Chapter 12

Aris and Zane reach the colossal Beast Tree seeking a flying creature to finish their quest. Bodies of failed challengers ring the roots, stoking Aris’s fury toward Cadoc. They begin the ascent: Zane hauls Aris to the first branch, then they find spiraling stairs riddled with gaps, making descent impossible.

Predatory tree-dwellers attack as they climb. Zane slips and dangles over the edge; at Aris’s urging he drops his ax, lightening his weight so she can haul him up. They sprint past the creatures and emerge on the crown beneath a circling ring of dragons and massive helmhawks.

Among other challengers, a woman urges her partner to leap; a dragon bonds and saves him, but an arrow from Cadoc’s group kills the rider midair, and a thief commandeers the dragon. Realizing Cadoc’s crew is stealing creatures by murder, Zane descends to recover his ax and stop the archer, admitting his earlier reason for the quest wasn’t his only motive.

As Aris waits, the treetop shudders and Pagnus Ender bursts up with a new giant blade. Aris stabs through his armored leg, dropping him to his knees. Cadoc’s group arrives; Aris uses Pagnus as cover to survive arrows, then is driven to the edge with nowhere to run.

Cadoc demands her surrendered sword and mercy-begging. Aris refuses. He takes the bow, looses an arrow at her heart, and Aris turns and jumps from the treetop as the shot flies, leaving Zane’s fate with the archer unresolved.