Those people – I caused that. I drove that golem into this building. One of them might even be Hubric.
Hubric lives. And he may even continue to do so if you pull yourself together and get over here.
The warehouse was poorly lit, only a single flickering brazier giving any light at all.
We’re in the undamaged half of the room.
I remembered that half being locked.
I stumbled toward it, but the door was wide open. The shelves had all been removed along with the items being stored for the Bright Redemption. The floor – large as it was – was nevertheless covered by a dark heap – not Kyrowat, I hoped.
I hope you have a head injury. Otherwise, I will have to take insult.
No, it was a golem. A flying golem. But it slept, its eyes dim.
There was a crash behind me. I ignored it, stumbling forward. One thing at a time.
They must have been planning to animate this thing with Kyrowat’s soul.
Precisely.
Something wet splashed on the stone in front of my feet.
I looked up, barely suppressing a scream.
It’s only saliva. It’s hard not to drool when you’re hanging head-down.
Kyrowat dangled from the roof, his head just inches from mine. How had I not seen him there before?
You really must have a head injury.
I looked up, woozily into the darkness above. Kyrowat’s wings and feet were bound. Was that something else hanging high in the air?
Hubric.
I stumbled backward and ran a hand over my face. My face was sticky. I needed a bandage for the head wound. I reached into my sleeve for the slip of cloth Zin had passed to me. In the faint light, I could see writing on it.
Feel the rush and fly the run, and sound the warning cry.
It was that prophecy she’d been quoting. She must have written it down. The fabric looked like a scrap of her dress. Underneath the prophecy, she’d written:
Go and warn them. Go without me. - Zin
I couldn’t go without her.
Could we save your angst for another time? Maybe after you free me? Kyrowat asked acerbically.
I swallowed and looked up. If I had two working arms, I might be able to make the climb, but with one hurt – I thought it might be the collarbone – climbing was out of the question.
Just cut the ties holding my head down. I can flame off the other ropes.
Ties?
My head spun as I tried to peer through the dark.
One is tied to the cage wall.
I walked along the wall, letting my hand follow it so I didn’t stumble in the dark. My foot hit the cable first. It was a fat rope – half the thickness of my wrist. I drew one of my daggers and began to saw at it. Slowly, slowly, it began to unravel as I cut through one layer after another. It felt like an age before it snapped.
Two more. One is on the rock wall attached to a metal anchor about the height of your waist.
I stumbled to the next rope, sawing at it in turn. The rope after that was also attached to an anchor. Someone had prepared for this. Before I met Shabren and Apeq, I wouldn’t have thought it possible that anyone would prepare to hold a dragon hostage.
At last!
Kyrowat broke free, flaming down the length of his own body. Burned scraps of rope fell to the ground with a thump.
Move.
I stumbled out of the caged part of the room, trying not to trip over the mess I’d made in the other room. I turned to watch Kyrowat flame again and then deftly somersault to the ground before arching up and skillfully snapping the rope attached to the other dangling figure’s feet and carefully lowering him down to the ground.
It really was Hubric.
I stumbled back through the door, kneeling over the old man to cut his bonds. He was breathing, but his eyes were shut and one of them was purple and swollen.
“Tor?” I spun at the sound of my name.
Chapter Seventeen
I SPUN, MOVING TOO quickly for my spinning head and stumbling to one knee.
“Zin?”
Her voice was high-pitched as she was shoved forward into the room.
“Tor?”
Karema had her by the scruff of the neck and Zyla followed her into the room with a man I didn’t know. They both carried those deadly rods made from the souls of Dragon Riders.
I shuddered. “How – ?”
It wasn’t possible to get here so quickly.
“Do you think you know all the secrets of this city, boy? You are a nuisance, but one easily dealt with. We, on the other hand, have been planning this for years.”
“Through caverns underground, mining shafts, and carts on rails,” Zin said in a sing-song voice as if she were quoting a prophecy, but I thought that perhaps she was just answering my question.
“Enough talk,” Karema said.
“You have all done enough damage tonight. It ends now.”
There was a howling sound and then the screaming of metal as Shabren flew into the gaping hole in the side of the warehouse, his golem much better controlled than mine had been. He dismounted easily when it came to a stop.
“The Master?” he asked Karema.
Her eyes narrowed. Interesting. She was suspicious of him, ally or not. I needed to find a way to leverage that. I needed to find a way to get us all out of here.
Think fast. I can’t flame in here without killing all of you humans. I’d rather avoid that.
Yes, please avoid that, Kyrowat. I almost rolled my eyes. This is why dragons had riders – if it were up to them, they would flame their way out of every problem.
That is why we are superior.
Shabren walked gingerly around my ruined golem and the dead men and women scattered under him.
“Our Master,” Karema said through clenched teeth, “commands us to control this situation. You shouldn’t have released the flyers. Now one is ruined, and the Exalted families are suspicious.”
Shabren shrugged. “They seemed happy enough to me when they were crowning him their ruler.”
“And six of my people are dead in this basement.”
“Unfortunate.”
I felt something tugging me. The doorway, no doubt. My head hurt and it was hard to keep my balance with my vision spinning so badly. There was some idea just on the edge of reach. Something about the doorway ...
Weren’t you supposed to go through it to help Saboraak?
How did he know that?
I listened in on her words.
Rude.
Yes. What of it?
“Get to your feet, boy,” Karema said tiredly. “If you obey, we won’t kill the girl right now.”
The girl? Shouldn’t she mean the girls?
Are your eyes pasted on?
I concentrated, forcing my eyes to focus and choked in my surprise, coughing and sputtering. Zyla, it seemed, was no captive.
She stood, arms crossed over her chest, beside Karema, but there was no rod threatening her. She was free. She barely glanced at her sister.
I tried to swallow, but it felt like something was stuck in my throat.
She really had betrayed us both. Not just me, but Zin, too. I hadn’t dared to believe it, but there was no denying this. As if on cue, the silver swirled in her eyes.
Shabren began to laugh, harshly. “Stand up, boy. Last chance to keep her alive.”
I stood shakily, stumbling slightly and shaking my head to clear it.
“I’d thought to make interesting items out of you and the old man, but I’m afraid I’ll have to reconsider,” Shabren said. “The entire city is watching now. They saw you fly from the Seat of Judgment to the Bright Redemption. They’ll all want to see what comes out of here next, and Apeq A’kona is in a precarious position.”
Karema sniffed at his words, but he ignored her, carrying on.
“And that means we can’t be seen to be doing anything strange. Which is a pity. I have yet to capture the soul of a purple dragon.�
��
Zyla, Karema and the man with them leaned forward as if hanging on his words.
“So,” Shabren said, “I’ll have to dispatch the dragon and you two riders. You knew you couldn’t leave this city alive. But why risk the girl? She can live her days out happily here ... with her sister.”
“No!” The word was wrenched out of me. Zyla recoiled from it as if I’d slapped her. Good! Traitors deserved what they got. That kiss ... she’d been using me. A kiss was a promise and she’d broken that promise. I ground my teeth.
“Tor – ” she said, taking a step forward, but I recoiled, stumbling back and into the arch of the Doorway. I needed to be careful. I could fall through with a misstep.
“Fool,” Karema hissed to Shabren. “You can’t kill them here. If you think getting rid of a live dragon will be hard, consider the difficulty of disposing of a dead one.”
I will flame them if they keep talking like that.
He could do what he wanted if he could just wait for me to get the girls free first – or at least Zin.
Shabren’s answering smile was so condescending that I almost wanted to hit him myself.
“There’s a reason that our Master sends me to deal with these things and not you, Karema. I know how to manage them correctly.”
“Yeah, Karema,” I muttered mockingly. Maybe if I could push her that extra inch, she would lose her temper and fight with him and forget about Zin.
“And what plan do you have, then, Shabren?” She spat.
I smiled. Good. She was getting mad. They were turning on each other.
I took a careful step forward, trying to look small and hurt. It wasn’t too hard to do. Every movement sent a jolting pain into my chest. That arm was going to be a problem.
“It would take too long to explain. Let’s just do it, shall we?” Shabren’s voice was tight, like Karema was getting on his last nerve.
“Besides,” I added, “You wouldn’t be able to understand it anyway.”
She gave me a death-look. She must know I was purposely provoking her. But it was still working.
“Boy,” Shabren said sharply. “Bring the old man here.”
“I’m afraid I’ve broken a wing,” I said breezily. “You’ll need to order some other dead-man-walking around.”
Shabren raised his hand and a bolt of red fire shot from a wristband and landed on the rock in front of my feet.
“Need I repeat myself?” He asked.
I swallowed and limped over to Hubric.
Can you move him without hurting him?
Ha! I couldn’t even move him without hurting me!
Then you may not move him.
If I don’t, then Zin will die.
What’s that to me?
Hubric will be mad. I think he feels responsible for these girls – or he did for Zyla and he would for Zin if he knows she’s alive.
Gently, Kyrowat leaned down and opened his mouth wide, scooping Hubric up delicately between teeth longer and sharper than knives. I shuddered. Dragons really had no sense of how terrifying that was for humans.
He doesn’t know. He’s unconscious.
Fair point. Okay, Kyro. Let’s see what we can do. Maybe we can snatch Zin, hop on your back and wing our way out of here.
Unlikely. Maybe you can take us through that doorway.
I didn’t even know where it went. It could be a classic case of out of the frying pan into the fire.
There’s a fire somewhere worse than our inevitable deaths?
Fair point.
We hobbled back to our place in front of the doorway.
“You brought the dragon,” Shabren said. He seemed pleased. “Excellent. Now watch, Karema. Maybe you can learn something about quelling dissent. You too, Zyla. If you’re going to be a Midnight Artificer, you’ll need someone better than Karema to handle your training.”
Okay, we were here, not far from Zin. Karema was as distracted as she ever would be. It was now or never. I tensed, ready to leap forward and grab Zin from Karema the moment I could.
“We’ve tested this door before. From one side, we can transport goods easily into Ko’Koren,” Shabren said. Karema rolled her eyes. She knew this better than he did. “But the other side is deadly. No person we have sent through there has ever come out again.” Shabren smiled. “Maybe you will prove to be exceptions.”
Karema tensed. “If you kill them that way, Shabren, then we won’t have proof for the Master. He’ll want proof if we lose such valuable assets.”
“Leave that to me,” Shabren said with narrowed eyes. “Place your hand on the smoke symbol, boy.”
“Or what?” I looked at Zin. Was it time to leap?
She nodded her head slightly and then looked at the smoke symbol. She wanted me to touch it? Why? Maybe I was misunderstanding.
But then, suddenly, she was speaking in a low chant, almost sing-song in the way it rolled from her tongue.
“When last they chance and roll the dice,
Bet all their lives on this device,”
I’d have to trust she knew something in this chant that I didn’t. After all, she was the one who had studied the prophecies.
“Then set their hearts on hope and pray,
That those who came here in their day,”
I reached back with my good hand and set it on the smoke symbol. The gate flared to life, sending a blast of white light through the room, blinding me with its sudden brightness.
Zin’s voice grew louder over the sound of rushing wind. “Judge true and spare their souls.
And from the heart of she who sees,”
There was a cut of cry in front of me. Not Zin! Don’t let it be Zin! I stumbled forward through the afterimages searing my sight.
Her voice continued to rise. She was almost yelling. “And from the mind of him who flees
Comes way to save and hero bold,
A way to conquer all the cold,”
I took another step forward, blinking away after images. Karema, reeling from some blow I hadn’t seen, lost her grip on Zin who fell forward. I sprinted the last two steps to her and caught her with my good arm before she could hit the ground. She was still chanting as if possessed.
“And stop bloodshed and the reign of fear.
And save all that you hold dear.”
A ball of green fire soared over my head.
“Stop!” Shabren bellowed.
“But do not dodge the turning knife,
The hand that chokes in moment of strife,” Zin said, her prophesying quieter now that I held her. I pulled her back toward the arches.
Come on! Kyrowat roared in my mind. We take our chances. That rod Karema has could kill us all in a heartbeat and I don’t plan on powering a machine with my life force.
I turned, pushing Zin before me as I rushed toward the Door of Heavens. Her chanting was lost in the chaos, though I could still hear her speaking.
Kyrowat dove through headfirst, Hubric in his teeth. His movement was so fast that he was there and then gone again in a moment.
“Stop!” Shabren yelled again and I risked a look behind me in time to see Zyla, gripping Karema’s rod, a look of hatred on her face. The rod flared and Karema crumpled silently, her face frozen in a silent, unreleased scream.
A magenta fireball arched through the air from Shabren’s hand, streaking so close to Zyla’s head that her hair sprouted in smoke.
I shoved Zin in front of me. One more step. Come on! She was looking behind me wildly, pointing at her sister as she chanted.
“But do not dodge the turning knife,
The hand that chokes in moment of strife
For that alone can save your life.”
I looked back over my shoulder in time to see Shabren knock the rod from Zyla’s hand. Her eyes met mine, desperation and fear filling them. I felt my heart harden. She’d betrayed us. Whatever happened now she’d brought down on herself.
But she’d fought for us at the last moment, hadn’t she? At her feet, Kar
ema and the other Midnight Artificer both lay dead or dying.
Forget about her, Tor. She’s a traitor. She’ll sell you out again if she can, I told myself.
“In you go. I’ll be right behind you,” I said to Zin, pushing her gently through the door. In a moment we’d join Saboraak behind that door. In a moment all this would be behind us.
But if Saboraak were here, she would demand compassion. She wouldn’t be okay with leaving Zyla to her fate. I ground my teeth, spat out a curse, turned on my heel, and ran forward in time to see Zyla knocked from her feet by a bolt of lightning streaking from Shabren’s wristband.
Without considering what I was doing, I pulled one of my knives from its holster and threw it, quick as thought, at Shabren. It lodged in his upper arm. He arched backward, yelling in pain. I was down to five. I took my opportunity.
Running forward to Zyla, I reached down and hauled her back to her feet with one hand. She was nearly as light as her sister. Pain seared through me at the effort, despite her small size. There was something really wrong with my arm and shoulder.
“Go!” I yelled, shoving her before me, fighting against the pain.
We were steps from the doorway. Our steps seemed to echo extra loud across my strained emotions. I willed speed into my legs, forced the screaming pain of my arm and chest from my mind, pushing hard with every muscle to cross those final steps.
Zyla disappeared through the door.
One more step, Tor!
Tor? Hurry! Please, hurry!
I could hear Saboraak’s voice in my head again! We were going to be okay!
Something hot and powerful hit me in the back, sweeping me off my feet and sending me careening through the doorway.
I was on fire.
I was a burning flame.
My vision went black.
Dragon Chameleon: World of Legends
Chapter One
I WAS ON FIRE. I WAS burning up. Everything hurt.
“Try putting the bracelet on him,” a quiet voice was saying. I had the sound of someone who had patiently said the same thing more than once.
“Maybe it should go on Hubric. He looks worse off.” That was definitely Zyla. Even in indecision, she sounded certain. She had a spirit that could cut through granite.
Dragon Chameleon: Episodes 5-8 Page 7
