Free Branded by Ana J. Phoenix Page B

harder: the distance to the ground, or the sight of the bloody stage.
    Blind Guy was wriggling in his clutches as if he actually wanted down too. No way Asher was letting him. Reluctantly, he looked at the stage again. Nausea rising, he flew higher. It was too late. He couldn’t save anyone.

     
     
     
     

Chapter 9 - Fried Chicken
     
     
    Asher raced out of the city, needing to get away from the freaks fast. Angry cries rang through the air. The fuckers were chasing him.
    From the corner of his eyes he saw winged creatures moving in the sky. Weapons gleamed in the sunlight. An arrow whizzed by his ears.
    The tiny thing couldn't hurt him, but he still had live cargo hanging on his claws, and fuck if he was witnessing another death today. Diving a little deeper, he went faster. The transformation was hard on his magic resources, and he didn't have much time before he would run dry.
    Beneath him, the forest thinned out into wide open plains. Useless for cover. He had to press on. The barren land ended in a chain of mountains. That’s where he had to get before transforming back.
    A battle cry rang through the air and more arrows soared into his vision. Asher looked back over his shoulder. The attackers seemed like a cross between giant birds and women. Harpies, or whatever else those were called. Three of them.
    Taking a deep breath he focused back on the mountains.
    The finish line was still a ways away, but his powers were running out.
    You can’t go down here!
    But he had to. Or they would crash. Adrenaline rushed through Asher’s blood, kept him from thinking as he dove, trying to cover a little more distance.
    It was too hard. The transformation drew too much power. Trying to keep it up was like trying to hold up two tons of weight. And ten feet above ground, Asher gave in. The relief was instantaneous as his wings disappeared, he let go of Blind Guy, and his body reverted back, becoming smaller. He was fully human again by the time he met up with the rocky plains.
    Collision hurt, but it couldn’t be as bad as being executed. Couldn’t be as bad as what he’d seen.
    They cut their fucking heads off.
    Asher’s mind reeled with the thought even as he scrambled to stand, blinking against the dizziness. In this state, he was more than powerless.
    Luckily, Blind Guy was up on his feet and looking ready to fry some chicken. The head of an arrow had bored itself into his arm. Blind Guy ripped it out and threw it aside without flinching. Asher had never seen him quite like that. And though this wasn’t the time for it, he couldn’t say that it wasn’t at least a little hot.
    The harpies didn’t land, and Asher didn’t know how Blind Guy located them, but he did. The speed and accuracy of his attacks must have surprised them as he hit the first two with whips of fire before the third swerved to dodge. Asher was just waiting for smoke to come out of Blind Guy’s ears.
    “You want to kill me?” he asked. “You want to fucking kill me? Just come and try.”
    Something smelled burned. Asher looked at the singed feathers of the first two harpies. They rose higher in the air, all three of them circling, talking in high pitched sounds among themselves.
    “Fucking scavengers,” Blind Guy muttered. And here, Asher had always thought he’d be the one to eventually flip Blind Guy’s rage switch.
    Above them, the harpies raised their bows and, like school bullies, targeted the weak one: Asher.
    “Fuck.” Asher jumped back as three arrows nailed themselves into the ground where he’d just stood. Another barrage kept him running. Looking back, he saw Blind Guy raise his hand and shoot blasts of fire at the harpies as they were distracted. Maybe they’d thought they were too high up to be hit, but Blind Guy seemed happy to prove them wrong.
    The harpies cried as one, and took off in the direction of the city. Asher exhaled as they vanished into the distance.
    “That was pretty cool,” he said, commenting on Blind