Hunted Sorcery (Jon Oklar Book 2), B.T. Narro [digital book reader txt] 📗

I felt him conjure around his body, but it had practically torn my mind asunder during my previous attempt to stop Cason from flying away. An attempt to stop Pearson would probably injure me in such a way that I would be out of the fight for good, and it might not even work.

There was only one thing I could do instead as he was about to take off. I sprinted at Pearson’s back, jumping at him and wrapping my arms and legs around his body just before he shot into the air.

I felt weightless. I couldn’t breathe for a moment, the air too intense as we arced like an arrow shot at the afternoon sun.

We started to slow for just a moment, then there was another burst of speed as he forced the ring of dteria around him to fly higher and farther. I could feel it beneath my thighs as I had my legs wrapped and locked around his stomach. It would’ve been awkward to be clutching my worst enemy in such a way, but I was too busy trying to hold on so I didn’t fall to my death.

I couldn’t believe the power of this man, whether he be demigod or not, as we flew out of the city and toward the mountains before we started to descend.

He shot a snarling look at me over his shoulder. I was certain that if an unconscious Cason wasn’t taking up his arms, Pearson would’ve tossed me away by now.

“You’re going to regret this,” he said.

Shit, maybe he was right. What the hell did I hope to accomplish?

I considered letting go to land away from him, but I was pretty sure I would crack open my head no matter how hard I tried to save myself with dvinia. I could only clutch Pearson tighter with the assumption he would have to save Cason and himself with a slowed landing.

Sure enough, a thick blanket of dteria swept us forward, eliminating our downward momentum and sending us deeper into the mountains. But soon we started to fall fast once again. At the last moment, dteria scooped us upward as we were about to hit the ground. Then it suddenly dispersed.

It was just a short drop to the ground then. I pushed Pearson away from me in the air, hoping he might come down on top of Cason and at least injure the man. But I struck the ground pretty hard myself as my head hit a patch of grass atop this mountain hill.

A bit dazed, I couldn’t get up before Pearson was trudging toward me with a furious look in his eyes. I noticed Cason on the ground behind him, slowly sitting up with confusion.

I started to take out my sword from its sheath, but Pearson backhanded the air in front of me. Hit with dteria, I flipped backward violently.

I couldn’t tell just how far or high he had thrown me, but the ground was not stopping my fall.

I straightened out as best I could to stop flipping, only to find out that the rocky ground was already right there! I had no time to catch myself.

I could only protect my head so I wouldn’t die as I was about to hit the rocks hard, but a sickening swing of momentum saved me. It swept me upward into the air again.

Nauseated, I couldn’t get my feet beneath me in time. I came down face first, but at least it was on another patch of grass.

I didn’t know why Pearson had saved me, but I was too disoriented to put up a good fight. I started to scamper backward away from where I felt him to be, but I stopped when I realized it wasn’t Pearson who’d saved me. It was a familiar woman.

She was tall, nearly my height, not an ounce of fat across her toned body. Her hair was a luminous blonde, verging on silver. Her eyes were an otherworldly blue, not a freckle on her face. She exuded a powerful presence, standing over me with purpose. She had on just a sleeveless tunic of boiled leather, with ample curves underneath. Suddenly, I recognized her as the woman who had appeared atop the apartments after the battle in the castle. She had jumped over the back wall and eluded the king’s guards.

She spoke with a smooth and confident voice, “Stay here and wait for the rest of your army.” Then she took off into the air and landed on top of the rocky hill from where I had just been thrown. I soon lost sight of her as she walked forward, seemingly to face Pearson and Cason.

I was quick to heal my minor injuries as I glanced around and tried to figure out what to do. We weren’t more than a few miles from the city. I could see a large group of soldiers coming toward us through the opening in the city wall, but they were far. Worse yet, my allies on horseback would have to dismount from their animals when they reached this rocky terrain.

I couldn’t let this woman—or demigod, I was beginning to realize—face Pearson and Cason on her own while I stood here and did nothing. There wasn’t much of a path up the rocky slope, forcing me to use my hands as much as my feet most of the way up. Fortunately, it wasn’t too high of a climb, and soon I had arrived.

“I knew you have been involved,” the woman was telling Pearson.

I didn’t know if Pearson had healed away Cason’s drowsiness, if that was even possible, or if it had simply faded. But Cason now stood just behind the man I firmly believed was a demigod, and I would’ve bet a lot of coin that this woman was one as well.

Cason’s broken chains were on the ground nearby, as well as a rock that had probably been used by Pearson to smash them.

“We made an oath,” the woman continued.

“Our father left. There is no