Every available Corack, but two. Trina would lead Tenger into Woodcourt to find Basil and either bring him out, or keep him alive until we had secured the manor.
Harlyn stood near me, and when the last of us were in place, she whispered, “Are you sure Rawk will come?”
Almost as if in answer, Rawk immediately flew overhead, his silvery wings spanning wider than when I had last seen him. He landed on the garden lawn almost directly in front of me, which was a problem. I needed to be in place to defend Rawk as the Ironhearts came outside.
“I think he landed there to protect you,” Harlyn said with a slight smile.
“Well, I know what’s coming. He doesn’t. Follow me.”
I led Harlyn to my left. Huge and Gabe were hiding on the sides of the garden, and I motioned to them where we were headed. But no matter how fast I moved, Rawk shifted his position to stay in front of me.
“I’ll go hide with the others,” Harlyn said. “I’d tell you to stay safe, but it’s obvious Rawk has it under control.”
She had only taken a few steps when the first group of Ironhearts emerged, nearly ten by my count, though I didn’t have as clear a view of the area as I would have liked. Gabe and Huge shot off a few disks, and the Ironhearts ran for cover, shouting into the house for help.
I tried to send thoughts for Rawk to allow me to fight, but when he remained in my way, I ran toward him, even as he widened his wings to protect me. I grabbed the end of one wing and climbed up on his crouched rear leg to see better, but with that wing, he swept me onto his back and, instantly, I detected his thoughts. He was going to fly.
No, we were going to fly. The thought of it sent ripples through my gut, but I’d known this was coming sooner or later. I gritted my teeth and desperately felt around for something to hold on to, but Rawk’s scales were smooth and harder than the metal of my sword.
“I’ll fall!” I warned Rawk, but my words were drowned by his roar as we took flight, escaping a black disk that would have hit him otherwise. Or maybe that wasn’t a problem. From this height, I saw other fallen disks on the ground directly in front of where he had been. None of them pierced his scales.
Rawk angled in a sharp circle over the gardens, which might have made a quick end of me except that my hardened forearm seemed to give me both strength and balance on Rawk’s back. And in the middle of his arc, Rawk let out a fiery breath hot enough that it nearly evaporated the Ironhearts below who were targeting us. Another group emerged and met the same fate, even before they could strike.
“No more!” I shouted at Rawk. So far, I hadn’t seen my sister, but it was possible she was inside.
A single soldier had remained hidden beneath an overhang attached to Woodcourt. Even from here, I could see him shaking. He stood and called up to me, “If we surrender, we are dead anyway. But will you allow us to run? That may be our only chance.”
Tenger was nearby, and I knew what his orders would be. So I quickly replied, “Then get everyone who is inside that home as far from here as possible. You have two minutes. After that, anyone we find will be ours.”
Faster than I thought possible, the man shouted an alarm that became muffled when he raced inside Woodcourt. Within seconds, from my altitude, I saw Ironhearts empty from the manor as if lightning were at their heels.
Huge, Gabe, and Harlyn ran from their hidden positions to begin a cursory inspection of the interior gardens. When Rawk seemed to think the area was safe, he landed on a low wall nearby. I leapt off his back, relieved to be on solid ground again, then ran into the east wing to begin searching rooms.
Lily Dallisor’s room was in the rear, and nothing looked even slightly out of place.
Sir Henry’s apartment was on the opposite side of the corridor. I opened the first door. No soldiers were here, though the clearstones in the room were warmed. I also noticed half-empty mugs, still steaming, and an unfinished game of cards. Evidence of soldiers who had left in a hurry.
Farther on, I opened the door to Sir Henry’s bedroom at the same time as Trina and Tenger entered the room directly from the gardens. Basil was in the bed against the wall, pale and so thin that the bones of his face were prominent. His light blond hair was filthy and matted on one side, and his wrists were tied to the posts of the bed, which seemed absurd considering that he was clearly too weak to attempt an escape. For all I knew, he was already dead. His eyes were closed, and he wasn’t moving.
Trina reached him first but paused to stare at him. I saw sympathy in her expression, which I understood, but other emotions were there as well that were harder to identify. This was a side of Trina I’d rarely seen before, more tender than the brittle veneer she usually displayed.
Finally, she pulled back the sheet that covered him, revealing deep bruises on his arms and bare chest. She placed her hand over his heart and left it there for several tense seconds before saying, “If he’s alive, it won’t be for long.”
Tenger leaned over Basil and loudly said, “You’re with friends, Sir Basil. You must tell us where the Olden Blade is.”
Basil’s eyes fluttered, and he stirred slightly, then settled again into unconsciousness. I noticed more heavy bruising along the sides of his neck when he moved. The Dominion had been working on him, but I figured he hadn’t told them anything about the Olden Blade, or he’d be dead already.
Trina started to say something, but then her eyes widened and she shouted my name. From almost directly behind me, an Ironheart had emerged from a closet. His sword struck once against my right forearm, but before I could engage him, he made a second swipe along the side of my body. I struck back, injuring his shoulder, then he ran for the garden door. Tenger followed, but he disappeared into the gardens. Seconds later, Huge called out, “I got him!”
Trina stood halfway between me and Basil, clearly unsure of where to put her attention. “Are you all right?”
I nodded and leaned against the wall for support while I kept a hand over the worst area of my injury. “Tend to Basil.” My life was not in danger. His was.
“What can you do for him?” Tenger asked.
Trina looked at him and shook her head; then Tenger turned his gaze on me. “Please tell me you know where Kestra is. We need her.”
A thought entered my heart, so clear that I knew where it had come from. “Even if I knew, I couldn’t get to her in time to save Basil.” I caught the flap of a dragon wing outside the window overlooking the garden. I smiled at Tenger. “But I think my dragon believes he can.”
With those few words, Rawk launched himself into the air, flying south. As I expected, toward All Spirits Forest.
Toward Kestra.
I eyed Joth suspiciously, my heart beginning to pound in my chest. What did he mean, if our magic was compatible, if this worked? If what worked?
Loelle squeezed my uninjured hand. “I’ll leave you two alone to talk. What happens now is up to you.”
I started to ask what she meant, but she was already walking outside, making the vague excuse of needing to do “something important,” so I asked Joth the same question. “What is supposed to happen now?”
“Endrean magic—your magic—is different from the magic of my people. The Navan are able to combine our abilities, amplifying each other’s powers and working as one. But as I explained earlier, it’s never been attempted with anyone of another race.”