Wings Read Online Free PDF Page A

looked at him with a pained grin, sweat streaming down his face as he labored.
    “Don't humor me, boy. I am not a fool.” He shook his head at Anyar's shamed flush. “You are
    doing your best, Anyar. Don't take my words as anything but camaraderie, all right?”
    The young guard nodded, then glanced back, his eyes widening. “They are coming.” His
    voice shook a little, despite his best efforts.
    “Horses or flying?” Tanyan clipped out.
    “Horses, sir,” Anyar reported, steadying himself with the commanding tone.
    “They will only fly if they think they cannot get us down, and right now I am low enough
    that their darts can reach me, so—”
    Anyar looked at him askance. “Darts, sir?”

    20
    J. C. Owens

    “That is how they got me in the courtyard. I fought them, but the drugs…” He shrugged
    and flinched at his own foolishness at such a move.
    He looked at Anyar with a frown. “If they get me, you have to stay out of range, you have
    to go.”
    Anyar met his eyes with a gleam of stubbornness in the depths that Tanyan had not noticed
    in the boy before.
    “I will not leave you, sir. We are in this together, and together we get out or not at all.”
    “I command—” Tanyan gasped, his right wing faltering completely as a stab of pain from
    his ribs rendered him speechless. He plummeted immediately and hoped that he could at least
    find the strength to glide to the ground rather than crash. He was not sure he could survive such a
    blow as that.
    Suddenly a body was beneath him, wings under his own, steadying him.
    “Hold to me, sir. Let me take your weight.”
    “Impossible…” Tanyan gasped but, dazed, did as the boy asked.
    The immense black wings drummed harder, and to Tanyan's complete amazement, they
    began to rise in the air. He folded his own wings back against his body, so as to not foul Anyar's
    wing beats and laid his head on the boy's back.
    He could feel the boy's efforts, the muscles under his chest flexed powerfully, and he
    marveled.

    Vanyae watched in amazement, for the moment too astounded to even swear at the fact
    that his quarry had once more gone out of reach of their darts.
    “Your pet is full of surprises,” Serin remarked grimly. “Will his next trick be to disappear?
    We have to get Tanyan back. Everything depends on that.”
    Vanyae grimaced. Was there a slight hint of accusation in his commander second's tone? If
    Vanyae had not suggested taking the boy, then Tanyan would not have been able to escape.
    He spared a glare for his companion, then motioned to one of the men carrying a dart gun.
    “Give me one of those.” It was handed over as Vanyae drew his horse to a halt. He slung it over

    Wings
    21

    his shoulder, then stood on the saddle and leaped into the air. He heard Serin follow suit, and
    perhaps several others, but he was too intent to look back.
    He was well-known as the fastest flier in Nazar, and the boy would soon discover that.

    Anyar was focused utterly on his task, but his ear was tuned to the sound of wing beats.
    Now that they were too high for the darts, the Nazarians would have to take to the skies, and
    their superior numbers would be Anyar's downfall. Hampered as he was with Tanyan's weight,
    he would not be able to fight.
    As though his thoughts were echoed in his commander's mind, Tanyan's voice sounded in
    his ear, harsh with pain.
    “You have to set me down, Anyar. You cannot fight them this way.”
    Realizing the reality of the situation, the young guard swore under his breath. He looked
    down at the plains beneath, desperately trying to find something, someplace that he could
    defend.
    Far below, a river turned back on itself and formed a small island in the middle. He closed
    his wings and dived, lips thin with determination.
    “Hold on, Commander,” he yelled over the wind, then pulled from the dive hard, managing
    by a miracle not to stumble as he landed.
    Tanyan had braced himself and timed his own landing so he took the weight off