I slashed again. My claws caught, ripping out a mass of whatever I’d connected to. Her hold loosened enough for me to roll free. I hooked both legs under her and flipped her over the top of me. She landed on her back, too slow to get her hands up, and I didn’t hesitate to dive across her and start laying into her face, slashing at her until I had her teetering on the edge of consciousness. Then I snapped her neck and threw her off the side.

Yeah, I was pissed now, and it was about to get fucking bloody if anyone came at me. Well, more bloody. I could still feel the hot pulse of fluid down my back. The deep wounds would bleed for a while, but I’d heal up soon enough. Braxton started to dive, and I’d been on him enough to know what was coming next. Evasive flying. I lowered my aching body down to his back and kind of hugged myself as close as I could. Where I was positioned I didn’t have much to hold onto. The spikes on his tail would have been good, but I wasn’t close enough to them.

He dived faster, swift as the wind, his wings flattened to his side. When he was at an angle where I was seconds from sliding off, his right wing shifted around and I felt a heavy weight descend across my legs. He had me pinned to his back. I could hear blasts of fire, screeches and snapping of jaws, but I couldn’t see much of what was going on.

Eventually he freed my legs. He needed to fly.

Braxton flapped his powerful wings and we were ascending again, following a path along the coastline. On one side I saw a massive body of water, and on the other the never-ending forest. Staring out across the falsely green expanse, I was starting to realize how lucky I was that Braxton was with me. He’d used his dragon nose to scent for the ocean, and I had no doubt that without him I’d have been lost wandering randomly in that forest for weeks.

Was there was more to this world than forest and water?

Spinning about the best I could, there didn’t appear to be any harpies around. Had they retreated or had my dragon taken out the last few? As I had that thought, something huge crashed into the underside of Braxton. He twisted to avoid another attack, and my precarious hold on his scaled back was lost. Both arms flailing, I grabbed for anything but there was nothing.

With a gasp I found myself tumbling backwards, spinning downward toward the ground.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8