Page 26 of Shadow Wings
His voice felt like warm embers, and a strange sense of longing welled from deep within. Irritated, I shoved the emotionaway.
Come on; we’re really close now. See the golden energy by those rocks?I didn’t answer, and his tone dropped and was laced with warning when he added,You don’t want to seethat.
How would you know?I shot back, gliding off to the side so I could orbit back around the encampment. The golden energy he referenced radiated into the sky, but this was my first glimpse at the neighboring kingdom’s people. This wouldn’t take more than a few minutes at most.Have you been in Gemondbefore?
Trust me,you don’t want to see what happensnext.
Therein lay our problem. If I could have rolled my Drae eyes at him, I would have because he asked the impossible. Trust was earned, not demanded, and even when earned, trust could be broken rapidly. As he shouldknow.
I kept my gaze on the pocket-sized ancient humans and their pocket-sized problems. One of the women had caught the man by his tattered shirt hem. The man turned and pushed the woman to the ground. The second woman stopped her chase as the man towered over the first. A moment later, a dozen other women came running, and then another dozen shuffled from the tumbledown shelters. They coalesced on the fallen woman with sticks and rocks and even their own bodies, beating her. The second woman hesitated for only a second before joiningin.
Why are they beating her?My insides chilled as I watched, transfixed by the horror of the scene below. These were Gemondians? I was certain at any minute, the women would stop, that they would come to their senses or someone would control them, but there didn’t appear tobeanyone else. Mother’s stories never mentioned Gemond’s violent culture. Had their society crumpled under the stress of starvation? Or had their ruler, like our previous king, put his needs above hispeople’s?
Tyrrik’s hesitancy leaked through our connection, and I snapped my fangs together.Why are they beatingher?
Because she tried to monopolize him. He is their onlyman.
You’re kidding, right? He’s the only dude, so he gets all the ladies? Forreal?
I don’t make their rules,Ryn.
The horror I felt wasn’t Tyrrik’s fault, but I couldn’t dam the emotion when the tendrils of the woman’s screams echoed in my ears. I whipped my tail, a growl swelling in my chest.They’re going to punish her because she wantedto. . . ?
Tyrrik remained silent, waiting for me to finish myquestion.
They’re doing that because she wanted to sleep withhim?
When it wasn’t her turn, he corrected.Yes.
So they’ll torture her. All of them on oneperson.
He sighed.Yes. Are you happy now that youknow?
Would you prefer I bury my head in the sand?I asked sarcastically. Why would we seek alliance with these people?Peopleseemed too generous of a term. This community was filled with the worst kind ofanimals.
Tyrrik picked up his pace, and I cast a suspicious glance at him and then circled down. My gaze shifted back on the people below as I scanned the settlement anew. Most of the women were dispersing. No, just backing away. Two of them held the unconscious female by the feet and were dragging her across the stony ground toward a ring of large, smooth rocks with a fire pit in themiddle.
From the shadowed entrance came yet another woman, though this one had layers of beaded necklaces covering her bare chest. She looked as bad as the rest of the emaciated females, but the way she carried herself indicatedrank.
The unconscious woman was dropped inside the ring of rocks, and the leader held her hands high, addressing her horde in a clipped language I couldn’t understand. My nostrils twitched at the thin scent of the women's sweat and adrenaline; their overpowering smell was evident from where Isoared.
Let’s go, Ryn. Panic laced Tyrrik’s words, snapping me from my transfixed stupor. Then he added,Please.He began to circle me, his dark Drae eyes wide, and in their depths, I could not only see, butfeel, his alarm. His wings beat the air. His tail thrashed inwarning.
If he thought I was leaving now, he had another thing coming. Gemondians weren’t cute mining dwarfs as I’d thought; they were terrifying. If the people were like this, what was the kinglike?
Tell me what’s happening.I batted him with my tail, but he dodged and continued in his tight circles, inching us away from the colony of Gemondians.Tell me what they’re going to do.I could guess they weren’t dragging her to an infirmary.Are they going to killher?
Please, Princess. I’ll tell you everything, butplease. . .
Because your track record is so great.The community disappeared behind a ridge of dark rock, and the ravine and its inhabitants disappeared from view as we approached the gold dome. Through the Phaetyn energy, there were trees, but vision wasn’t the only heightened sense I nowpossessed.
I inhaled, grimacing at the taint of smoke. So many scents, but one smell overpowered the rest. The scent of searing meat tickled my nostrils, and I gagged.Holy-freakin’-Drae. My stomach roiled as understanding punched me. They wereeatingher.
My mind blanked, my concentration evaporated, and my energy snapped as coherent thought fled mymind.
Tyrrik, I called through our connection as spots filled my vision. Something was happening. I couldn’t feel my energy. My wings weren’tworking.
I tumbled from the sky, roaring inpanic.