Page 40 of The War of Wings
Would she be mad if I vomited on her scales? She’d probably be mad if I vomited on her scales, right?
We climbed higher, breaking into the clouds, and I shuddered as cold beads of moisture began to gather on my skin. My fingers stiffened, though I couldn’t tell if that was because of the cold or the vigor of my grip.
Sunlight, Adorex thought.
Sunlight? Huh? There was no sign of the sun today, not beneath a murky gray sky.
But we broke through the clouds then, and there it was. The sun was above us, the tops of the clouds below us, and I forgot all about the cold as I stared out over this foreign world. For a moment, I was weightless as Adorex’s wings flexed and beat before evening out.
And then, she soared.
“This is incredible,” I whispered to myself. Adorex gave me a chuff of agreement. Her wings held steady. Up this high, the only sound was air cascading easily by me.
Apprehensively, I removed one hand from the spike where I’d been holding on for dear life. The other followed. A burning ache began in my thighs as I squeezed them even tighter, flexing my feet to make sure they were still firmly planted between her scales. I spread my arms wide, inhaling the air that somehow seemed cleaner way up here. For a moment, I wasn’t the Daughter of Katia. For a moment, I was flying.
No. Sunlight. Long.
I blinked, trying to make sense of Adorex’s thoughts. “No sunlight long? It won’t last long?”
No. Sunlight. Long,her thoughts repeated.I was silent, but she added,No. Sunlight. Adorex.
“You haven’t seen the sunlight in a long time?”
She huffed in confirmation.Adorex. Love. Sunlight.
Something about that made me pause. This massive, fearsome creature, this monster of legends, loved sunlight. A part of my heart cracked. “Where do you go when you’re not…here?”
Eyrie. Hell. Sleep.
“You’ve been sleeping in an eyrie in Hell?”
Yes. Sad. Love. Fly.
“How did you get here? To the Human Realm?”
Travel. Realm.
“So you can cross realms, too.” I leaned forward, placing my hands gently against her neck. “How about this? We cross the Widow’s Sea, garner the aid we need, defeat Malosym, then you can come live in the Human Realm and soak in all the sunlight you want.”
Her answering nod was enough to bring a smile to my face.
I cast my arms out beside me, bathing in the sunlight that the clouds had smothered from the world below us. Then I let out a yell from the depths of my soul. It tore through me, taking some of the fear and doubt with it as I screamed. Adorex joined in, her neck flexing as she inhaled and let out a deep, bellowingroar. The sound was different than when I’d heard it in Eserene. This was happy. This was good. And still terrifying.
I could do this. I would trust Adorex and the other drivas to take us across the Widow’s Sea, to Araqina, Nesan’s capital city. I would show Nesan’s king and queen proof that I was the Daughter of Katia and demand their army’s aid in defeating Malosym. I’d do that in all the major cities across the continent of Losina.
Adorex banked left, heading down toward the clouds. This time, I didn’t feel the cold as we broke through and soared toward the ground. Adorex was graceful for such a large creature, and she landed carefully in the flowing grasses of the plain, in between the other four drivas. She lowered her shoulder, allowing me to — very inelegantly — shuffle off her back and slide to the ground.
The faces of my companions brought a genuine smile to my face. “So,” I started, out of breath, “who wants to fly on a fucking driva to Nesan?”
Chapter 15
Petra
It had been four days of chaos. Four days of planning, packing, and panicking, with a session of something akin to flight training for everyone. Turned out, Whit didn’t know he was afraid of heights. So afraid, in fact, that he lost consciousness half a mile in the air and toppled from Ventus’ back. In a dramatic and heart pounding show of stealth, Ventus managed to dive quickly enough to catch Whit and return him safely to the ground, much to Miles’ dismay. He woke up in the grass with all of us around him, proceeded to vomit then yell, “You can’t break up the Penumbra!” Then he lost consciousness again.
When he finally came to for the second time, Nell broke the news that she and Rixa would be staying behind with Whit and Ventus to guard Taitha in case Malosym decided to attack. Whit nodded as he listened to Nell. “Well, if that’s what her Majesty thinks is best. But Ireallywanted to fly to Nesan,” he’d said, and we all knew that was not the truth.
A not-so-small crowd had gathered at the edge of the city, marveling at the beasts that stood ready as we made our final preparations. The leather workers and blacksmiths in Taitha had worked quickly to fashion straps that we could fasten over the driva’s backs to hold our belongings and another strap to help us keep our seats.
