Chapter 34

Meira was used to moving through time. She’d done it on several occasions in her life, though it always took its terrible toll. Now time felt as though it was moving through her. Everything was hurried, a rushing daring escape from death by the skin of their teeth.

At the back of her mind, Remis’ thoughts were like a shouted chaotic mess. She almost didn’t notice the quiet voice of Mrithun when she’d spoken, but her voice grew louder and masked the frantic back and forth of Remis’ internal dialogue. And what a beautiful voice Mrithun had.

The lull of the drug in her veins had promptly been replaced by this pure ecstasy. She wasn’t sure if she was pulling strength from Remis or Mrithun or where exactly this power that rose up within her was coming from. Together they’d found strength they didn’t have separately a moment before.

Wind filled the tower bottom, stirring the heat of Mrithun’s flames. The screams of men had turned shrill and violent before they slowly died down altogether. Outside of the prison, bells were ringing, sounding warnings to all that the witch, the mage, and the Bold Wing were fleeing their cages.

Mrithun rose, completely lost to her bindings, and sent them up through the tower. The walls pressed in from every angle, giving the Bold Wing and her massive wingspan little room to work. But with every pulse of her wings and the sharp tip of her talons scaling along the walls, they made it farther up. Stone crumbled under Mrithun’s touch, falling below them in a cacophony of shattering rock.

Where there might have once been a ceiling on the tower there was only star-flecked sky. The last few rotting beams that had still held their place shattered as Mrithun pushed through them. Bits of wood rained down over Meira and Remis as they clung desperately to the dragon’s back. Meira was used to bareback riding, knew how to dig her feet into Mrithun’s scales and where to hold onto her spikes to keep from slipping off as they went vertical. She didn’t have to rely on the tattered remains of the harness. Still, Remis’ arms had curled around her waist, held onto her, and added his weight to hers.

Hold her spines. Shove your heels into her side until her scales shift enough to give you purchase.

Calling out to his mind was remarkably easy. She didn’t need to hold onto the curse to find him; Remis was just there in her mind. Though she wished that perhaps his thoughts were quieter. His chanting worry that he’d slip from Mrithun’s back and end up as a pile of guts on the tower floor was quite loud.

It was only seconds though before the Bold Wing was clear of the stone walls and had evened herself back out. Remis’ arms unwound themselves from her and he settled into the proper position at her back. His entire body was trembling and he gasped for breath.

Wind whistled past Meira. An arrow shot from the guards who walked along the outer walls. Men in the grass looked like scrambling ants around the structure that sat in the middle of the large yard. The platform meant for Remis’ and Meira’s execution, no doubt.

Mrithun was climbing in the sky, pumping her large powerful wings to get out of range of the arrows that raced after them. Meira felt the moment of impact when her Bold Wing took multiple arrows to her underside. Several managed to be deflected by her scales but these few found home underneath her scale when she’d angled upward again. This Bold Wing was a battle-trained dragon. She’d taken an injury before, fought through it, flew through it. Worry niggled the back of Meira’s thoughts but there wasn’t time to handle it.

They broke through the cloud cover, cold mist dampening their bodies. Meira inhaled the fresh evening air, free of the moldy cellar scent she’d gotten used to. The moon was full, casting them in brilliant white light and revealing the dip of wings, talons, and snapping teeth as they appeared through another layer of fluffy white clouds.

Even in the sky, they were not alone. They were not free. Scale riders dropped down around them. Familiar faces all pinched with anger and confusion as they spotted her.

The riders are not happy. Mrithun’s voice, a steady almost motherly sound, entered her thoughts.

I can see that. Get us out of here.

Happily. The Bold Wing darted forward leaving the scale riders in a wake of shouts.

Meira could hear them calling her name, the sound of their wings pumping in the evening air, a dangerous chase behind them. Her shadow was in front of her as flames lit up the sky at their back. Fire shot against Mrithun’s side, singeing Remis’ pant leg. His responding shout made a ringing begin in her ear.

“Meira! Do not run!” Bram. Skiathis was the only Bold Wing in the legion capable of out-flying Mrithun and he was nearly at their side. “This doesn’t have to end with a fight. We can go back to Mount Ridmond; you can have a fair trial! I’ll see to it!”

And end up readying for another execution stage. Absolutely not.

“Let us go, Bram. We won’t cause any problems. Just let us go,” she shouted back but her throat was still raw and the words clawed their way out.

“I can’t do that. You know I can’t do that.”

The thin bit of fabric hung down from his hood and pressed tightly into his features. She could still recognize the shape of his forest eyes and the angle of his cheekbones. Those lips that had once kissed and explored her body were turned down into a deepening frown. Skiathis hissed, snapping his teeth at Mrithun, nearly catching the tip of her wing.

“Please don’t make me do this, Meira,” Bram pleaded. Was he genuinely concerned for her? Even still, after he’d struck her for lying, he didn’t want to be forced to bring them down.

“Fuck off!” Meira shouted, leaning forward into the rush of wind and thrilling as it burned against her cheeks. They’d escaped death once tonight, perhaps they could do it a second time.

Mrithun shot forward and Skiathis disappeared somewhere behind them. Remis was shouting again, though this time it was through clenched teeth. His fear was a rapid thing. It rushed through his veins, threatening to bleed into Meira’s battle-ready mentality.

Another arrow whizzed over their shoulders. Meira tensed, knowing Remis was her shield at her back. She should have put him in front of her—agony tore through her next thought. The space above her hip throbbed. She laid a bare hand over the mark, felt nothing but her own flesh, and knew that it was Remis’ pain she was feeling. He growled.

Meira jerked forward at the same moment Mrithun dropped several feet. Pain turned her head dizzy and she was certain an arrow had found its way through her shoulder. She spared a glance, finding herself utterly intact. Remis let out a groan, his body slumping forward, head lowering against her neck.

Hold on. Hold on. Hold on,she pleaded with him.

Skiathis’ flames licked against Mrithun. Blisters bubbled up on the thinner membranes that webbed between Mrithun’s wings. The pointed blade of an arrow sunk into the space behind the Bold Wing’s ear and Mrithun’s cry threatened to topple her from the dragon’s back. They were losing altitude now. The air was thickening and the clouds disappeared overhead and out of reach.

The scale riders kept coming. All nine of her legion were at her back and there wasn’t time to decide if one or all of them were against her. The onslaught of flames and arrows kept coming. Skiathis’ teeth skimmed Mrithun’s tail and sent the three of them spinning in the sky as her Bold Wing tried to get out of his clasp.

Red rock cliffs jutted out over black waters. If they could make it, if she could land, then they could get to the cover of the trees and force the other riders to follow on foot.

Black blood was dripping out of Mrithun’s various wounds. The high of the bonding was wearing off and giving way to the exhaustion that held them before. Fatigue was hitting her from all sides. Her own body felt every hour she’d sat in the dungeons bruised and broken. Mrithun’s pain was radiating down their bond in a way she’d never experienced before. Remis was fighting for consciousness at her back. Only her own stubbornness kept her from giving up.

They just needed to land. They needed that damn tree cover.

Mrithun was already heading toward the red-stained rocks. They could land.

No. Mrithun’s voice came steady despite her pain. You’ll jump. I’ll fend them off.

You’ll die. Skiathis will end you for this. For me. She couldn’t swallow past her guilt.

Have faith, witchling.

Remis’ thoughts had calmed. They drifted almost out of reach as he threatened to fade into the recesses of his mind. He was losing too much blood. More than the power they shared could combat.

“Remis!” Meira let go of Mrithun’s spiked spine to twist toward Remis, to rattle him awake as his eyes drooped. As she turned she could see the Bold Wings behind them, the nearness of Bram and the other riders. Brooks had his bow pulled taut another arrow nocked and ready to fly, but the others, they kept a greater distance, never close enough to truly harm. It could just be that Mrithun was faster, but Meira hoped that it was because they were her friends. Witch or not, they’d shared a connection through all these years of riding together. “Remis, we have to jump!”

His head lifted, his chest rising and falling within the blood-soaked cloth. “I can’t.”

“You have to!” Her hand found his thigh and she squeezed the muscle trying to bring him back to full awareness. Crimson coated her fingers as she let go.

“Okay,” Remis whispered, though she hardly heard him as the wind threw his words over his shoulder.

The sparse grasses on the cliff’s edge were coming into view. Meira slipped her feet out of the harness, ready to pull her leg over, ready to jump. Two strong hands found her back and her mind slipped back into a memory. This was familiar. This was…

Meira was falling. No, she realized, still able to feel the ghost of hands that had been against her flesh moments ago. She was pushed. Her worst nightmare finally came true. A memory she’d wanted to prevent but had still managed to come to fruition.

Rock scraped against her knees and palms as she caught herself against the cliff’s edge. A scream, angry and scared all at once, tore from her as she grappled against the rocks that threatened to give way and send her tumbling down to her death.

Meira righted herself in time to turn and watch as Skiathis lunged forward and plunged his teeth into Mrithun’s hind leg and scent a cascade of blood pouring down. Mrithun’s crimson gaze closed and her wings went limp at her side. On her back, Remis clung to the thin straps of the harness, his back bloody, and face bruised. His mouth arched up into that familiar smile. Before both he and the Bold Wing were careening down toward the rocky shore.

This was a different expression from what she recalled from that terrible memory. This wasn’t a smile of triumph, not as she’d once thought it was. No, as his voice slipped into her mind, Remis spoke softly. I was cursed to always die anyway. Be safe, Meira. Live, Meira. Though he didn’t speak it he could feel the rush of feeling behind the words. The love in them.

Reedy grasses tangled in her grip as she ripped at the ground underneath her and watched as they lurched from the sky. Screams drew up out of her and echoed around the cliff. Meira couldn’t watch them die. She hadn’t risked everything she’d built for this to be her ending again. Seconds slowed and Mrithun’s and Remis’ drop became sluggish as if the air was too thick to allow them to move. Bram and Skiathis had turned toward her but even their movements were coming to crawl.

Meira gripped time; she was going to refuse death. She’d take back exactly what she was owed.

She remembered. Up on the cliff with the wind in her hair and Remis and Mrithun on their way to their death, she remembered. It struck with such clarity that it was almost odd how she hadn’t understood mere moments before. She loved Remis. She’d fallen in love with Remis on the timeline she’d tried to correct. Perhaps during this timeline too.

In another world, when she hadn’t been hunting him, she’d saved him from a dragonis when their paths crossed in the Deadwoods. She’d been separated from her legion for a day and a half with him as they’d camped out under the stars with his friends.

Yes, she remembered Merritt.

She knew Percy.

But everything had fallen apart and they’d ended up here. Above the crashing waves of the ocean, Remis tangled in the harness with no energy to pull himself free. He’d used what he had to push her from Mrithun’s back to save her. In that timeline, they had not been bonded. Meira had watched them die and her heart had shattered so thoroughly that she didn’t care that she would expose herself as a witch; she didn’t care if she never rode as a part of the scale riders ever again. Life lost meaning without them. She would save them or she’d go mad trying.

Here as seconds trickled by, Meira stood with clear understanding. She didn’t have much to give, but she could give something. She was sore but she was not beaten. The bond had allowed her more power than she’d ever held before. Her legs trembled beneath her. Ocean water slapped against rock frothing all around the cliff’s base. Mrithun and Remis were still in their slow free-fall.

And there was only one thing to be done. One thing to save them.

Give them everything.

Jump.

She gathered all that power inside of her, the gift she’d had since she’d been born into this world, and she shoved it through the bond. Rocks rolled under her boots as she dragged herself away from the edge and gave herself space to build momentum. Then dust clouded her feet as she took off.

Gravity took hold of her with its rapacious grip. Down she fell. The water grew closer with every adrenaline-fueled heartbeat. Remis and Mrithun would be taken by the ocean and so would she. Ice-cold and with the weight of an anvil the water greeted her, took her in, lulled her into its black depths, and stole her breath.

And time came to a stop.