There was chaos in the settlement as the Shadowbeasts climbed the palisade and burst through the soldiers, to run rampant through the streets instead.

  They threw their bodies against the doors of houses and used their claws to rake the wood, tearing at it in their haste to get inside. Soldiers and sailors stalked the streets, giving chase, firing their muskets and using their bayonets and swords.

  Erin saw it all, as she clung to Mathias’ limp form, desperately holding him across the back of Brightcrest as he beat his wings, racing towards the long, rectangular, house of healing. He circled it once, looking for a place to land before descending in a steep dive and almost crashing against the mud choked street.

  Wounded soldiers, too injured for the wall, sat behind a makeshift barricade with their weapons held ready. It was to these that Erin looked, panic sending her heart racing as she called for help.

  “Healer! Get the healer.”

  A sailor hobbled to the door and threw it open, calling through it. Moment’s later, Rose appeared, drying her hands on a towel as she looked out into the night.

  “What is-oh!” She turned her head to call back into the room, before rushing out into the street and over to where Erin waited.

  The healer approached the gryphon without fear, hands reaching for the wizard who slumped forward, body limp and blood streaming down his chest, soiling Brightcrest’s feathers.

  “Help him!” Erin insisted. “Please.”

  “We will,” Rose assured her. Two men had come out of the building behind her, and they hurried over to help. She stepped back, grimacing at the wizard’s injuries. “Get him inside, quick now.”

  The two men lifted him down and carried him between them back through the barricade as Rose gave Erin an appraising glance. “What of you, girl?”

  “I’m well,” Erin said, though a glance down at herself told her it would be hard to tell. Mathias’ blood covered her from where she had been holding onto him, and she looked a bloody mess. “Really. I am not wounded.” She gestured at the bloodied clothes. “This is all his.”

  Rose studied her face, lips set in a firm line, before she gave a curt nod, accepting the answer as given. She turned and headed back inside, moving quickly, the social niceties forgotten as she reached for her wand.

  She knew it would be needed.

  “What’s happening, miss?” one of the soldiers called to Erin, who shook her head.

  “The beasts are inside the walls. Protect this place and those within.”

  A chorus of ‘ayes’ came from the men and Erin reached down to pat Bright’s shoulders. “Thank you,” she said. The crack-crack-crack of muskets being fired filled the night air, and with it came fresh screams.

  People were dying. She couldn’t sit by and not help. The defenders were too few, the beasts spreading out through the streets. There were too many defenceless people at risk, and with each death, the colony was weaker.

  “Can you do this?” she whispered, stroking Bright’s feathers. She glanced down at the poultices, only to see they had fallen off somewhere in the scuffle and flight. His wounds were raw, but not bleeding, which was a bonus.

  Brightcrest turned his head, eyes meeting hers and she saw an eagerness there to fly, and she managed a grin.

  “Go then.” She dug her heels into his side. “Fly!”

  His hind legs bunched, his wings stretching out as far as they could in the narrow street, and then he jumped! His powerful legs lifting him high enough that he could flap his wings, gaining height. It wasn’t neat, or elegant, but he was airborne.

  Erin gripped his harness.

  There were no reins, and no saddle. Her weapons had been left behind as she struggled just to get Mathias on Bright’s back, and she wore only her normal, everyday, clothing. She was not ready for a long flight, or anything acrobatic.

  But she needed to be doing something.

  She leaned left, pressing her heel against his side and Bright wheeled obediently. In the distance, she caught a fleeting glance of Greyquill darting down below the rooftops and then back up, a struggling Shadowbeast held in her claws.

  Lady Sarah had her pistol drawn and fired down at the street as Greyquill’s talons tore the Shadowbeast she held, almost in half, before dropping the pieces to the street below.

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  Erin leaned forward, eyes searching the streets for any Shadowbeast that was close.

  “There!” Erin pointed, though Bright, of course, wasn’t looking. “Down!”

  Brightcrest caught her urgency, wings folding tight as he plunged. The Shadowbeast below ripped and snapped at the splintering door-a heartbeat more and it would be inside. Erin leaned low over Bright’s neck, teeth gritted, as they dove straight for it.

  The gryphon hit the Shadowbeast with all his weight behind him, talons sinking deep and tearing flesh and muscle from the creature’s back, before he beat his wings and rose back into the air. Behind him, the beast shuddered and died, and Erin looked around for another.

  Screams split the night air, and she wheeled, searching for the source.

  A woman, dress wet with blood, and holding the bloodied stump of her wrist, staggered out of her house, voice raised in fear and dread. She cried for help, but not for herself, Erin saw. It was for her child, carried away in the powerful jaws of a Shadowbeast as it raced back through the streets towards the palisade.

  She turned Bright, digging in her heels as she crouched low, urging him on.

  It was too late, she knew. The child hung limp, eyes unblinking and no sound issuing from her. Tears filled Erin’s eyes, and anger in her breast as she ached to avenge that child.

  Greyquill flew across their path, causing Bright to pull up lest he collide with the other gryphon. Lady Sarah on her back, held up a hand, palm out, signalling for Erin to back away.

  Frustration tore at her, but she could do naught but obey, and she pulled Bright into a tight spiral, gaining some height, as she watched the Shadowbeast bound up the stairs to the parapet and then leap over in an instant.

  Lady Sarah took off after it, flying just fast enough to keep the beast in sight as she trailed it, and Erin turned this way and that, looking for another enemy to fight.

  But there were none.

  All that was left was the counting of the dead and giving aid to the living.

  Heart heavy, Erin hung her head and guided Bright back towards the roost.

  In the settlement, the soldiers had already begun dragging away the bodies of the Shadowbeasts. Several houses had been broken into, their doors hanging loose and wailing coming from within from those few who survived.

  There would be much need for Rose’s services before the night was done, Erin was sure.

  Bright landed easily on the landing pad and trotted back to the roost; head held high. He had done his job, and he was eager to return to feast on rabbit, his usual reward after a flight and a battle.

  Erin couldn’t begrudge him that, but she wished there had been more that they could do. It seemed too little, and once again, those beasts had died but they had inflicted casualties upon the settlement too.

  She had to wonder how long it could continue, how many more could die before there was nothing else for it but to abandon the island and flee.

  With a heavy sigh, she entered the roost to find a frantic Josias and Mary already within. When the bell had sounded the all-clear, they had come straight out to check upon Bright and Erin and finding them gone and the two dead Shadowbeasts within, they had thought the worst.

  The old handler reached her first and grabbed a hold of Bright’s harness to gently lead him to the hay. Mary hurried alongside, eyes full of concern as she looked over both the gryphon and Erin.

  “What happened?” she gasped as they came to a stop and Erin leaned to the side to swing her leg over Bright’s back. “Are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine,” Erin insisted. “The bloods not mine.”

  “Bright looks well,” Josias said, as the gryphon fluttered his wings and trilled. “Good humoured at least.”

  “Can you fetch him a rabbit,” Erin asked. “Perhaps two. He’s earned it.”

  “Of course, lass.”

  As he hurried away to fetch the treat, Erin slid off the gryphon’s back and staggered, suddenly weary beyond words. Mary caught her and held her steady as Erin bowed her head, pressing it against Bright’s side.

  She could feel the warmth of his body and hear the distance beat of his mighty heart. Her tears wet his feathers, and he twisted his neck, looking back at her with concern.

  “Hey,” Mary said, voice soft. “Tell me what happened.”

  “The wizard,” Erin said. “He was hurt.”

  “Badly?”

  She managed a nod, and sniffed, rubbing at her nose with the sleeve of her coat which only succeeded in smearing drying blood across her face.

  “I managed to take him to the healers, but…”

  “We’ll check on him,” Mary said. “Once Bright’s settled.”

  Erin managed a smile and nodded.

  “Go clean yourself up,” Mary insisted, pulling Erin away from Bright. “Change your clothes too. There’s spare trousers and tunic in the chest by the washbasin outside. Let us see to Bright.”

  “Thank you.”

  Erin patted Bright, running her fingers along his flank, feeling the feathers become fur and then he was away from her. Mary led him to the mound of hay that he slept upon and began to look him over for injuries that might have been missed.

  Turning to go, Erin’s foot caught on something in the straw, and she glanced down, only to see the wizard’s wand poking through the straw. She bent and lifted it in her hands, weighing it.

  He’d been hurt, helping her, saving her. Again.

  If not for her, he would have been safe in a house and would not have been injured. She couldn’t help the pang of guilt she felt at that.

  Her fingers traced the newest runes carved into the soft wood. They were rough compared to the others, worn smooth over the years of use. His words came back to her, the memories of the conversation conjured with them. ‘I’m an Engineer’ he had said. There was no place on his wand for combat magic.

  Yet there they were.

  New runes, added because of his need to cast spells that could harm the Shadowbeasts.

  She had to wonder why he had added them at all. He had no interest in using magic as a weapon, and he had made it clear he was not needed on the front lines of the fight. His job was to build his great machine and nothing else.

  So, why add the runes? Why come out to the roost and wait with her when those creatures attacked?

  Her fingers curled around the wand, and she clutched it tightly to her breast. She was not one given to vanity, but it was hard to shake the thought that he had added those runes so that he could protect her.

  Which, if that were true, might indicate those nascent feelings she felt deep within herself, might be felt by him too.

  A thought she had not dared give consideration before.

  Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she sniffed and tucked the wand into her belt before stalking away through the roost in search of clean clothing.

  She would wash, then change, and then go and see how he fared.

  If he lived, a treacherous part of her mind whispered and she shivered, wondering what she would do if he didn’t. Of what that would mean, for her.

  And the colony.