The Steele Wolf (Iron Butterfly #2)(70)

“Joss, fly higher,” I yelled into his ear and pointed up. With a quick command from Joss, Cecili started to climb higher and I vision-searched again until I saw movement, barely discernible against the outcropping of the city.

It looked like one of the farmers that harvested the plants that grew on the underside of the city, but then I realized this person had no harness attached.

“Joss, there!” I screamed and pointed and he flew. It was another thirty seconds before we reached a point where we could see with the human eye what I saw by vision-searching. Flying closer, we saw that a man was gripping various rock outcroppings and was slowly, very slowly trying to climb up the side of the city.

“It’s Kael, he’s alive!” I cried in relief. Somehow Kael was, by sheer strength alone, holding his body weight and scaling the city. But he was exhausted; he had probably been out here all night holding onto the rocks to survive. If he slipped or let go, it was certain death. Only a SwordBrother would have the stamina or the stubbornness to attempt what Kael was doing.

“Hold on, Kael,” Joss yelled, and flew Cecili up and under him.

Kael looked at us in shock and he tried to smile but I could see that the effort was costing him. He was scraped up, bloody, bruised and tired.

“Joss, can Cecili hold all three of us?”

“Not for long, she can’t! But we can’t leave him there. He could fall if I go for help.” But Joss did what he could and flew up practically underneath Kael. Cecili bobbed up and down and I reached up to touch Kael’s back.

“Kael, we are right under you. Give me your hand.” I tried to steady him so that he could release the ledge and grab onto us but Kael’s hands were frozen, his muscles were so strained that he had problems moving. He looked stiff and mechanical releasing the wall and giving me his arm.

“Come on, Kael, I’ve got you,” I said in the calmest voice I could as he turned and viewed the distance between him and the giant bird. No matter how close we flew he was still going to have to jump. There was no way to fly closer without injuring her. Kael looked at me and I felt as if I were drowning in his eyes. There was so much emotion deep inside them and I felt as if I could read his mind. But then the rock Kael was holding onto came loose from the cliff and I could see his eyes widen in surprise as he lost his grip.

“Jump, Kael. Jump!” Joss yelled. And Kael did, despite his sore and stiff muscles, Kael jumped towards the dorabill and landed on his stomach behind me across the bird’s back. There was a struggle as Kael reached for something to hold on to but found nothing and then he started to slide down the side of the dorabill.

I screamed his name and lunged for Kael, grabbing his arm as. His hands grabbed onto mine. The jerk of his weight pulled me down and I started to slide off the dorabill. “Kael!” I grunted as the tears I was crying earlier fell down my chin to land on his face. “Hold on! Don’t let go.”

Joss tried to reach behind him to grab onto Kael but he couldn’t do it and fly Cecili. “Just get us down,” I screamed and Cecili started to descend. But it knocked us around and I was getting pulled further and further sideways. I couldn’t hold him. We were both going to fall. I was going to lose Kael and he knew it. I saw the realization in his eyes.

“Thalia,” Kael called my name softly. “Let me go.”

“No!” I snarled back at him, the way he snarled at me plenty of times before. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You have to or we’re both going to fall.”

“I’m not letting go.” But just then, Cecili hit an updraft and we jerked and I screamed as I fell farther. Joss grabbed my belt to hold me as much as he could into my seat.

“Thalia. If you care for me at all, you will let me go.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I couldn’t live with myself if I were the cause of your death,” Kael argued and before I could reply, he wrenched his hands from my grasp and let go.





Chapter 28



“Kael, no!” I screamed and it was just like before when he fell. “JOSS! HELP HIM!”

Joss reached out his hand and I saw him glow with power. All of a sudden the speck of black that was Kael’s falling figure disappeared through the mists. Cecili screamed and flew sideways as Joss, drained and sick from using so much power, collapsed forwards, startling the dorabill. Joss was unconscious.

Grabbing Joss and holding him in his seat I leaned forward around him and tried to grab Cecili’s neck. She was panicking, with the floppy dead weight on her back and the inconsistent directions I was giving her. I didn’t know how to guide her.

“Whoa, girl. Steady, girl,” I called as if I were talking to a horse. When that didn’t work I tried to force a mind connection that I had done with Faraway and the wolf. It worked and I was instantly dizzy as everything came into focus. I tried to show her mind what I wanted. Cecili’s flying steadied and we were still descending at a very fast rate. She let out a screech right before we landed and she stumbled but recovered.

Joss and I fell from her back into a heap on the ground. I rolled Joss over to check on him. He was breathing, and his color was healthy. Other than being physically exhausted, he was fine.

Jumping up, I scanned the surrounding area to see the dark clothing of Kael farther up the riverbank. Running towards him I fell to my knees and touched his face and his chest to see if he was still breathing. He was. Joss had saved him.