Chapter 14 - The Broken Chain
The renegade commander stumbled backward, dropping his torch into the snow as Kestrel loomed over him like an inescapable mountain of shadow and gold.
Kalen’s red dragon landed heavily at the opposite end of the bridge, cutting off any possibility of retreat, while the royal vanguard poured into the pass from the lower trail, securing the terrified recruits and hauling the remaining conspirators into chains.
The siege of Red-Gully Pass was over almost as quickly as it had begun.
As the royal commander stepped forward to formally secure the area, he looked up at Wyn seated atop the magnificent dragon, his expression a mixture of grudging respect and profound awe.
“You defied direct council orders by flying here alone, Rider Wyn,” the commander noted formally, though his tone lacked any real threat.
“And the hostages are alive, the pass is secured, and the last of Reev’s network is in irons,” Wyn replied smoothly, her voice carrying effortlessly across the windy ridge. “If the council has a problem with my methods, they can bring their complaints up here to the peaks.”
The commander offered a sharp, crisp military salute. “The high council has no further complaints, Rider.”
Wyn nodded once, then turned Kestrel’s massive head back toward the open sky.
They didn't return immediately to the academy. Instead, Kestrel climbed higher and higher, leaving the stone fortresses, the politics, and the endless bureaucratic squabbles far below them, soaring into the pristine, frozen solitude of the highest mountain sanctuaries where the wild dragons roamed free.
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Wyn closed her eyes against the rushing wind, her fingers resting lightly on the warm, unbreakable scales of the beast who had chosen her out of fifty trained veterans.
She had found a roof, she had found food, and she had found quiet—not by hiding in the dirt, but by claiming the sky.
