Page 87 of The Kingdom's Reckoning
Kallie had never been so happy to see the drakonis.
She turned on her heel, ready to strike. But Domitius was no longer there. She spun around, searching, panicking. She jerked to a stop when she found the other guard missing. A shadow raced across the field, and her attention shot to the sky.
"No!" she yelled, spotting the guard flying away and Domitius’ legs dangling over the guard’s arms.
She started to run after them and shout a command, but the moment her lips parted, a flash of pain pierced her hamstring. Her command was replaced with a yelp. She dropped, her leg giving out.
Someone’s hands were on her a second later, and she tried to bat them away.
"Stop moving! You’re only making it worse."
"Ellie?" Kallie croaked, the pain blurring her vision.
"Who else, you idiot?" the warrior snapped. "I’m going to pull the arrow out, and it’s going to fucking hurt. But don’t move, got it?"
"Wait—"
Something was lodged into her mouth.
"Bite," Ellie demanded, giving Kallie only a second to do so before pulling out the arrow.
Kallie screamed around the makeshift gag, and hot tears rolled down her cheeks. Fabric ripped. As Ellie tied the fabric around her thigh, Kallie squeezed her eyes shut, the pain blinding.
"Come on," Ellie said, pulling the gag from Kallie’s mouth with a disgusted grimace as a shadow fell over them. "We need to get out of here."
Ellie threw the wad of fabric away, and Kallie recognized it to be a part of the guard’s trousers.
She wanted to throw up, but she shook her head, pushing through the pain. "We can’t. W-we have to go after him."
"This entire area is going to be on fire in a matter of minutes. We don’t have the time!"
Kallie trembled as she stared out at the destruction. The fire had spread further than Kallie had thought possible in the short time that had passed. Bare branches burned. Smoke and ash filled the sky, twirling in the wind. In the distance, Kallie could hear the shouts of the soldiers who had escaped the fire and the louder screams of those who weren’t as lucky.
"But—" Her words were stolen from her as she and Ellie were swiped from the ground, Graeson’s claws wrapping around her. A gust of wind swept through her hair as Graeson scaled the sky, his large wings thrashing in the air. To her right, Ellie dangled from his other paw. Her face was ghastly white as she screamedin terror. Kallie looked away just as Ellie’s cheeks puffed up, her skin taking on a sickly hue.
A few seconds later, Graeson dove, heading toward the clearing. When Kallie thought they were going to hit the ground, he evened out, the force of his speed stirring up debris. Kallie sucked in a breath and coughed, inhaling dirt.
Graeson lowered his front legs. Kallie braced for a rough landing, but it never came. One after the other, he snatched up Moris and Lysanthia. Then he twisted around, flying toward the clouds once more.
Nyrri trailed behind them, her wings beating rapidly as she tried to keep up. Kallie’s attention quickly slipped past the drakonis, fixing onto Domitius, who was now a mere speck, heading for the woods.
They couldn’t let him escape. Frantically, Kallie slapped the nearest claw and shouted at Graeson to release her. She needed to put a stop to this. She had to before?—
Graeson dove, his body zipping through the air as he tipped his head toward the ground.
A piercing scream tore at her lungs as she held onto him. Her thigh throbbed, but she ignored the pain and held on as tightly as she could. An intense heat smacked Kallie in the face, forcing her still. When she looked down, fire covered the terrain, sweeping across the grass and leaving a burnt trail in its wake.
Through the smoke and scorched earth, she searched and searched, looking for Domitius’ remains.
Was he dead? Had Graeson killed him?
Graeson swept back up. As he flipped around, his tail lashing around angrily, Kallie saw the guard fleeing toward the forest.
Spotting them at the same time, Graeson turned. But before he could dive again, a screech poured from his mouth, then another. His body twisted as if he had been punched in the gut.
Quickly, Kallie scanned the parts of Graeson’s body she could see. Black scales covered his form, intricately layered. Then she found them: a series of arrows sticking out from his sides, beneath his belly, across his tail. One had struck bare flesh. How many arrows had he taken? How many morecouldhe take?
Arrow after arrow came flying at them. Kallie ducked, barely dodging an arrow that whizzed by her hair, slicing a piece near her ear in half. The next time, however, Kallie wasn’t as lucky. An arrow drove into her arm, right below her shoulder, and she bellowed. Blood stained her blouse and dripped down her limb.
