Page 62 of Clash of Storms
Florian threw a glance over his shoulder, wings beating desperately. Sirius was almost upon him, claws tucked up beneath him as he prepared to attack. This would be tricky, for he couldn't hurt Malin but—
Florian let her go.
Sirius overshot her as she began plummeting toward the ground. He nearly turned himself inside out as he banked and swooped like a hawk, wings tucked tight against his body as he drove toward her.
A scream drifted past him, the ground growing larger. Malin's skirts whipped past her legs, her hands reaching for him desperately.
Malin.
Sirius spread his wings at the last second, reaching out delicately to pluck her out of the air. The snick of his claws locked around her, and Malin grabbed at him, crying out in fear.
"Got you!"he roared at her.
Far too close.He had her in his claws, his heart pounding madly as he soared clear.
But he was surrounded by fourdrekiwarriors, and with Malin in his grasp, his greatest aerial weapon was crippled.
No time to call the storms.
Barely any means to protect her if he did.
He could cut them out of the air with a single thought, but that required concentration, and he couldn't spare it as Roar slashed in at him from the side.
Sirius barrel-rolled, his teeth raking helplessly off the scales coating Roar's throat. He kept Malin tucked in tight against his body as lightning began to whip through the skies, fuelled by their presence.
Ylve slammed into him from the side, and he lashed out at her with a snap of his teeth, even as she darted away.
They were toying with him.
Keeping him in place and circling him like a pack of wolves. He'd fought in hundreds of aerial battles before, and while he'd faced odds like this once or twice, he was effectively defenseless right now.
But he was also cunning.
He could not win this fight alone, not with Malin hampering him.
Forcing his wings to flap furiously, he climbed steadily into the sky, turning south. Balder was almost the same size as him and kept pace, but the others fell behind, until the pair of them were soaring over the territory of He Who Should Not Be Woken.
"Time to wake up, Great Lord,"he sent the entreaty out across the lands below him."I have a gift for you."
Sirius's wings ached, but he locked the pain away and hunted for his secret weapon, opening up his Second Sight just long enough to pick out the murky, well-buried heart pulsating in the gloomy murk of a patch of mud pools below him.
There you are.
He found a likely crag and alighted with Malin, his wings straining. Steam hissed through smoking fumaroles in the ground, and mud gave a nearbyglopas a bubble burst within the hot pool. The air smelled like a roomful of maledrekiafter the All Souls Day bonfires.
Malin fell to her knees, clinging to the ground as if she wanted to kiss it.
Sirius shifted into mortal form, raking the gloom with a wary eye. "Are you all right?"
She shook violently. He knelt by her side, brushing the coppery strands of her knotted hair out of her face. The whites of Malin's eyes gleamed as she panted. There was no need for her to answer. He could see it all over her face.
"You're safe." The sight of her terror made him want to punch something. Preferably Roar. "I've got you, Malin. I will always protect you."
"I thought I was going to die!"
He captured her face in both hands. "Never, you understand me?"
She nodded miserably, turning her cheek into the palm of his hand. Sirius stroked his thumb down her fragile skin, a dangerous sensation opening in his chest.His Malin. Safe. He didn't allow himself to dwell on the terror of that moment when Florian released her, but it had been far too close for comfort.
