Thread of Frost

Ch. 53: Burning Angels

Seraena Agnirian squinted at the black object hurtling towards the sea. She could make out two arms and a leg. Presumably the person had another leg too, she thought, although you never knew with these sorts of things.

Still.

Definitely a person.

She shoved her arrow back into its case, hastily stuffing her bow away. She'd been in the process of shooting down a large pack of sunhounds — with great accuracy, if she did say so herself — when the person had tumbled from the ice cliffs. And judging by the dark hair, it wasn't Lucia.

Bugger.

"Alright, darling," Seraena muttered. "We're going on a rescue mission."

Kyllini huffed out a breath, which could have either meant that the female dragon was excited, irritated, or craving a lamb kebab. It was really a matter of interpretation. Seraena tapped her ankle against Kyllini's flank.

"You see that person falling?" Seraena asked. "No, other direction." Kyllini swivelled her head. "That's our target."

Kyllini made a little noise. This one, Seraena could translate; it meant "but-I-was-having-fun-setting-things-on-fire." She patted the dragon's head consolingly. "I'll give you a nice sheep later. Maybe two."

Looking slightly mollified, Kyllini shot towards the cliffs.

Cold wind sang in her ears. A dragon's roar split the sky, and something grazed Seraena's ankle. An arrow? A blast of flame? Hard to say. The battle raged on, but it was impossible to tell who was winning; people crawled over fallen bodies, like ants swarming a piece of rotten fruit. She caught a glimpse of Kane flying through the smoke, his face tensed and terrible, and a swell of something like pride filled her. She leaned closer to her dragon.

"Dive, Kyllini," Seraena murmured. "That's my girl."

Her dragon dove.

It was a move they'd practiced dozens of times before, but Seraena's stomach crawled into her throat. The black water rushed up at her. She could smell salt and limestone and something else, something sour. Kyllini jerked up, and then a body landed in front of her with a thump.

Anna thrashed. Seraena caught her arms.

"Steady." Her voice was firm. "It's just me."

Anna blinked. She looked like a person that had been sleepwalking, only to wake up in the castle moat. "Did you just save my life?"

"Well, that depends," Seraena said. "Did you have an ingenious plan up your sleeve?"

"Um," Anna said. "No."

"Then yes. I did."

"Thank-you," Anna said.

"Don't mention it." Seraena prodded Kyllini in the side, although she needn't have bothered; her dragon was already pinwheeling towards the battlefield. "Where's the sword?"

Anna scanned the teeming crowd. "Ryne has it."

"Bugger," Seraena muttered. "I can't see him."

Kyllini flew closer. Anna watched as a sunhound tore into a Zarobian, her blue eyes the colour of the sky before a storm. "Gods above. It's bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Seraena admitted. "It's bad. The sooner we get that sword, the better. But they can't touch us up here." She urged Kylinni lower, scanning for a flash of dark hair and golden armour. "Their archers aren't good enough."

Anna tensed. "Seraena?"

"Yeah?"

"You may want to rethink that," Anna muttered.