His eyes flick to the sky. “We’ll never make it. She’s moving too fast.”
I’m afraid to look up, almost cringing when I do. Her features are recognizable now. There’s no doubt the monster is Sybaris, which means Alpha Fisa is driving her telepathically. When this moment came, if it came, I always thought I’d scream, or run, or panic, but the closer she gets, the more dazed and numb I become. My thoughts grind to a halt. I feel rooted in place, blank. I think I’ve discovered the true measure of terror.
“My Gods,” Griffin says on an exhale, his tone part horror, part awe. I can’t blame him. Sybaris’s upper body is that of a beautiful woman, albeit huge. Silky blonde hair trails behind her in a long wave. Inhuman, her lower body is covered in reptilian scales that run the spectrum from sea green to shiny black. Her dark wings are sinew-veined and talon-tipped, smacking the air with a sinister pounding. Powerful hind legs end in massive feet with sharp, hooked claws, each one the size of my entire foot. I’ve seen her pop a man Griffin’s size. To her, it was like crushing a bug.
“Alpha Fisa sent Sybaris for me.” I sound scared, which scares me even more. “She wants me alive. Separate from me, and there’s a chance she won’t kill you.” I jerk my reins out of Griffin’s hand. “Go!” I yell.
I don’t want my horse to die, either. He’s strong and steady and seems to like me. I was just getting around to naming him. I was going to call him Panotii because of his freakishly large ears, just like those elusive tribesmen in the north. I slip off his back and start running.
Griffin curses and gallops after me.
I stop and turn, drawing my sword. “Back off, idiot!”
“I won’t leave you!” he thunders.
“Neither will we,” Kato says, skidding to a halt on my other side.
Oh Gods! They’re all going to die.
Sybaris shrieks, and I shake my head, trying to dislodge the more disturbing sound overlapping her eerie call, an echo of triumphant laughter only I can hear.
“Can we fight her?” Griffin asks.
I push Andromeda out of my head with a brutal mental shove, hoping I make her ears bleed. “Sybaris is enormous. She breathes fire. She devours people.” I shake my head, my eyes as huge as throwing discs. “No.”
“Can you control her?”
Does he have that much faith in me? “I said I might be able to drive a Dragon. I’ve never done it, and Andromeda’s magic is stronger than mine. She’s had years of practice. There’s no way I can break her hold on Sybaris.”
He looks up, his jaw clenching. Sybaris’s wings flap, immense and leathery, two ominous shadows stretching across the cerulean sky. His gaze drops back to mine. “You could try.”
My heart tumbles in my chest. “I will. But only if you four back off. I mean it. If you come anywhere near me, I swear to the Gods I’ll jump on her back and tell her to take me home.”
Did I just say home? I feel sick.
Griffin looks like he’s about to leap off Brown Horse and tackle me. “I thought you weren’t part of the team! That it’s idiotic to sacrifice yourself for someone else.”
“It is!” I snap, looking at each man in turn. It’s probably the last time I’ll see them.
“Cat—” Flynn starts.
“Shut up!” I say. “And…don’t die.”
I run. I leave them and the horses, and I run faster than I’ve ever run in my life. Sybaris swerves, adjusting her course to follow me. I lead her as far from the Sintans as I can before she cuts me off in an explosion of dust and fire. I skid to a stop and draw on the power inside me. Desma’s colors burst over the Dragon’s scales along with Otis’s fire whip and a scorching blast of Chimera’s Fire.
Sybaris dances away from the flames, unscathed, but her eyes turn wary, and she halts her progress in my direction. A voice with Andromeda’s inflection floats from her gargantuan mouth. “Child of Fisa, I have found you.”
“I won’t go back!”
“Who are your companions?”
Trust Alpha Fisa to go straight for the jugular. Andromeda can’t see us. She connects to Sybaris’s thoughts, not her eyes. All she knows is that Sybaris sees a woman who is me, four men, and five horses.
“Sintans,” I say, watching them inch closer out of the corner of my eye. “No one.”
Andromeda has always believed that Fisans are the gift of the Gods, Tarvans are tolerable, and Sintans are pond scum. Apart from the ex-royals and a few select nobles, they don’t have enough magic.