Page 160 of The King's Man
I couldn’t look. Every time Jann grunted, or we dropped suddenly, I flinched, convinced we hovered only feet above the rocky mountains and would be dashed to our deaths.
Time seemed to crawl—and then I felt it in the bond. The creep of despair in him, the fear—not for himself, but for me. And I knew…
‘Jann, I’m fine. I’m cold, but I’m fine.’My teeth chattered no matter how I clenched my jaw. I couldn’t feel my hands. And Ifeared that even if we made it out of this I may have lost the use of my toes. But I was wrapped in warm fur, while he fought with the worst of the elements to carry me through.
‘Just hold on,’he repeated in my head.‘I can see the lighter sky ahead. We’ll break through the clouds when we’re past the peak and then—’
But he never finished the thought. A huge gust of wind rose from the front and seemed to stop our progress completely, as if we hovered in the air—wobbling and wavering, Jann frantic, flapping and cursing through his teeth.
It hit me then… if the wind was too strong so that we couldn’t move forward, we would be trapped and…
I shook off the dark thoughts. No. That wasn’t what would happen here.
Jann was strong. And determined. And he’d done this before.
‘I know you can do it,’I sent him firmly.‘Don’t lose sight of what you’ve already managed to get this far.’
‘My wings grow heavy. Pray we break out of this soon. I fear the consequences if we don’t.’
Then we were both silent. But I gripped that bond, feeding into it, sending every ounce of love, belief and confidence I had, urging him tofeelme.
I prayed, begging God, offering myself in his place if it came to that.Don’t let him fail.
And the air seemed to shudder and I heard Jann shout.
‘Hold on—these are the last crosswinds. Almost there—fuck!’
I gasped as it seemed we bounced through the sky like a rock skipped on water. I kept my eyes closed and hugged myself within the furs, wishing it was his strong body I clung to. The flight was so rocky, so jagged, Ioofedand grunted with the turbulence of our path. At one point I was certain we wereupside down,and I silently begged God to make it quick if we were going to die.
Then all at once it stopped.
Everything.
There was a great heavy groan from Jann and no more bouncing or flipping or… I hardly dared hope. But then his voice bloomed in my head.
‘We made it, Dee. But I think—”
I screamed as wefellforward and dropped like a stone, headfirst.
55.Never Give Up
~ JANN ~
When we were spat out of that cauldron of the corridor through the peaks, I almost wept with relief. The clouds roiled and the wind howled behind me as if angry and screaming for our return. For a moment I thought we’d escaped the wrath of the worst traverse I’d ever had.
But then I threw my wings wide to catch the descending flows as we poured over the side of the mountain—and discovered that I was losing altitude.Rapidly.
With the weaker winds mostly descending the mountain, the strong updrafts and resistance to our bodies and the spread of my wings disappeared and the weight of my frozen feathers sucked us towards earth.
There was no choice but to dive. If I fought to stay up and one of my wings gave out, I’d spiral to the ground, feet-first, with no hope of recovery—and carrying Dee to her death.
Still, the dive wasn’t much better. Wings half-tucked, butstill catching some flows to push us out and over the land—and hopefully thaw my feathers—at least the airflows blanketing the mountain kept pushing us forward, rather than straight into those rocky crags.
‘Hold on, Dee. I’ve got this. Pray my feathers thaw quickly as the air warms.’
I could feel the fear in her, clogging her throat—but instead of words, she sent me a rush of warmth and humbling love and belief through the bond. But there was no time for emotion or to find words. I had to get us down safely.
Moments later, dodging outcroppings and watching as the foothills sucked towards us, there was a noticeable shift in the air—warmer flows, and the soft, buffeting air that came up from the ground.
