I decide not to risk anymore of her anger. “We won’t get caught.”
She gets to her feet. “We leave tomorrow at midnight. Meet me out on the balcony. Be sure your friends aren’t late, or we’re leaving them behind.”
“Got it,” I reply, and in the darkness around me, a ray of hope fills my soul.
Bellator bends down to blow out the candle, but then stops and turns to me with an eyebrow raised in something close to amusement. “Why do you sleep under your bed?”
I shrug. “So that no one knows where I sleep.”
She grins. “Helps you actually get to sleep, doesn’t it?”
I find myself smiling too. “Well, it did before you found out.”
She chuckles and blows out the flame. I don’t hear her leave, but in a few moments, I hear the beating of the dragon’s wings as they fly away.
I lay down on the bed with a relieved sigh. The mattress is soft and warm against my back, and my tense muscles begin to relax. I put my face against the feathery pillow, which still has the scent of that rose oil Bellator smells of lingering on it, and take a deep breath.
Everything is going to be alright. Bellator is going to get me out of here. Not only will I finally be free, but now I also have another link to who my family was.
But I am still trembling inside. I know that it can’t be true.
Nothing is ever going to be alright.
Chapter Thirteen
“C
ome on,” I whisper to the empty sitting room, tapping my foot anxiously on the floor.
My stomach twists and turns into intricate knots as I glance over my shoulder toward the door for the hundredth time. Uri and Annalyn still have not arrived. Both had their reservations when I told them of Bellator’s plan to free us, neither trusting her the slightest bit. In Uri’s words, she’s trying to trap us into cutting our own throats. However much I agreed, I assured them of her good intentions. We’re taking a big risk, it’s true, but if Bellator is truly sincere, I don’t want them left behind to face Zeldek’s wrath after we are gone. It was this fact alone that convinced them to agree, and I told them to be here before midnight.
But they aren’t, and neither is Bellator.
I glance out through the balcony doors into the haze above. The night sky is still empty, and besides the distant roar of the water below, the air is silent.
Something’s wrong. They should be here. Why aren’t they here?
The door creaks open behind me. Heaving a sigh of relief, I turn to greet my new travelling companions.
“The hour is late,” Zeldek says, and the door clicks shut behind him as he glides into the room. “You should be resting.”
I stagger back, shocked. “L-lord Zeldek,” I stammer. “What brings you here?”
“You have walked the floors in a restless state these two nights now,” he replies. “Your unease troubles me.”
“Right.” I cast a nervous glance into the sky. “It’s nothing. Nothing at all. Only I’ve rested too much lately, what with the lack of work to keep me busy, and my injuries, and... things.”
Crimson light flares up in his pupils as he searches my face, his lip curling into an amused sneer.
He doesn’t believe me. He knows. Bellator has told him. This was all a test, and I failed. I should never have believed her false promises of freedom.
“Your stupidity continues to astound me,” he says at last.
I back away, shaking my head. Fear creeps up my spine as he clenches his fists. Flames leap from them, expanding in the air around him.
“What is it that I have done?” he demands. “I had it all worked out so carefully. I offered you everything you’ve ever wanted! Why does your resolve remain so strong?”
I swallow back my fear. “I- I don’t trust you.”
“What is trust?” he spits. “A fleeting premonition? What have my brothers offered that I can not also give you?”
“It isn’t about what you can or can’t give me! Can’t you see? What you are, what you stand for; it’s all wrong! You act like you mean well, then turn around and show me just how despicable you truly are. I cannot and will not blindly pledge my life to a man who has given me no good reason to do so!”
“I see you think yourself as brave,” he growls, looming over me. “We’ll see how much of your courage is left when I’m finished with you, and you’ve been driven mad by pain. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for you to break.”
“You are an evil, twisted tyrant!” I shout vehemently the words I’ve wanted to say since the day I met him. “I would rather suffer the most painful death than give you my allegiance!”
His temper erupts and the flames around him explode. Fire rolls through the room, igniting everything in its path. Zeldek seems to grow taller with the flames and his eyes light as red embers. He throws me back against the wall, black smoke binding my wrists to the hot stones.
“I will destroy you!” Gathering fire in his hand, he holds it out toward me. “I will destroy every bit of you until there is nothing left! Slowly, painfully, until you are grovelling at my feet, begging for mercy. But you shall not receive it. You have refused me your soul, so I will pry it from your very being until you are nothing but a mindless servant of my will!”
Heat scorches my face. Turning my head, I press my cheek to the wall behind me. The air is stifling. Smoke burns in my lungs and I cough. My vision blurs. Then, a flash of cold goes through me, spreading relief from the heat and renewing my energy. Blue light fills my hands, driving away the smoke from my wrists. I straighten up, feeling bolder again, and turn back to face Zeldek.
He pulls his hand away in surprise, and his fire dims.
“Try all you like.” My voice is level, yet powerful. “You will never destroy me.”
“Enough!” he roars, throwing out his hands. Flames spiral around him and the heat begins to fight through the cold.
“Stop!” a voice cries from behind Zeldek. “Release him, tyrant!”
Surprise registers on Zeldek’s face, but he cloaks it with a sneer. “You insult me, young one,” he says, turning about.
Annalyn stands in the archway to the balcony, a bulky cloak wrapped around her shoulders. I never imagined she could be so fearless in the presence of Zeldek. Yet here she is, unflinchingly facing the flames that rise around her, looking as if she’s ready to take on Zeldek all by herself.
“Threatening me in my own palace? You have more guts than I gave you credit for,” he scoffs.
She lifts her chin. “I said, ‘release him’!”
“You do not command me!” he roars, preparing to launch a ball of fire.
“Stay your hand!” Bellator charges into the room from the balcony. Her bow is nocked, and the arrow is trained on him. “Or I shoot!”
Alarmed, he lowers his hand for but a moment. “Bellator? What is the meaning of this?”
“Treason, my master, of the highest degree,” she says through her teeth, her finger quivering threateningly on the string.
“How dare you raise a hand against me?” he cries. “I see now that I have given you too much freedom too quickly. A mistake I will not make again.”
“Save your breath. From this day forth, I no longer answer to you.”
“What defence do you have? You know mortal weapons cannot harm me.”
Bellator crooks an eyebrow. “You know me, sire. I don’t really follow the rules.”
As though it were a signal, Annalyn throws aside her cloak. Blinding light emanates from an object around her neck, filling the room with white light. Zeldek cries out, throwing up his hands to shield his eyes. Black mist encircles him as he tries to block out the light. The flames all but fade away and the smoke binding me to the wall disappears.
“Ealdred, this way!” Annalyn cries.
I stumble in the direction of her voice, putting my hand in front of my eyes to shade them from the light. A rough hand grabs my arm and jerks me toward the balcony. As Annalyn follows w
ith the light still glowing, flames rise up in the room again. Zeldek lets out a roar that cracks the ceiling and shakes the very foundation of the tower.
“Jump!” Bellator says, shoving me toward the parapet.
I don’t have to be told twice; I dive over the edge. Fyra swoops beneath me and I land on her back, smashing my face into her hard scales. Blood fills my mouth, but I swallow it back.
“Where’d you get to?” Uri drawls from where he clings to the reins around Fyra’s neck.
Annalyn lands beside me with as much grace as I did, the ball of light now extinguished. A moment later, Bellator lands lightly on her feet on Fyra’s neck.
“Fyra, fly!” she shouts, snatching the reins out of Uri’s hands.
The dragon screeches and leaps into the sky. Zeldek appears on the balcony with fire raised above the palm of his hand and hurls it after us. It grows to a massive ball of flames, which Fyra only narrowly escapes. She changes direction abruptly, sweeping around the peak of the tower. I lose my hold on her, rolling sideways, and slide down her side. My foot catches on a loose scale, halting my fall. Annalyn leaps forward and grasps my hand. She pulls, and I scramble back up.
“Thanks,” I say shakily. “I owe you one.”
Bellator looks over her shoulder. “Sit up and lock your knees on the dragon’s sides. And hold onto each other!”
We follow her instructions as the dragon makes for the large tower in the centre of the star.
“Shoot them down!” Zeldek’s voice booms around us, strangely amplified. “Shoot the beast down!”
“Curse him!” Uri mutters, now behind me.
Arrows begin to whiz past us from below. Those that don’t miss us break on Fyra’s iron scales.
“Hold on!” Bellator orders, pulling her bow from her shoulder.
She nocks an arrow on it and directs her aim below.
“Who’s shooting at us?” I ask Annalyn, who is sitting in front of me.
“The outlaws, I think,” she says, leaning forward to grasp the scales better. She casts an anxious glance back at the tower as we fly away from it. I tighten my grip on her, while Uri’s grasp cuts off the circulation in my shoulders.
“I think I’m gonna be sick!” he shouts in my ear as the dragon makes a sudden dive downward.
As Fyra dives, she does something unexpected. She opens her jaws and blows fire out of it, covering the ground in flames. Then she does a sharp turn and leaps back into the air.
“Whoa!” I gasp, sitting up. “Did you see that? She just breathed fire!”
Annalyn nods grimly, as if it was a perfectly normal thing for a dragon to do. “Yeah, but it won’t hold them. Everything in Gaiztoak is immune to heat.”
A whistling sound follows us and an incandescent glow shines on our backs. I glance over my shoulder in time to see a huge wave of fire coming straight toward us.
“Bellator!” I cry.
“I see it,” she says, her brow knit in irritation.
Slinging her bow back over her shoulder, she slides the reins from the crook of her arm to her hand. Then she rolls sideways from the dragon’s neck. Fyra folds her wings over us and swings to the side, turning over in the air. Uri gasps, Annalyn whoops, and I hold on for dear life. The fire passes harmlessly by and Fyra stabilizes. She opens her wings in flight, revealing Bellator standing once more at the base of her neck, and flies furiously for the mountainous wall.
Fireballs take the place of the flaming arrows, hurled more accurately and speedily than the former had been. Bellator concentrates her full attention to directing the dragon. I doubt she planned for Zeldek to find out about our escape before it happened.
As we near the wall, the dragon shoots upwards toward the peak of the mountain. Fireballs crash into the mountainside, and showers of rocks explode into the air. One boulder hits Fyra’s right wing, but she only swirls around once before persisting.
We reach the top of the wall and cross over it, passing directly between two watchtowers. As we reach the other side, I look down and see a dark forest stretching out for miles beneath us. Fyra folds her wings over us and dives toward it.
There is a flash of light, a loud bang, and a sudden jolt throws me from my tight hold astride the dragon’s scaly back. My hands slip from Annalyn’s shoulders, and I am tossed in the air for a split second before I am caught by the leathery folds of Fyra’s wing. I grasp for something to hold onto, but nothing presents itself. The dragon’s movements are spasmodic and uncontrolled.
Fyra utters a rasping screech and we begin to lose altitude.
We crash into something and I am flung forward again. My face smashes into the hard scales. Something sharp pierces my forehead and hot liquid spurts into my eyes.
Fyra thrashes her wings, struggling to climb back into the sky. But I know it is no use. With one last wild beat of her wings, she gives up with a roar of agony, and we plummet toward the trees.
Chapter Fourteen
“F
yra!” The cry rips from Bellator’s throat with wild desperation. “What have I done?”
We crash through the treetops and tumble toward the ground. Annalyn curses loudly, and Uri screams. Wood splinters, branches snap. We are tossed about like straw in the wind, protected from harm by Fyra’s limp, armoured body.
The dragon hits the ground with a jarring crash and the forest echoes with the sound. When it fades away, the silence that follows is deafening.
My heart drums in my ears as I untangle myself from the contorted position I was thrown into when we landed. The gash in my forehead stings, but beyond that, I have miraculously evaded any serious injuries.
Steam rises from the heaving body of the dragon and the scent of something unpleasant burning mingles with that of the ferns we undoubtedly trampled during our collision. I search the darkness for an outline, a shape, or a blur of movement to betray the location of any of my companions. But the air is as still as it is dark.
I clamber to my feet, wiping blood from my eyes onto the sleeve of my tunic.
“Bellator?” I whisper. “Annalyn? Uri?”
Someone whimpers off to the right of where I stand.
I stumble toward the sound. “Annalyn? Is that you?”
“I’m not Annalyn!” Uri groans indignantly. “Get me outta here, would you?”
“Where are you?”
“Over here!”
“Keep talking. I’m almost to you.”
“Hurry it up! I got a whole tree on top me!”
Something jabs my leg and I bend down to discover what it is. My fingers find the sharp edge of a stick and I yank on it. The large branch it’s attached to shifts a little.
“Ow!” Uri hollers.
“Shh! Not so loud. Listen, I’ve got a hold of the branch that’s on you – it’s a branch, not a tree – and I’m going to try to get it off you.”
“Make it fast! And do it careful-like, would you?”
I feel around until I find the main stem of the branch. Grasping it, I pull on it with all my might. It remains stubborn for a moment, but with another tug, it loosens and breaks free. I lug it off of Uri and drag it out of the way.
“Ow,” Uri moans. “I said do it careful-like!”
“Sorry,” I say.
“A lot of good this dragon did. We’re gonna be caught for sure! I shoulda never agreed to this.”
There is a sound from behind us like a leather blanket being yanked aside, and blinding light shines in my face. My eyes sting and I put up both arms to shield them.
“Hey!” Uri shouts. “Put that out, would you?”
“Quiet, Uriah!” Bellator snaps breathlessly, but the light lowers to face the ground.
My eyes adjust to the blazing glow.
Supporting an unusually pale Annalyn with one arm, Bellator is holding the ball of light in her other hand. Annalyn’s knee is wrapped in a sloppy bandage already soaked through with blood. Apparently they had gotten trapped between the folds of one of Fyra’s wings when we landed, wh
ile Uri and I remained on her back.
“We need to get moving,” Bellator says, helping Annalyn down off the dragon’s back. “They likely saw us fall, so we won’t have much time – if any – before they come after us. The gateway is only a couple of miles from here, so we still have a head start.”
Uri shoves past me and leaps down after them onto the mossy forest floor. I follow more carefully.
“I don’t know about you,” Uri grumbles, “but if we get caught, I’m gonna kill the half-breed myself.”
“Enough!” Bellator snaps. “We’re not going to get caught.”
Once on the ground, I can see the source of the light. It comes from a necklace which Bellator pulls over her head to hang next to her dragon pendant.
“Um, Bellator,” Annalyn objects politely, “if you please, that’s my necklace.”
“Not anymore.”
“But my mother gave it to me!”
Bellator turns on her, her eyes flashing. “Listen to me! You have no idea what damage this firestone could do in the wrong hands. It’s best kept safe with someone who can protect it.”
Annalyn opens her mouth to protest, but Bellator cuts her off.
“That’s my final word,” she snaps, and then turns to the panting dragon.
Crestfallen, Annalyn pulls a strand of loose hair behind her ear, staring hesitantly at Bellator’s back. Her chin drops dejectedly, and turning away, she limps over to where Uri is examining the remains of a large tree that Fyra splintered during our fall.
“Sentitzen dut, nire laguna,” Bellator says, reaching out her hand and pressing it to the dragon’s muzzle.
For a moment, I think that she is performing some kind of spell, but when nothing happens, I realize that she is merely speaking in another language.
The dragon’s eyes open at her touch, its pupils retracting.
“Hau nire errua da,” Bellator continues almost lovingly, drawing near and stroking the dragon’s face with her other hand. “Pena eman al didazu, eta duzu minik dut.”
Broken Arrow (Darkened Destiny Saga Book 1) Page 10
