They rushed toward Rakturan, but there was a long way from one end of the hall to the other. Rakturan’s second bodyguard was pinned to the wall with a sword through his chest, his eyes glassy. Around the pair, saffron-clad bodies lay in tumbled heaps on the ground. Rakturan had a wicked cut down one cheek and a patch of blood on the shoulder of his clothing. He glanced around him until his eyes fell on me. With a determined look, he rushed toward us. Hubric and Ephretti stepped forward, as if to take his attack on their weapons.
“Peace, peace!” he called to us. “Please, Amel Leafbrought, ask your people for peace!”
Hubric and Ephretti exchanged a glance before Hubric spoke. “Why should we trust you, Dark Prince?”
“This isn’t my doing! When they are finished killing your Dominar, they will kill me as well!”
A burst of green lightning stabbed down the long hall, missing him by inches as the Dark Covenant traitors thundered toward us. On the Dominar’s trap door, the last of his dragoons died with a groan and the men of Baojang pushed him off of it, calling to one another in their own language.
“Stop your men, if this isn’t your doing, Rakturan,” I said.
“They aren’t mine,” he said, “they are only of my nation. I can’t control what they do.”
Another lightning bolt split the air over our heads and one of the Baojang traitors gave Rakturan a mocking wave as he disappeared through the hole in the floor. My heart was pounding, my breath coming quicker. I had no way to defend myself against the horde charging toward us.
“The trapdoor!” I called. Maybe we could make it in time to flee, too.
No! The window. We come.
Raolcan! You’re alright!
Stay near the window. We are almost there!
Rakturan formed up in line with Ephretti, Lenora, and Hubric. The Dusk covenant were steps away. They were too close for the Magika to send any more lightning our way without hitting his own men, too, although that wasn’t stopping him.
A ball of fire arched over their heads, splashing on the wall beside me. I scrambled to the side so that the lingering fire wouldn’t set me ablaze.
Swords crashed as the front line of the Dusk Covenant finally met our side. I was surprised to see how capable Lenora was with her long knife. As Rakturan took a step forward to push one enemy back, another tried to dive into the space between him and Ephretti. Lenora stabbed that man quickly with her knife, before taking a smart step backward to await another opportunity.
Hold fast, we come!
Hubric fought, finding holes in his enemies’ defenses. His double knives slid in any gap in their guards, keeping their attacks at bay. One of the men in livery dove toward Lenora, but Ephretti turned his blade with ease, slipping her own between his ribs before kicking him back into the mass of bodies pressing towards us. She spun and came up in a guard position, with Lenora tucked behind her.
“Fight smart, apprentice. Don’t let them through your guard!”
The minutes were long – like every second was weighty and dense as we were slowly pressed back toward the windows. I could do nothing but watch and worry, flinching and gasping at every close moment.
Sword clashed on sword and grunt was met with cry of pain. I took one more step backward, as Hubric stepped back into me, and felt my backside hit the railing around the wide arched window. There was nowhere further to go.
“Make room for the Magika, make some space!” There was turbulence in the ranks of our enemies as they scrambled to obey. Through the press of bodies, the Magika was pushing forward. He would utterly destroy us when he came through.
Rakturan grunted as a blade found its mark in his side. He shoved himself forward, pushing his enemy aside with a powerful roar. The Magika pushed through the final rank of bodies, his hands raised with crackling lightnings. We had only two options left: stand and be destroyed by the Magika or leap to our deaths from the Great Hall.
Chapter Eighteen
Hug the window frame! All of you! Make space!
“Quick!” I called, “Hurry to the sides! Don’t block the window!”
Rakturan looked confused, but at Hubric’s authoritative nod, Ephretti pushed Lenora to one side of the large arch, pressing flat against her and Hubric dragged Rakturan to the other side. I scooted to Hubric’s side and hugged in tight to the other two. In the scramble, I heard Lenora scream. She must have been wounded as we made a space. Where are you, Raolcan? We can’t wait like this!
We didn’t have to.
A burst of white light, so hot and powerful that I feared I would be seared to the bone, stabbed through the window from the sky outside. It knocked the Magika off his feet, flinging him back into the press of bodies. An enthusiastic fighter moved to fill his place, lunging toward Hubric. Fire splashed across him, searing him and four more behind him, leaving them almost instantly dead, charred beyond recognition.
I turned to see Raolcan right behind me, hovering in the air with Savette on his back. Her eyes were white and glowing so brightly that I couldn’t look at her. Her hands glowed, too, bright as twin suns.
Told you I was coming. I’m better at showing up when needed than you are.
I felt a stab of guilt. I hadn’t been there for him. He must feel so disappointed.
I’m just teasing you. Calm down. Now, we have to hurry. There are a lot of them and you are vulnerable at this window.
Flame burst past me as he scorched another wave of fighters. My hair! He’d singed the end of it right off! I smelled it burning and patted it with my hand, watching, aghast as long chunks fell to the floor.
Raolcan darted backward as one of Ephretti’s twin dragons swooped in so close to the window that I was afraid his wing would brush Ephretti off the ledge. I shouldn’t have worried. Ephretti hoisted an injured Lenora onto his back and climbed on herself. As she worked, her dragon and Raolcan fended off attackers. What made them so crazed that they still attacked us after seeing their friends seared to a cinder?
“Amel,” Hubric called to me, snapping me out of my drifting thoughts, “Pay attention. Your friend is occupied carrying Savette so we will ride Kyrowat. He’ll be here in a moment.”
“What about Rakturan?” I asked.
Rakturan’s expression was grim and so was Hubric’s. Was Hubric planning to abandon him here?
“Who is he to us? An enemy. A traitor. Nothing more.”
I clenched my jaw. “We need to take him with us. He fought beside us!”
“To save his own skin!”
Kyrowat was already moving into place, his purple scales flashing in the sun and his eye murderous as he watched Rakturan and me. I remembered how people said purples were temperamental. Of course Raolcan wasn’t but this Kyrowat looked willing to bite me as soon as let me ride him.
Who says I’m not temperamental?
Raolcan snapped at Kyrowat, lightly, like he didn’t mean it, but the meaning was clear. I belonged to him and he wanted Kyrowat to know that.
“Fine. We’ll sort Rakturan out later.” Hubric decided all at once. “We’ll put you on Kyrowat first, Amel.”
Kyrowat inched closer so his back was right beside us and then Hubric helped to hoist me over the railing and into the saddle. He was moments behind me, but then Kyrowat was dropping away from the window and I watched the horror fill Rakturan’s eyes as he was left in the window.
I’d promised! This went against my honor! Behind him, an enemy approached. I screamed. Too late. The attacker hoisted Rakturan over the railing, sending him plummeting toward the ground.
My heart was in my throat. I couldn’t breathe. I clung to the saddle horn, eyes tearing up. And then, like a shooting star, Raolcan twisted in the air, darting downward and snatching Rakturan out of the air with his powerful jaws.
He won’t be comfortable, but he’s alive. You wanted that right?
I could have kissed him.
Savette probably will. She didn’t want him to die either.
Hubric guided Kyrowat to
fly toward the rim of the city, Ephretti following with three Green dragons and Raolcan flying right behind her. I didn’t like flying without him, but we were all alive. Somehow, we were all still alive.
And I, for one, am looking forward to kisses from two lovely human women.
“Why are we heading past the city?” I asked Hubric as he set a course right through the Black patrols toward the mountains. “Shouldn’t we stay and check on Ephretti’s house?”
“The Dark Covenant is taking the city,” Hubric said. “It will be theirs by nightfall. There’s only one thing we can do now, and we’re doing it.”
I gripped Kyrowat’s saddle and tried not to be frightened by the deadly cold in his words.
Continue the story in Dragon School: Dusk Covenant
Behind the Scenes:
USA Today bestselling author, Sarah K. L. Wilson, hails from the rocky Canadian Shield in Northern Ontario where she lives with her husband and two small boys. Her interests include the outdoors, history, and philosophy. Her books are always about fantastical adventures in other worlds.
Sarah would like to thank Harold Trammel and Sarah Brown for their incredible work in beta reading and proofreading this book. Without their big hearts and passion for stories, this book would not be the same.
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Visit Sarah’s website for a complete list of available titles.
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