Empire of Storms
Page 75

She crashed into soldiers and wood and the mast, rolling, writhing, and bucking, the twin masts snapping under her tail.
She hit the other side, flipping down into the water, red blood shining everywhere—
Just as the wyvern on her ass leaped onto the ship in a mighty arc that took Aedion’s breath away. But with the jagged stumps of the masts jutting up like lances…
The bull landed atop them with a crunch that Aedion heard across the bay.
He bucked, but—that was wood now piercing through his back.
And beneath his enormous weight … the ship began to crack and sink.
Lysandra wasted no time in getting clear, and Aedion could barely draw breath as she shot across the bay again, the two bulls so horribly close that their wakes merged.
One dove, the depths swallowing him from sight. But the second one, still on her tail…
Lysandra led that one right into Dorian’s range.
She drew in as close to the shore and looming tower as she could get, bringing the second bull with her. The king stretched out both hands.
The bull raged past—only to halt as ice lashed across the water. Solid ice, such as there had never been here.
The sentries beside Aedion fell silent. The bull roared, trying to wrest himself free—but the king’s ice grew thicker, trapping the wyvern within its frozen grip. When the beast stopped moving, hoarfrost like scales covered him from snout to tail.
Dorian loosed a battle cry.
And Aedion had to admit the king wasn’t that useless after all as the catapult behind Dorian sprang free, and a rock the size of a wagon jettisoned into the bay.
Right atop the frozen wyvern.
Rock met ice and flesh. And the wyvern shattered into a thousand pieces.
Rolfe and some of his men were cheering—people were cheering from the docks in town.
But there was one bull left in the harbor. And Lysandra was…
She had no idea where the bull was.
The long green body thrashed in the water, dipping beneath the waves, near-frantic.
Aedion scanned the bay, rotating in the gunner chair as he did, searching for any hint of that colossal dark shadow—
“YOUR LEFT!” Gavriel roared across the bay, magic no doubt amplifying his voice.
Lysandra twisted—and there the bull was, speeding out of the depths, as if he were a shark ambushing prey.
Lysandra threw herself into movement. A field of floating debris lay around her, the sinking ships of their enemy like islands of death, and there was the chain … If she could maybe get on it and climb high … No, she was too heavy, too slow.
She again streaked past Dorian’s tower, but the bull wouldn’t get near. He knew doom awaited him there. He kept just out of range, playing with her as she launched back into the field of debris between the enemy ships. Toward the open sea.
Aelin and the others watched helplessly from the reef outcropping as the two monsters swept by, the bull sending bits of broken hulls and masts into the air—aiming at the shifter.
One struck Lysandra in the side, and she went down.
Aedion shot out of his seat, a roar on his lips. But there she was, blood streaming from her as she swam and swam, as she led that bull through the heart of debris, then cut back—sharply. The bull followed through the blood clouding the water, blasting through debris that she nimbly dodged.
She’d worked him into a blood-frenzy.
And Lysandra, damn her, led him to the remnants of enemy ships, where Valg soldiers were trying to save themselves. The bull exploded through soldier and wood as if they were veils of gossamer.
Leaping through the water, twining around debris and coral and bodies, the sunlight glinting on green scales and ruby blood, Lysandra led the bull into a dance of death.
Each movement slower as more of her blood leaked into the water.
And then she changed course. Heading into the bay. To the chain.
And cut north—toward him.
Aedion examined the massive bolt before him.
Three hundred yards of open water separated her from the range of his arrow.
“SWIM,” Aedion roared, even if she couldn’t hear. “SWIM, LYSANDRA!”
Silence fell across the entirety of Skull’s Bay as that jade sea dragon swam for her life.
The bull gained on her, diving down.
Lysandra passed under the links of the chain, and the shadow of the bull spread beneath her.
So small. She was so small compared to him—one bite was all it would take.
Aedion slammed himself back into the gunner chair, gripping the levers and pivoting the machine as she swam and swam for him.
One shot. That was all he’d have. One gods-damned shot.
Lysandra hurled herself forward, and Aedion knew she was aware of the death that loomed. Knew she was pushing that sea dragon’s heart to near-stopping. Knew that the bull had reached the bottom and now launched himself up, up, up toward her vulnerable belly.
Only a few more yards, only a few more heartbeats.
Sweat slid down Aedion’s brow, his own heart hammering so violently all he could hear was its thunder. He shifted the spear, slightly, adjusting his aim.
The bull raged up from the deep, maw open, ready to rip her in half with one blow.
Lysandra passed into range and leaped—leaped clean out of the water, all sparkling scales and blood. The bull jumped with her, water streaming from his open jaws as they arced up.
Aedion fired, slamming his palms into the lever.
Lysandra’s long body arched away from those jaws as the bull lifted clean out of the water, baring his white throat—
As Aedion’s massive spear went clean through it.
Blood spurted from the open jaws, and the creature’s eyes went wide as he reared back.
Lysandra slammed into the water, sending a plume so high it blocked out the sight of both of them as they crashed into the sea.
When it subsided, there was only the shadow of them—and a growing pool of black blood.
“You … you … ,” the sentry babbled.
“Load another one,” he ordered, standing from his seat to scan the bubbling water.
Where was she, where was she—
Aelin was perched on Rowan’s shoulders, scanning the bay.
And then a green head shot from the water, black blood spraying like spindrift as she hurled the severed head of the bull across the waves.
Cheering—riotous, wild cheering—exploded from every corner of the bay.
But Aedion was already up and running, half leaping down the stairs that would take him toward the beach that Lysandra now swam for, her own blood replacing the black ichor that stained the water.
So slow, each of her movements was so painfully slow. He lost track of her as he descended below the tree line, his chest heaving.
Roots and stones wrenched at him, but his Fae-swift feet flew over the loam until it turned to sand, until light broke through the trees and there she was, sprawled on the beach, bleeding everywhere.
Beyond them, out in the bay, Ship-Breaker dropped low, and Rolfe’s fleet swept out to pick off the surviving soldiers—and save any of their own still out there.
He vaguely noted Aelin and the others diving into the sea, swimming hard for land.
Aedion dropped to his knees, wincing as sand sprayed onto her. Her scaled head was nearly as big as he was, but her eyes … those green eyes, the same color as her scales…
Full of pain. And exhaustion.
He lifted a hand toward her, but she showed her teeth—a low snarl slipping out of her.