Page 146 of The King's Man
I saw him take aim and dropped to the side as he shot—but just when he loosed that bolt, and I raised my right wing to turnninety degrees in the air, a searing pain tore up my back, my wing went slack, and I began to spiral.
Diadre gasped, but didn’t scream, clutching the straps around her chest to keep herself as still as possible as I fought to keep us in the air.
I dove, carefully straightening my wings and working to keep the injured one braced to glide, but unable to back-flap or slow quickly. I was forced to catch air-currents close to the canopy of the forest below and sweep over the trees, praying there were no more ambushes out here.
Shouts rose, bouncing on the air behind us but other than curses, I didn’t make out enough words to catch what they said. I only knew that if I didn’t get her out of there quickly, we were both dead.
I had no choice but to flee.
Keeping myself as close to the treetops as possible, knowing my dark wings would be harder to make out from a distance over the dark leaves, I gave up on trying to get their attention, or hearing their protests. I focused only on putting as much distance between me and Braventhall as I could.
It was half an hour before I was certain the last of the sentries had stopped following and we were safe from attack. During that time, Diadre had asked no questions, but when I’d slowed in flight, she reached back to rest a hand on my thigh, and she kept it there.
I was panting with pain, struggling to keep us airborne, but there was no choice. Flight was the only environment in which I had an advantage over the Centaurs, so bracing against the searing in my muscles, I pushed on.
After another hour during which I spent mentally spinning, trying desperately to figure out what could have happened to make the Centaurs aggressive on sight, using the conundrum to distract myself from the pain, I felt confident that we wereclose enough to the Meyrath border that we were unlikely to run into any grazing herds or Centaurian patrols. They were fiercely territorial, but at this time of year, they stayed near their villages and the City because the young were still vulnerable.
Only then, only when I was certain that we were safe, at least for a time, did I start looking for a place to land. And quickly. And only then did Diadre reach for my thoughts.
‘Jann? Are you okay?’
‘My right wing is injured,’I sent, even my mental voice tight.‘But we need to be somewhere they won’t feel threatened if they’re patrolling. I think we’re far enough out now, I’m looking for water so we can camp…”
Diadre still had her hand on the side of my thigh, and she kept herself still, only her fingers pressing there to remind me of her presence, until finally I found the glint of a small lake, the water a gleaming black in the slowly rising light, next to a small rise and a copse of trees.
Relief washed through me, but my right wing and back were so painful, I knew if I used my wings to slow our momentum, it might give out and send us diving head-first into the ground.
Grimly, I reviewed my options and tightened my grip on Diadre.
‘This is going to be rough. Pull your knees up as high as you can—so you can hug them. Tuck your head down and don’t move until we’re on the ground and still.
Bless my mate, she didn’t even question. She followed my instructions exactly and tucked herself into a tiny ball. Aiming for that water because it would slow our momentum, I held her tightly to my chest and glided down towards its center, drawing my legs forward to plant my heels in the water and use them to slow our passage.
But the moment I hit the water I realized my mistake in aiming for the center. Without back-flapping, the water didn’t slow meenough.
I was still skiing on its surface when we reached the shallows. Desperate, I let my wings disappear and curled myself around Diadre as we tumbled into the pebbled bank, through the mud, then bounced up onto the grass where we finally came to a stop.
I had her at my chest, one hand over her head, my body curled around her. When we finally bounced to a halt, I flipped sideways, my elbow banging sharply on a stone, snapping an electric current through the nerves and throwing my arm wide of its own accord.
We landed on my side, Diadre still curled in a ball, my body bruised and aching… but alive.
Thank God, we were alive.
“Dee,” I rasped, trying to reach for those straps with numb fingers. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine—are you?”
“Just tell me if anything hurts, or—”
I had her unbuckled in seconds, but the moment I pushed to my feet, my body crackled with pain and I cried out, dropping to my side in the damp earth.
Diadre cursed and rolled free, getting straight to her feet. There were scrapes all over her face and arms, but she moved freely—and swore when she looked at me.
Dropping to my side on the dirt, she scanned my body, her expression intense and her tone that of a Captain, not a mate.
“Can you see my fingers? How many am I holding up?” she snapped.
I groaned. “Three. My head is fine, Dee—”
