Page 87 of The Eye of the Fifth
Gedeon could have wept with jubilant relief.
Dust and ash was whipped and scattered by the beating of the two magnificent wings attached to the wondrous beast that soared above them. As Tanwen landed on the ground with a great thud in the middle of the street, sentries scrambling to move out of her way, Gedeon could not help the grin that split his face.
I have never been so glad to see anyone in my life.
What a charming sentiment,she hummed.The crown prince does not share the same feeling.
‘Archers! Bring it down! I want its skull mounted in the Throne Room!’ Sekun screamed at the dumbfounded sentries who fumbled with their bows at his command, ignorant to the fact that their arrows would glance off her scales like mere twigs.
Sekun had not seen Tanwen since she was a hatchling. The fear on his face now as his eyes feasted on the mighty sight of her, with raging fire threatening and visible through the iridescent scales low on her belly, would be imprinted into Gedeon’s mind as a very, very happy memory.
Gedeon dived for the open space underneath Tanwen’s neck, dragging a stunned Sunsi along with him, for he knew what his dragon friend was about to do.
Heat rose up from her underbelly, up and up and up until it blasted out of her mouth, an inferno of fire that could only be matched by his own.
The flaming stream swept around them, not to kill but to warn. A deadly line that none should dare to cross.
Only when her fire was a high, protective circle around them, did she lower her belly to the ground, straightening a wing for Gedeon and Sunsi to climb atop her.
Gedeon pulled himself onto the bone of her wing, then turned, hand outstretched for Sunsi to take hold of. Staring at him as if he had lost his mind, she cried, ‘Are youjoking?’
‘Would you rather stay here?’
‘Gedeon, this is madness-’
‘She’s a friend,’ he swiftly assured her, hauling her up before she had a chance to hesitate any longer. They settled in the crevice between Tanwen’s neck and scapula, Gedeon’s hands gripped on one of the three sets of horns on her head. He did not have to tell Sunsi to hold on, for her arms were already wrapped tightly around his middle in blatant terror.
Get us out of here, Tan.
With pleasure,she replied, her mental voice smiling with triumph.
As Tanwen took off into the sky, Sunsi gave a little squeal in Gedeon’s ear. Both of their legs gripped tight around her muscular, scaled neck. He had ridden Tanwen countless times before, but never had he done so with a petrified woman at his back. It made holding on that much harder.
Where to, princeling?
Anywhere. Just get us out of-
A crack like lightning shot through the air, and the load on his back was suddenly freed as Sunsi was ripped from him. Gedeon whipped around, heart in his throat, to see Sekun gripping Sunsi by the hair with one hand, the other holding onto one of Tanwen’s spikes.
Not an ounce of humour nor arrogance rippled from his brother now. His face had contorted with frenzied fury.
Level out and get low,Gedeon told Tanwen. She obeyed without question, stretching her wings wide to glide slowly over the clouds.
‘This is between you and I, Sekun!’ Gedeon yelled. ‘Let her go.’
Sekun shifted his grip on Sunsi, yanking her close and closing his fist around her throat. Sunsi’s face instantly turned puce, her fingers clawing the back of his hand for release but to no avail. Sekun kissed the side of her head, the sensual movement abhorrent next to the hand choking her. He whispered something in her ear, and as her eyes flashed with panic, Sekun looked at Gedeon, his face splitting into a crazed, malevolent grin. ‘As you wish, brother.’
He flung Sunsi from him as though she were nothing but a lifeless ragdoll.
SAVE HER!
Tanwen dove, chasing the falling Sunsi as she plummeted toward the unforgiving ground.
Gedeon could not stop to watch if Tanwen caught her, for he was falling himself, toward the tail end of Tanwen’s back before his desperate hands caught one of her spikes. The breath was knocked from his lungs as Tanwen continued to plunge down, and for a few moments, it was all he could do to simply hold on, his brother doing the same behind him.
Dangerously close to the ground, Tanwen’s wings shot out to the side, and she finally levelled out once more.I have her.
Through the atmosphere Tanwen climbed once more, her wings beating against the ashy air. The angle of her body was sharper this time, an almost vertical ride into the heights of the dark sky.
