That was what Vessa had smelled like.
The heavy canvas billowed, and through the opening, I saw the maps of Oak Ambler that had been brought to the bedchamber earlier fly through the air like birds made of parchment.
“Damn it,” I gasped, racing forward in the blast of thunder that followed. My sock-covered feet slipped over the stone floors as I darted past the chairs. I grasped a map and then another as slips of parchment whipped about.
Slamming the maps down on the low table, I grabbed a heavy iron candle holder and placed it so it kept the maps safe. Wind spun through the chamber, throwing the doors open as bolts of light continued ripping across the sky, one after another, each charging the air. The eather in my chest and my blood…it started to vibrate—
I looked down as the table under my hands began to tremble. Across from me, the table used for private dining shook, rattling the pitchers and empty glasses on the top. Chairs scraped across the floor, toppling over behind me as the rumble of thunder came from above and below.
An outline of a figure filled the chamber’s opening as lightning lit the sky, illuminating Naill’s familiar features. “Are you all right?” he demanded.
“I think so!” I shouted over the rumbling. “Are you?”
“I will—” The manor shuddered, causing Naill to throw out his arms to steady himself. “I will be once the damn earth stops shaking.”
Glancing at the window, I caught a brief glimpse of a darker, winged shadow gliding past. A draken landed outside the manor, its impact barely felt.
“We shouldn’t be in here,” Kieran announced, striding out from the curtained-off section.
I turned, stumbling. In a flash of light, I saw Kieran buttoning the flap on a pair of breeches. “Do you think it’s safer outside?”
“The manor could come down,” he said. “And the last thing I want to be is buried under tons of stone.”
“Not sure that sounds worse than being hit by lightning,” I said.
Kieran said nothing as he stalked past me, grabbing my hand. He kept walking, following Naill. We hurried down the seemingly non-ending hall, out into the storm and the path of a large draken. Naill drew up short as Reaver swept his wings back, tucking them close to his sides.
I spun, seeing the rows of tents housing most of Aylard’s division ripple violently. The draken turned his diamond-shaped head toward the sky. I followed his gaze, my heart stopping as the flashes of light revealed winged shapes.
“What are they doing up there? They’ll be struck by lightning.” Pulling free from Kieran, I charged into the heavy winds toward Reaver. The ground heaved violently, startling me as an entire section rolled like a wave. I wobbled along the unstable ground as dust and dirt exploded into the air. Naill caught my arm as my will swelled through me—the need for them to come down.
Reaver stretched out his neck, letting out a shrill, wavering sound that echoed. He made the call again, and thank the gods, the other draken heeded his order. They started to descend, two and then one more landing around the manor—
A bright flash of light erupted, but it came from below—from inside the manor.
“What the hell?” Naill gasped.
The boom the stream of light made while hitting the sky was deafening and stunning. The bolt arced and then erupted, splitting into several crackling streams of silvery-white light that raced across the entire sky and up into the clouds and the—
The draken.
Someone screamed. I didn’t know if it was me or not as the lightning struck the draken above. The ground heaved, throwing me into Naill. Blinding light washed over the twisting and writhing shapes.
Pain flared in my throat. I was screaming, but I wasn’t the only one. Horror swelled as the draken fell, wings limp and bodies twisting in the wind, slamming into the pines, tents, one after another after another after another—
Then it stopped.
All of it.
The earth ceased its trembling. The lightning vanished, and the clouds scattered, dispersing. The wind cut off. All of it just…halted as if fingers had been snapped. There wasn’t even a breeze.
No draken were in the sky.
Reaver called out again, the sound mournful and low. I heard an answer, wavering and full of anguish.
“No. No. No,” I whispered, pulling free of Naill and walking, then running, toward the nearest collapsed tent.
A nude body lay in the center. I wouldn’t have known it was a draken if not for the patches of dark, charred flesh across the ankles, knees, and every other place there was a joint.