The icy winter wind was a familiar friend to her as she rushed through the air. She ran her hands through the soft brown-and-black fur of her gryphon, Adriel, for warmth. Gemma gently steered him down to the mountains, feeling a flicker of pride as she lowered down to her home.

Then chaos erupted. Rose let out a primal scream that saved their lives as they swerved out of the way of a cannonball. Shadow flung a hand towards them and Adriel barely dodged.

Where was the conduit? They had to stop him. Then she whirled around to realize there were dozens of them, shadow whipping from place and place in a desperate flurry. All around them, gryphons and wyverns fell to the ground, their riders crashing into the mountains with them. Fire bloomed in the air as flaming arrows hit the training grass. Cannons flung hard stone at them, sometimes killing two or three at a time. Where a thousand had flown, a mere hundred remained, more falling with each second, their screams echoing in the air.

Fire and shadow roared from the depths of the mountain. Blood sprayed from the iridescent scales. Cries of pain ripped through the air, gryphon's wails and wyvern's dying roars leaving the silence in bloody, mutilated shreds. A few scattered wyverns tried to send flame burning after the ambushing Kallians, but shadow devoured it without a second thought. This was the result of the Draining, Gemma thought with horror. A thousand sources for Medea to pull her magic from.Not just the slivers in every soldier's mind—but this.

Her eyes darted through the avalanche of falling wyverns until she saw Lily on her red wyvern. The poor creature had taken multiple arrows and red slid down his back, almost unnoticeably against scarlet scales. The wyvern would go down soon. Lily flailed desperately, trying to save them, trying to get them cover. Gemma hurriedly directed Adriel towards her friend, desperate to save Lily...

They reached her too late, and her oldest friend plummeted into flame. Gemma let out a cry of agony. Rose gripped her shoulder.

"We have to get out," she said quickly. "Someone has to survive." She nodded faintly, pushing away pain.

"Up, Adriel. Get us out of here." The gryphon rushed straight upwards at her command, weaving through mountains and arrows. But they were too slow, as more fell and the attention turned to them. Too late, she saw the glint in a conduit's eyes as shadow rushed towards them. She closed her eyes, nudging Adriel for one last burst of speed. The shadow slammed into something...

Gemma and her gryphon rushed out of the mountains, flying further and further away from the death trap of the mountains. Once they were out of range they waited and watched for another to make it out...no one did.

Only then did Gemma realise that the shadow hadn't been aiming to take down Adriel and her at all. Only then did Gemma realise that Rose was gone.

She flew stealthily back, needing to know had happened to the High General. When she reached the Hawk Mountains, the Kallians had disappeared. They'd never intended to use this fortress, only to ambush with it.

Gemma peered out to the distant horizon. Medea's soldiers walked across the Isthmus and with them, Rose walked in chains.