Page 61 of Clash of Storms
Sirius slowly looked up, and his heart slammed to a halt.
Six golden gems glowed in the sky like heated fists of amber; six massivedrekihearts thrumming in time to the beat of the fire that raged through their monstrous forms.
One of them plummeted toward them, its claws outstretched. He couldn't see its shape, but he could make out the golden filaments of its veins stretching out through its extremities, which gave him a rough road map of its form.
Sirius slammed into Malin, carrying her to the ground as thedrekiscreeched its fury when it missed him.
"Sirius?" Malin gasped, as he shoved to his feet.
"Stay down!" he bellowed. "There are six of them."
Iškur screamed, both he and the packhorse panicking as an enormousdrekiswooped out of the sky toward them.
Oh, no you don't. That'smyhorse.
Sirius bared his teeth, opening up his Second Sight again. Instantly the world vanished, until all he could see was the pumping hearts of both horses burning like pure gold flame in the middle of their chests. Above them, thedrekiswooped low like a malevolent ball of shadow, and its heart was a furnace.
Sirius locked onto that furnace.
And then he called ice into being with a dangerous smile.
The next downthrust of Lor's wings came sharply, and thedrekihauled up short, its left wing flapping madly as Sirius tried to freeze its heart in its chest. He could feel the sharp shards of ice forming around Lor's immense heart, crackling as they met the heat of his blood. Sirius gave a twist, plunging the temperature.
Lor lashed out at him psychically, but Sirius brushed it aside with a contemptuous flick. He'd been shielding since he was a boy, when Magnus took every chance he had to mark his dominance. It was child's play.
With a shriek of fear, Lor curved away from him and Sirius let him go.
He shut down his Sight, his eyes aching as though he'd been staring cross-eyed for too long.
Sirius's ears rang. He staggered sideways as thedrekiscreamed and swooped away in fright. The larger the heart, the more difficult it was to stop. He couldn't afford to expend too much power right now.
But they'd be wary now. They all knew what he could do.
He sensed Roar trying to brush against his mind, and opened himself.
"Brother,"Roar's mental voice reeked of a smirk."You're surrounded. Give us the girl and we might let you live."
"Turn around and flee,"he shot back,"and I might letyoulive."
He locked onto Roar's heart as the bastard circled him, and this time the frost sprang to his will with an alacrity that made Roar flinch away desperately.
He wanted to kill; wanted to crush that heart in his grip until it was nothing more than a frozen slurry.
But it was too late.
Roar had merely been the distraction.
Malin screamed as Florian plucked her from the ground behind him, vanishing into the mist in a whoosh of green skirts.
Sirius didn't think. Rage burst through his veins, like oxygen through a steam engine.Malin!He flung himself into the air, exploding intodrekiform like a storm of fury.
A golden beacon swooped toward him through the mist, and he twisted and slammed into Balder, taking the impact on his shoulder.
Balder shrieked, unprepared for such an aggressive move, and Sirius tore into the skies after Florian. A muscle somewhere in his chest ached, as if he'd strained something, but he had no time to give it a thought.
Florian's ruddy form whipped through the air ahead of him. Sirius let an enormous battle cry surge through him as he cut through the air.
Did they honestly think they could fleehim?
