Page 13 of Black Wing and Shadows
“Hey, squad two, we want to keep a nice pace. If we go too fast, we will burn out. We also don’t want to go too slow and risk falling too far behind. Let’s aim for cave eleven or twelve, depending upon which one fifth squad takes. This will put us further up the trail to start after resting. I’ll take the lead. Beau will take up the rear. We stick together.” Callum told us.
“Second squad, you’re up.”
“Let’s go,” Callum marched forward, and we all followed, forming a single line.
We started about fifteen minutes after the fifth squad, but we were unsure of the timing for the other groups. We continued to march forward and appeared to be making good progress.
When someone from the eighth squad shouted, “excuse us," behind us, we all turned our backs to the mountain to let them pass, sticking toour plan to avoid overexertion. Moments later, a loud BOOM rang out, followed by frantic screaming.
We increased our pace a little to figure out what happened. As we got closer, the screaming grew louder, followed by shouting. That was when we saw one of the cadets from the eighth squad on the ground with both of his lower legs blown off. He looked unconscious, probably not surviving. I heard soft wing beats approaching. I wasn’t sure where they were coming from.
Within seconds, Pascal landed on the edge. He tucked his wings in so fast that I barely had time to realize he had wings. Holy shit! They disappeared.
My mind raced in every direction. Within seconds, he grabbed the injured cadet up and took off into the sky. I knew Drusearons had magical abilities, but I didn’t realize they could go without displaying their wings.
“Let’s keep going, second squad. I am watching out for land mines. I am sure there will be more,” Callum shouted back at us. We continued, passing by a shocked eighth squad.
“Also watch for the traps that send arrows shooting out of the cliff," Beau called up.
“How do you know that one?” I asked.
“My brother went through a couple of years ago,” he said.
“Yeah, my dad totally left out this entire mountain quest, while he was trying to scare me not to join.”
“Land mine,” he yelled. “Wide step over it, and you’ll be fine.”
We all moved forward cautiously. I stepped over it, as wide as my legs would go, and marched ahead.
BOOM.
I closed my eyes. It wasn’t loud enough to be the one I just crossed, but I turned around and looked anyway. I think the sound came from above us—fuck—fifth squad. Callum and I shared a look, which told me he thought the same thing. Overall, our two squads were the closest.
“Fifth squad, are you guys okay?” Callum shouted as loud as he could, with his head tilted up.”
“We’re intact. Finn has a nasty gash. We’re okay.” William shouted back.
Whew. A gash was an improvement over what we saw earlier. We kept moving forward, avoiding numerous land mines along the way. We also passed by a few wall traps, which required us to drop to the ground and crawl underneath.
Night began to fall, and we still hadn't reached the caves. We heard so many land mines explode and arrows whizzing through the air. The screams around us made me wonder how many more cadets had been lost on the first day. The sky was filling with stars, and a nearly full moon lit our path. We reached a section so narrow that we had to move sideways. I prayed Callum would spot any traps, especially with the low visibility, and hoped they wouldn’t be cruel enough to set traps in such a thin passage.
“Ahhhhhh.” I heard right beside me, from Nadine.
I turned my head her way, and she was hanging off the side of the mountain.
“Fuck” I yelled. There wasn't enough space or room to move down and assist her. I crouched down the best I could, with my back pressed against the wall. Asher was on the other side of her. He crouched down as well.
“Nadine, you’re going to have to pull yourself up,” I said.
“I can’t. My… My… Hands are slipping.”
“Auriella, if we both grab her hand, do you think you can pull her up?” He looked over at me.
“I can try.” I reached out and grabbed her wrist, and he did the same on his side. Her hands were so sweaty, it felt like gripping baby oil. Fuck, I wasn’t sure we could do this. We had to. We couldn't lose someone.
“Nadine, you’re going to have to work with us here,” I said.
“I can’t… I can’t.” She whimpered.
