“I won’t hide while everyone fights!”
Basil appeared on the other side of me. “Joth wants the Olden Blade. If he gets it, then he retains Endrick’s powers.”
Immediately, I nodded and began to follow them, but we changed course when another whistling sound fell not far ahead, only to explode on the count of three.
“Run to the gates!” Trina called, but we had only taken a few steps before the gates of Woodcourt burst open and oropods flooded into the courtyard.
Commander Reese shouted an order for his soldiers to mount their horses and try to lead the oropods away, but the beasts had already begun to attack and were blocking the gates. We were trapped inside the walls.
Basil and Trina attempted to steer me safely toward Woodcourt, but another explosion whistled toward us, forcing us to separate. Through the smoke and dust, I couldn’t see Trina and Basil anymore, but if the fire pellets were targeting me, it was better for them if we remained separated. I redoubled my grip on the Olden Blade and ran back toward the oropods.
I didn’t get far before I heard Harlyn call for help. She had been cornered by five oropods and was firing off disks as quickly as she could, but I saw her reach into her now-empty satchel, then look up with panicked eyes.
Gabe began racing toward her, but in his hurry, he tripped over one fallen oropod, who reared up and snapped its teeth at him. He rolled to the ground to fight it and shouted at me to help Harlyn.
I ran to her and wounded the two nearest oropods before the third let out a soulful cry I’d never heard before from these creatures. It wasn’t a cry of pain, but instead seemed to be a warning. The three oropods that remained turned my way, and I raised the Olden Blade. Harlyn suddenly yelled, “Kestra, above you!”
I squatted down low, but it wasn’t fast enough and I felt a condor’s talon wrap around me, lifting me into the air. From here, I saw the mayhem below as those in the courtyard continued battling the oropods.
I squirmed the best I could within the condor’s clutches to get into a position to breathe, but the bird only held me tighter and carried me higher, past Woodcourt’s walls and toward the palace. That was unacceptable.
Gripping the Olden Blade tight enough to ensure I would not drop it, I struck its leg. It cried out, widened the talon, and with a scream, I fell into the night.
The last time I had fallen from this distance, it had almost killed me. But that was when I was nearly immortal.
I had been pushing Rawk toward Woodcourt to defend our walls, but without warning, Rawk turned us away and aimed sharply down. I didn’t know why he’d changed course, but I trusted him by now, and almost instantly, I understood. Kestra was just ahead, struggling within the talons of a giant condor.
Rawk angled more directly toward her, but another two condors had already targeted us. Rawk attacked the nearest bird with a flame that blew back toward me. Instinctively, I raised my right forearm, which dispelled the worst of the heat around me.
The second condor rounded on us and this time it crashed into Rawk’s side, sending us veering sharply to the right. My body slid sideways, but I held to the curve of one wing until Rawk straightened out.
I withdrew my sword, then crouched low on Rawk’s back, outstretching my right arm to keep my balance. This time when the condor came close, I swung hard, clipping the condor’s wing. It screeched but continued forward, careening into us. The force of the impact threw me off balance, but Rawk compensated for me in the tilt of his body. When I looked up, I saw the tail of the condor as it flew away to nurse its wound. But this was not over.
From farther away now, Kestra screamed and began falling through the air. Rawk raced toward her so fast that even with the balance from my arm, I had to hold on or I would have fallen too.
He veered downward, timing his approach perfectly so that Kestra fell directly above us. I reached up and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her safely toward me. Her eyes widened as she realized where she was; then her attention shifted to the fire we had set before the attack.
From my thoughts to Rawk’s actions, we angled toward the fire. The worst of its heat had begun to fade.
“It won’t be enough,” Kestra said. “Not for the Olden Blade.”
In response, Rawk flew lower, searing the ground with flames that destroyed every oropod in his path. Once we reached the fire, his breath grew hotter, and the dwindling fire roared to life.
“Now!” I knew Kestra had heard me, but when she did not act, I said again, “Kestra, drop the blade!”
“I can’t do it,” she called.
Alarmed, I ordered Rawk to circle around once more. As he made the arc, I asked her, “What’s wrong?”
Her breaths were coming heavier, and she stared down at the blade in her hand. “All the magic in that blade, there’s great power in my hand.”
I tilted my head. “It’s corrupted magic. If you take it up—”
“Every bit of magic within this blade came from someone Endrick killed. This magic is their legacy. If I destroy the blade, nothing of them remains.”
By then, we had finished the arc and the fire was beneath us again. “If you don’t destroy the blade, Joth will get it, and he will have Endrick’s powers forever.”
“I know. I just …” Tears welled in her eyes. “When I do this, I really will be the last of my people.”
She dropped the sword, which fell blade-first toward the earth. I breathed again only when it disappeared into the smoke, but my relief had come too soon. A condor swooped up through the thick gray smoke with the blade in its talon. With a caw at the others, it flew away, headed directly to the palace.
In concert with my thoughts, Rawk began to follow the condor, but Kestra grabbed my arm, drawing my attention to Gabe, who was caught up in the claw of a condor, as she had been.
“We have to get the Olden Blade!” I said to her. “If Joth gets it, we’re all dead!”
“That’s your friend over there!”
I looked over at Gabe, struggling the best he could, but losing the fight. Then I said to Kestra, “Rawk is barely managing the two of us. He can’t take three.”
“I know.” She nodded, almost to herself. Whatever she was planning, it made me nervous. Especially when she added, “Get us closer and we’ll figure out some way to help.”
I ordered Rawk in that direction. My plan was to force the condor closer to the ground, but I still didn’t know how to make it release Gabe without seriously injuring or burning him.
While I attempted to get Rawk at a better angle, Kestra suddenly crouched on Rawk’s back.
“No!” I reached for her, but before I could, she lunged toward the condor. She seemed to have been aiming for its body but instead grabbed on to its leg, with Gabe in the talons below.
With the sudden added weight, the condor’s flight became erratic. It must have been gripping Gabe tighter than before, for Gabe was shouting out and trying to force the talons apart. Kestra was working her way down the condor’s leg, obviously to pry Gabe loose, but with the condor tilting so wildly, she was having trouble.
Finally, the condor crashed into a copse of trees. I heard the crack of heavy branches and their thuds as they fell to the earth, then one louder thump that must have been the condor itself.