Free My Soul to Take by Amy Sumida Page B

my concerns for the future possible personality quirks of my boys and focused on my dragon. She wanted to come out but we had to put on a good show and look like we had complete faith in our son. I could only shift if it became obvious that Rian wouldn't fly. The height was such that it should give me enough time to shift, fly up, and catch him. I wasn't too worried... well, maybe a little.
    Arach looked down and saw me, then gave me a wave of reassurance. I waved back and he grinned, holding our little boy out into open air. I swallowed hard as Rian shifted and gave a happy little screech. The crowd of faeries called merrily up to their prince, waving at him encouragingly. Even the Hidden Ones were out, jumping up and down on hooves, claws, and tentacles while they cheered for Rian. Faeries hung from the trees, clung to the sides of the mountain, and sat on each others shoulders to get a better look at their prince's first flight. In the case of our pixies, they were all gathered atop the Fire Kingdom coaches, placed there by red caps both to allow for a better view and to keep them from getting stepped on by distracted fire fey.
    The atmosphere felt joyous, my faeries didn't have a single doubt that Rian would fly. I wished I could feel as certain. Arach drew Rian back, as one does with something they wish to cast out very far, and Rian came in line with his brother. Brevyn cried for his twin, as if sensing that Rian were about to experience something without him. My heart stuttered with that cry, the breath catching in my throat as my blood shivered in my veins. Dexter whimpered.
    As Arach threw our little dragon prince out of the Flight Tower, Brevyn reached for Rian and Rian lurched back for his twin. A baby dragon claw closed around a tiny human wrist and both children went tumbling out of the tower window. Arach's momentum had been altered and instead of being thrown out into safe open air, the boys were now tumbling straight down towards the sloping mountainside. Screams erupted from the watching faeries and Dexter started howling pitifully as Arach gaped in shock at our hurtling sons.
    I immediately tried to shift but instead of the smooth transition that always brought my dragon forth, I was filled with a terrible cacophony of sound. Roaring and growling lifted above the cries of my dragon. I felt her struggling to rise but my other beasts were holding her back with teeth and claws. I desperately tried to help her and they turned on me, tearing at me from the inside and dropping me to the ground.
    Someone save them, the Queen is hurt! Faerie shouted as I writhed in pain.
    “Arach!” I screamed as Dex circled me anxiously. “I can't shift! Arach!” I was crying, tears running down my cheeks as my babies plummeted towards the jagged slopes of Aithinne. “Please no, not my babies,” I whimpered, feeling more helpless than I ever had. Inside me, my dragon screeched, her fear drowning out Faerie's screams as my lioness and wolf viciously fought her. “Arach!”
    I pulled my eyes away from my sons and saw that Arach had already thrown himself out of the window after our boys. My husband shifted mid-leap and in seconds, a crimson dragon was diving head first, wings drawn-in, down the side of Castle Aithinne. Crying filled the air around me as my kingdom's most precious treasures fell, just out of the King's reach as the Queen lay earthbound in impotent pain. The height had been great and had they been cast outwards as Arach had intended to throw Rian, Arach would have been able to reach them in time. But as it was, their straight fall would send them crashing into Aithinne before their father could save them. And I would watch my children die. I knew it with gut-wrenching certainty.
    Then the feathered Hidden Ones I'd once called hags, those screeching terrors with rotting faces and oily skin who had long ago chased me through the Forgetful Forest on a Wild Hunt, leaped into the air to save their princes. The Host