Dragon Court by Jennifer Amriss

Author:Jennifer Amriss [Amriss, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Magelight Press
Published: 2017-05-02T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

“You need to calm down.” Ka’lei sighed. “You’re making me jittery.”

“I cannot help it.” Shifting in his seat, Xastrian rubbed his face and glanced at the door. Velithor should have been back by now. It was supposed to have been a short flight, just to get Velithor in the sunshine for a while, and see if he could remain in the saddle. “I worry. They should be here.”

The Netherdark queen giggled and stretched out. “Veli’s good at convincing people to let him play. He’s better at that than I am in some ways.”

“Agreed.” Xastrian frowned, though, and shifted in the chair again. No matter how he arranged himself, he could not seem to get comfortable. Sharp pains kept piercing through his front and back, but every time he rubbed where it hurt, he only felt whole skin. “He should have returned before my meeting with Beliothien ended. My stomach is in knots.”

“Aw, honey. I—”

She squeaked as the door slammed open. Rinoviel staggered inside. His bloody hand clutched at his ribs. Gashes marred his face and his left arm seemed useless. “Eldrake!”

No… No, not again. Xastrian was at Rinoviel’s side before he realized he stood. He guided the boy to a chair. “Where is Velithor?”

“A Red got him,” Rinoviel croaked. “He’s alive, though.”

Shocked into silence, Xastrian stared. Now that he was closer, he could see the tip of a spear sticking out of Rinoviel’s ribs and frowned. The boy squeaked, and Xastrian realized he squeezed both Rinoviel’s arms. He forced himself to let go.

“We were attacked.” He let out a wet cough and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, smearing blood across his face, and let out a maniacal laugh. “The Reds saved us from the Bashkai.”

“Shut up and sit,” Ka’lei ordered. “You can give your report when you’re no longer a shishkebab.”

As Ka’lei worked to heal Rinoviel, someone grabbed Xastrian from behind and turned him around. Mivikial stared into Xastrian’s eyes for a brief moment. In the next, he was crushed against his father’s chest. The unexpected comforting from his father shocked him into breathing again. It snapped him out of the shock of the news. The harder his father squeezed, the more that shock wore off until Xastrian shook in full-body waves.

“Where is Rinoviel?” Niol demanded, storming through the door. “We—Oh. Okay.” He sagged with relief, and rubbed his brow. “Kid ran off before we could sic a healer on him.”

“I got Rinoviel,” Ka’lei said. “Xastri needs news.”

A hand grasped Xastrian’s shoulder. Shuddering, Xastrian buried his face against his father’s neck.

“He’s not harmed from what we could tell, Eldrake,” Niol began, giving Xastrian’s shoulder a squeeze. “Serase… fell to her death. The Bashkai were on gryphons and had cloaked themselves somehow. We only knew because the Reds tossed them from the sky. They negated our shields. A gryphon shredded Serase’s wing. As Velithor fell, a Red snatched him out of the air and flew off with him toward the south end of the range. Velithor told us he’d be back before communications with him ended due to the distance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.