Godseye (The Dunes of Aelaron Book 2) by Aaron Bunce & Christopher Guhl

Author:Aaron Bunce & Christopher Guhl [Bunce, Aaron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Autumn Arch Publishing
Published: 2022-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Traba screeched, joining Vayo as she screamed. But those cries of fear quickly turned into laughter as the stormbird drove them higher into the sky.

She clutched to the saddle’s horn, her legs trembling violently beneath her, and Vayo thanked the gods for Yuli’s leg straps. Without them, she would have surely slid right off.

She twisted in the saddle and braved a look behind and beneath them. The ground loomed far below, with the temple and its rocky valley just a splotch of green amongst the dunes.

“Okay. So, we’re really high!” Vayo hollered, fighting against the wind buffeting her face.

Traba flapped, surging them higher, until a wave of cool damp hit her. They were in the clouds then, the stormbird only needing several breaths to get them there. It was amazing and terrifying at the same time.

They levelled out a few wing beats later and Vayo eased up in the saddle. Her back, buttocks, legs, and stomach were wound into knots and not all of them would release. She tried to relax, to trust the saddle and Traba, but the sky felt huge and wide around her. And the thought of the ground looming so far below clung to her like a wet, icy blanket.

“This is how it was meant to be,” she whispered and Traba flooded her mind with wave after wave of joyous emotions. The bird felt at home. She felt whole.

The wind whipped through her hair as Traba banked left. Vayo leaned with the turn, putting her weight into the leg straps. The rig held, the padded arches riding securely atop Traba’s wing joint. She balanced her weight as they evened out again. The sky was bluer than she’d ever seen it. No, it was more colorful than anything she’d seen before.

“Let’s go right, Traba!” she yelled and in turn, the bird banked.

Vayo leaned her weight in the opposite direction, the shift and turn much more predictable this time. She let go of the horn as Traba evened out, and feeling a little brave, held her arms out to her sides. Then, trusting in her friend, Vayo closed her eyes.

The wind surged and coursed around her, flowing under her arms, over her face, and through her hair. And for the briefest moment, it felt like she alone was flying.

With a cry, Traba cried and abruptly rolled left, tucking her wings as she went. Vayo’s eyes snapped open as her stomach jumped, and blue turned to brown.

Vayo yelled, but her scream of alarm quickly turned into a whoop of joy. The saddle held, the straps worked, and Traba was truly a creature of grace and power.

“Come on, faster!” she screamed and the bird angled straight down, the pressure making her riding gear groan and her teeth chatter together.

They’d dropped leagues before Traba unfurled her wings again, those sapphire feathers gleaming in Gao’s waning light. Vayo leaned to her left, peering down and behind them, but the oasis and temple were nowhere to be seen. They had traveled so far so fast, her home was already out of sight.

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