Rise of the Valiant Read Free Page B

and wondering
how high they could climb, wondering if they had any way out of here.
    Suddenly, Alec
froze. As he looked up, he flinched, struck by a terror unlike he had ever
known. There, in the branches above him, looking down, was the most hideous
creature he had ever seen. Eight feet long, with the body of a snake but with
six sets of feet, all with long claws, and a head shaped like an eel’s, it had
narrow slits for eyes, dull yellow, and they focused on Alec. Just feet away,
it arched its back, hissed, and opened its mouth. Alec, in shock, could not
believe how wide it opened—wide enough to swallow him whole. And he knew, from
its rattling tail, that it was about to strike—and kill them both.
    Its mouth came
down right for Alec’s throat, and he reacted involuntarily. He shrieked and
jumped back as he lost his grip, Marco beside him, thinking only of getting
away from those deadly fangs, that huge mouth, a sure death.
    He did not even
think about what lay below. As he felt himself flying backwards through the
air, flailing, he realized, too late, that he was heading from one set of fangs
to another. He glanced back and saw the Wilvox salivating, opening their jaws,
nothing he could do but brace himself for the descent.
    He had exchanged
one death for another.
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
     
    Kyra walked
slowly back through the gates of Argos, the eyes of all her father’s men upon
her, and she burned with shame. She had misread her relationship with Theos.
She had thought, stupidly, that she could control him—and instead, he had
spurned her before all these men. For the eyes of all to see, she was
powerless, had no dominion over a dragon. She was just another warrior—not even
a warrior, but just a teenage girl who had led her people into a war they,
abandoned by a dragon, could no longer win.
    Kyra walked back
through the gates of Argos, feeling the eyes on her in the awkward silence.
What did they think of her now? she wondered. She did not even know what to
think of herself. Had Theos not come for her? Had he only fought this battle
for his own ends? Did she have any special powers at all?
    Kyra was
relieved as the men finally looked away, returned to their looting, all busy
gathering weaponry, preparing for war. They rushed to and fro, gathering all
the bounty left behind by the Lord’s Men, filling carts, leading away horses,
the clang of steel ever present as shields and armor were tossed into piles by
the handful. As more snow fell and the sky began to darken, they all had little
time to lose.
    “Kyra,” came a
familiar voice.
    She turned and
was relieved to see Anvin’s smiling face as he approached her. He looked at her
with respect, with the reassuring kindness and warmth of the father figure he
had always been. He draped one arm affectionately around her shoulder, smiling
wide beneath his beard, and he held out before her a gleaming new sword, its
blade etched with Pandesian symbols.
    “Finest steel
I’ve held in years,” he noted with a broad grin. “Thanks to you, we have enough
weapons here to start a war. You have made us all more formidable.”
    Kyra took
comfort in his words, as she always did; yet she still could not cast off her
feeling of depression, of confusion, of being spurned by the dragon. She
shrugged.
    “I did not do
all this,” she replied. “Theos did.”
    “Yet Theos
returned for you ,” he replied.
    Kyra glanced up
at the gray skies, now empty, and she wondered.
    “I’m not so
sure.”
    They both
studied the skies in the long silence that followed, broken only by the wind
sweeping through.
    “Your father
awaits you,” Anvin finally said, his voice serious.
    Kyra joined
Anvin as they walked, snow and ice crunching beneath their boots, winding their
way through the courtyard amidst all the activity. They passed dozens of her
father’s men as they trekked through the sprawling fort of Argos, men
everywhere, finally relaxed for the first time in ages. She saw them