Back where everything had gone wrong.
It had been two years since the end of the Blood War. Animages were fleeing the Golden Empire, making for the recently separated province of Pyra, and Sev’s family lived right on the border. They kept the empire’s forces back and helped families flee persecution.
It was less about politics, his father had said, and more about people. By making herself an enemy of the empire, Avalkyra Ashfire had made all animages enemies of the empire—whether they were Riders or not. The magical registry was being put violently into effect, and the empire was rounding up animages in droves, accusing them of rebel sympathies, of being traitors and conspirators.
It was only a matter of time before the soldiers came for Sev’s parents and the rest of Hillsbridge, their small village. Before they came for Sev.
He’d been playing in the fields when he saw the soldiers approaching in the distance. His parents had always been very clear: If he saw empire soldiers, he was supposed to run back to the house. He was supposed to stay safe.
But back then Sev hadn’t been the coward he was today. Back then Sev had wanted to be a hero.
He might have been young, but on the farm, as soon as you could walk, you could work. First it was scouring the bushes all day, so his father could make his famous blackberry pie, or helping his mother weed the garden. Then it was carrying buckets of water or feed for the animals and hitching their oxen to the plow.
During the spring thaw, when the river would flood and destroy their wooden bridge, Sev would turn the winch and raise the platform, keeping it safe until the waters receded. The river snaked around their farm, and when the bridge was drawn, Sev felt like they were on their own separate island, safe from harm.
As the enemy soldiers approached, Sev knew that if he could just reach the drawbridge in time, he could slow the soldiers long enough for everyone on the farm and in the nearby houses to get to safety. It was late spring, so the river waters were still high and couldn’t be forded easily.
If Sev could just get there, he would be a hero. The thought of his parents’ faces, shining with pride and admiration, filled his heart. He could imagine the villagers praising him for his quick thinking as they retreated to their safe houses. No one would get hurt. No one would die. All thanks to Sev.
The ground was muddy and slick as he ran down to the river’s edge, and he skidded the last few feet as he approached the mechanism that controlled the bridge. The soldiers were much closer than he’d thought from his place on the hill, and fear made his hands clumsy as he struggled to turn the crank that would hoist the bridge, the sound of clinking metal and thumping boots reverberating around him. Sev pulled harder, panting, when the first raindrop splashed onto his face.
The single drop turned into a steady mist, making his hands slip across the metal lever and his feet sink into the ever-deepening mud.
The soldiers came to a halt on the other side of the river. Sev had managed to raise the bridge no more than a foot, and now it was too late to run.
There was a shout—a command, Sev thought—and a soldier stepped forward, a loaded crossbow in hand.
It was pointed at him, and Sev just stood there, muscles frozen, unable to move or think.
But then a fierce screech cut through the patter of the rain, and a fiery arrow pierced the heart of the archer before he could pull the trigger. Sev whirled and saw his mother rip past, fire blazing from her phoenix as she rained a dozen more arrows down on the empire soldiers in rapid succession. They ducked and raised shields, but before Sev could see more, strong hands gripped his arms and hoisted him up, up, into the air.
He was sitting in front of his father, mounted on his phoenix as they wheeled around, away from the fighting. It was Sev’s first and only flight on phoenix-back, and he’d been crying the whole time, too teeming with fear to marvel at the dizzying height and powerful speed.
Before he knew it, his father was placing him on the path to their house.
“It’s going to be all right, son,” he said, leaping back onto his phoenix and turning around to face Sev. His voice was calm and soothing, like it always was, no matter that they were under attack and his wife was fending off soldiers on her own. “Now, I want you to run as fast as you can to the safe house. You remember where it is, don’t you? Left at the fork. Run now, Sevro, and don’t look back.”
Sev did as he was told, his boots slipping and sliding on the muddy path. But when he reached the top of the hill, he disobeyed his father’s last request and turned around.
Both of his parents were in full flame, swooping and diving, leaving bodies and swathes of fire in their wake. Despite his fear, Sev’s heart swelled to see them make short work of the empire’s soldiers, who had begun to scatter and retreat, back over the hills . . .
And into the swollen ranks of their reinforcements.
There was double, triple the original number, the soldiers cresting the hilltop in waves. The first regiment must have been the vanguard, and now a larger force was on the horizon.
Behind Sev, villagers and farmhands were scrambling to load themselves into wagons with whatever animals and supplies they could manage to gather. If his parents didn’t stop the coming soldiers, they would cross the river and wreak havoc on all the people Sev had grown up with, friends and neighbors, cousins and relatives.
Turning his attention back to the fighting, Sev saw his mother and father flying high above, circling, signaling to each other. The bridge was on fire now, but the coming soldiers had wagons loaded with war machines, ladders, and catapults. The river wouldn’t stop them. Nothing would.
Somehow, deep down inside, Sev knew what his parents intended to do. Maybe that was why he stayed there, watching. Maybe he knew it would be the last time he ever saw them.
Slowly his parents’ phoenixes burned hotter, brighter . . . blistering, like the sun hanging low in the sky. Soon he couldn’t even see his parents, or the phoenixes they rode through the air—all he could see was fire and light.
With a crackle and a cry that would sear itself into Sev’s memory forever, his parents dropped, hurtling toward the enemy soldiers like blazing arrows. They landed in a fiery explosion, the heat waves rippling across the ground and knocking Sev, hundreds of yards away, off his feet. When he got up again, there was nothing but fire—soldiers running, screaming, while all around him, the crops began to burn.