Lost Wings

28~ Tangled

Previously:

After the giant birds laid waste to a whole division the enemy, Aiden is missing. Disoriented, Hailey tries to find the village with the help of Zarasa and finds Bree and a team of Aeolian soldiers on the way, sent by Autumn. (Bree made her stay at the Outpost.) Back in the village and despite her fatigue, she convinces Chase and Bree to let her tag along in search for their missing friend.

Chapter 28

Zarasa led us straight towards the clearing. Before we could break through the trees, Bree put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

"You stay here while we investigate."

Chase nodded. "Zarasa will stay with you. We shouldn't be long."

I opened my mouth to protest, but closed it again as the blood curling screams I had heard echoed in my mind once again.

"Fine," I said.

I leaned on a tree trunk while Zarasa sat down next to me and started preening her feathers. Chase and Bree disappeared in the undergrowth.

When they came back a few minutes later, they were both a bit pale. Bree's mouth was pressed into a thin line, and her hand rested on her knife belt.

"No sign of Aiden," she said. Chase kept quiet. "We'll look around. He could have fallen not far from here. Some outlanders may have survived... Even wounded, they're dangerous. You'll stay here with Zarasa."

They were walking away before I could answer.

"This sucks." I told the gryphon.

In answer, she just showed me her back, shaking her wings up before opening them as much as the undergrowth let her.

"I can climb on your back?" I checked that I had understood what she meant. Climbing on a gryphon's back uninvited seemed incredibly stupid, and I had already tested my luck once today.

She shook her wings again.

"Okay, let's go."

As soon as I was on, she was speeding through the trees. I dug my heels into her side and grabbed clumps of thick fur so I wouldn't fall. Finally, she came to a halt.

I looked around. "What is it?"

"Oh, how nice of you to finally show up," a weak voice reached me.

"Aiden?" I called out. "Where are you?"

"Just hangin' out. Look up, stupid."

I lifted my head so fast I cracked something in my neck. Aiden was swinging above me, tangled in a net of in vines and tree branches.

"Aiden! Are you okay?" I looked around for a way to get him down.

"Just splendid, you?" His tone was falsely cheery and did a bad job at hiding his weariness.

I slid off the gryphon. "Zarasa, go get Chase and Bree." She disappeared in the undergrowth. "What happened, Aiden?"

"I was flying back up after the dive - I hadn't even dived that low before I dropped the egg- when something large smacked into me. I went flying, and not in the good way. I think I blacked out. I woke up here. Then you came with Zarasa."

Something came crashing through the trees.

"Aiden? Hailey?" it called.

"Can that thing slow down?" Another voice grumbled.