazer approached the bushes. Anouk slipped a dagger from her bodice.

Two.

Val pulled a knife from her garter.

Thr—

‘Irina!’ A new voice rang out.

They froze mid-crouch as Caruso came running across the quad. His mask was crumpled in his fist and his expression was violent. ‘Return to the skies! The Stone Maiden is on the loose. The whole place might come down.’