Avian (The Dragonrider Chronicles) (40 page)

“You know, when I said I wanted to see what amazing, unexpected thing you were going to do next, this is definitely not what I had in mind.” Felix opened his eyes slowly and stared right at me. His voice sounded weak, but his usual sense of humor was still there.

I had to smile back at him, even if it felt like it might be the last time we ever spoke like this. “Too late to back out on me now, though. Right?”

He smiled faintly. His forehead was dripping with sweat from fever, and I could see the pain in his eyes. He was suffering.

“As if any of your weirdness would scare me off at this point.” He grabbed one of my shoulders roughly and squeezed it. “I know you’ve always kept secrets from me, which I guess was your way of trying to protect me, but I’d rather be remembered as the friend of a weird halfbreed than a duke who only cared about his reputation.”

“After this, neither of us will have much of a reputation left to defend,” I managed to whisper. “I’m so sorry, Felix.”

He smiled again, and punched my arm with a little bit of that strength I’d always envied. “Don’t be. We’re family, Jae. Maybe not literally, but you’re the closest thing to a real brother I’ve ever had.”

“I know.” Somehow, I was able to smile back at him. “Which is why no sacrifice I make for you will ever be enough to repay you for everything you’ve done for me. So shut up and let me heal you. I’m going to do something else amazing after this, and I know you won’t want to miss it.”

No one said a word as I placed my hands on his back. I could feel how his body was burning up with infection. I could feel his pain, and how the subtle glow of his spirit was growing weaker. It flickered and struggled like a candle slowly smothering without air. Jace was right. If I didn’t heal him, he might not last another two days.

I let my power flow. It surged through my body so suddenly that it made me flinch. Never had this ability come so effortlessly to me. It felt more natural and calm than ever before, seeping out of my body and washing over his like a cleansing water.

I heard Felix suck in a sharp breath. I felt him go tense as my power took hold of him. In the doorway, the others were whispering, or gasping in awe. Only Lyon seemed to be able to keep his composure. He just looked on with a firm, confident gaze.

When it was finished, I took my hands away and backed up a few steps. Felix stirred on the bed. He was panting for breath, and staring at me with eyes so wide I thought he might scream in alarm. Instead, he started to sit up. His body was shaking, but I knew that was normal. It would take a few minutes for my power to finally leave his body.

Jace immediately rushed into the room to help him. Lyon followed and started peeling away the old bloody bandages from his back. Underneath was nothing but a few faint scars. The wounds, fever, and infection were all gone. Felix was perfectly healed.

The others rushed in to see, stumbling and climbing all over each other to touch his back like they thought it might be some kind of trick. One by one, they slowly turned to face me. Their faces stared at me with haunted expressions.

I bowed my head in submission. “Now, please let me try to save the rest of you.”

* * *

“We’ve only managed to stand out there for a few minutes at most before the animals start to converge,” Jace explained as he led me to a small balcony on the backside of the complex. “This is the only way out other than the main entrance.”

“A few seconds is all I’ll need.” I nodded as I walked quickly after him.

After my attempts to call back the dragons from inside the fort had failed, the instructors had given everyone back their armor and sword. But before I went diving out the main gate to try anything radical, I needed to do a test run. I hadn’t forgotten about my encounter with the wolves and mountain cat. The chaos that had possessed them had also made them deaf to my voice. If that was the case here, then that might explain why I couldn’t get my calls to reach out beyond the canopy. All my power might be useless, which basically meant we were doomed.

“And if it doesn’t work?” Jace asked as he stopped at the heavy wooden door that led out onto the balcony. He pulled a big iron key out of his pocket and started to unlock it.

“Then we’ll have no choice but to take our chances in the jungle. It’s that or die here, right?” I said as I pressed a hand against the wound on my shoulder. It still hurt, but at least it wasn’t infected. “You can cover me with your bow, right? Without shooting me this time?”

Jace snorted and shot me a poisonous glare. “Just do whatever it is you do, avian, and leave the rest to me.” He grasped the door handle and let out an anxious breath. “Ready?”

“I never am,” I muttered as I braced myself. I gave him a countdown with my fingers. On three, Jace opened the door and I stepped out onto the balcony.

The sunlight filtering through the leaves cast everything in a greenish glow. Jace hadn’t been exaggerating. The jungle had swallowed the compound completely. Vines and moss covered all the walls. Fully mature trees were growing everywhere, even knocking over portions of the wall to make way for their swelling trunks and branches. Strange flowers bloomed in every color imaginable, and some were so big I could have used one of their petals as a blanket. The air was thick and humid, and it smelled richly of soil.

Being on the second story put me right in the midst of the branches. They were so big I could have walked on them easily, but I stayed on the small balcony with the door right behind me. I wasn’t feeling confident enough yet to venture very far away from it.

“All this… is because of me?” I heard myself ask.

“Apparently. Whatever you did before started some kind of chain reaction.” Jace grumbled from behind me. “Hurry up. You’re pressing our luck here.”

I forced myself to focus. Jace was right. Apparently two instructors had already tried this and ended up paying the ultimate price for their bravery. I clenched my teeth and took a few more steps away from the door, stopping to look up through the interlocking limbs of the trees. I reached out to them with my thoughts, gently at first but with growing intensity. I commanded them to recede, to move away from the compound.

All I got was silence.

I shut my eyes and tried to focus harder. I tried to visualize what I wanted them to do. That’s when I got my first little taste of something foul and all too familiar.

Chaos stung my mind and scrambled my thoughts. The balcony flinched under my feet. I heard a piercing, screeching sound that sent a cold pang of alarm through my body. I had heard that sound before, but only in my nightmares.

“Jaevid,” Jace growled my name like a warning.

When I opened my eyes, I saw it. I knew what it was right away, even though I had never actually seen one in person. Felix had told me about the creatures gray elves rode on; monsters that were supposed to be the natural archenemy of dragons.

Crouched before me on a thick tree limb, only a dozen yards away, was a shrike. It was as terrifying as it was beautiful. All I could do for a moment was stare at it, completely in awe.

The shrike was about the size of a small horse, though its shape was more like a six-legged cat. It had a long, flowing spine, robust shoulders and haunches, and a slender tail. Its entire body was covered in tiny scales that reflected the jungle like shards of a broken mirror. It was extremely lean, with a bony-looking exterior and a long tapered snout. Its sleek wings were made of nearly transparent feathers that almost looked like they were made of purplish tinted glass. Its eyes glowed like sunlight through leaves, focused right on me.

I immediately understood why Felix and Lyon had seemed so afraid of these creatures. It was difficult to differentiate where the shrike’s body began and ended unless it was moving. It blended in so perfectly with the jungle around it. Its bony jaws were lined with teeth like a crocodile’s that were about as long as my index finger. There were also claws on each of its toes that were long and curled like an eagle’s talons.

I could sense the shrike’s strength, speed, and power just by looking at it. It was a wild, brutally vicious creature. But something about it was incredibly beautiful. Even so, its presence in my mind was tossed amidst the chaos. I tried to talk to it anyway. I tried to ask it to acknowledge me, to see if it really was possessed.

It acknowledged me, all right.

The shrike snapped its jaws and let out a blood-curdling snarl. Its body rippled with raw, brutal strength, and the sunlight danced off its mirror-like scales as it sprang at me, jaws open wide for the kill.

An arrow zipped past my head, hitting the shrike in the chest. It screamed with pain and rage, and kept right on coming. It moved so unbelievably fast, I barely had time to think, much less react. At the last second, I frantically dove out of the way. As the shrike barreled past me, one of its razor-sharp claws caught my face. I could feel it tearing through my skin, cutting to the bone.

“Get in here!” Jace yelled.

I scrambled back toward the door and held it shut as he locked it again. While the shrike clawed at the door, we both stood there panting and staring at each other in shock. That had been way too close.

“My power isn’t working,” I managed to rasp. I could feel the hot, wet sensation of blood running down my face. “I couldn’t talk to it at all. I couldn’t even get my voice out past the trees. They’re acting like a cage, keeping the chaos trapped in.”

Jace scowled. “You must not be doing it right. It worked before. And your eyes didn’t glow like last time.”

“I can’t let it go that far again.” I glared back at him with fresh blood running down my face. As much as I hated to admit it, I couldn’t control my reactions very well in that state. Battle fever or not, it seemed too dangerous. What good would it do to hold the forest at bay if I killed all my friends in the process?

“What other options do you think we have? If you don’t do this, we’re all dead anyway,” he roared back at me so loudly it made me cringe. “We only have enough water left to last us three days at most. If we don’t get off this island, we will all die here in this god-forsaken place.”

The door rattled again as the shrike clawed at it from the outside. The terrible noises it made sounded like the feral scream of a cat mixed with an eagle’s cry. Hearing it made me wonder what other horrors would be waiting for us in the jungle if I did try to lead everyone to the beach.

“Fine,” I answered at last. “But swear to me if I start to turn against you again, you won’t hesitate to put an arrow in my skull. No more flesh wounds. You might not get a second shot.”

Jace’s mouth pinched up like he’d tasted something sour, but he agreed. “If it comes to that.”

The silence between us was awkward as we returned downstairs to the large open room where everyone else was gathered. The large doorway of the main entrance was barricaded with every piece of furniture in the compound, and all the supplies left were piled in a corner. There wasn’t much left. The food was already almost gone, but more importantly, we only had a few barrels of fresh drinking water.

The rest of our group looked up with grim, haunted faces as Jace and I came down the stairs. I was holding a rag against my face to stop the bleeding. The cut was deep, and it had narrowly missed my eye, but Jace insisted it would be fine. His expression told me otherwise, but I knew better than to complain. Thanks to Thrane, and everyone’s efforts to save Felix, most of our medical supplies were probably gone.

As we entered the main room, the instructors and avians gathered there stared at me with a mixture of fear and hope. I hated that I didn’t have better news for them. All I could do was shake my head.

Immediately, I sensed the morale in the room start to crumble.

“No dragons. No moving the trees. So I guess we try the jungle, then?” Felix spoke up as he came to meet us. “We should leave soon, before everyone’s too weak from hunger to make the hike.”

“This is suicide,” another avian murmured nearby.

I wanted to agree with him, but for the sake of the rest of the group, I tried to sound confident. “If we are fast and silent, we might be able to make it through without causing much of a disturbance. I’ll go out first in case we encounter anything. Jace and the instructors should form a barrier with all the other students in the center.”

Felix crossed his arms stubbornly, “Yeah, right. Look at you; you’ve already almost lost your head to one of those monsters. I’m not letting you offer yourself up like some kind of martyr. I’m walking right beside you.”

“Me too,” Lyon agreed as he came to stand right next to Felix.

I stared at them and wondered if it was even worth trying to argue. I decided against it. Felix was too stubborn and Lyon would ride his coattails to the bitter end. Besides, having them both close by actually made me more confident. It was a stupid thing to hope for, but I was thinking maybe if either of them got into real danger, then my power would grow strong enough to make sure nothing from the jungle would come close.

“All right, let’s get everyone up.” Jace clapped a hand on my shoulder as he brushed by us.

He started rousing everyone and giving commands, and Felix joined him. I stood back and watched as the instructors advised everyone to have their weapons at the ready. Anyone with even a little skill at archery was encouraged to carry a bow and quiver. They poured what was left of our water into as many canteens as they could find, and started passing out our go-bags.

I was relieved to be reunited with the rest of my belongings. I found Beckah’s handkerchief and carefully tucked it back under my vambrace without getting any blood on it. Of course, the only thing missing were my medical supplies, which had most likely been scavenged.

“Here,” I heard Felix say right before he started roughly tying something around my head. One of my eyes went dark as he started wrapping cloth over the wound on my face like an eye patch. It was a piece he’d apparently cut off his cloak. “Jace said it was a scratch. Lucky for you it wasn’t a bite. No venom in the claws. If it’d bit you, your whole face would start rotting off.”