Windbreak: Gryphon Riders Book Three (Gryphon Riders Trilogy 3)

by Derek Alan Siddoway

  “Eva, come on!”

  Tahl’s worried face drew Eva to her senses. She drew her sword, scooting sideways down the earthen slope as the rest of her guard filled in around her. The Smelterborn resumed fighting and flanked the soldiers on the wall. In such close quarters, and without the aid of numbers on their side, the human warriors fell left and right, their weapons all but useless against the golems.

  A man in front of her went down, leg buckling from a Smelterborn’s sweeping blow. As the golem raised its club overhead, Eva leaped forward to parry the killing strike. It took all of her strength to swing her sword hard enough to knock the blow aside and she stumbled forward, tripping on the injured man beneath her. The Smelterborn recovered faster than any human could have and Eva just managed to side step another swing.

  Two more Smelterborn hemmed in around the first and Eva shouted at the man to crawl away. The golems stomped toward her and Eva knew she had no hope of fighting three at once. Suddenly Tahl, Soot, Seppo and the rest were at her side. The Smelterborn stared at Seppo for a long moment as if in faint recognition. It only lasted a moment. The enemy golems shook their heads and advanced.

  Eva yelled and ducked beneath the swing of the original Smelterborn, this time thrusting her sword up and into its chest. The runes on her blade glowed like the weapon had just been drawn from the forge, passing through the thick metal plate like paper. Wrenching the blade free, Eva just managed to stumble out of the way as the golem crashed to the ground.

  An awful roar shattered the air — an ear-splitting mixture of grating metal and hammer blows. Seppo slammed into the Smelterborn to Eva’s left, still bellowing. The rest of her guard attacked the one on the right. The two golems crashed together like a pair of bulls, the Smelterborn abandoning its sword and shield to grapple hand to iron hand with Seppo. For a moment, they struggled back and forth, arms locked. But whatever craftsmanship had gone into Seppo’s making proved to be superior. Surging forward, the golem threw the Smelterborn down and locked its hands around his opponent’s helmet. In one mighty wrench, Seppo tore his opponent’s head from its shoulders before the Smelterborn could recover.

  Eva gaped. She’d never seen Seppo hurt so much as a fly in almost two decades living with him. Now he charged forward like a terrible war machine, shouldering aside another golem in a terrifying display of raw strength. Eva might have remained rooted to the spot if not for Wynn tugging at her arm.

  “C’mon!”

  Wynn yanked Eva down the Talon as Ivan threw a blast of ice into the face of the other Smelterborn and the rest of her guard fell in around her. Glancing over her shoulder Eva saw Seppo take on two enemy golems at once, caving one’s helmet in with a fearsome punch before hurtling the other back into its counterparts behind.

  Soot shouted for Seppo to join them as reinforcements surged around them to stem the iron tide of Smelterborn marching through the breach in the wall. Eva’s guard pressed in around her, fighting to keep from being borne back toward the front lines.

  “Make way for the princess!”

  “Make way for the princess!”

  Eva saw the wall swarming with Smelterborn now, their colossal champion reaching down to tear out chunks of earth and rock and cast them upon the human soldiers like a two-armed catapult. Neither of her uncles could be seen. Eva’s stomach rolled, imagining the worst.

  “No time to stop now, missy,” Soot said, putting an arm around Eva’s shoulder to pull her along. “Keep moving!”

  They found enough room to jog, still dodging oncoming reinforcements. Farther back, most were in ordered lines and columns, having yet to succumb to the chaos at the front of the fight.

  Back at the third wall, officers stood on top of the earthen mound, waving their swords and directing their regiments forward. Scores of Pandion spearmen marched in unison, equipped in heavy plate. More Scrawl rune masters ran forward in small groups, the tattoos on their exposed skin glowing as they prepared their kennings and supplicated to the Muse Mother. Row upon row of Sorondaran knights, most of the reserve, shouldered their war hammers, thronged by Mairozon bowmen and lancers who had abandoned their horses. Roused from sleep, dozens of gryphon riders sped overhead down the pass toward the battle.

  Several dark shapes pulled up and fluttered down above them, their screams revealing them as gryphons. Eva recognized Fury and ran to his side. She knew at once something must be wrong if he’d left the tent.

  Eva swung onto his back and pulled Chel up behind her. Muttering curses, Soot climbed on Lucia while the others all mounted around him, leaving only Seppo on the ground. Eva saw Soot’s look of trepidation and knew only the dire circumstance got the smith to climb onto the back of a gryphon and break his vow of never flying again.

  As soon as they were airborne, Eva’s feelings of something wrong were confirmed. Off to the west, she spotted soldiers running to the north, small dark shapes illuminated by flickering torches. Horses screamed and broke free, bolting down the slope into the trees. A burst of Scrawl fire lit up the cliffs a short distance from Eva’s tent and she saw Smelterborn Shadowstalkers and scouts leaping down from the rocks.

  “We’re being flanked!” Eva shouted to the others. Without a command, Fury shifted his flight leading them toward the attack.

  Eva glanced back and saw the others flying in close succession behind her. Down below, Seppo hurtled past human soldiers racing toward the rear.

  Nearing the golems, Eva and Chel leaped from the gryphon’s back and Fury hurtled himself at the Smelterborn, catching one in the face with his talons and bowling it over. Ignoring her dry mouth and the empty, hollow, nervous feeling inside of her, Eva ran toward the rocks and drew her father’s rune sword.

  Instinct took over and Eva slashed through a Shadowstalker pinning a man to the ground with its spear. The sword sliced through the thinner, lighter armored golem like an ax taken to a sapling tree. The leaner golem split in half, wailing as the spirit trapped within fled into the night. Without checking the man on the ground, Eva charged a scout about to cast a spear at the incoming gryphons and took its arm off at the elbow joint.

  Swinging his massive two-handed sword like a club, Soot struck one of the Shadowstalkers in the head, not killing it but knocking it to the ground. Sigrid screamed, sounding more gryphon than woman and cast one of her axes, catching a Smelterborn scout just right in the helmet. It collapsed lifeless to the ground. Tahl, Chel, and Wynn rushed to protect Eva’s back while Ivan spouted words faster than Eva thought imaginable, fire and ice shooting from his hands.

  The rearguard rallied around them. Together they drove the Smelterborn back against the cliffs but more of the golems leaped down from above. No matter how many Eva cut down with her blade, Ivan with his rune magic or the others through brute force, another alway sprang into its place. Even Seppo did little to discourage them, ripping heads and limbs from their armored torsos like they were scarecrows.

  In a brief lapse in the battle, Eva watched awestruck as the golem worked his destruction. Seeing Seppo in the midst of battle made the other Smelterborn, even the leaner, agile Shadowstalkers, look like children’s toys next to his precision and skill. Eva would have given almost anything for a hundred more just like him.

  The last Smelterborn fell and a ragged cheer rose from the survivors. Many defenders lay dead around them, at least three for every fallen Smelterborn. It was a terrible price but not as heavy as the one paid by the defenders in the pass. By the time the last Smelterborn fell, Eva and the rest were exhausted, shoulders slumped, weapons dangling, chests heaving. Only Seppo looked unaffected, humming as he piled the broken bits of Smelterborn together.

  “We need to get to Gryfonesse,” Tahl said as soon as they’d caught their breath and taken a sip of water. “The Talon won’t hold much longer.”

  Eva gave a tired nod. They walked toward the gryphons and were about to take flight when a flash of gray passed. Stormwind landed before them, a weary Andor sliding from the saddle. Eva ran toward her
uncle with new hope, grateful to find him alive and sure the lord commander’s presence meant the tide had turned.

  When Andor looked at her, Eva’s leaping heart plummeted in her chest. Andor’s piercing blue eyes were dull and swollen. In the faint light, he looked gray and ragged, aged beyond his years in the short time since she’d last seen him.

  “What is it?” Eva asked, grasping her uncle’s arms. “What happened?”

  The lord commander bowed his head and sank to one knee.

  “The king is dead,” he said in a broken, rasping voice. “Long live Queen Evelyn.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  As everyone around her sank to her knees, cold dread settled over Eva. Dumbfounded, she stared at Andor’s bowed head — her last living blood kin.

  “We tried to retreat to the middle wall,” the lord commander said in a flat voice. “But by the sky, there was nothing we could do against the colossus. It swept aside twenty men with every blow of its mace. Adelar… he commanded me to oversee the retreat and said he was falling back here. Instead, he and Justicar went straight for that sky-cursed monster. By the time I saw…it was too late. They flew right at its head, I don’t think the golem expected that. By the tempest, his lance struck true, right in its eye…but…there was just no way they could get away in time. The colossus fell and they went down beneath it…took a score or more of Smelterborn with it, crushed them all beneath its weight. I wanted…I wished I could have…”

  Andor trailed off, tears running down his grief-lined face. Eva sank down next to him, and they clutched one another, overcome in grief. She couldn’t believe it. She’d just seen Adelar, just spoken with him. The wounds of her father’s death tore open once more, threatening to overcome her.

  Wiping his eyes, the lord commander let out a long, ragged breath and rose, lifting Eva with him. She swayed, leaning against her last uncle for support, unable to stand on her own.

  “I’ve ordered everyone to fall back to the city and the Gyr,” Andor said. “And sent word ahead to have the Juarag refugees moved north immediately. We must go. Once I see you safe to the city, I will return and oversee the withdrawal.”

  Eva managed to nod, still stricken with grief, unable to grasp anything with her numb mind. Andor walked back to Stormwind and Eva turned, in a daze. The others rose, watching her uncertainly. It was Tahl who came forward first, hesitant as if looking at a different person other than his beloved.

  “Just get back to the city, that’s all you’ve got to do right now,” he said. “We’ll figure the rest out then, okay?” He squeezed her on the shoulder, those confident, reassuring eyes pulling her from the fog.

  Nodding to the others, she ran a hand along Fury’s neck and stepped around his lowered wing into the saddle. Chel followed in silence. In the air, the stillness grew between them. Eva tried to silence the rush of thoughts overwhelming her. She wasn’t ready to run a kingdom, not by a long shot. Just like she’d told Adelar, she was supposed to have years to learn and watch. She scoffed at herself. So much for that.

  “What will we do now?” Chel asked.

  “I …” Eva let out a long deep sigh. “I have no idea.”

  Chel gave Eva a gentle squeeze and continued the embrace as they flew. “I will help you. You are my sister, remember.”

  Eva nodded, throat tight. She struggled to fight the tears. One of the last things Aleron had said to her and Chel, before he’d sacrificed himself, was that Eva and Chel had to look after one another. Andor wasn’t her last living family after all, but then again, neither was Chel. She knew she could — and would — rely on Soot, Sigrid, Wynn, Ivan, and Tahl.

  They flew well into morning before Andor touched down in a small mountain clearing surrounded by tall, dark, brooding pines. Eva knew he would have liked to make it all the way back to the city, but the gryphons were as exhausted as their riders, heads and tails drooping.

  Eva hadn’t considered the grief the creatures must have felt. For every rider that died, a gryphon perished as well. Although the creatures were hatched from hundreds of different broods, they still formed a large family, just like the Windsworn. The massive loss of the majestic animals was a tragedy in and of itself.

  She pulled out her necklace, clenching the Wonder stone in her hand, trying to absorb some of its light into her shadowed heart. They would rebuild, she vowed in silence. They would destroy the Smelterborn.

  “We cannot rest for long,” Andor said to them. “There will be more Shadowstalkers on the way. Sigrid, you and Tahl take first watch, but only for an hour. Then Soot and I will relieve you. We leave as soon as Seppo reaches us.”

  Eva tried to imagine the hulking golem running through the trees, hurtling over boulders and streams. He was fast and did not get tired, but still couldn’t keep up with the gryphons. At least, Eva thought, no Smelterborn would reach them before Seppo did — he outpaced even the swiftest golems.

  Everyone settled down. Eva rested her back against Fury, using his warmth to keep away the chill since they couldn’t risk a fire. Unable to even think about sleep, she turned the Wonder over and over in her hands. The light faded from white to pink and gold before at last settling on sky blue.

  Eva’s mind emptied and she stared into the depths of the stone. The light looked familiar. Eva thought and thought but her exhausted, grief-stricken mind couldn’t place where she’d seen it before. Just on the edge of recollection, the memory left her frustrated and irritated. Eva stuffed the stone back beneath her chainmail.

  A heartbeat later, something crashed through the undergrowth and everyone jumped to their feet, hands on their weapons. The sound of snapping tree limbs and iron boots stomping on rock continued until Seppo emerged from the brush. Eva breathed out a sigh of relief and lowered her sword.

  “Hello!” Seppo said in his usual cheerful voice. “It would seem I have found you.”

  “You think?” Soot grumbled. “Where’ve you been? We’ve waited for hours!”

  “I’m sorry,” Seppo said without a hint of sarcasm, plucking a twig from between two armored plates. “I had a rather hard time keeping up on foot and was not informed of a meeting location.”

  Eva snorted. The others grinned as Soot’s face turned red and he ground his teeth together. If he understood he’d made a joke, Seppo’s bright blue eyes showed no sign.

  Seppo’s bright blue eyes.

  Eva stared for a moment before it clicked into place.

  “That’s it!” she shouted, yanking the Wonder stone out again. Everyone looked at Eva like she’d lost her mind as she held the chain above her head, dangling in front of Seppo’s face. The colors inside the stone swirled and changed, no different from any other time. Nothing else happened.

  “Eva, maybe you need to get some rest…” Tahl said, lowering her arms with a gentle push of his hand.

  Eva jerked away but was too excited to be angry. “Listen to me! The light doesn’t affect Seppo like it does the Smelterborn.” The stone turned the same shade of blue as the golem’s eyes and she shook it in front of Tahl and the rest, who still appeared to be deciding if she’d lost her mind.

  “Look! It’s the same color! Why did I not think of it before? What if Seppo made this Wonder to help defeat the Smelterborn?”

  A few uncertain looks passed between the group but Eva could tell they weren’t convinced.

  “That might be true but, like you said, it has no effect on him,” Ivan said. “Your Wonder is a useful tool for fighting the Smelterborn but… that seems to be about it.”

  Eva turned and thrust the Wonder at Seppo once more, determined to prove them wrong. The golem stared at the lights as they changed from gold to pink and the familiar sapphire hue but, as Ivan said, nothing happened. Inside, Eva felt her excitement evaporate and her face burned with embarrassment.

  She sighed. “I guess I just —”

  “May I see that?”

  Seppo held out his hand, still staring at Eva’s Wonder. She shrugged. “Guess so.”

/>   The stone’s golden chain slithered through her fingers and the Wonder made a soft ping, landing in Seppo’s metal palm. Seppo closed his iron fingers around it.

  In the next instant, blinding light burst from between his clenched fist. Eva and the others stumbled backward, raising hands to cover their throbbing eyes. Seppo let out a grating moan like rusted metal screeching together and collapsed to the ground. It was impossible to look at the golem or the stone, and Eva felt the warm glow of the Wonder cover her entire body as if a fire burned in Seppo’s hand.

  “Put it down, you iron idiot!” Soot shouted. “Drop it!”

  The light winked out as soon as the stone fell from Seppo’s grasp. No one spoke. The golem looked around at them in apparent confusion and clambered to his feet, limbs quaking.

  Eva blinked and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to get rid of the flashing spots in her vision. Her skull throbbed with the worst headache she’d ever felt.

  “What in the tempest was that?” Sigrid said. “My head feels like it was split with an ax!”

  “Has that happened before?” Andor asked.

  Eva shook her head and wracked her memory. “I don’t…Seppo’s never actually touched it before, not that I can remember anyway.”

  “He has once.”

  All eyes turned to Soot.

  “Back at Palantis,” the smith said. “Aleron and I found him laying there, didn’t look like anything but an empty suit of armor. Aleron thought he’d play a joke on the others and drop the stone inside the helm so it looked like it was glowing. The joke was on him — Seppo woke up, scared the feathers right off Aleron!”

  “And you never bothered to tell anyone?” Ivan asked, incredulous.

  Soot frowned at the Scrawl. “At first I didn’t want that stone to put him back to sleep! In the years since I just kind of forgot about it.”

  “May I say something?”

  Seppo picked up the Wonder by the chain, careful to not let the stone touch him, and handed it back to Eva. “Things are…clearer now.