by Mike Shelton
Alli laughed with delight. I hope you have a plan to get us out of here. I am imprisoned in the dungeon, and Jaimon is being manipulated by the Chameleon.
My rider is not being manipulated as much as you think—he did get you the dragon artifact.
Alli had to agree with Cholena, but Alli knew that the Chameleon could be ruthless.
Help will arrive soon, the dragon said into Alli’s mind. I cannot get down to the dungeons.
Who? How? Alli thought back. I am to be executed tomorrow.
My Followers will help you. Don’t despair, the dragon said. Then her presence faded away from Alli’s mind.
Alli tried to reach out again, but it was useless—the dragon was gone. Her followers? Did Cholena mean that ragtag bunch of fanatics, as the commander had called them? Alli was glad they had found and kept the artifacts, but she didn’t think they were organized enough or powerful enough to get her out.
The rest of the day had nearly passed, when a servant delivered an evening meal—if you could call it that—of beans and water. Later, a hazy moon shone through the high window. And, at some point in the night, Alli fell asleep into disturbing dreams of her impending death.
As Alli woke up the next morning, a new despair began to settle in her breast. But she held it at bay. There had to be a way out…there always was. But Alli had always had her powers to get her out of bad situations. She knew that both her fighting and her wizard skills were far beyond what most people could bring against her.
But now she sat alone in a cell, without the use of any of her abilities. She had never thought much about dying. But, now that she was starting to, she realized that she wasn’t nearly ready. She was still barely sixteen. She wanted to live. And she would!
She still had her mind, so she put it to work, thinking about how to escape. Looking down at her manacles, she tried to figure out how to get them off. She leaned back against the stone wall and thought hard.
Even without her powers, Alli knew that she could fight. When they came to take her from her cell, that’s what she would do. She would fight and try to get away and find Jaimon or Cholena or even Kaspar. Her face warmed as she thought about him. So she mentally slapped herself back to focus. Would Kaspar even help her?
The morning had dragged on, but then she heard the wooden door open and footsteps approach.
Probably the next meal, she thought, becoming more alert in waiting for any possibility to escape.
As had happened every day since Alli had been put into the cell, three people approached: a guard and two servants, usually women. One servant brought the food, and the other removed the waste. Alli turned her head to the side, not wanting to look at her final meal. She would rather go without eating.
Then a whisper came from the cell door, “Alli.”
Alli whipped her head around. Never had a servant spoken to her—let alone known her name. With suspicion, Alli walked to the cell door. Then the servant pulled her hood back from her face.
“Gabby!” Alli exclaimed. “What are you doing here?” The youngest daughter of the Wolf, Kaspar’s sister, stood in front of Alli, with a huge grin on her face.
“I am one of the Followers,” Gabby said.
“Followers?” Alli was confused.
Gabby glanced around for a moment and then said in a soft voice, “Of the Dragon.”
Oh, those Followers, Alli thought. Maybe she had dismissed the group too harshly.
“We need to go, Miss.” The guard nudged Gabby. Then he pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked Alli’s cell door.
Gabby turned to the other servant woman and said, “Change clothes.”
“What?” Alli asked.
“You are switching places,” Gabby said.
Alli shook her head as she watched the other woman remove her outer clothes. “I can’t let her do that,” Alli said. “They will kill her.”
“No, they won’t,” Gabby said. “By the time they figure out she is the wrong person, you will be gone. They will not kill a servant. And she will pretend that she was forced to do it.”
Alli didn’t want to put someone else in danger, so she hesitated.
“I know what I am getting into,” the other woman said. “Hail the Dragon.”
“Hail the Dragon,” the guard repeated softly.
“Please, Alli,” Gabby begged and placed a hand on Alli’s arm.
Alli felt something there and looked up into Gabby’s eyes. Was this girl—the daughter of the Wolf—a wizard?
Gabby moved her head in a barely perceptible nod.
Alli smiled warmly and thought, The world needs more female wizards.
In the next cell over, Commander Tobias came to the bars. “Let me out too!” he yelled. “I’m going to kill that pretender.”
“Who is that?” Gabby asked and took a few steps closer. “No, it can’t be. I just saw the commander this morning, walking through the halls to see my father.”
Alli slipped on the other woman’s clothes and then walked over to the commander, saying, “Shhh. You will alert the guards.” Then, turning to Gabby, she said, “This is the real commander. The other one is an impostor, a man called the Chameleon.”
“I don’t take orders from you,” the commander said, getting louder. “Let me out, now!”
Alli put the cloak around herself and pulled the hood up over her face. “I will come back for you, sir. I promise.”
The man’s eyes opened wider. “You mean, you really are not letting me out?” he said, his voice rising in anger. “How dare you!”
“There is more at stake here than you realize, Commander,” Alli said. “We can’t have you charging in and messing things up.”
The commander started to yell again.
“He’s going to alert the other guards,” the other woman said as she moved into Alli’s cell.
Gabby nodded her head to her guard, and he walked over and grabbed the commander through the bars. Bringing back his other fist, he then punched him hard. The man fell to the ground in a heap.
“Well done, Micah,” Gabby said.
Alli looked back and forth between Micah and Gabby, feeling surprised.
Gabby laughed. “My family oversees the Followers.”
Alli almost choked. She had not seen that coming. “Jaimon’s dragon told me you were coming. How is Jaimon?”
Gabby frowned. “We need to get you out of here first and then worry about him. He put his own life on the line for you to get out, Alli—by bringing the artifact to you.”
Gabby went into Alli’s cell and picked up her bucket of waste and handed it to Alli.
The smell made Alli’s nose wrinkle up.
“The guards will stay away from you, with this in your hands,” Gabby said.
“But my manacles…”
“Just hide them under your cloak while holding the bucket. We will get them off later.”
Alli nodded and then followed Gabby and Micah to the large wooden door. Exiting through the door, three other guards eyed them, one nodding his head to Micah. When Alli approached, they backed away, not even bothering to look at the face under her hood.
Soon they were down the hall and were about to open another door, when two other guards almost fell through it as Micah opened the door. Alli hung back a few steps, not wanting to be questioned.
“Where are you two going in such a hurry?” Micah asked the two guards.
“To get the prisoner,” one of them said. “Execution is today. The commander wants her all cleaned up and looking pretty.”
Alli’s heart raced. It was too soon. They wouldn’t have enough time to get away before she would be discovered.
As the men moved to walk past, Alli pretended to trip, spilling the waste from the pail all over the two guards.
They both screamed and tried to swat Alli away, but it was too late. The waste dripped down the front of their clothes.
“Stupid woman,” one of the guards said and moved closer, his hand raised as if to hit
Alli.
But Micah grabbed the man’s hand before it could strike her. Honestly, Alli wouldn’t have minded a little scuffle. It had been a few days since she had gotten into a good fight.
“It was an accident,” Micah said. “Go change. You two stink,” he said as he waved a hand in the air and plugged his nose. “I’ll find two others to bring the prisoner.”
The two men grumbled, but they moved out of the hallway and went back the way they had come.
“That will buy us some time,” Micah said. “But not much.”
Gabby directed them down another hallway and around a corner. There, three familiar men approached them, and Alli almost stumbled. Gabby pulled Alli’s cloak farther over her head, and they moved forward as if nothing were wrong. But, coming toward them, down the wide hallway, was the Wolf; his son, Kaspar; and the Chameleon commander.
Alli’s heart beat so loudly that she thought for sure they would hear it. Would they recognize her? She hoped that the Chameleon’s magic wouldn’t notice hers.
The two women walked with their heads down, the remaining waste in the bucket still smelling up the air around them. Micah moved out in front of them and, as the three passed, bowed his head low.
Walking past, Alli let out a small sigh and felt both the Wolf and Kaspar poke her mind. They knew what Gabby was doing. “Guard, where are you heading?” the commander said as he turned around and then eyed the three of them.
“These two were serving the prisoner, sir,” Micah said. “They got turned around, and I am escorting them back.”
The Chameleon wrinkled up his nose. “Well, that will be the last waste you have to pick up from there. The spy from Alaris is to be executed today.”
“Very well, sir,” Micah said and bowed once more. “Health to you and your family.”
With that, the three men turned and left. Receding boot clicks faded down the hallway and around a corner.
Then Alli let out a bigger sigh. “That was too close. I need to get out of this castle.”
Two doors later, they took a servants’ flight of stairs that circled around the back of the castle and then exited out into the bright sunlight. Alli squinted, and the other two covered their eyes with their hands. Then Gabby continued to lead them through the grounds and around to a small door in the castle’s walls. This opened out into an apple orchard.
Putting the pail down, Alli flipped her head to throw back the hood of her cloak. She took Gabby’s hands in her own manacled pair and felt the spark within Gabby once again.
“Thank you so much, Gabby. That was very close.”
“Now we need the dragon,” Gabby said.
Alli was confused. “No, we need to get Jaimon first. He can talk to Cholena.”
“So can you,” Micah said.
“With the figure Jaimon gave you,” Gabby added.
Alli pulled the jade dragon out of the pocket of her new clothes. She had kept the figure in her hand as she had exchanged clothes earlier with the poor woman now in her dungeon cell.
Grasping the jade dragon tightly, Alli reached her mind out again. She tried to access her own powers but grunted with the realization that, with the manacles still on her wrists, she could not yet.
This time, it was easier to reach Cholena. So she called out to the dragon.
Can you get to the north of the city; where we first landed? Cholena asked.
Alli relayed the request to Gabby, who nodded her head.
Then what? Alli asked.
Then we save Jaimon and crush those who took him, Cholena said, and Alli felt a powerful force echo within her mind.
Alli smiled and said, Ah, time for a little fighting.
“What about my manacles?” Alli asked Gabby out loud.
Gabby frowned slightly, making her seem even younger than she was. Then she said, “My brother’s working on that.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Moving with quick steps, Gabby and Micah led Alli through the orchards to the back door of a tall, whitewashed brick building. Micah pulled the heavy door open and motioned them to enter. Alli surveyed the dark room, trying to get her eyesight back. Blinking a few times, she began to see the outlines of a group of people who were standing around a long, rectangular table.
The Followers of the Dragon.
At their head stood Kaspar—tall, dark, and handsome. He smiled at Alli, and she barely controlled her blush this time.
I’m glad Roland isn’t quite that perfect.
The thought surprised Alli. Why did Roland always seem to pop into her mind at the most strange times? But she did wonder how he was doing.
Looking around the room once more, she thought she felt Roland’s presence nearby, as she had once before. I’m getting paranoid, she told herself. And, just because I feel something for Roland doesn’t mean I can’t notice the beautiful man in front of me.
“Alli,” Kaspar said. “I’m glad to see you.”
“Do I have you to thank for my rescue, Kaspar? Are you the leader of these Followers?”
Kaspar fidgeted for a moment. “Well, technically, my father is, but I do run things for him from time to time,” He smiled, and his teeth shone, bright white in the dim room. “We need to leave now.”
“But your father was the one that gave me up.” Alli felt her face turning red with her anger. “He sent me to the dungeon.”
Kaspar shook his head and said, “No. That was the commander’s order. My father didn’t dare intervene, for he is in a dangerous position.”
“And I wasn’t?” Alli retorted.
“We don’t have time for this right now,” Kaspar said. “You don’t understand the politics here. My father stalled the Commander as long as he could to allow us time to help you escape and for me to get back here.”
As a woman gave Kaspar a bundle of clothes and weapons, Alli gave him a questioning look.
“For you,” Kaspar said. “But first, we have to get those manacles off.”
“Now would be a good time for that,” Alli said, holding her hands out in front of herself.
Kaspar’s face reddened. It was the only time Alli had seen the young prince look embarrassed.
“I don’t know how yet,” he said. “But we have to go.”
Two guards came up next to Kaspar, and they motioned Alli to follow them as they went out of a back door.
“North of the city, by the river,” Alli informed them. Through the figurine, which she still held in her hand, Alli knew exactly where Cholena was.
In about thirty minutes, they were clear of the city, and then, a short walk later, they came over a small hill. Alli spied the dragon. Cholena was next to the Mahli River, where the river fed into the Bay of Ghazi, her green scales glistening magnificently in the sunlight.
As they approached her, Cholena roared a greeting, green fire emanating from her growing maw. Glad to see you safe again, Battlemaster, the dragon said to Alli’s mind as Alli reached her side.
You are looking beautiful today, Cholena, Alli said. She moved her hands out, to touch the dragon, but the manacles got in the way.
“Kaspar!” Alli turned on the prince. “I need these off now!”
Kaspar thought for a moment, and Alli felt his influence push against her mind.
“Stay out of there, Kas,” Alli said and then held her jaw clenched. What was he trying to do?
“Sorry—old habits,” Kaspar apologized. “Just trying to find a way for those things to come off.”
Alli sighed and then paced around while Kaspar continued in thought.
Finally, he called out to her, “I got it. The dragon!”
“The dragon what?” Alli was getting tired of this. She needed her magic and her hands.
“She can bite them off.”
Alli halted in her pacing and thought, It might work.
Using the figurine, she held her hands up to Cholena and asked, Can you take these off? The dragon brought her heavy head down, close to Alli’s petite body.
As Alli held her hands up in front of her, the dragon moved her mouth over Alli’s hands. Gleaming white teeth, at least six inches long, sat in front of Alli. What if Cholena missed and bit off Alli’s hands instead?
Hold still, little one, Cholena scolded. I’m not going to eat you—at least, not today!
Cholena, don’t joke like that, Alli said. You dragons have a strange sense of humor.
Alli could feel the warm fires of the dragon’s belly escaping through Cholena’s mouth and onto her hands. Then she saw Kaspar and the two guards step back in fear.
As the dragon crunched down over one hand, Alli held her breath and closed her eyes…then she felt the manacle drop from her wrist to the ground. The dragon repeated that same action over Alli’s other hand and then backed away with what could only be described as a smile on her fearsome face.
Alli ran her left hand over the wrist of her right. The cuts and scrapes from the manacles stung, but her wrists were serviceable still. Bringing her hands up in the air, she formed a ball of fire and threw it, off toward the river.
“It’s back!” Alli laughed in delight. “My magic is back.”
With the figurine in one hand, Alli reached her other small hand up and rubbed Cholena’s hard, green scales, saying, Thank you, my friend.
Kaspar brought Alli the bundle that the two guards had carried. “I suspect that, before the day is over, you might need a little more freedom in your movements.”
“You mean, a fight is coming?” Alli took the clothes from Kaspar. Moving behind the dragon, she told the men to turn around. Soon she had slipped on some tight, black pants that stretched easily, a black tunic, and a long, black cloak, which finished the outfit.
Much easier to move around in, Alli thought to herself.
When Alli came back around from behind the dragon, Kaspar handed her two swords and two knives and asked, “Will this help?”
“For starters,” Alli said with a smile, cocking her head to the side.
Kaspar laughed. “You are a tease, Battlemaster.”
Cholena shook her wings in apparent anxiousness, so Alli gripped the figurine and heard Cholena say, Climb aboard, Alli!
Without Jaimon? Alli asked, feeling surprised. She had never flown on one of the dragons without a dragon rider aboard.
