by Amelia Jade
Mia turned to the doorway as Garrin stepped inside, followed by another gryphon shifter who saw what Andrew was doing and moved to the next cell. In less than a minute all five human occupants including Trevor were free, and they began to file outside, a gryphon or Pegasus attached to each human, including her.
Chapter Thirteen
Garrin
He shunted aside the pride in his chest at the way Mia had stood up to Andrew and focused back on the mission.
“Back to the roof,” he ordered. “Before reinforcements get here.”
The group jogged back toward the stairs, the aerial shifters sweeping up all the humans except Mia, carrying them as they went. The imprisoned humans were simply too weak to make the run. They would need all their strength just to hold on as the Cadians flew back toward the border.
“Garrin, we need to hurry,” Mia said, coming up alongside him.
She pointed at her wrist, where he knew a watch was counting down the time until the cordon was in place around Fenris. They had less than two hours to fight their way clear and get outside the border.
“We’ll make it,” he assured her as the lead of their group started up the stairs.
He followed, Mia at his side, Andrew taking up the rear. Then he frowned as they stopped a single level up, fanning out into the lobby. Ahead the dragons were just finishing mopping up the last of the Fenris opposition.
“Why are we stopping?” he asked, doing a quick mental count.
Everyone was there but his roof lookouts and the one Green Bearet, a volunteer, who had been killed in a surprise attack in the basement.
Footsteps came down the stairs moments before a huge boom sounded from above them.
“Roof is no good,” came the gasp, and a severely burnt form of one of Ava’s RAF team came into view on the stairs.
Garrin watched in horror as a fireball came down the stairs after the woman and consumed her, before blowing out into the lobby and scattering his force across the open area with its shockwave.
“More in the streets,” Aksel called as he regained his feet, looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows that formed the front of the building. “Coming from east and west. If we go north right now, we’ll make it out ahead of them.”
Garrin didn’t hesitate. “You heard him, move it!” he shouted.
The group pulled themselves together. Aksel bulled his way through the glass, creating a new exit for them that was closer to their destination, and the Cadian raid team began to exfiltrate the building with their human evacuees.
Garrin paused to look left and right as Andrew and Mia hurried by, the last of his team to leave the building.
A bear shifter landed to his left, apparently having jumped from the roof. Garrin snarled and launched himself at the attacker before he could lash out at Mia, who was running right by him.
He let his rage at already losing three members of his team flow through him, and power his strikes. The hapless bear shifter tried to bat away his strikes, but Garrin simply advanced with ruthless purpose. He blocked one punch, and before the other shifter could pull back, he wrapped both hands around his opponent’s wrist and spun his body.
The arm broke in several places as he wound it up like a dishcloth, spinning a second time. Garrin used his momentum from the second spin and dropped his upper body, while his right leg came up and connected his steel-toed boot directly into the man’s temple with a precision any instructor would have been proud of.
The skull crumpled under the impact, and the man fell to the pavement as life fled his body in a heartbeat.
Garrin swung his leg around and simply continued in pursuit of his team. Their swift exit had bought some time, and up ahead he could see several members dash ahead of the group and begin to shift even as they ran.
Moments later a gryphon and two Pegasi galloped down the street, slowing only to be loaded with human cargo.
They lifted clear into the skies as Garrin caught up to Andrew and Mia, and the first three of the prisoners were gone. Cheers went up from the remainder, and they continued their headlong run down the street, trying to keep their pursuers from gaining ground.
Another gryphon and Pegasus put on a burst of speed and rushed ahead to complete their changes. The final human, excluding Mia, and one of the more injured Green Bearets lifted clear.
The streets were eerily quiet as they ran.
“This isn’t right,” Garrin muttered. “We’re making a tremendous racket. There should be more of them.”
Mia glanced over her shoulder at the three or four dozen shifters pursuing them. “You don’t think that’s bad enough?” she asked in disbelief, hiking a thumb back the way they came, though it wasn’t necessary for him to have known who she was referring to.
“I mean the buildings. People live there,” he said. “Lights should be coming on, people waking up. Ordinary civilians should be gawking at a minimum, or trying to stop us. Instead, everything is staying dark.”
Andrew grunted. “They aren’t here.”
Garrin looked over his shoulder again, and his eyes narrowed. “Yes, they are,” he said suddenly.
“What do you mean?” Mia asked from next to him.
He could hear her breathing beginning to labor. She was in good shape because of her whitewater rafting, but running long distances was not typically part of that.
“Andrew, look at those pursuing us, and tell me something.”
Andrew turned and ran backward for a few seconds, showing off the excess power of his race in a casual manner that made Garrin roll his eyes.
“There is no organization to them. Nor have they shifted when our backs are turned, to close the gap.”
“Pretty novice mistakes for trained shifters, even for Fenris, don’t you think?” he remarked as up ahead Aksel, Ethan, and Kiefer all got astride their mounts, and took off into the night.
“I don’t get it,” Mia huffed.
“He’s saying that those pursuing us are the civilians of Fenris.”
“Oh,” Mia said. “I don’t get it.”
Garrin grimaced. “If I’m right, and the people we’ve fought tonight have mostly been civilians…where are all their trained warriors? The city is empty of them all.”
“Somewhere else,” Mia said as if the answer should have been obvious. Then, “But if they aren’t here, that means they won’t be trapped by the cordon.”
“Exactly,” Garrin said.
A roar came from just ahead of them, and three shifters burst from an alleyway, lunging at the trio.
Garrin swore and in mid-run bent his legs and threw himself at the nearest pair. Even before his feet had left the ground, he released the hold on his bear in his mind. The animal bellowed with triumph as it rushed through his body, the change coming on even swifter than usual.
The two shifters he’d targeted shouted out in surprise as the large human suddenly became a massive rampaging bear.
Garrin and the two tiger shifters went down. One of them landed directly underneath him, and his bear ripped its throat out before the hapless shifter could react. The other one bounced and rolled away.
His eyes narrowed as it shifted during the roll and came up on its feet, snarling a challenge at him. Though the movements were still clumsy compared to his own, it was clear that this one had a modicum of training and talent at least.
With Mia helpless in a fight like this, Garrin knew he couldn’t take his time. He had to move, and move quickly, before the tiger scented that Mia was human and went after her. Uttering a powerful growl that snared his enemy’s attention, Garrin went on the attack. The oversized animal—far larger than their naturally occurring counterparts—went to battle.
Huge furred paws batted aside the flashing teeth of the tiger’s maw, opening long cuts on his opponent’s face, but the move left him exposed to the sharp claws that the tiger possessed. The smaller, more agile jungle beast tore huge wounds down Garrin’s front leg in response.
The two of them p
arted and began to circle each other, looking for a weakness. As they danced around one another, Garrin saw Andrew dispatch his foe. He looked over at Luther, but the bear shook its great shaggy head, and the gryphon shifter snatched up Mia and ran on. Even as that was happening, Garrin continued to shuffle around in a circle, until he saw the group of shifters that had been pursuing them draw nearer.
Shit. I don’t have time for this.
He had to end this quickly, and decisively, or he would be overwhelmed. Even as he watched several of the Fenris shifters got their heads together and shifted. Half a dozen wolves darted forward, moving far faster than the others, rapidly closing ground on Andrew.
Garrin snarled and leapt at his foe. The two of them slammed together, titanic beasts ripping and clawing at each other, blows from both parties striking home.
But Garrin had the advantage of training, and experience. He faked a limp to one side, and then pretended to overbalance himself. The tiger darted in to take advantage of it, looking to slice open his exposed flank in a finishing move that would leave Garrin bleeding to death.
But the huge bear reversed its apparent “fall” with a sudden swiftness, and instead of attacking an exposed side, the tiger found the entire two-ton bear descending upon it with a speed that belied its size. Garrin fell upon the back of the tiger, his jaws plunging into the back of its neck and shaking with all his might. The tiger’s bellow of pain abruptly became a pitiful meow, but Garrin didn’t stop until bone snapped.
He leapt clear of the body and took off down the cobblestone street no more than twenty feet ahead of the oncoming wolves. The fight had taken perhaps ten seconds at most.
Ahead he saw that the others had used his distraction to mount up. Everyone was now mounted except for him and Mia. She was waiting next to Asher, yelling at him to hurry up. The others lifted up and away, carrying Luther, Jarvis, and the other Green Bearets to safety.
Get on, dammit. Don’t wait for me.
This was what Garrin had been worried about. Mia had refused to leave without him, and was even now waiting to mount. But he could easily jump atop the dragon’s back, while she had to climb it. Her refusal was putting both of them in trouble. But he couldn’t communicate with her, besides to roar.
So he did.
But his roar was drowned out by a much louder sound from the air above him. Garrin didn’t turn, but he saw Asher’s head snap around, and he knew it could only mean one thing.
Another enemy dragon was pursuing them.
The giant Frost Dragon looked at Garrin, then at Mia, and the Green Bearet saw the regret in its eyes.
Then the huge maw opened and a plume of Frostfire, the breath weapon of his kind, spewed out at Garrin.
***
Garrin ducked, but the brilliant white cone of deadly frost flew by, missing his head by several feet.
Risking a glance behind him, he saw it hit the oncoming wolves, freezing them solid instantly. It continued on, scattering the oncoming shifters and sending them all ducking for cover.
Those that it didn’t ensnare and instantly freeze solid, at least.
“I’m sorry!” Asher bellowed at Garrin and then he hopped clear of Mia and his massive wings launched him into the air. The sudden gust of wind hit Garrin’s mate and sent her sprawling to the ground, but Garrin wasn’t mad.
The Frost Dragon swooped over his head, and moments later there was a bloom of heat, presumably from Dragon Fire launched by the Fenris dragon.
Garrin swept up to Mia and changed back to his human form. She gasped at the sight of his multitude of wounds, but he brushed it aside. “Are you okay?” he asked, looking her over as she got to her feet.
“Yes, I-I think so,” she said, her eyes focused on the ice statues behind him, statues that moments earlier had been living, breathing people.
“Good,” he said. “Then start running!”
The pair of them hurried down the streets as above them the sky thundered with the clash between the dragons.
Garrin kept his eyes ahead, but inwardly he felt the first stirrings of something gnaw away at him. It wasn’t until several long, powerful strides later that he realized what it was. Fear. Not for himself, or for Asher. But for Mia, the sole human caught in the burgeoning storm at the center of Fenris. Things were rapidly spiraling out of control, and if Asher didn’t swiftly win, they were in big trouble.
Behind them the pursuing shifters came on, moving past their frozen comrades and bearing down on the duo.
“You’ll have to ride me!” he told her.
Mia scrunched up her face. “What? Don’t you think that’s a little inappropriate for right here and now?”
He couldn’t stop himself from grinning as she joked in the face of their certain doom. Garrin wasn’t scared about being caught by Fenris. He was worried they wouldn’t make it out of the border before the humans cut them off, trapping them inside.
“Keep running!” he said, and slowed slightly, to ensure he didn’t lose his balance while shifting.
Mia flew on ahead while his body began to work through the shift, bringing his bear back into play. Garrin knew those behind him would start doing the same. He wouldn’t have long.
Even as he dropped to all fours and his pace increased, he heard shouts from behind him.
A low growl alerted Mia to his presence, and she sidled up close to him.
Garrin ducked low as she jumped, and with a minimum of painful tugging on his fur, she settled onto his back.
With his charge safely aboard, Garrin turned down a side street and accelerated, heading east toward the outskirts of Fenris, and beyond that, the border. His great feet clawed at the cobblestones as they raced along at a breakneck pace. It was no longer about being concealed, or even outdistancing their pursuers. It was all about getting to the border before the humans closed it off.
Time was ticking away.
Chapter Fourteen
Mia
She could feel him slowing.
They were in the midst of an old-growth forest. The trees were majestic giants that rose high into the air, the ground below exposed as they reached their fingers for the sky, ignoring the lower reaches.
Garrin’s massive bear had carried them from the city and east across farmland, and then into the forest. Tirelessly he’d driven them forward, until they left all their pursuers behind, setting a pace they couldn’t match.
But now her steady guardian was faltering, and she knew his bear was spent. It was likely if they stopped, he would drop into an immediate sleep. Mia wasn’t sure how far behind them the Fenrisians were, but it had to be a ways. They’d run for over four hours, and it had been two since the last of their pursuers had even been seen.
The ground below them was angling upward now, and that was making Garrin’s life even harder. She longed to jump down, to run alongside him. But the simple fact was she wouldn’t keep up that way. She would force him to slow, and give the Fenrisians time to catch up.
Time which they didn’t have to spare either.
Mia glanced at her wrist just as her watch started to beep at her.
“Oh no,” she whispered, silencing the alarm before it could bring their enemies down on them.
They were out of time.
If the humans had kept to the schedule they were expected to keep, then the cordon around Fenris would now be complete and nobody would be allowed in, or in their case, out. They were trapped.
Garrin finally slowed, and she thought it was because he was giving up. She leaned over to tell him that they didn’t know it was over, that perhaps the human military was running behind schedule. Perhaps the news had simply used estimates, and they still had hours to go. She opened her mouth to tell them that they wouldn’t know until they reached the border.
But her eyes turned forward even as Garrin sagged and collapsed to the ground, reassuming his human form.
Mia sunk to her knees next to him, looking through the forest as they crested the top of the ridge an
d the forest fell away in front of them into a flat plain.
A plain filled with figures. Human figures, in similar dress and loaded atop various green-and-brown mottled painted vehicles.
Even as she watched they reached the edge of the cliff just to the north where the plain ended, and began to unpack, setting up camp. Mia’s eyes traced the cliff as it came up to the edge of the forest and then continued in a line northward as well as east, forming a natural break for the human troops.
It was like someone had carved a giant slice out of the landscape. She could barely see the far side of it, but there were clearly people moving about there as well.
The cordon was complete; there was nowhere for them to go.
Mia’s head hung down.
“It’s my fault,” she whispered.
Garrin made an unintelligible sound from where he lay on the ground next to her, his lungs heaving with exertion, his eyes open and staring at the scene in front of them, though she doubted they actually saw any of it. They had the glassy look of someone who was elsewhere.
“I’m so sorry,” she continued in despair. “I did this. I killed us.”
If only Asher had been able to win free, he could have come and gotten them. But Mia had watched as he battled the Fire Dragon high into the sky, the other dragon driving their only hope of rescue farther and farther away. The aerial fight wheeled and dove, but steadily moved westward, the exact opposite direction that she and Garrin had gone.
When they’d plunged into the forest, she’d known that Asher would never find them. He’d be hard pressed to escape the cordon in time himself. She only hoped he had, and hadn’t tried to come back for them.
“Oh Garrin,” she moaned softly. “What have I done?”
Her courage, and the conviction that she was supposed to have accompanied them, had fled Mia. Now all that was left was the sinking realization that she’d killed them. “I’m so stupid,” she said, her voice turning hard and directing the anger inward as she berated herself. “Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. How could I be so selfish!?”
Beside her Garrin stirred, and he rose up to his knees. He still loomed above her, and when his arms swept out to gather her up, Mia couldn’t contain it any longer. Tears streamed down her face as sobs racked her shoulders. She felt so stupid. She’d argued so hard, and threatened him with so much if he hadn’t taken her along.