Wings in the Darkness by Jason Richard (i read book txt) 📕

over at Jenin and Mila, then looked knowingly at Kareen.
"You're going after the reckless one, Lailen," said Hawla. It wasn't a question.
"I have to."
"I'm sure, but the goblins are still out there, and there is another danger. The black rain is going to be deadly. Look at what happened when a single drop of that poison hit someone."
Hawla pointed and Kareen saw a young woman who was deathly pail and sweating. She looked pained, and had thrown her bow carelessly aside. If only one drop could do that...
"I have to go," said Kareen.
"Then I will watch your children as if they were my own," said Hawla.
"Thank you."
She told her children that she needed to find their aunt, and they reluctantly said goodbye. Hawla stood protectively over them, drawing her bow as Kareen flew off.
Kareen watched the skies carefully as she flew through the trees. One drop would be enough to make her sick. Too many could kill her. However the same went for Lailen. She had to be warned, and brought to safety. Besides, something horrible had happened to Terin.
Kareen wanted to know what.

Chapter Eighteen
Fight and Flight

Flying through the trees, Lailen used hide and strike tactics, soaring above the treetops and swooping down on unsuspecting goblins. She pretended to stay on the same level the entire time, and this gave her the ability to strike with her sword from wherever she wanted.
She would fly down, go by a goblin, take it down, and disappear above the treetops when she was out of sight. She did this countless times before the goblins figured out what she was up to. When they flew above the trees all she could do was fly away. Still...
She had led them away from the others.
She flicked away a drop of rain from her arm, and then wondered why the water was so dark before returning her attention to the pursuing goblins.
...
Kareen searched high and low, dodging the poisoned rain as she flew through the trees. There were only a few drops, but more would follow. She wondered why it was raining. Surely the goblins wouldn't make clouds that could rain? If the clouds turned to rain the sun would come back.
But then...
This might have been the work of the other nations. Humans from the Ciniceros Empire, or the cyclopses perhaps, might have cast a spell to cause the clouds to rain so that the cloud might be dispersed. It would bring the sun back out and send the goblins back to their caves, but if anyone cast such a spell, they may not have known the cloud was poisonous.
At any rate the poison rain was slowly picking up speed. She had to find Lailen...fast.
She kept searching, and then she saw a mass of figures flying in the distance. It had to be goblins. That's where Lailen had to be. She flew towards the army with her bow drawn.
The rain picked up speed.
This was going to be very dangerous.

Chapter Nineteen
A Warning of Imminent Danger.

She dodged and weaved as she flew through the trees, cutting down any goblins that came near, but she was getting tired. Lailen couldn't remember ever becoming weary so quickly. She saw a few more of those black drops. That was good. Rain would make the cloud disappear. With the sun out, the goblins were beaten. She kept thinking this was a good thing.
Now if only she could stay awake!
The goblins flew around her, swarming like locusts! They were starting to overwhelm her. Many goblins around her raised their swords at once! This was it! Until...
THWUMP!
A goblin fell to an arrow. In the confusion Lailen flew out of the swarm, though she knew it should have been easier to do that. Why was she so tired? She looked and Kareen was the one providing cover fire! That was wrong. She shouldn't be here!
"Get out of here!" cried Lailen!
Kareen shouted something that Lailen couldn't hear. A few more black drops landed on her, and she felt even more tired.
"Get out of here!" Lailen cried again as the goblins descended.
"The rain is..." Kareen cried but Lailen couldn't make out that last part. She swiped a goblin away and still felt all the more tired, but she had to fight on.
"What?!" she cried.
"The rain is poisoned!" cried Kareen.
It hit Lailen. The black drops from the cloud. The cloud had been poisonous! How could she have been so stupid! They needed to find shelter!
They needed to find shelter now!
She joined Kareen and they flew off, goblins in pursuit, desperate to find somewhere to hide from the rain!
As they flew, the rain picked up speed!

Chapter Twenty
Rainfall.

Mila was scared. Jenin hugged her protectively. Hawla smiled at the siblings as she kept her bow out. The black rain started falling hard outside the cave. The old widow put her bow away, as did the rest of the women. No goblins would be coming. She doubted even they would survive the poison falling outside.
And the chances of Kareen and Lailen surviving were slim too.
Hawla looked at Jenin and Mila. Could it be they were about to lose their aunt and more importantly their mother? She looked at the person who had been hit with one drop of the poison form the sky. She didn't look good. Hawla looked back out at the swiftly falling rain.
For Jenin and Mila's sake, she hoped there was a chance of at least their mother Kareen surviving.
...
TWANG! Kareen's bow shot left and right through the trees, taking down goblins on all sides! Lailen struck any that flew close as she and Kareen dodged goblins and rain! Of course, no matter how good they were at flying, no eagle men or women could avoid rain forever. Raindrops kept hitting them, and they were weakening.
As a few clangs sounded with Lailen dueling one goblin though the air, Kareen turned over and shot an arrow backwards, only to see the rain falling behind them. It was picking up speed!
Have you ever seen rain fall in one area, but not in another? It was happening now, only this time the area that was raining heavily was moving closure and closure to the pair of them. A few goblins were already being drenched in it, falling from the air and rolling to the ground convulsing!
Kareen turned over and shouted, "Lailen! We need to find shelter now!"
Lailen, though weakened, dispatched the goblin she was fighting and sped on. Kareen kept shooting her bow at goblins, but she felt a few drops, along with herself weakening. Lailen didn't look much better.
The faster rainfall was approaching!
Kareen knew she couldn't outrun rain. Goblins flying behind her were already dying in it! Many goblins that were left gave up the pursuit of the two of them, flying off, but not before a few patches of sunlight broke out. The cloud was clearing, but not fast enough! The rainfall was still getting closer.
As Lailen and Kareen flew through the trees, desperately searching for something to protect them from the approaching wall of rain, goblins flew into the patches of sunlight and burst into brilliant white flames! So that's why goblins fear sunlight! Kareen thought, but that was no help to them now. Even as the rest of the goblins fled, the two of them still had to outrun the rain.
A few more drops hit them, and they slowed, getting weaker by the minute. The wall of rain was getting closure!
"There's a cave!" cried Lailen.
Kareen looked and sure enough there was a cave! They flew towards it weakly, tired from the poison. The wall of poison rain was almost within reach! Closure and closure they got to it, the majority of the rain was at their heels when...
They made it in!
They crash landed inside, the rain pouring outside. Kareen, weak from the few drops of poison that had hit her, rolled over on her back, wings spread out. She closed her eyes and remembered no more.

Chapter Twenty One
Tears.

Kareen woke up groggily on the stone floor, and then she remembered what happened. She tried to jolt herself awake, but found she could hardly move. She turned on her side, and moved her wing out of the way, and there was Lailen. She looked pale, as if someone had erased the color from her. Kareen crawled forward as best she could, trying to reach her.
"Lailen!" she cried to no response. "Lailen!"
Lailen stirred just a little, she opened her eyes and smiled.
"Hello sister," she said.
"Are you alright?" asked Kareen.
"I don't think so..." said Lailen groggily. "I think...I think I'm...slipping away..."
"No Lailen! Stay with me!"
Kareen didn't feel herself fading like Lailen, but she hadn't been in the poison rain for as long as Lailen had. As it was, Lailen's eyes were rolling in her head. She did seem to be slipping away.
"I have to...to tell you..." said Lailen groggily.
"Don't try to speak just..." Kareen got out before...
"Terin is dead."
Kareen was struck dumb. How could Terin be dead? How could Lailen know? It was then that Kareen remembered the armor.
"Saved me..." said Lailen as Kareen listened. "He saved me...I hid among the men...I was so worried about getting caught...He had to...to save me."
Kareen listened, absolutely speechless. Her head was a vortex of confusion. Lailen went on.
"He told me...Told me to make sure you were safe...that you and the children were safe...I had to save you...I had to...I owed..."
Kareen didn't respond.
"I'm sorry..." Lailen went on. "I made a mistake...plenty...really...but I'm glad I could save you...If I see Terin I'll...I'll..."
Kareen finally found her voice, "Tell him I love him. We all love him. And you."
Lailen smiled, and then breathed her last.
Kareen wept. She didn't know how long she stayed there, weakened from poison, but she wept the whole time. Outside the dark clouds had cleared, and the sun was bright, but inside Kareen wept.

Chapter Twenty Two
Mourning.

The ceremony to honor the dead took place in the great hall of the wicker palace, with the dead displayed in coffins where they had perched in life. Many had fallen to both goblins and the poison rain. Every eagle man and woman had removed the dye from their wings. Black and brown made then stand out less in battle, but they had no reason to hide their color from the dead they wished to honor.
Only in battle and in negotiation did they wear those colors, earning the name eagle men. The rest of the time, like now, they let their colors show. Eagle men with feathers on their wings resembling every species of bird, both dead and the living, let their colors show proudly.
As the Chief Eagle man delivered a rousing eulogy for every soldier who had fought and died, Kareen looked at her husband in his coffin, his wings folded over his