Page 25 of Shadow Wings
Yes.He seemed to consider his next words and then continued.Though it might’ve taken longer to get the hang of it. You should be fine now that you’ve experienced itonce.
I pushed onto all fours and flexed my talons. He was right. Now that I’d done it myself, I knew I could replicate the release of my Drae.Is it the same for all of us? How weshift?
No. Everyone sees energy in a different way. You arevisual.
I dove off the drop and beat my wings hard to lift to his looping level. The sun had moved, cursed thing. I’d spent at least an hour figuring out how to shift. My stomach grumbled, reminding me it still wanted steak. In Drae form, it sounded like anearthquake.
Tyrrik flashed his fangs beside me in what must’ve been a Draesmile.
Shut up, I’mstarving.
In response, he took ushigher.
As I circled upward, I noticed patches of vibrant green in the distance.What’s that back there?Could I really see all the way toVerald?
Tyrrik glanced toward Verald.That’s where Phaetyn powers have healed the land. Some might be yours, but those patches of green are how Draedyn knows there are stillPhaetyn.
I ground my teethtogether.
Without saying anything, Tyrrik picked up thepace.
We skimmed over the treetops, and I let my mind wander, seeing that Tyrrik scanned the ground and sky around us. Confident he was alert to any Druman underwing, I indulged playing with the air currents as I ran over the events of the last coupledays.
I was now Drae. And, somehow, I didn’t feel completely out of my depth. My reptilian gaze slid to Tyrrik, and I acknowledged this was because of him; he’d made this easier. He didn’t owe me anything beyond what guilt might force him into doing. Tyrrik chose to help me, and considering everything, he’d been nice about it too. He’d also helped me in Irdelron’s castle, though in a completely botched way. Is that why Tyrrik had helped me today? Noway.
Somewhere along the way, a new dynamic had snuck up on us, or maybe I was just slow to recognize the evolution. At some point in the cave, things becamedifferent, and the new undercurrents from Tyrrik made me uneasy. Those emotions were what I’d felt with Tyr. I didn’t want to be feeling them again, especially not when I was undecided whether I even wanted a friendship with Tyrrik. How was it that after two days in his company, the friendship thing seemed a given? I hadn’t consciously decided to give it. What if I didn’t wantto?
I needed to rein things back and put them in perspective again. I didn’t want to be lured into feeling one way or another; manipulation was unhealthy and wrong. If I was going to feel anything foranyone, it would be reasoned out, and it would be my choice. I owed that to myself and to Tyrrik and to whoever else I cameacross.
Nearly there. Maybe another hour orso.
His voice broke me from my reverie. There was an inquiring edge to his thought, and I wondered how many hours I’d been lost in my head. Judging by how far the sun had lowered in the sky and the streaks of red and violet reflecting off the clouds, severalhours.
I inhaled and gave him a tight nod. Knowing it wasn’t going to get easier, I focused on my energy. Then, bit by bit, I drew the thread of my energy between us back intomyself.
He flinched but gave no other reaction, but then, slowly, I felt him drawing his energy intoo.
10
The craggy peaksof the Gemond Mountains jutted into the blue sky as we continued our flight to Zivost Forest. The highest points, capped in snow, extended to where the air was thin and unbreathable—even for Drae. The dark rock was interspersed with the sparsest of growth, most of which were gray and sickly cedars. Abandoned homesteads dotted the larger ravines with snaking trails winding between them. The houses were lean-tos, piles of rocks with dried foliage draped to limit exposure to the elements, and lookedabandoned.
Without the telepathic connection with Tyrrik, the silence in my head was thunderous and somehow empty. My thoughts rattled, continually turning to him between thoughts of what would happen once we arrived in Zivost. Huffing through my snout, I reminded myself I didn’t trust him and turned my attention to theground.
We passed over another deserted town of scraggly shelters, though this time I smelled smoke. Gray billows of acrid smog puffed into the blue sky, creating a dirty haze above the settlement. I circled lower and flattened my body as my sharp eyes detected movement in the rocky valleybelow.
The jutting cliffs made spying hard. I tucked my wings in closer to my scaly body and cut through the air current holding me aloft. A descent of a few feet was all I needed, just enough to see better through the smoke. I’d never ventured out of Verald, though the Gemond Kingdom had often been featured in Mother’s stories. I knew little of the people, beyond their mining reputation, but after hearing the words ‘alliance’ from Caltevyn’s and Dyter’s lips, I assumed an attempt to rally Gemond to their cause was imminent. If they planned to recruit these people, and I was being dragged along for the ride, I needed to learn as much aspossible.
In my heart, I hadn’t mustered the strength to throw myself into a rebellion against Emperor Drayden. Iwasresigned to being hauled through the civil war, regardless, because of who I was and my friends’ roles in it. I didn’t want to justgo through the motions,as I was doing, and felt no small measure of guilt about my lack of dedication, but I didn’t feel capable of more. Deep down, I wondered if this realm was even worth all the pain I’d been through, let alone the pain I expected was ahead if I entered into thisfight.
I steadied myself at the lower altitude, feeling Tyrrik close by my leftwing.
Concentrating on the diminutive forms, several seconds of my attention remained fixed before I could accept what I was seeing. Even in my Drae form, my stomach tightened at the sight. I’d believed Verald owned a monopoly on suffering and hardship. The people below appeared barely human. Their hunched and emaciated bodies were twisted and gnarled. Their long stringy hair, all gray, giving them the look of an ancient community of women. Their clothes hung tattered and ill-fitting off their wastedframes.
I would expect more women present than men, given the Emperor’s War, but something about the community sent shivers running to the tips of my wings. Were therenomen?
Tyrrik shifted beside me as a man, distinguishable by his white beard, hobbled from a dilapidated structure in the center of the settlement. The guy was ancient. A woman rushed up to him, and another chased after her, waving herarms.
Ryn, Tyrrik called. He dipped down, circling back until he was alongsideme.