A Flight of Broken Wings: Aeriel Trilogy #1

Chapter 52

Tauheen, for her part, had forgotten all about Ruban for the time being. Instead, she had turned around and was now staring at Ashwin, whom she seemed to have noticed for the first time. Ruban realised then that it must have been the young Zainian who had swung the table at Tauheen while he was busy getting strangled. He spared a moment to admire the sheer audacity of the act before readying himself to jump to the boy's defence when the Aeriel finally attacked him.

Instead of trying to kill Ashwin, however, Tauheen let out a surprised laugh, never taking her eyes off the Zainian. The air vibrated with her mirth, and Ruban could feel his own confusion – and fear – growing with every passing second. The adrenaline rush that had kept him going for so long was now starting to fade and Ruban had to fight to keep his vision from swimming. His head felt like someone was hammering at it with a million mallets and he knew that if he didn't end it soon, he would have no hope of winning.

Not that he had much of that anyway.

The Aeriel was talking again, seeming to have gotten over her giggling fit. "By Zeifaa, it really is you," she was saying, looking into Ashwin's eyes. She chuckled. "I always had high hopes for you, my love. You're wasted back at home. Earth is where you should be, where we should be, not hiding like cowards out of mortal reach. Safaa doesn't have what it takes to sit on the throne, she never did."

Before Ashwin could make a reply – though Ruban couldn't think what on earth Tauheen had expected him to say – he threw his sifblade at the Aeriel's back. Tauheen sensed it coming and flew up into the air to avoid the attack, just as he had expected. What he hadn't been so sure about was the second part of the plan, since he had had no time to discuss it with the Zainian beforehand.

Ashwin didn't disappoint. As the blade flew past the spot where Tauheen had been a moment ago, its target having disappeared, the young man reached out and seized the weapon mid-air, flipping it in his hand and leaping up onto one of the chairs they had occupied earlier during their meeting with Visht. Now almost level with the floating Aeriel, he struck with a speed that could rival Tauheen's, almost plunging the blade into the Aeriel's heart. At the last moment, Tauheen moved sideways, causing the weapon to strike her shoulder instead, but the damage was severe nonetheless and Ruban heard the sound of bone cracking under the vicious assault.

Light flooded the room as Tauheen stumbled back a few inches, wearing an expression of shock.

Seizing the opportunity, Ruban rushed forward and kicked the Aeriel behind the knees just as she was about to land, knocking her off her feet. Then, catching the blade that Ashwin threw back at him, he raised his hands to finish the creature off once and for all.

With Ruban standing over her and the sifblade barely an inch from her throat, Tauheen's wings flared. And with the preternatural speed – even by Aeriel standards – that Ruban had seen glimpses of before, she all but disappeared from under him in a rush of wind and silvery feathers.

She reappeared near the destroyed wall and leaned over the dead Aeriel's corpse. For a second, her hands moved searchingly through its feather-cloak. Then she leapt off the edge of the landing into the cloudy sky beyond.

As she rose higher into the air, her humongous wings forming a halo around her receding form, she turned to look one final time at Ruban. Her unnatural eyes burned with something he couldn't define.

Thenshe was gone, and all that remained were the damaged buildings and the faintscreams filling the air around them, almost drowning out the distant sound ofemergency sirens.