Unsurprisingly, Thorrin caught up. Vesper surged to meet him but Thorrin’s much larger dragon, though it didn’t cut through the wind as easily, gained more distance with each flap of its wings. Thorrin and Kyrith guided them out over the ocean and the crashing tides below. That’s when it truly sank in exactly how bloody high they were. An easy fall to a very quick, very bone crushing death.
Kaida threw her head back and roared, swept away in the flight and wind in her wings. And she began to teeter from side to side.
“Slow down,” Vesper barked. His grip tightened, but it wasn’t enough. Not with the ground so fucking far below.
HisShadowheartonly picked up speed and spun as if she sought the space between the sky and the mortal heavens.
But as Kaida pushed and flapped her wings like a feral bat, Vesper’s hold faltered and his arms clung to the protruding scales on her neck. His boots skidded as he scrambled, thevertical ascent sending him sliding back from his seat between her shoulder blades.
“Kaida!” he protested. A warning. A plea for her to slow down.
But it was too late.
His shoulder hyper-extended from his old injury and his arms gave out.
He tumbled from Kaida’s back.
A scream tore from his throat and his stomach lurched, left completely behind. He froze, fear seizing his limbs. The ground grew closer, rose to meet him, and he caught Kaida’s wide red eyes as he flailed through the open air.
Vesper reached toward her as she dove. Her wings tucked tight, but the distance grew too far. He stretched, as if he could summon her to his hand, like she was truly an extension of him, and he saw through her eyes.
Saw him fall. Felt her terror. Held her remorse.
But her regret wouldn’t do him much good if he was a splattered mess of flesh on the ground below.
Fuck. Fuck. Fucking fucks on a fuck.
Seconds, minutes, hours, his fall stretched endlessly.
At some point, while he partook in his bloody fucking plummet to his death, Thorrin and Kyrith began to barrel toward him. The dragon’s strange glowing eyes locked on Vesper with precision, but he was too far away. Too far to catch him in time.
Kaida flapped her wings. Her neck strained as she drew near.
A mighty claw swooped.
Missed.
Fuck—
Another attempt. Another miss.
But on the third, they closed around him and scratched his ribs. Vesper hollered a curse as they tore at him, but thankfully didn’t break the skin. When Kaida’s grip loosened, Vesperbreathed a momentary sigh of relief, a second where he relished in the fact he would not die today.
But then she tossed him in the air and ducked. Vesper thrashed, sure he would tumble from her back again, but he struck her harsh, pebbled spine with enough force to expel all the air from his lungs.
And also sufficiently crushed his balls. Vesper groaned and leaned his forehead onto hisShadowheartsback. He grit his teeth through the sharp, searing slice of pain surging from his groin into his gut like a punch of spikes.
Was he thankful he hadn’t died?
Yes.
Did it hurt like a bitch?
Absolutely.
The moment he regained rational thought and could breathe again, he hollered, “Land, Kaida. Land,now!”
Kaida banked and her claws sank into the sandy terrain of a small shore. Bloodlace stirred into the air, clouding Vesper's vision.