Blood's Pride (Shattered Kingdoms) (49 page)

Rho explained succinctly as she looked down, stunned, at the reins lying slackly in her hand. They came on Ongen from behind; the soldier twisted around in the saddle and found himself horribly out of position. Aeda tucked in her wings and glided past; Rho feinted once and then plunged his sword straight into Ongen’s chest. He was
dead before Aeda’s tail flicked by his slumping body. Aeda broke away from the other triffon of her own accord and headed away. Isa swivelled around to look behind her.

advised Rho, as he collapsed back down into the saddle, breathing hard, but his warning came too late. She saw Ongen’s triffon sniff the air and his nostrils flare out as he smelled the blood. He whined in alarm and started bucking in mid-air, trying to throw the body from its back.

Rho explained uncomfortably, watching Ongen’s corpse flopping around like a ragdoll. Bones snapped like sticks as the body collided again and again with the hard leather saddle.

Isa tightened her grip on the reins and turned Aeda around.

asked Rho.

she said to Aeda, whistling reassuringly as they cautiously approached the terrified triffon.

But Aeda snorted reassuringly to her fellow creature, and with a nervous whinny he stopped bucking long enough for them to draw alongside. Rho leaned out over Aeda’s wing and carefully cut the tethers that held the saddle on the triffon’s back. Ongen’s body, still strapped in, slowly slid off and plunged down towards the black water. They waited until they heard the splash.

Rho said tightly,

She took them higher up and as they neared the ship, they saw that Frea had started her attack. Sailors were scurrying down from the rigging, looking for refuge belowdecks while
the Norland soldiers garrisoned on board swept up to the fighting tops. Some of Frea’s men had already landed on the vast deck, while others were making feints from the air. The wind was strong and the sea was fast; dropping anchor was not an option. The whole battle was moving rapidly away from the Shadar.

Rho called out tensely, as Frea’s helmet flashed. Trakkar was orbiting the ship’s mainmast. Dramash was still with her – he no longer had the sack over his head and his arms were free, but he was not struggling.

Rho advised.

With her nerves singing, she stood up in the stirrups. she called out.

Rho began, but she silenced him.

she called again, even though she knew her sister had heard her the first time. She guided Aeda closer.

Frea circled the mast and turned her triffon around to face them.

Frea asked Rho as if Isa wasn’t even there.

Rho seethed as he stood up, and Isa saw the flash of Fortune’s Blight as he drew.

she reminded him.

he replied wretchedly, dropping back into the saddle.

she said slowly.

Frea asked them.

Isa replied calmly.

Frea shot back. And there it was again: the fear, like a long thread winding through her every word – Isa couldn’t understand how she had never noticed it before. She felt that if she took the fear in her fingers and tugged on it, Frea would simply unravel into nothingness. Even the silver helmet with its snarling wolf’s head was no longer the least bit intimidating. It was like looking at a child hiding in plain sight with her hands over her eyes.

Another triffon broke off from circling the ship and headed towards them. Frea called back.

he snapped, and turned his triffon back towards the ship.

Isa said impulsively, the words rushing out before she had time to think about them. what happened, with Mother – you were scared. You didn’t want to lose her.>

Rho called out, and she felt a tug on the back of her cloak. He trailed off as Aeda turned and they both squinted fiercely against the light, trying to keep Frea in view.

Frea screeched. understand
me now?> She swung Trakkar around on an intercept course.

she said as she steered Aeda into combat position.

Frea told her.

Frea meant to hurt her, to drive her to despair, and everything she said was true enough – except for one part, and it was was the only part that mattered. she said coolly. She tossed the reins back to Rho and commanded,

He caught the reins and threw himself against the saddle as Frea came on, heaving Blood’s Pride aloft. Isa refused to let herself think about the black water churning below; she trusted to the harness to hold her, and focused all of her concentration on Frea’s sword. She threw every ounce of force she had
into her attack: strike; watch; react. The time it took for her sister’s arm to arch back and come at her again felt long enough to contain a whole lifetime. Somewhere underneath it all, she heard Rho shouting in Shadari, ‘Dramash! Slide back – all the way back – and stay down!’

They were just about to slip out of reach when she twisted as far as she could to her left, away from Frea, and brought her hand up past her face and high up over her left ear. Then she swept the blow down and behind her, using the force of it to turn her body almost completely around. But her aim was off; instead of striking Frea’s back, she hit the silver helmet with a clang like the rap of a hammer. The force stung her hand so badly that she nearly dropped Truth’s Might into the ocean, but the helmet buckled and Frea rocked heavily over the side of her saddle. Isa prepared to deliver the decisive thrust, but the triffons had passed each other and Frea was out of reach.

Rho turned Aeda around again into the sun; beneath her cowl Isa felt the heat of the dawn on her face. The colours were so brilliant that they drew tears from her eyes. The wind had carried the imperial ship further out towards the horizon, and Frea’s men were too far away to intervene. Whatever happened now would be played out amongst the three of them.

she cried suddenly as she noticed him undoing the buckles that held him in the harness.

he said. He took Fortune’s Blight and slid it into the saddle-scabbard. By now the straps of his harness were flapping in the air and the stirrups were the only thing keeping him on the triffon’s back. he said,
holding the reins out to her, and when she started to sheath her sword, added,

she said achingly. She could see Frea across the sky, readying Blood’s Pride, and she could feel her sister’s fury like a soundless roar.

He leaned forward. The passivity that had always been so much a part of him was gone forever; his assurance was irrefutable and as solid as a brick. he told her, looping the reins around her thigh and cinching them loosely. He gripped her leg and then turned back around.

Instinctively Aeda matched her wing-strokes to Trakkar’s.
Up. Down. Up. Down.
As they came closer Isa could see the damage she had done. The right side of Frea’s helmet bore a deep indentation and blood was dripping from underneath it onto the collar of her cloak.

This time Frea struck first, and her attack was murderous, leaving Isa no opportunity for anything but defence, no chance to strike back. She was horribly conscious that if just one blow found its mark she was done for. Finally Frea’s sword ground down against Truth’s Might, and then snapped away as Trakkar carried her past.

Now she had time to look back at Rho. He had slipped his feet out of the stirrups and brought them up underneath him. His fine, lean body balanced on the saddle for one long, airless heartbeat. he told her.

Then he jumped.

She caught her breath and watched Rho’s cape, transformed
from snowy white to tawny gold by the morning light, swelling out behind him. He wasn’t going to make it – his leap was too short …

But then his foot came down on the tough cartilage of Trakkar’s wing and he used the momentum of its upswing to propel him the rest of the way. He threw himself into the wide space that Dramash had left when he’d moved back, and he’d got one foot jammed into the near stirrup before Frea even had time to react, and the other leg over and secure while she was still trying to get her sword around to strike at him.

Isa looped her fingers through the reins and whistled frantically to Aeda, who sprang forward and executed the same tight little turn she’d showed off earlier, bringing them around behind Trakkar. With the sun behind her everything in her field of vision was soaked with colour, and it was difficult for her to make sense of what she was seeing.

Trakkar was flying erratically, alarmed by the sudden extra passenger and by Frea’s slack handling of the reins. Rho was trying to wrest Blood’s Pride out of Frea’s hands, struggling to break her grip on the sword while trying to keep clear of the blade itself. And in a phenomenal piece of bad luck, his cape had snagged on the stirrup, pulling his shoulders backwards and leaving his left side exposed to the sun.

she called as Aeda pumped her wings and put on a burst of speed, sliding her next to Trakkar. She readied Truth’s Might to strike in Rho’s defence, but as she slipped past Trakkar’s tail, her went heart leaping into her throat: Dramash was not strapped in. He was holding on to the leather saddle with both hands, but with each roll of the
triffon’s body he was sliding back and forth; if the creature bucked or turned too sharply, the boy would surely be flung off into the sea.

Instinctively she reached out to help him, but she still had her sword in her hand and he ducked away from her in fear. ‘Hold on!’ she shouted, then,

But Rho and Frea were locked together, and if he let go of Frea’s arm now, he would be dead in an instant. Isa changed her grip on Truth’s Might, and then frantically changed it again as she considered the possibilities. With the two so close together, there was no sure way for her to strike at Frea without hitting Rho.

Then she saw the dull hilt of Rho’s knife poking out from under his cape: it was just what she needed, but she had no free hand with which to grab it and in another split-second it would be out of reach. There was no time to sheath her sword.

She opened her fist and let it go.

Truth’s Might dropped between the heaving sides of the two triffons and fell away, tumbling down, shrinking until it slid into the dark water below and disappeared forever.

Wasting no more time, she snatched Rho’s knife from its scabbard and plunged it deep into Frea’s thigh, just a moment before Aeda’s momentum ripped it out of her hand. Frea’s body went rigid with shock, she lost her grip on Blood’s Pride and Rho tore it away from her.

Isa cried, as Rho swung the sword over his head.

he howled in frustration. we’ll lose Dramash. Here!> He heaved the sword through the air, and a line of sparks lit a path towards her as the sunlight caught the turning blade. She reached up and the hilt slapped sweetly into her palm. Then Aeda unfurled her wings and they shot out in front of Trakkar.

Frea’s silent howl of pain and outrage hit her in the back like a savage shove. She straightened up and tried to bring Aeda about again, but manoeuvring was more difficult now that both animals were facing in the same direction. As they turned, she saw Frea yank the knife out of her leg and she called urgently,

But he had already slid further back to strap Dramash and himself safely into the harness, and his seat was precarious: he had only one foot in the stirrup, one hand gripping the saddle, and his back was turned. Isa whistled desperately to Aeda, but the triffon was already doing her best to bring them back into position.

Frea was trying to reach Rho, but she had buckled herself in too tightly to turn around. As Isa watched, her sister yanked furiously at the sliding buckles, trying to loosen the straps around her legs, and finally sliced through them with Rho’s knife.

she called out, hoping to distract her long enough for Rho to get Dramash and himself strapped in securely,