Weysh screeched her name and dove after Noriago. The rest happened in seconds. Noriago hovered in the sky, his chest swelled and glowing, ready to let loose with fire. Weysh slammed into him, sending him spinning away in a spiral of flame. Weysh dove for the bridge, then roared as searing pain traveled up his tail, wrenching his spine. Noriago had latched on to his tail and now, beating his wings, he fairly whipped Weysh around and flung him in the opposite direction. Weysh heard an eruption of flame and turned back to see that the forested plateau at the other side of the bridge—the very place Yenni had run to for safety—was also on fire.

Before Weysh could even think to go to her Noriago was on him.

I want you to see! I want you to see! he screeched over and over as he flapped and snapped at Weysh. You don’t deserve it! Not you! Not you!

Get out of my way! Weysh roared back.

He sank his teeth in wherever he could, scraping off scales, mania taking him over. And when Noriago howled and Weysh tasted blood, he relished it. Bloodlust and vengeance crowded out his training and he completely forgot to protect his wings. Noriago saw his opening and slashed with his claws, ripping through the tough membrane. Pain sizzled through Weysh even as Noriago struck again, making another, searing slash in the same wing. Weysh tried to stay aloft, but his wing simply wouldn’t obey him and catch the air. And it hurt. Every flap of his injured wing was agony. And so he tumbled, spinning on one wing, doing all he could to aim for the platform with Yenni. He even locked eyes with her as he crashed straight through the bridge, sending rope and planks tumbling with him.

Yenni screamed. Oh Mothers and Fathers, please Mothers and Fathers—to see Weysh falling from the sky, exactly like her nightmare, and her helpless to stop it, was enough to drive her mad, to make her forget the flames threatening to curdle and melt her flesh from her bones.

“Watcher above!” Carmenna gasped. “Weysh!”

“Don’t you call his name,” Yenni snarled, even as she peered desperately over the edge of the plateau, but she must have said it in Yirba, as Carmenna seemed confused more than anything.

Please, please, please Mother Shu. I love him, I love him, I love him.

Mother Shu answered her prayer. Weysh’s dragon call sounded from the darkness below.

Yenni! I’m coming!

“Where are you?!” she shouted back. Her eyes adjusted to the dark and she caught a glint of moonlight on scales. Weysh clung to the side of the huge pillar, climbing toward them. But Noriago spotted him at the same time. He roared and dove for Weysh.