Outcasts of Aquila (Aquila's Originals 2)

Chapter 25: Rage, Part 1

RHIDDYL RAGED. FEAR and fury had been building in her for months, ever since things had started going wrong in the citadel. There had been the attack on the summer camp, the strange sleepwalker incidents, the fight by the lake, but this was different. This was worse. This was an outrage.

Attacking miryhls in the dark, without warning. This thing, whatever it was, had turned Riders against their own. No matter how different they all were, or what they thought of each other, the one thing that united all human Rift Riders was their love for their miryhls, but as Rhiddyl stood at the back of the eyries, watching the white-eyed crowd pour inside, she knew they weren't Riders anymore.

No Rider would ever seize a miryhl.

No Rider would ever wrestle one so hard primary feathers snapped.

No Rider would ever drop a torch into the bedding.

No Rider would ever set fire to the eyries.

And no Rider would ever, ever shoot arrows at any miryhl, ever, no matter what.

Everything stopped as the arrow-struck eagle fell from the sky, visible through the devouring flames, lit by the destruction.

The fear that had been building in Rhiddyl's bones froze into ice and melted beneath the upsurge of her fury. Shifting into full form, she scooped her vulnerable human friends into her arms. While Emberbright raced into the flames, dousing as much as she could with her own brightness, Rhiddyl reared onto her hind legs and launched, breaking through the burning roof into the night beyond.

Miryhls streamed in her wake. Dropping Silveo and Jaymes into their respective saddles, she dipped to placed Mhysra and Starla on top of the infirmary, leaving them in Cumulo and Hurricane's care, then she soared.

Her snarl was thunder and every wing beat built the lightning in her veins. She hovered over the black lake, looked at the gathered crowd, the lined up captives, the broken weapons.

Rhiddyl flapped her wings, rippling the water beneath her, and unleashed the tempest within.

* * *

"ORLA!"

Wind howled down the mountain, whipping the placid lake into a froth. Lightning snapped, striking the gathered Riders and spreading out like spider webs. Pale purple filaments crackled and snapped, leaping from person to person, leaving them howling in its wake. Taryn saw it coming and did nothing to evade it, waiting for her own moment to strike.

As the lightning jabbed the three people holding her captive, Taryn twisted against the hands on her arms and gripping her hair. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she wrenched her arms free, clawed onto the hand in her hair and threw herself backwards.

Caught by surprise, Taryn's captors tumbled into the shocked crowd, sending ripples of chaos in all directions. The lightning crackled as it spread over them all, fast and eager, snapping in short, sharp jumps that always raised a yelp.

Free at last, Taryn leapt to her feet and dived for the shore. It had been mere moments since Orla had been dragged under, but it felt like forever. Eager to douse the burning in her scalp, where clumps of hair had surely been ripped loose, Taryn dived into the black water, aware of Vhen splashing after her.

Nothing, nothing, nothing. There!

Her groping hand found something solid and she grabbed tight, kicking to the surface. Vhen grabbed the back of her jacket, helping to pull her up, then both of them were hauling, pulling, straining to drag Taryn's catch to the surface.

So heavy, far too heavy to be one small Ihran, no matter how solid she was. Taryn didn't give up. It had to be Orla; it couldn't be anyone else.

Lightning flashed and snapped, keeping the crowd busy and at bay as Taryn and Vhen staggered, step by difficult, painful step, back towards the shore. The wind screamed in their faces, a gale that buffeted miryhls to and fro above their heads. Thunder snarled, and suddenly Taryn was rising.

"Don't let go!" Vhen shouted over the roaring weather, and Taryn tightened her slack grip, shaking water from her eyes as the ground grew further away.

Silver claws clutched her waist and Taryn breathed a sigh of relief. Rhiddyl. Well, of course, who else? For all that the Rift Riders revered Maegla, even the goddess would struggle to conjure a storm out of a clear night sky. Not Rhiddyl. She was kin Tempestfury Clan Skystorm, lightning was in her veins.

With the dragon's help, Taryn and Vhen clung to their prize and slowly, surely, dragged Orla out of the black water. Her face was pale, her eyes closed, and she neither gasped nor coughed as she cleared the surface.

Dear gods, please don't let her be dead, Taryn prayed silently as Rhiddyl flapped her great wings, rising higher, until all of Orla cleared the water. A thick mass of weed clung to the Ihran's legs, holding her back, trying to drag her away.

"No," Taryn snarled, shifting her grip, hand over hand, until she pulled Orla into her arms. Vhen copied, the two of them hugging Orla between them, while Rhiddyl snarled above them.

"I don't think so," the dragon rumbled, tucking her three friends into the crook of her elbow and spreading her silver claws.

Lightning snapped, claws flashed and something in the water screamed.

Locking one arm around Orla's waist and the other around Vhen's neck, Taryn held onto her friends as Rhiddyl gave a triumphant growl, bent her long neck and sank her teeth into the weeds.