Skyfire by Skye Melki-Wegner Read Free Book Online

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    â€˜Lord Farran wanted to build a strong country. A great country.’ The man pauses. ‘And it’s easier to lure folks here with promises, I’d say, than to strike out and abduct them from their homes.’
    A cold little clench runs down my spine. I think suddenly of King Morrigan and his conscription for the army – of being forced into service at the age of eighteen. Have we fled from one life of slavery into another?
    The man lowers his pistol. He looks around, then drops his voice, as though he’s about to say something illicit. ‘If you’ve any chance of heading back, folks, I’d do it now.’
    I blink. Heading back? Back into Taladia? After all we’ve endured: the deaths, the trauma, the snow and storms and wastelands and the horror of the catacombs …
    No. It’s impossible. King Morrigan’s hunter is still behind us, and we have no hope of slipping back around him. Not on the bare expanse of the plains, where it’s impossible to hide. Besides, even if we miraculously made it back to Taladia, there’s still a price on our heads – and it’s probably quadrupled since our assault on the king’s airbase. Half the army will be on our trail. We’d be shot before we made it five kilometres.
    â€˜We can’t,’ I say. ‘It’s too dangerous. There’s ahunter behind us – and if he finds us, he’ll kill us. We need your help.’
    The man raises an eyebrow. ‘Upset your king, have you?’
    â€˜Something like that.’
    â€˜Well, then,’ he says, holstering the pistol at his hip, ‘my name’s Bastian, and I’m a firestone scout for my clan. And I’d say your best hope is to come with me.’
    Firestone . The word jerks a memory forward: Tindra’s dying words, as she lay crumpled on the rocks.
    I look at the others. We all share a moment of uncertainty, before the answer slips between us like a silent handshake. It’s almost unnerving how well we understand each other now. My crew. My friends.
    â€˜Depends where you’re taking us,’ I say.
    â€˜Back to Silent Peak,’ Bastian says. ‘Back to my home. But we’ve got a damn long way to walk before midnight, so I’d say it’s best to hurry.’
    â€˜Why?’
    A breeze ruffles the clearing.
    â€˜Because my village rests above the earth,’ says Bastian. ‘And at midnight, the earth cannot be trusted.’

Bastian leads us from the sky, gliding overhead to mark our path. From down here, his foxhawk seems no more than a pair of enormous wings, silhouetted by the afternoon light.
    â€˜Are we sure about this?’ Clementine says quietly. The scratches on her face and hands are drying now, but the lines of dark crimson look stark upon her pallid skin.
    â€˜We could make a run for it,’ Teddy says. ‘I mean, he’s basically riding an overgrown chicken-fox, right? I reckon we could –’
    â€˜We can’t outrun it,’ Lukas says. ‘Trust me.’
    â€˜Oh, aren’t you just an optimistic little ray of sunshine?’ Clementine says.
    Lukas raises an eyebrow. ‘I’ve been inside itshead, Clementine. I know how its muscles move, how its wings can beat.’
    We squint back up at the sky again, and I know he’s right. Those massive wings would sweep around in an elegant loop, and there’d be claws and bullets at our backs before we knew what was coming.
    â€˜His people might help us,’ I say. ‘And that hunter would have a hard job sneaking up on us now – the foxhawk’d see him coming miles off.’
    â€˜But he gave us the option to leave,’ Clementine says. ‘To return to Taladia. If we asked him nicely, perhaps he’d give us another chance to –’
    Maisy places a gentle hand on her arm. ‘Clem, we can’t go back. Not now.’
    Clementine sucks down a harsh breath. Then