Page 146 of Black Wing and Shadows
Zane hadn’t turned. “I think you all waste too much breath.”
That earned a chorus of groans and laughter, and Sadie nearly choked on it. “Gods, he’s impossible,” she said, shaking her head.
But her grin told me the same thing Esme had already whispered in my head—this had been the rhythm of a drift. Rough edges, sharp tongues, and trust woven through it all.
The wind cut sharply across my face, Esme gliding smoothly and effortlessly beneath me. We’d been flying steady for a while when Remus’s voice rang out over the air, loud enough to cut through the roar of wings. “Formation. Arrowhead. Now.”
My stomach dropped.
That word was last heard months ago in a chalk-dust classroom, diagrams arranged neatly on Bhatta’s board. Arrows and dotted lines weredrawn, nothing resembling this moment—no sky, no wind, and no real lives placed in the balance.
Nikolai’s dragon angled cleanly into place beside Remus, the red scales gleaming in the pale light. “Zane and Remus on point,” Nikolai shouted back, his voice cutting across the slipstream. “Sadie, you’re behind Zane, center right. Blackcreek, rear right. Landon, center left. My dragon will hold the rear left.”
Sadie laughed nervously, gripping her pommel. “To be clear—I’m not actually steering anything. If Korra decides she wants to perch on a chimney, that’s on her.”
“Pray she doesn’t,” Nikolai barked.
“Not comforting!” Landon shouted from behind, his phoenix scattering sparks as it beat its wings harder. “You know I’ve only ever seen this drawn in ink, right? Never done it in real life?”
“None of you have,” Remus said. “That’s the point. Now shut up and hold your damn places.”
Esme rumbled beneath me,“he acts like this is difficult. I know exactly where I belong.”
“Great,”I thought.“Shame I don’t.”
The fliers had done the work—Korra tucking in neatly behind Zane’s dark wings, Sera’s golden fire settling into the rear center, Esme slid sharply to the left of Sadie without hesitation. I clung to the saddle, heart hammering, terrified I’d somehow ruin it even though I hadn’t actually been the one flying.
And then I felt it.
The air shifted. Suddenly, the sky seemed… smoother. Our six fliers cut through the wind like one creature, the arrowhead shape slicing the currents apart.
Sadie let out a low whistle. “Oh. Okay. That actually feels… kind of incredible.”
“Efficient,” Remus said, his tone clipped but approving.
“Sexy,” Landon crowed immediately.
“Idiotic,”Nikolai shot back, though his dragon’s wings twitched as if amused.
Zane said calmly and steadily. “Hold your lines. Save your jokes for the ground.”
Which, naturally, had only made Sadie snicker harder. “Is he always this… dominating?” she shot at me.
I gripped the saddle tighter, unable to stop the grin that tugged at my mouth, saying nothing.
Maybe we had merely been passengers strapped to predators who knew better than we did. Maybe this had been the first time I’d actually felt what Bhatta’s neat diagrams meant. It had been quite impressive to fly and be a part of a drift. It had been a glimmer of the future, the one very far away.
We held the formation longer than I thought possible, six fliers slicing the wind in perfect rhythm. My nerves began to ebb, replaced by something steadier, almost exhilarating.
Zane’s voice cut across the air, calm but carrying. “Blackmere ahead.”
I squinted into the distance. At first, it had barely been a smudge along the riverbank, smoke curling thin and gray into the pale winter sky. The outlines sharpened—wooden rooftops huddled close together, a spire poking above them, the wide gleam of water splitting the land in two.
The fliers adjusted without needing instruction, banking into a gradual descent. The air grew heavier, the river scent sharp and cold in my lungs.
Sadie whooped as Korra tucked her wings for a sharper dive, feathers flashing silver in the light. “Finally! If I don’t get off soon, I’m going to be one with this saddle.”
“Better than falling off it,” Remus called back dryly, his voice a low rumble.
