Page 550 - Fourth Wing

For there, in the land beyond the shadows, were monsters that

dwelled in the night and dined on the souls of children who
wandered too close to the woods.

—“THE WYVERN’S CRY,” THE FABLES OF THE BARREN

CHAPTER

THIRTY-SIX

Xaden hands Garrick the missive, and the rest of us rush to the battlements

to see what we’re up against, but I can’t spot any threat in the valley below

or the plains that stretch beyond for miles before the Cliffs of Dralor.
“Something is off,” Tairn says. “I felt it at the lake, but it’s stronger

here.”
“Can you pinpoint what it is?” I reply as panic creeps up my throat. If

Dain’s dad knows Xaden and the others have been supplying weapons to

the gryphon fliers, there’s every chance this is an execution.
“It’s coming from the valley below.”

“I can’t see shit down there,” Bodhi says, leaning over the edge of the
masonry.

“Well, I can,” Liam replies, “and if those are what I think they are, we’re

fucked.”
“Don’t tell me what you think they are—tell me what you’re sure of,”

Xaden orders.

“The letter says this is a test of your command,” the section leader reads
behind us. “You have the choice of abandoning the village of our enemy or

abandoning command of your wing.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Bodhi reaches back and takes the letter.
“They’re testing our loyalty without actually saying it.” Xaden folds his