Page 112 of Silver Claws, Crimson Tears
The other two coordinate their attack, one sweeping low while the other dives from above. I spin, creating a circular Wind Wall around me. The closest harpy crashes against it, her black blade skittering across the barrier with a sound like fingernails on slate. But I’ve split my focus, and the diving harpy adjusts her trajectory, somehow sensing the weakerpoint in my defense. She punches through my Wind Wall with startling force.
Talons rake across my shoulder, tearing fabric and skin. Pain explodes through my nerve endings, electric and sharp.
“Fuck!” I stumble backward, blood streaming down my arm.
—Hold on! Almost there!Zephyros roars in my mind.
I lash out wildly, my concentration fractured by pain. A weak gust catches the diving harpy’s wing, barely slowing her as she circles back for another pass.
The first harpy I knocked back rejoins the fray. They’re surrounding me now, creating a triangle formation that limits my escape options. Blood drips from my fingertips onto the courtyard stones.
“You want me?” I growl, gathering what strength remains. “Then work for it!”
I create a vortex beneath my feet, launching myself upward just as they converge. For a heartbeat, I hover above their grabbing talons, then the small one adjusts quicker than I anticipated. Her claws lock around my ankle with crushing strength.
Pain shoots up my leg as she yanks me sideways. I twist, trying to break her grip, but the second harpy seizes my wounded arm. I scream as her talons yanks my arm as if to tear it off. The third locks her claws around my other arm, and suddenly I’m suspended between them, each pulling in different directions like children fighting over a doll.
“Let go, you bitches!” I demand, kicking and thrashing as they begin to beat their wings in unison.
I move further from the ground. Five feet. Ten. The courtyard falls away beneath me, my stomach lurching as we gain altitude at terrifying speed.
“Release me!” Wind bursts from my palms, but theawkward angle makes it hard to hit true, and the tearing pain in my sockets makes it impossible to concentrate and bend the currents.
Shouts erupt below as, too late, other Skyriders make it to the end of the courtyard. I glimpse Commander Voltguard among them, her face contorted with rage.
“Hold your fire!” she bellows as several Skyriders prepare to attack. “You’ll hit Wyndward!”
“No! Take the shot!” I scream down, but my voice is lost as the harpies carry me higher, their wings beating in perfect rhythm.
Fort Ashmire shrinks beneath me, and I watch helplessly.I’m dead. I’m fucking dead!Except, the harpies aren’t attempting to kill me. They’re… taking me away?
The bitches carry me higher, their talons digging into my flesh with each powerful wing beat. Blood trickles down my arm, but the pain feels distant compared to the terror of watching Fort Ashmire become smaller.
Then I spot him, a silver streak against the sky. Zephyros barrels toward us, his massive wings cutting through the air with desperate speed.
—I see you. Do not struggle yet.
—They’re taking me somewhere. What the hell?
—They will not succeed.His voice fills my mind, rage barely contained.When I tell you, summon your strongest wind around yourself. Give it your all.
—Is that going to work?
—Trust.
The lead harpy screeches, noticing the approaching dragon. They veer sharply left, nearly ripping me apart. I bite back a scream.
—NOW!Zephyros thunders in my mind.
I inhale deeply and release everything inside me—fury, fear, desperation—into a cyclonic burst that explodes outward from my body. The wind whips violently around me, breaking the harpies’ grip.
Suddenly I’m falling, tumbling through empty air. The ground spins crazily below as wind whistles past my ears. I try to create Vortex Lift, but I’m spent, disoriented as I twist head over heels.
Above me, Zephyros releases a focused gale that slams into the harpies. Two collide midair with a sickening crunch of bone. The third tries to dive away but Zephyros’s wind catches her, crumpling her wings like paper, and she plummets to her death.
I’m still falling, my stomach in my throat, when Zephyros tucks his wings and dives beneath me. He rolls sideways, extending one massive wing. I crash into the leathery membrane, which cradles my body like a hammock.
—Thank the Goddess!I gasp, clutching his scales as he levels out and I move to his back.
