Not if Jaax comes after me, she thought with renewed determination.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Jahrra made her decision. She tilted her chin, just enough to catch her guardian’s gaze with her own.
“Hold still!” Keiron snarled, tightening the arm around her waist but letting his grip on the dagger slacken. Perfect.
The look on Jahrra’s face must have given her away, because Jaax’s eyes abruptly widened. He understood what she was about to do. Jahrra took a deep breath, then time slowed to a crawl. With one final prayer sent up to Ethoes, she slapped Keiron’s blade clear of her throat and pivoted on one foot. Before he could react to her sudden movement, Jahrra shoved hard against his chest, sending him tripping backward into the snow. As the shouts of surprise and horror rose from all those gathered on the bridge, Jahrra fell backward, dropping into the abyss.
-Chapter Twenty-One-
Rescue, Recovery and Remorse
Time jerked free of its slow crawl the moment Jahrra began plummeting toward the white river so far below. Her stomach pressed flat against her spine as she fell, her arms and legs spread out as if she were merely floating atop Lake Ossar on a lazy summer afternoon without a care in the world. But she wasn’t back home in Oescienne, where life had been safe and secure. And, she wasn’t swimming. She was plunging to her death, and she would surely perish unless Jaax or one of the other dragons came through for her. The soldiers had not secured the chains to the ground, so her guardian should have taken to the air the second she went over. Had she been wrong? Could there be a darker, magical force at work here, keeping the dragons fastened in place?
The air rushed past her, so swiftly it stole the breath from her lungs and tore tears from her eyes. Jahrra wanted to scream, but she couldn’t get enough oxygen into her lungs to do so. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying desperately not to give in to despair. Jaax, where are you?!
Her salvation came first as a shadow, large and looming overhead. Jahrra’s eyes flew open just as a huge green and copper shape rushed past her, another massive body diving toward the crevasse’s distant floor. When the emerald blur was fifty feet or so below her, it expanded, great leathery wings unfurling outward bringing it to a near-sudden stop.
Jahrra barely had enough time to brace herself before she slammed hard against Jaax’s back.
“Jahrra!” he snarled over the rush of wind. “Grab the chain!”
She didn’t need to be told twice. Gasping for breath, she scrabbled for the chain wrapped around his neck and curled her icy fingers about it, holding on as tightly as she could. Her sideways slide over his scales came to an abrupt halt, and she pulled herself forward, hooking her arm through the chain so that it cut into the crook of her elbow. She was not going to risk relying wholly upon her numb fingers to keep her in place.
“Hang on!” her guardian roared as he beat his wings furiously to gain speed.
Jahrra did as she was told, her grip tightening around his neck as much as her arm’s length would allow her. She would never admit it to Jaax, but the reason she held him so tightly had little to do with her worry over plunging to her death and everything to do with being so very glad to see him whole and mostly uninjured. She was also grateful she could blame the tears in her eyes on the biting wind.
For several moments, Jaax climbed through the air with the grace of one born to the sky. When he reached a point several dozen feet above the bridge, he banked left and made a nearly complete loop. Once Jahrra had steadied herself after the turn, she glanced beyond her guardian’s head and noticed they were approaching the great bridge of ice and stone from the side. Small dots of red and black scurried about in the snow as two larger reptilian shapes of slate blue and dark grey dove at them like cormorants after fish. Scarlet and ruby flames tinged the air, but the combined weapon power of the Red Flange kept the other two dragons at bay.
“We’ll make one pass to aid them and get the others on the Nimbronian side of the bridge, then I’m taking you to safety!” Jaax threw over his shoulder. “Prepare for my dive!”
Jahrra didn’t have time to respond because Jaax pulled in his wings and angled his body downward toward the top of the bridge. She cried out as her lower half lifted off his back, slamming into place once again as he flared his wings out to make a pass just over the northern side of the bridge. Pain spiked her ribs and radiated up her bad leg, but Jahrra thanked Ethoes once again for giving her the sense to wrap her arm around the chain. Her half-frozen fingers wouldn’t even close now when she tried to make a fist.
Jaax breathed in a great deal of air then expelled it with a stream of emerald and blue flame. The heat of it washed over Jahrra, and she sighed wistfully, enjoying the momentary warmth. Those on the bridge, however, got the worst of it. The Tyrant’s soldiers screamed and dove for the snow, scattering like mice from a disturbed hay mound as they desperately tried to avoid the dragon’s flames.
“To the mountain!” Jaax called down, as his tail whipped out, taking down a half-dozen or so more of the mercenaries.
As they sped past the bridge, Jahrra jerked her head around, her blond hair lashing at her face. There were still several of the red soldiers on their feet, but it appeared as if the majority of them had been driven to the southern end of the bridge by the two dragons helping Jaax. She breathed a great sigh of relief when she spotted Ellyesce, nothing but a small smear of grey-blue, holding off a few men with his bow as Whinsey and Erron sprinted toward the fort. Jahrra had to have faith that Dervit was with them. She would not allow herself to think otherwise. Even Phrym and the other horses had made it to the safe side.
“What about the soldiers that attacked the fort?” Jahrra shouted over the rush of wind and shouts from the fight below.
“Nimbronia deployed a small legion of their guard to make sure the southern gate was secure. They’ll take care of any enemy soldiers on this side of the mountain,” he replied.
Jahrra tightened her grip on the chains and turned to press her face into the back of Jaax’s neck. To her surprise, his tough scales felt warm, like the skin of a lizard basking in the heat of the sun. Jaax said nothing more to her as he continued to circle the mountaintop, the deep whoosh-whoosh of his wing beats gradually calming her heart. Everything had happened so fast, she hadn’t had time to comprehend how close she’d been to death. Now that she was safe, the shock began to wear off, sending tremors through her arms and legs. Jahrra gasped and lifted her head, the blast of ice cutting down her cheeks a sign that she was crying. Again. Gritting her teeth, she tried to stem her emotions. Relief at not plummeting to her death, fear at her near capture, anger and hurt at discovering Keiron’s betrayal, shame for not realizing his treachery sooner, joy at seeing Jaax whole and well … Jahrra shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut.
Breathe, just breathe, she told herself. It will pass.
Turning her head to the side so that her ear pressed against her guardian’s scales once again, Jahrra tried to distract herself by thinking about something else. To their right, the mountain continued to climb, far higher than all those surrounding it. Scraggly pines gave way to jagged rocks dusted with snow, and as they ascended ever higher, the city of Nimbronia, its ice turrets and frozen walls glittering white and pale blue in the late afternoon light, came into full, resplendent view.