Read Online Dragon Age: Last Flight by Liane Merciel - Free Book Online
Authors: Liane Merciel
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among the hulking pillars of cumulonimbus.
Isseya froze in the saddle, just for a heartbeat. Then she saw Garahel altering his course to intercept it. Is he mad?
The white-splotched griffon he’d chosen was incredibly fast. Crookytail folded his wings close against his body, tucked his legs in tight, and sliced through the air like a diving falcon. It seemed impossible that the griffon would be able to reach the Archdemon before it came upon the other Wardens—but as Isseya watched the angle and trajectory of the two fast-moving fliers, she saw that, somehow, her brother was going to do it.
He was mad. That thing had just destroyed Huble and Dendi in less than an eyeblink, and Garahel, who had never slain so much as a genlock, was hurling himself directly at it.
The Archdemon seemed surprised too, if the creature was even capable of such an emotion. Its wings snapped open, catching the wind like sails to pull itself short before it collided with Garahel and his griffon. The lower half of the Archdemon’s body swung forward; its hind claws raked the air as its spiked tail lashed up to strike at Garahel.
It wasn’t anywhere close enough to hit him, but in that moment Isseya glimpsed her brother’s strategy. He wasn’t trying to fight the Archdemon. He was just trying to confuse it long enough for the rest of them to fly away. And his griffon was almost fast enough to pull it off.
That “almost” was going to get them both killed, though.
A plume of spectral violet energy split the night. The Archdemon had breathed its coruscating corruption at Garahel. But the griffon stayed in the air, a small black shadow at the edge of the brilliant un-light. Somehow, in the instant it had taken Dendi and Huble and all the others to die, either Garahel or his mount had calculated how far the Archdemon could reach with that lethal blast, and they had kept their distance just far back enough to avoid it.
Either that, or blind luck loved them beyond all belief.
Isseya touched her heel to Revas’s side, urging the griffon on a slanted course toward them. The great beast hesitated—she felt the split-second lull in the air as Revas made her decision—and then hurtled forward, angling to the Archdemon’s right side to pull it in the opposite direction as Garahel.
The others, Isseya was glad to see, were taking no part in their stupidity. Kaiya, Taiya, and the tribesman from the Anderfels were all streaking rapidly out of sight, fleeing through the cover of the Blight’s black clouds. In a few more minutes their escape would be assured.
Just a few minutes. Two, three. Maybe four. That was all they had to buy.
She gritted her teeth and pushed Revas on.
Two thousand feet away, the wind carried the Archdemon’s scent to them. It prickled the hairs on the back of Isseya’s neck. Powerfully rank, utterly inhuman, it smelled of cold dead places under the earth. It was the smell of the innards of rotten teeth and the sludge at the bottom of a poisoned river. It was absolute corruption.
An echo of that same corruption tickled at the edges of Isseya’s mind. The Archdemon’s strange siren song was still there, faint and barely perceptible, but all the more maddening because she couldn’t hear it fully.
Not that she wanted to, knowing that it was a precursor to the Calling. But it was hard—impossible—to ignore. She couldn’t shut it out. She was too afraid, too new, too conscious of how desperately they were about to be tested.
So she loosed the reins, giving Revas complete freedom to choose their course.
It was a wild, foolish gamble. Isseya was asking her new griffon to respond to her with the same connection that veterans developed only after years of partnership. But it was the only chance they had.
Revas didn’t hesitate. The griffon soared upward, beating her powerful black wings to catch a current of hot air from the battlefield below that accelerated their rise. Isseya could smell burning flesh on that smoky
Isseya froze in the saddle, just for a heartbeat. Then she saw Garahel altering his course to intercept it. Is he mad?
The white-splotched griffon he’d chosen was incredibly fast. Crookytail folded his wings close against his body, tucked his legs in tight, and sliced through the air like a diving falcon. It seemed impossible that the griffon would be able to reach the Archdemon before it came upon the other Wardens—but as Isseya watched the angle and trajectory of the two fast-moving fliers, she saw that, somehow, her brother was going to do it.
He was mad. That thing had just destroyed Huble and Dendi in less than an eyeblink, and Garahel, who had never slain so much as a genlock, was hurling himself directly at it.
The Archdemon seemed surprised too, if the creature was even capable of such an emotion. Its wings snapped open, catching the wind like sails to pull itself short before it collided with Garahel and his griffon. The lower half of the Archdemon’s body swung forward; its hind claws raked the air as its spiked tail lashed up to strike at Garahel.
It wasn’t anywhere close enough to hit him, but in that moment Isseya glimpsed her brother’s strategy. He wasn’t trying to fight the Archdemon. He was just trying to confuse it long enough for the rest of them to fly away. And his griffon was almost fast enough to pull it off.
That “almost” was going to get them both killed, though.
A plume of spectral violet energy split the night. The Archdemon had breathed its coruscating corruption at Garahel. But the griffon stayed in the air, a small black shadow at the edge of the brilliant un-light. Somehow, in the instant it had taken Dendi and Huble and all the others to die, either Garahel or his mount had calculated how far the Archdemon could reach with that lethal blast, and they had kept their distance just far back enough to avoid it.
Either that, or blind luck loved them beyond all belief.
Isseya touched her heel to Revas’s side, urging the griffon on a slanted course toward them. The great beast hesitated—she felt the split-second lull in the air as Revas made her decision—and then hurtled forward, angling to the Archdemon’s right side to pull it in the opposite direction as Garahel.
The others, Isseya was glad to see, were taking no part in their stupidity. Kaiya, Taiya, and the tribesman from the Anderfels were all streaking rapidly out of sight, fleeing through the cover of the Blight’s black clouds. In a few more minutes their escape would be assured.
Just a few minutes. Two, three. Maybe four. That was all they had to buy.
She gritted her teeth and pushed Revas on.
Two thousand feet away, the wind carried the Archdemon’s scent to them. It prickled the hairs on the back of Isseya’s neck. Powerfully rank, utterly inhuman, it smelled of cold dead places under the earth. It was the smell of the innards of rotten teeth and the sludge at the bottom of a poisoned river. It was absolute corruption.
An echo of that same corruption tickled at the edges of Isseya’s mind. The Archdemon’s strange siren song was still there, faint and barely perceptible, but all the more maddening because she couldn’t hear it fully.
Not that she wanted to, knowing that it was a precursor to the Calling. But it was hard—impossible—to ignore. She couldn’t shut it out. She was too afraid, too new, too conscious of how desperately they were about to be tested.
So she loosed the reins, giving Revas complete freedom to choose their course.
It was a wild, foolish gamble. Isseya was asking her new griffon to respond to her with the same connection that veterans developed only after years of partnership. But it was the only chance they had.
Revas didn’t hesitate. The griffon soared upward, beating her powerful black wings to catch a current of hot air from the battlefield below that accelerated their rise. Isseya could smell burning flesh on that smoky
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