Luna Brightwood's Arc

Chapter 12 of 22

Silvain kept his sword out. Luna stood in the wet grass with her camera at her ribs and watched the treeline where the beast had gone. She could still see the shape of it in her head. Dark plates. Curved horns. Purple veins under the scales. Blue and orange eyes. She had never seen a creature like it in any book. Without a photograph, she could not name it, and she could not warn anyone else about what hunted the hut. "I need a picture of it," she said. "A clear one. Nothing I have is clear." Silvain did not turn. "Then you will not get one from the field. It watches the field. It will not step out again while I stand here." He kept his eyes on the trees. "If you want the shot, you take it from above. It will not look up. Nothing in these woods looks up." Luna looked at the pale owl on the low branch, then at the small purple dragon on her shoulder. Neither was large enough to carry her. She was about to say so when a wide shadow crossed the grass. A gold dragon dropped through the mist and landed between her and the hut. Black horns. Gold wings tipped in black. One eye white, one eye blue. It folded its wings and lowered its neck to her. Silvain nodded once. "He came for the hut. He can carry you above the canopy. Do not shout. Do not use a flash." Luna climbed onto the gold dragon's back and looped the camera strap twice around her wrist. The dragon lifted straight up through the mist. The small hut shrank below her, the shimmer of its bubble still holding. Silvain stood at the field's edge, a bright point in the wet grass. The dragon circled once and slid low over the trees on the south side, quiet as a hand across water. She saw it. The Shadow Hornbeast crouched in a shallow gully, head pointed at the field, waiting for Silvain to turn. Its horns caught the gray light. Luna braced the camera on the dragon's shoulder plate, held her breath, and fired six frames as the dragon banked. She checked the screen. Frame three was sharp. The whole beast, side-on, eyes visible, plates lit clean. She had it. The dragon carried her back to the field and set her down. Luna showed Silvain the screen. His face changed. "That is not a wild beast," he said. "Look at the collar mark under the jaw. Someone sent it." He sheathed his sword halfway, then stopped. "It did not follow you here by chance. It was sent to the hut. To the young ones." He looked at the trees where the beast still waited. "We do not have long. Whoever sent it will send more."