“If what you say is true,” Zai spoke slowly, clearly thinking out loud, “even if you do something now, how do you know the past can be altered? How can you be sure the future will not unfold exactly as it has?”
“I don’t know,” Ben admitted. “I’m not sure of anything. But I can’t donothing. I was sent here for a reason. I have to take a chance.”
Sin straightened and took a deep breath, mentally girding his loins.
“We will take it with you, this chance,” he vowed.
“I believe in you, human. Tell us what to do.”
~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~
Unlike Ben’s prediction, Sol did not leave for the Tournament the night before it began. Instead, he waited until almost the end.
In the interim, Ben thought he’d changed his mind. Perhaps Ben’s entreaties worked. Perhaps he’d given Sol enough hope to live for the future if not the present.
Which was why Ben was taken by surprise when Sol suddenly dove from the edge of the plateau one starless night.
Thankfully, he possessed quick reflexes and dove right after the King. Given that he didn’t have wings, it might not have been the most rational thing to do.
Well, too late now.
Ben was no stranger to free falling down the side of a mountain on the back of a be-winged Beast. But the difference this time was that he wasn’t sure if his ride planned to ever open those massive wings currently tucked tightly to his sides.
The Eagle King had not expected Ben to leap on his back when he took the dive. He hadn’t tried to shrug Ben off either; he could have. He simply continued his death-spiral-plunge as if he didn’t have a fragile human rider in tow.
Two other raptors descended from the sky-high plateau with Zai and Sin in their claws, diving down much faster than they had flown up before. Still, they didn’t hurl toward the ground thousands of feet below like a rocket missile the way Sol did.
One of the raptors shrieked from above as if warning their King to pull up, to open his wings. No response from Sol.
Ben gritted his teeth and held on tight.
They were seconds away from impact, which meant that Sol had less than seconds to slow his momentum and avert crashing to both their deaths upon the unforgiving earth.
Ben hoped to Heaven his presence would sway the eagle to choose life this time; it was why he leapt onto Sol’s back in the first place, as soon as he shifted.
He got his wish.
At the last possible second, Sol expanded his wings, stopping their plunge so suddenly, Ben felt like his stomach had flown all the way into his throat.
His heart literally stopped. He couldn’t breathe. Not until Sol swooped back up and beat his great wings to ease into a smooth glide.
His claws had scraped the pebbles on the ground. That was how close they’d come to crashing. Ben was light-headed from all the blood having been drained from his face to the soles of his feet.
“You havegotto warn me before doing that again,” he chastised his ride.
“I’m pretty damn expert in dragon and raptor-riding, but that was a doozy. Really didn’t enjoy it.”
The Eagle King’s mind was completely silent to Ben.
He wondered whether it was because Sol had very little thoughts these days or because Ben had selective hearing where he was concerned. It was strange that he could hear any of Sol’s thoughts at all. He’d never been able to hear Sorin’s thoughts in modern time, after all.
Sol flew at a brisk but smooth pace toward the Dark citadel, the other raptors carrying Ben’s friends following in formation.
It was at once strange yet familiar to be riding the flame-feathered giant eagle. Like a sense of déjà vu.
Just as in human form, Ben noticed similarities between Sol and Sorin in raptor form as well. The way he flew, the way his wings caught the wind, the motions of his body as he glided—they were so familiar.
But Sorin in phoenix form looked very different, for one, and the phoenix was almost twice the size of the eagle, for another. Even though Sol’s eagle form made him the largest giant eagle Ben had ever seen, his wing span one and a half times the other raptors.