Page 14 of Raven's Dawn

Sure, we could just hop off. I could use the wind to catch us at the bottom. “Where would the fun be in that?”

Face green, Warren swallowed hard.

Laughing, I gestured to Rain. “Wake her up and tell her what I told you.”

We survived the landing. Truthfully, it was easier than landing a plane. A similar process, though. Gradually, I brought Kilyn down through the lower altitudes. As she adjusted to each, her speed slowed. By the time we were only a few stories off the ground, she was barely moving faster than the ravens. With her long legs, she absorbed most of the shock of the landing. She fluttered her wings, touched down for a moment, jumped up a bit to decelerate, then touched down once more.

Truly, no great deal.

But Warren’s face as he sat up suggested otherwise. Still green, nauseated, he begged me to help him get to the ground. With a little tornado, I lowered him to the soil. Covering his mouth, he ran at full speed to a bush nearby. No use describing what he did to it.

Ezra and Rain, though? They applauded Kilyn for her landing, laughing and petting her scales. Once we all made it onto the ground, Rain ran over to her snout and stretched out her arms like she was trying to give her a hug. Kilyn accepted, lowering her face to the ground so Rain could reach her.

Rain marveled at the texture of her scales. Silky and smooth as glass. Like a snake, although she had the big brown eyes of a puppy dog.

“She sure is chipper,” Amara said. I jumped, and she laughed. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare ye.”

“It’s alright.” After grabbing mine and Rain’s backpack, I tossed mine over my shoulders. “And she is. That’s what I love about her.”

“I’m sure ye do. Down there.” Amara pointed to the snow dusted clover. That was how we referenced Earth here. Pointing to the ground. In actuality, dimensions were more parallel than vertical. I guessed, if you saw someone fall through a portal in the ground, you’d assume they were heading downward. “But that’s dangerous here.”

I didn’t disagree. It had been my biggest concern since we’d arrived. But I would always defend the woman I loved. “She’ll be focused when she needs to be. And she’s damn good with a spell. You’ll see.”

“She better be,” Amara said.

“Come on, everyone,” Jeremy called. “Let’s go set up camp.”

“Amara,” Laila said, “have your soldiers flank mine. Necromancers stay in the center. We protect them at all costs. Rain, you’re up here with me.”

6

RAIN

"I don't like her."

Looking over my shoulder, I searched for who Laila was referencing. "Who?"

"Don't ‘who’ me. You know who. You don't like her either." It was still the dead of night, the only light coming from the moon behind the clouds. Laila lit her hand with bright purple flames to shine our way, keeping her voice low. "Iliantha swears by her. Says she's really smart and one hell of a fighter. She must be, or she wouldn't have climbed the ranks to Colonel. But I don't like the way she talks to you. I don't like the way she talks to her soldiers, either."

Although I couldn't consider myself a fan of Amara, I didn’t have much to go on. Afterall, we’d only just met. I also wasn't sure if Laila wanted to talk or vent. She was good at the venting thing. We were both pretty talkative, but Laila's first name could've been chatty, middle name Kathy.

"What?" Laila glanced my way. "You don't agree?"

"I don't know enough about her to agree or disagree." Carefully, I watched the ground below me. There was a thin layer of clover in patches, but mostly black pebbles and dead foliage lined the path. I was good enough at making a fool of myself without a rock or branch to stumble over. "Why did you put her with Jake?"

"Because he's a pain in the ass, too." She lifted her lantern of a hand from left to right, squinting both directions. "No offense."

"None taken," I said, following her gaze. "What are you looking for?"

"Deer trail? Walking paths? Anything that'll take us to a clearing where we can set up camp."

"We can't set up where we landed?"

"We made too much noise. We want to stay as covert as possible. At least through the night. Iliantha's going to have the dragons fly out once we find a place to set up." Still, she squinted left and right, continuing through the rough shrubbery.

This land was odd. At the capital, there wasn't a whole lot of foliage like I was used to back home, but there was enough that it looked normal. What I would consider normal, anyway.

I couldn't make out much here, given the darkness. All I saw were rocks and branches. My ravens flew above us, just above the trees, and they were the only thing familiar about our surroundings. Every few feet, a pine tree or two stood tall, framed by a few dying bushes. Plenty of space for us to set up camp, but I supposed we were still pretty close to where we had landed.