grasp, swiftly approaching the upper window. Too terrified to move, lest I startle the bird, I clamped down on my urge to cry out in alarm. It felt much longer, but in moments we were outside.
My first glimpse of the stars in a week stilled me completely. Even with the castle and gardens speeding by below us, the relief I felt at being free chased away any fear within me. I was disrupted only when Ro released me mid-air, swooping down beneath me to catch me on his back. I clung to his feathers, the wind streaming through my hair as I adjusted to my new position. My heart raced with the thrill of escape and the dread of plummeting to my death, but I kept my eyes trained on the twinkling dots of light filling the night sky.
I was free.
Chapter 8
Ro didn’t land immediately. Instead, I clung to his back for what must’ve been at least an hour. My fingers ached from holding on for so long, though my fear of falling kept my hands locked in place. We cleared the edges of the floating castle grounds and banked downwards, past the layer of clouds, and the world I knew came into view once more. It was dark, but I could tell the land below wasn’t the barren plains I left from. What little I could make out by moonlight looked like trees and increasingly more rugged terrain. Even in the dark, the peaks of a mountain range loomed like frosted shadows against the night sky.
While I wasn’t sure I liked our path, I also wasn’t in much of a position to complain. However, if Ro was taking me from a cage to an inescapable trap, I’d be incredibly upset with him.
The wind chilled more and more the closer we got to the mountains, each blast laced with the bite of ice as we wound our way past the smaller peaks. Finally, as my knuckles stung with the beginnings of frostbite, Ro curved to the left around a large outcropping, heading for the tallest of the mountains I could see in any direction. He made no move to turn, even when the outlines of craggy boulders and jutting stones became visible. I tensed, bracing for impact as the snowy rocks drew closer and closer.
Without warning, Ro dove straight down. My stomach leapt into my throat, choking off my scream. The face of the mountain sped by in a blur as we followed it, but I couldn’t even shut my eyes against the scathing wind tearing my lids back. A black hole opened on a ledge directly below us, Ro plunging inside it moments after the sight of it registered. We shot through a narrow tunnel, our speed carrying us down and curving in such slight increments that I hardly noticed it until I found myself horizontal again. It occurred to me that my grip on Ro’s feathers might be painful, but I didn’t dare to loosen it in the least.
The passage emptied out into a wide cavern deep in the heart of the mountain. Our progress slowed, easing to lazy circles as Ro descended to the bottom. Peeking over the edge of a wing, the most curious thing presented itself. A leafless tree grew from the center of the bedrock floor, its pure white branches reaching into the air like skeletal arms. A strange glow emanated from it, illuminating the entire cavern in a ghostly light, though it wasn’t so bright that it hurt my eyes. The tingle at the back of my skull was the same as I’d felt when I studied the beans before, and it spread down my neck and back with a shiver.
The entire place was filled with magic.
Ro landed gracefully near the base of the enormous tree. As I slid off his back, my eyes drifted up the trunk, noting it was easily the same size as the door to Lady Oria’s castle, if not larger. Immense wonder filled me, and I hardly noticed when Ro flapped his wings and took flight, coming to rest on a branch halfway up. My gaze returned to my immediate surroundings, and I jumped when I saw what grew around the roots.
Small pink flowers bloomed from the cracks in the rock where the tree had split it, a portion of them already gone to seed, while others had yet to open their
My first glimpse of the stars in a week stilled me completely. Even with the castle and gardens speeding by below us, the relief I felt at being free chased away any fear within me. I was disrupted only when Ro released me mid-air, swooping down beneath me to catch me on his back. I clung to his feathers, the wind streaming through my hair as I adjusted to my new position. My heart raced with the thrill of escape and the dread of plummeting to my death, but I kept my eyes trained on the twinkling dots of light filling the night sky.
I was free.
Chapter 8
Ro didn’t land immediately. Instead, I clung to his back for what must’ve been at least an hour. My fingers ached from holding on for so long, though my fear of falling kept my hands locked in place. We cleared the edges of the floating castle grounds and banked downwards, past the layer of clouds, and the world I knew came into view once more. It was dark, but I could tell the land below wasn’t the barren plains I left from. What little I could make out by moonlight looked like trees and increasingly more rugged terrain. Even in the dark, the peaks of a mountain range loomed like frosted shadows against the night sky.
While I wasn’t sure I liked our path, I also wasn’t in much of a position to complain. However, if Ro was taking me from a cage to an inescapable trap, I’d be incredibly upset with him.
The wind chilled more and more the closer we got to the mountains, each blast laced with the bite of ice as we wound our way past the smaller peaks. Finally, as my knuckles stung with the beginnings of frostbite, Ro curved to the left around a large outcropping, heading for the tallest of the mountains I could see in any direction. He made no move to turn, even when the outlines of craggy boulders and jutting stones became visible. I tensed, bracing for impact as the snowy rocks drew closer and closer.
Without warning, Ro dove straight down. My stomach leapt into my throat, choking off my scream. The face of the mountain sped by in a blur as we followed it, but I couldn’t even shut my eyes against the scathing wind tearing my lids back. A black hole opened on a ledge directly below us, Ro plunging inside it moments after the sight of it registered. We shot through a narrow tunnel, our speed carrying us down and curving in such slight increments that I hardly noticed it until I found myself horizontal again. It occurred to me that my grip on Ro’s feathers might be painful, but I didn’t dare to loosen it in the least.
The passage emptied out into a wide cavern deep in the heart of the mountain. Our progress slowed, easing to lazy circles as Ro descended to the bottom. Peeking over the edge of a wing, the most curious thing presented itself. A leafless tree grew from the center of the bedrock floor, its pure white branches reaching into the air like skeletal arms. A strange glow emanated from it, illuminating the entire cavern in a ghostly light, though it wasn’t so bright that it hurt my eyes. The tingle at the back of my skull was the same as I’d felt when I studied the beans before, and it spread down my neck and back with a shiver.
The entire place was filled with magic.
Ro landed gracefully near the base of the enormous tree. As I slid off his back, my eyes drifted up the trunk, noting it was easily the same size as the door to Lady Oria’s castle, if not larger. Immense wonder filled me, and I hardly noticed when Ro flapped his wings and took flight, coming to rest on a branch halfway up. My gaze returned to my immediate surroundings, and I jumped when I saw what grew around the roots.
Small pink flowers bloomed from the cracks in the rock where the tree had split it, a portion of them already gone to seed, while others had yet to open their
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