Page 525 - Fourth Wing

The first known gryphon attack occurred in 1 AU (After

Unification) near what is now the trading post of Resson. At the
edge of the dragon-protected border, the post has always been
vulnerable to attack and, over the course of the past six centuries,

has changed hands no less than eleven times in what has become a
never-ending war to secure our borders from our power-hungry

enemies.

—NAVARRE, AN UNEDITED HISTORY BY COLONEL LEWIS MARKHAM

CHAPTER

THIRTY-FOUR

We fly into the morning and then the afternoon, and when Andarna can’t

keep up, she hooks on to Tairn’s harness midflight. She’s asleep by the time
Xaden chooses to skirt the thousands-foot-high Cliffs of Dralor that give

Tyrrendor a geological advantage over every province in the kingdom—
over every province on the Continent, really, and go around instead,

heading into the mountains north of Athebyne.

There’s a pulling sensation in my chest, then a snap as we cross the
barrier of the wards.

“It feels different,” I tell Tairn.

“Without the wards, magic is wilder here. It’s easier for dragons to
communicate within the wards. The wingleader will have to take that into

account when commanding his wing from this outpost.”

“I’m sure he’s already thought of that.”
It’s nearly one o’clock in the afternoon when we approach Athebyne,

stopping, at the orders of the dragons, at a lake closest to the outpost so they
can drink. The surface of the lake is smooth as glass, reflecting the jagged