Air screams past Corva’s ears as she plummets back to the ground. She splays out her arms and legs, trying to slow down and control her descent.

No. Pull back in. You need to dive faster.

Is he trying to get me killed? She looks to her shoulder, but can’t see Zeke. She knows he’s there, though. She can feel his little forepaws gripping on with all the strength they can muster. She tries to yell out at him, ask him why, but the wind either tears the words from her mouth or shoves them back into her face each time she tries. No use. How in the world am I going to talk to him?

To her side, she catches sight of a thin black bar shoot by her. The scythe! She reaches out to grab it, not wanting Thegn to have an angle to take a swipe at her with it.

Don’t touch it! It’ll pull him here!

It’s too late. The moment she grabs the scythe, Thegn is right there, his broken grin showing through the loose skin flapping on his face. He wraps his long, spindly fingers around her hand and clamps down so she can’t let go again. A network of callouses grate the back of her hand like coarse sand. She tries to pull free, but he’s locked in.

Thegn’s wings beat down, driving them upward again. As her body swings downward, he raises his knee again, trying to deliver another blow to her ribs.

This time, though, she bends her elbows, pulling her body up and preventing it from swinging as low as it had previously. Now, rather than connecting with her ribs again, the top of Thegn’s knee only finds the point of her elbow. She can feel the muscles and connective tissue above his knee split at the point of impact. Thegn doesn’t make a sound, though. Not one that she can hear, at least. She chances a moment to look up at his face.

He’s still looking at her. Still smiling.

He changes direction again, spinning hard toward one side while twisting his scythe the opposite way. Corva is caught off guard, and she pays for it by receiving a knee to her kidney and an elbow across the side of her head, just above the temple. Her vision blurs and gets dark around the edges. Her arms straighten and she feels her grip slacken on the scythe.

She shakes her head and blinks, struggling to avoid blacking out.

Corva, you’ve got to free your hand. We’ve got to get back to the ground.

Her head swims, but she reactively nods to Zeke’s words in her mind. Thegn’s hold of her hand on his scythe tightens as he changes direction again. This time, though, she manages to swing her body with the turn, adding enough momentum for her to swing her legs around and plant her feet flat on his chest.

She pushes with her legs as hard as she can, kicking Thegn upward and freeing her hand from his grip. Roughly aiming her body toward Bule, she straightens her legs, points her toes, and brings her arms tightly against her sides. Wind screams by and the air beats her face, forcing tears to her eyes as she bullets groundward. She feels a tug on her dreadlocks. Four small paws climb from behind her shoulder to the back of her head. One of them reaches around and touches her on the forehead.

Corva flinches, remembering how utterly incapacitated Zeke had left her the last time he put his paw on her forehead.

Don’t.

Zeke spreads the fingers of his paw, flattening his palm against the center of her brow. She feels a warm sensation tingle its way over the surface of her skin, despite the coolness of the air rushing by.

Close your eyes.