Escape From The Green

by Gadziala, Jessica

"Shit excuse," she stubbornly declared.

  "When do we leave?" the redhead asked, moving closer, the orange in her brown eyes bright with the idea of the Change.

  "Raisa here wants to know if she has enough time to do a bikini trimming before everyone gets to see her goodies," Tsar declared.

  Raisa's brow rose, her chin lifting, not the least bit embarrassed by Tsar's declaration. "Tsar has clearly failed in his attempts to bed me, otherwise he'd know that my goodies are always in perfect order."

  "I like you," Smoky declared, nodding. "If I have to ride with anyone, I'd prefer you."

  "Come on. Taking the only chick," Sal declared, shaking his head. "You really don't want other women touching me, do you babe?"

  Smoky's eyes slitted as he grinned, knowing he had her.

  "Take her. I'll ride with him," she decided, linking her arm with Tsar.

  "Do we go now?" One of the kids asked.

  "Yes."

  "You're going to have to lead the way, son," my dad told us. "None of us have been to the Dark Court. And we need to know the plan."

  "Massive distraction," Smoky declared. "Just enough so that Drake can locate Amy, and get her out of there."

  "Can we burn things?" another of the kids asked.

  "Just not fae," Kieran specified. "We can go and create havoc, but we do not kill. We don't need the weight of the whole Dark Court on our backs. Just fly through, set a tree or cart or two on fire, and get out of there."

  "Got it," Tsar declared.

  "We go now?" my father asked even as the young guys started stripping out of their clothes casually. Because the Change was natural, common, nothing to be embarrassed about.

  For them.

  It had been so long for me.

  I was half worried I wouldn't even know how to do it anymore.

  "It will come back to you," Kieran told me, voice low. "The Change," he clarified. "I know you have been fighting it all this time. But it will come."

  Uncertainty flooded my system as I watched the guys crack their necks, then fall forward toward the ground as the plates erupted from their skin seamlessly, overtaking them completely as their forms twisted, contorted, became something else entirely, beasts large enough to overshadow all the houses, twice as wide, three times as long, in brilliant, blinding colors. Green, blue, gray, brown, purple. There was a flash of orange and then Raisa was in Draca form, sending a look over her shoulder at Tsar who was still slowly removing his clothes.

  "Ah, I get it now," Smoky declared, nodding her head as Kieran suddenly burst into form, a striking silver with blue - the only one of our kind who was multi-colored in Draca form.

  "Get what?" Sal asked, head cocked to the side, trying not to seem impressed although it was impossible not to be. Hell, even I was. And I was one of them.

  "The eye thing."

  "what eye thing?"

  "Those flecks in their eyes," she started, nodding at those around her. "They match the color of their dragon. Which means you are going to be red," she declared, nodding with certainty at me.

  A memory of the red-capped gnome flashed before my eyes, knowing my Draca color because the knobby old thing had likely been around back when we had flown freely, when our secrets weren't secrets.

  "Yeah," I agreed, reaching to start removing my coat, reminding myself of how many times I had done this in the past, how it had never been a problem before.

  My body would remember.

  Kieran's tail whipped the back of one of my legs, spurring me on, reassuring me.

  "Amy's waiting," Smoky told me, chin defiantly lifted, almost daring me to Change.

  And, well, she was the only one using the right ammunition, the type strong enough to pierce through my insecurity.

  Amy.

  This was the only way to save Amy.

  I could feel the buzzing sensation on my skin, a prickling that grew stronger, that forced my body forward, my hands hitting the dirt even as I felt the plates start breaking through my skin, achy like unused muscles, but doing what they were designed to do regardless.

  I felt the stretch as my body elongated, widened, became what it always was underneath it all.

  And with one last surge of energy, every last bit of my fae form was gone.

  Draca.

  Something deep within me thrilled at the word, at the realization of my true form, at the power to be found in my talons, in my teeth, in the impenetrable plates covering me. In the heat that burned a literal fire deep inside.

  "Shit," Sal said, nodding as my head swiveled to find him watching me. A Changing fae himself, he shouldn't have been impressed, but it wasn't every day that you saw a myth come to life.

  My foot pounded the ground as a roar erupted from me, heat - but no fire - filling the air around me.

  There were no words.

  Not in Draca form.

  Just feelings and connections.

  My tribe could sense my intentions.

  But Sal and Smoky were in the dark.

  My head whacked into the side of Raisa, swinging to indicate Sal.

  As she bent low for him, Tsar moved to Smoky's side as well, bending low, letting her climb on, tentatively grabbing the larger plates covering his shoulders, digging in when he started to run.

  Confident she was in good hands, that Tsar would take care of her, and Raisa Sal, I charged ahead of them all at a run that thundered the ground, made small babes fall on their diapered bums, clapping and squealing with joy.

  It wasn't until we neared the veil that the urge overtook me, my wings starting to rustle against my back, begging to be stretched.

  There was a momentary surge of uncertainty that I would be able to fly before I simply... did.

  We burst through the veil as a flock instead of a pack, all of us swooping up at a steep incline to rise up over the trees, something that made Smoky shriek and Sal let out a string of panicked curses, making me crane my neck back to make sure they had a good grip, only to find Smoky had hooked her legs under Tsar's wings for stability, and Raisa's tail had curled up to clamp over Sal's back.

  Safe.

  If they survived the ascent, they were as secure as they could possibly be.

  I didn't know how long it had been since I had flown, had never had an occasion to fly from my homelands to the Dark Court before, so I didn't know how long it would take.

  But I did know that it would take about half the time it would take us on foot, that our massive wingspans allowed us to cover more ground per minute than even a dead run could in fae form.

  The Draca part of me was battling for dominance, longing to feel all the wonders of the Change that had been denied for so long. The way the wind rushed over my plates like a warm, sweet caress, the way flying closer to the sun warmed me from the outside in, the way my eyes could see so much clearer, so much further, the way my hearing was so acute that I could hear the gnomes burrowing in the ground, could eavesdrop on conversations from a mile away.

  But the other part of me reigned supreme, pushed all that aside. Or, more accurately, used that information in a way that was focused, useful.

  In finding Amy.

  I would be able, even before the castle came into view, to hear the conversations going on inside, sifting through them, trying to find the soft lilt of Amy's voice if she was speaking. If she was allowed to speak.

  My stomach twisted at all the atrocious possibilities, the fates that could await her.

  Panic would do me no good, so I tried to think of other things.

  Like how Jet had tried to save her, even if it was maybe for his own advancement.

  Maybe he could find some kindness in his heart. To save her again. Or, at least, to prevent the worst kinds of harm from happening.

  Maybe there would still be a marriage plan.

  Sickening, atrocious, horrifying for Amy. But also a way to ensure she wouldn't be down in the dungeons being prodded with iron rods too.

  And she hadn't been gone that long. Even if Cass'
plan was still to force that marriage, it wasn't likely it had happened yet.

  And I was pretty sure all Courts did away with the antiquated ritual of having their consummation rights watched by all who may choose to see.

  From what Amy had said of Jet, he had no interest in bedding her.

  So maybe she would be saved that injustice.

  Maybe she would be able to sit in a room and simply wait for her rescue.

  Maybe she wasn't hurt or humiliated.

  I could only hope.

  The road to putting this behind us would be easier to travel if her fate was tied in with the marriage plan still.

  My gaze lifted, looking over toward Smoky who was glancing my way, trying to get my attention. Seeing my eyes, she hooked her legs tighter, allowing her to lift an arm, hold it out, point.

  To the right.

  Where the Dark Court was.

  I had a vague understanding of its location, but Smoky clearly knew more than I did, unsurprisingly.

  I curved toward the right, watching as everyone effortlessly did the same, a few of the younger ones rolling in the air, showing off.

  I soared forward a bit, sidling in beside Tsar and Smoky, figuring she could subtly guide me if I fell off course. I still had a vague memory of the way to the Dark Court, even if I hadn't been there myself. Everyone knew where it was. It was the only way to make sure you didn't accidentally end up there.

  We flew for an hour before around us, the birds started to disappear, the trees got more gnarly, more prone to diseases of the bark without the tree fae to care for them, take care of them. Most Earth fae being of the Light realm.

  In my head, I could feel this odd nose-wrinkling sensation that wasn't my own, but instead a collection from all the Draca around me.

  With heightened senses, they were all experiencing the acrid stench of the Dark realm, the way the air smelled always of ash and death.

  I tried pushing a message through, unsure if that muscle was one I could still stretch, trying to tell them that we were getting close.

  Close, though, was a relative term.

  The Dark was as vast as the Light, as massive a trek to get through it to find the deepest, most protected of areas.

  Where the Court would be.

  It took another few hours, even with out massive wingspans, to get to where the scent was almost overwhelming, making you want to hold your breath instead of take it in.

  "We're almost there," Smoky's voice called. "Just beyond those trees," she added, holding an arm out to where the tree line thickened, then thinned out, likely to accommodate the massive area that was the Court.

  I looked over at Sal, suddenly realizing we hadn't discussed what they might be in charge of, what they were to do.

  Too late now, I decided, trying to shrug that off.

  We didn't have time to stop, to Change, to regroup.

  Amy was in that Court.

  Amy was having who-knew what happen to her in that Court.

  I wasn't going to waste a second when we were this close.

  It was about then that I heard Smoky's voice, raised to be heard over the rush of air whipped over our - and her - bodies.

  "Swoop down by the windows,so I can look inside. See if I can find her," she suggested, making me nod.

  I took a slow, deep breath as we flew over the thick part of the forest, breaking into the clearing.

  The Court was massive, as one would expect. The castle itself was bigger than the Winters' compound - a giant structure in its own right - by at least four times over, sprawling, dark, but kept.

  The gates were opened, Dark fae allowed to come and go, trade wares, seek asylum, settle disputes, wait to speak to the King.

  It was maybe ten seconds before heads started to twist, turn up, wondering what was banking the sun out of the sky.

  Expecting, I imagine, a storm, the shocked awe on their faces was enough to bring a smirk to my face before all thoughts of them drifted away, pushed beneath the bone-deep need to find Amy.

  We all seemed to break apart at once, some drifting up, some going to swing around the castle. Me, Tsar/Smoky, and Raisa/Sal swooped downward, low enough that my tale scraped the top of the guard wall, making a few nearby fae squeal as my gaze went to the windows, trying to get close enough as I sailed to sniff, to see if her scent was around, trying to hear past all the chaos below us, trying to find her voice.

  A growing dread filled me when I smelled, saw, heard nothing of her, wondering if she was below ground, in a cell somewhere.

  What the fuck were we supposed to do then? I wasn't leaving her.

  I didn't care if it came down to staying behind on my own, and burning the entire fucking place down to find her.

  She was coming back with me.

  No matter the wreckage.

  Something happened even as the thought formed, as the fire within raged, begging to be used, to burst forth like it was meant to.

  A window opened.

  And I smelled her.

  I whipped around so fast that I knocked a row of bricks off the front of the building with the edge of my stomach, making it crumble downward, fae running and screaming to get out of the way.

  But I barely registered it.

  All that could break through my mind was her.

  Amy.

  The Draca part of me screamed something the other part of me had known for a long time.

  Mine.

  She was mine.

  And she was close.

  I followed the track I had lead even as I saw an empty cart set ablaze, making the nearest guards run for their lives.

  And there was a window wedged open that hadn't been before.

  And a woman hanging halfway out, her mouth open wide. A familiar mouth. A mouth I had kissed countless times, had felt moving all over me, had curved into brilliant smiles for me.

  Her eyes were just as round, taking in the spectacle of it all, not seeming to understand the reason behind it, too overtaken with awe to realize we were here for her.

  I was here for her.

  I swooped low, just below the window, watching as she shocked back a bit, surprised, not recognizing me.

  It wasn't until she moved forward a step again, gaze fixed on my eye that a slow, relieved smile split her face.

  "Drake," she exhaled, eyes filling a bit.

  "No fucking shit," another voice said from behind her. A male voice. The Draca in me, possessive and jealous as it was, let out a growl, my mouth parting to let out a small burst of fire as my gaze sought the source.

  He was standing there behind Amy, head shaking.

  I didn't have to know him to know him.

  The Dark Prince.

  In all his royal glory.

  "The fuck are you waiting for?" Jet's voice called to Amy, making her head swivel over her shoulder to him. "You were waiting for your out, Amethyst. It doesn't get any better than this. Go. You," he added, moving behind Amy to talk to me. "You need to burn me."

  My head shook, remembering my promise to the elders. I had Amy. There was no need for damage, for anyone to get hurt. Least of all the Dark Prince. "It can't look like I let her go," he growled, making his honey-brown eyes flash violently.

  My head shook again, making Amy look between us, seeming lost before suddenly closing her hands over a chair situated beside the window.

  "Don't change, Jet. Be better than your father," she demanded before she lifted the chair, swung, and fucking knocked the damned Dark Prince unconscious before clamoring up onto the windowsill, hands trying to grab a hold of me.

  I tilted, tipped, let her climb on, her barely-there weight taking all the boulders off my shoulders as I swung upward, whipping around, blowing fire for a long moment, getting all my clan's attention, letting them know it was over before turning and barreling off.

  They'd come for us.

  Quickly.

  As soon as Cass could get control over his guards.

  We had to be as far gone as possib
le.

  We had to be untraceable.

  In my mind, I shot off an image of all of us splitting up, getting out scent all over The Green, making it impossible for them to figure out where we came from, where we were going.

  As soon as everyone got the message, they all took off, leaving just me and Amy taking the direct path back to the veil.

  Like Smoky, her legs hooked under my winds even as her hands held a death grip on my shoulders.

  But unlike Smoky, she leaned forward, pressing her soft cheek to my plates, planting a sweet kiss there.

  She said nothing, just held on as I pushed my body to its limits, forcing it forward with a determination that made my lungs ache, made my wings scream, every thought that was able to penetrate only focusing on getting her home, getting her safe, making sure she was okay.

  It was a good few hours shorter than it had been on the way from the veil to get back to it.

  The pull was even stronger in Draca form, pulling us inward, begging us forward like a warm embrace.

  I flew through it without stopping, not slowing as I tore through the common square where people cheered.

  I could hear another Draca behind me.

  Tsar.

  He could land.

  He could tell them.

  I didn't.

  I flew right past our little home, taking her to the waterfall I kept promising to show her.

  I slowed, dipping low, curling down, urging her off.

  She slid off my side, tripping, dropping down on a soft moss-covered rock.

  I lifted up again, did a lap around the waterfall, searching for the Change back.

  I felt it as my gaze found her again, watching me with fascinated eyes.

  Mine the dragon called.

  Mine, I agreed as the Change burst through me as my feet met the ground, shrinking me back down into my usual form in a blink, faster than normal, the urge inside so strong to get back to my woman, to talk to her, to wrap my arms around her.

  "You're beautiful," she called as I moved toward her.

  I bent low, swooping her up, crushing her small body to mine, the relief overwhelming, making my stomach feel wobbly, my heart slamming against my ribcage.

  "It's okay," her voice said, sounding small, choked. Because I was squeezing the air from her lungs. "I'm okay. It's okay."

  Searching a moment for the strength to do so, I finally set her back down on the rock, my hands roving over her body, looking for bruises, cuts, anything.