Free Sorceress Hunting (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 3) by Lisa Blackwood

hurt,” she uttered. The stupid remark exited
her mouth before she could stop it.
    Gregory merely rolled his eyes at her. “They are flesh
wounds. A lucky round which made it past my defensive magic.”
    Lillian instantly knew what he hadn’t said. The bullet
had only made it through because he’d concentrated the vast majority of his
magic around her. The shadow spells were still coiling around them, but they
were fading. Either Gregory was weakening, which she doubted, or he had another
idea.
    “My magic hides us from view. Unfortunately, this long
grass still shows where we’ve been. In my haste, I didn’t weave a spell to
conceal the evidence of our passage until too late. Now they know the rough
area where to concentrate their attention, and fire.”
    She glanced over her shoulder as she ran. Their mad
dash for freedom was creating a trail through the tall grass even a toddler
could follow. Ahead a marshy bog was meandering its way around the back acreage
of the community center. There’d be no easy way to hide their path. Even with
magic.
    More gun fire and a small explosion of grass and dirt
erupted alongside Gregory, forcing him to leap sideways. He shouldered her in
the side, steering her into a new trajectory. For once Lillian was not
complaining about his overprotective tendencies.
    “I think it’s time for your first flying lesson.”
    “What?”
    “Our shadow magic will be much more effective against
the dark sky. There will be no trail for them….”
    Again Gregory drove her into a sharp turn. A half
second later the land where they would have been exploded in a cloud of debris.
    “Damn, I think that was an RPG. They mean business.”
    Gregory didn’t even miss a beat. “Ahead, when we reach
that small rise, spread your wings and allow your stride to power you more
upward than forward. Jump like you mean to clear a fallen tree trunk and spread
your wings. Ride the air. It will come naturally to you.”
    “I’m not ready!”
    But the rise—not much more than an ant hill really—was
upon them and when Gregory jumped into the air, she did too, squealing in
terror. Yes, she learned, a gargoyle could squeal.
    Her wings, true to Gregory’s word, stretched wide,
capturing the air and propelled her body up higher into the sky with each
stroke. Her wings might know what to do, but her legs churned and thrashed like
they were still hoping to find something with more traction than the air.
    Gregory maneuvered under her, putting himself between
her and the ground as they gained more altitude.
    For another whole ten seconds of pure panic, she
thought she’d entangle their wings and send them both spiraling to their
deaths. Blessedly that didn’t happen. Instead, her body and wings began to
mimic his motions in the air.
    He’d been firmly in her mind the entire time, but her
blind panic had kept her from detecting him.
    “That’s it. Follow my lead.” His confidence washed
over her senses. “You’re doing fine. We will be able to land soon, but not
here. We are over solid forest at the moment. There’s a road a little distance
ahead, which should be empty this time of night. We’ll land there and make our
way home through the forest.”
    Home sounded good. The shelter of the forest sounded
nice too.
    She’d settle for either at this point.
    “I just want to say this was an absolutely terrible
time for my first flight lesson.”
    Gregory chuckled. “All in all, I thought it went
rather well. We are free. We don’t have too many holes in our hides, and you
did actually make it into the air under your own power.” He pulled ahead and
then performed an aerial maneuver that would make a stunt pilot hold his
breath.
    “Show off.”
    In a blink, he was flying next to her again.
    She concentrated on beating her wings and not falling
out of the sky. They flew another two kilometers before she saw the road ahead.
    “Oh, thank heavens,” she hissed, feeling a strain in
her wings and shoulders.