I still wasn’t sure what changed Loukas’s mind, though I had a suspicion it was Sharmaine that had convinced him to suddenly agree we needed to go after the others. I only knew that when I’d reentered the clearing, before I could warn them I hadn’t felt alone in the forest, they’d both been climbing on their gryphons, Mother hovering near a tree, her face chalky. Well, do you want to go after them or not? Loukas had asked, holding out a hand to me. I didn’t question his change of heart, merely ran to his side, grabbed his hand, and let him yank me onto the back of Maddok. I’d expected Mother to get on behind Sharmaine, but when we took off and I glanced back to see her still huddled against the tree, it was too late to make them turn around for her.
When we’d crested that hill and come upon the standoff below, my stomach had plummeted, all thoughts of my mother fleeing. We made it with seconds to spare, Sharmaine had barely succeeded in getting the shield of her power up in time to block the spear aimed for Raidyn’s heart. I muffled a cry of relief to see Halvor and Zuhra standing beside him—well and whole. At least from what I could tell.
Father, high up in the sky, wheeled Taavi around and dove toward us, behind the protection of Sharmaine’s shield.
“What happened?” Sharmaine had to shout to be heard over the beating of the gryphons’ wings, her voice strained with the effort of holding her shield up.
“I’m still not sure—but Zuhra wasn’t there,” Father called back. “She showed up after Raidyn.”
I looked to my sister, who hovered protectively over Raidyn as he healed Naiki. It appeared that his gryphon had been shot down by the guard’s archers; she lay in a pool of blood, Raidyn’s hands pressed to her wing, up high, near the joint where it met her body. The giant, beautiful beast shuddered beneath his touch.
Every minute that passed increased the tightness at the base of my throat. Loukas began to tremble from the effort of using his power to buy them time. How long could he hold an entire town’s consciousness in his control? It was sprawled far beyond the crumbled wall at the base of the hill. Would Sharmaine’s shield withstand another assault if they came back, confused or perhaps even angrier, to realize their minds had been altered? Would they realize that was what had happened?
Finally, Raidyn sat back on his heels, the glow in his veins dissipating and then disappearing altogether. Naiki tested out her wing, lifting it from the ground and flapping it once. Then she quickly clambered to her giant back paws. Raidyn helped Zuhra get on first then launched himself onto the saddle behind her. Halvor turned and rushed back to where the rest of us waited. Sharmaine let her shield go, her veins returning to normal as she guided her gryphon to land and helped pull Halvor on behind her. Within seconds, we were all airborne and winging away from the town and the near tragedy.
Loukas finally released his power with a loud exhale. I held on to him tightly, afraid of falling off, so it was impossible to miss the way his shoulders slumped forward and his unsteady grip on the reins.
“Where is Cinnia?” Father shouted, swooping closer to me and Loukas.
“She wouldn’t come!” Sharmaine yelled back from the other side of us. “She’s in the clearing!”
His gaze turned sharply to the side, to where his wife was waiting, alone. I couldn’t understand why she would have refused to come, but at least now I knew why Sharmaine had left her. Father whistled to Taavi and the dark-feathered gryphon shot forward over the treetops, a streak of night against the bright sun glaring overhead. The other two hurried to catch up, but Loukas didn’t signal Maddok and his gryphon maintained the same pace, turning his head to peer at his Rider with one bright orange eye.
His hands began to shake, a tremor that quickly traveled up his arms and then spread out through his body. I clutched his waist, terrified to feel him shivering beneath my grip as though it were midwinter, not midmorning on an already sweltering summer day.
“Loukas!” I shouted over the wind and beating of Maddok’s wings. “What’s wrong?”
He didn’t respond.
“Loukas!” My heart was frantic beneath my ribs when he began to slump farther forward in the saddle in front of me.
He was far too big and heavy for me to be able to hold him in place. If he lost consciousness, we would both fall from Maddok’s back, plummeting through the forest below to our possible deaths. I wasn’t sure how high of a fall could kill a person, but I definitely didn’t want to find out today.
I scooted even closer to him in the saddle, pressing my entire body up against his, keeping one arm clenched around his waist. I let go with the other and stretched forward to grab the reins in front of his loose grip. Then, with a deep breath, I repeated the same motion with my other hand, so that I was clasping both reins, my hands completely white-knuckled, my arms stretched over both of his, creating a barrier of sorts to keep him upright—though a pitifully weak one.
“Go, Maddok!” I cried, slapping the reins on his neck, praying the gryphon had sharp enough ears to hear my words before the wind whipped them away. “Get us to the clearing now!”
The gryphon needed no further urging—his wings redoubled in speed, and we lurched forward, quickly gaining on the rest of the group. But I was afraid no matter how fast Maddok flew, it wouldn’t be enough as Loukas continued to tremble, his entire body quaking. He started to lurch to the side, and I bit down on my lip as I squeezed even tighter, trying to keep us both from falling off the side of the gryphon.
“Loukas!” I shouted in his ear. “I can’t lift you up—you have to hold on!”
He moaned something unintelligible but managed to straighten back up once more.
The ride to the town had seemed painfully long, when I’d feared for my sister’s life; but the ride back was merciless. Within minutes, my arms ached from squeezing Loukas, trying to do what I could to help support him. It didn’t take long for the ache to escalate, my underused muscles on fire from the strain. If we didn’t land soon, there was no way I’d be able to continue holding on to Maddok’s reins, let alone keep Loukas in the saddle.
Just when I didn’t think I could bear any more and that we would surely fall to our deaths at any moment, the trees broke apart and we soared over the river. The clearing was mere moments away.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Maddok followed the other gryphons toward the small clearing, tucking his wings in to land, but we were still at least two stories off the ground when Loukas finally crumpled forward. It was more than I could handle. His deadweight yanked my hands off the reins, and before I even realized what had happened, we both plummeted to the earth.
A scream ripped out of my throat.
I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the impact.