Fire Bound Dragon

by Elizabeth Rain

  She bent back over her shoulder and whispered. “Now would be a magnificent time for that enchantment. We need the keys, but I don’t know what Bennett has for guards up ahead. I’d like to see what were up against before were up against it,” Elise admitted.

  Nicholas nodded. “Stay close, grab onto me and don’t let go. Contact with me will keep you covered. I can only hold it for about five minutes without being pretty much useless when it comes down.” I grabbed his arm, leaving his hands free to weave the spell he needed to create the glittery cape of invisibility that slithered cool and welcome over our skin. Elise took his hand and led us around the corner.

  I’m sure we’d all imagined what we might see when we viewed the cell chambers for the first time. They extended along one side of the corridor for close to a hundred feet. Square cells lined the length of the long dirt path.

  I’d expected to see hands and faces crowded at the bars, dirty and wanting out. It wasn’t like that. There were only three guards and they stood huddled in a circle in the middle of the cell-block arguing and talking amongst themselves. At first I almost wondered if we’d come to the wrong place. Were the cells empty? Had they killed them all?

  As we moved closer, I realized the truth was much worse. Nobody stood because most were too weak. Those that weren’t were sitting to conserve what reserves of energy they had left. Dark shadows shifted and moved at the backs of those cells. From where we stood it was difficult to discern who was human and who might be a vampire. The stench was awful.

  Slop buckets overflowed in every cell and looked as if they hadn’t been emptied in a week. The cloak covering us stuttered and shimmered for a second and I knew the horror was making it difficult for Nick to maintain the illusion. I squeezed his hand and the cloak grew stronger.

  Elise pulled us closer. We couldn’t talk. Sound traveled beneath the cloak. But it didn’t take a genius to realize we were going to need that immense ring of keys that hung on a thick cord around the shortest wolf’s neck.

  The element of surprise was our best defense. As we moved closer both Nick and I drew our knives. Elise wasn’t armed, but she was a vampire. She had her teeth. We were within a matter of yards when my foot upended a small stone and sent it skittering over the polished dirt surface of the corridor. It rolled end over end and came to rest near the over-sized foot of the largest wolf. With a yelp, he jumped backwards.

  I was still chastising myself for my foolish mistake when Elise deliberately sent several more rolling their way. Her breathing became heavy and audible as she hissed each raspy breath in their direction.

  Canine eyes rounded in horrified confusion as they growled and spun in circles, looking for the source of the disturbance. We waited until they had moved apart, crouched and shaking. We would not have much of a window, but the added fear and shock when the enchantment swirled to the ground in a tornado of glittery sparks was epic. We moved before they could recover.

  Elise was on the shortest wolf in a blur of speed I struggled to follow, but I couldn’t pay attention to what was happening to them as I leapt into the fray myself. I went for the taller wolf and swung my knife with wicked precision, drawing blood and sinking the poison of the blade deep. The weaker he was, the easier it would be to contain him. He recovered enough to fight back, but by then it was too late as the poison took effect. He staggered and I moved in, my hand clutching him by the throat and swinging his head against the wall with a sickening thud. He was down and I turned to help the others.

  Elise looked up from where she crouched, the keys dangling from her slim fingers. The wolf twitched at her feet and her lips were cherry red. I looked away. Nicholas needed my help. Like me, he’d landed several cuts to the guard he battled, but his own weakened state made him a less than even match for the other wolf. They battled arm in arm, twisting in circles, each trying to get the upper hand. I flipped my knife around and moved in at the first available opening and slammed the butt of my knife against his temple. He went down like a rock.

  Nick stood up and sent me an evil glare. “What? I had it under control,” he growled.

  I nodded. “I could see that.”

  Elise rose and moved to the nearest empty cell. “They aren’t dead. Let’s move them in here just in case. They can yell all they want when they wake up. It won’t do any good over the screaming and shouting above us.”

  Together we drug them inside and slammed the door. By now there was a movement from the other cells as those that were able had moved to the cell bars and looked out at us in dull wonder. The gaunt faces and hollowed cheeks of the prisoners made me want to cry. There was easily forty people down here and that was just a guess. They looked like they hadn’t eaten in a long time. The dull apathy in their gazes haunted me. As we stood and looked an unfamiliar sound emerged and grew. A keening cry and snapping teeth.

  “Sweettttt....” Came a hissed breath, followed by a second and then more. The vampires had picked up our scent. Mine. I could have told them I was anything but.

  “If we let them out with you in here? I won’t be able to control them. They’ll tear you apart Sadie. They’re starving and have no control left.”

  “We can’t leave them here,” I stated.

  “I can,” Nick protested, staring into the feral red eyes and snapping teeth pressed between the bars.

  I stared too, but I was thinking of how we could free them all and live to tell the tale. I turned to Elise.

  “What if we release the Others first? Vamps can feed on the Demon Wolves, right?”

  She nodded. “Demon wolves. And you Sadie, your blood draws them. Not so much the prisoners or the rest of you.”

  “If we release ours first, I can get them to the top and away from the castle. Give me twenty minutes lead time and then release the rest. Only, lead them into the courtyard. Be careful, the Juggats are still there, but so are all those wolves.

  “You don’t know the way, Sadie. You and Nick and the others will be hopelessly lost within minutes.”

  It was my turn to grin. “The Tuttles are all werewolves Elise, they’ll just follow their noses towards the fresh air. It stinks down here.”

  I thought of something else and frowned. “When you reach the courtyard, what about Giat and Dae?”

  Elise shrugged. “I can do my best to find them first and make sure they aren’t part of the feast.” Her smile broadened. “I gotta admit, I can hardly wait to see the faces of those wolves topside. I mean, first the Juggat’s and now thirty starving vampires. Talk about ruining their day.

  A giggle escaped my throat and I slapped a hand over my mouth to contain it. She was right. I only wished I was going to be there to see it.

  Together we moved from cell to cell, looking for the Tuttles. They were in the last two cells. The two months hadn’t been kind to any of them. There were ten in total. I remembered finding James Rae, Todd’s best friend just a few weeks before along the path near Bitterroot. I stared at Todd now, his ebony skin bleached to ash grey. He looked so much like Thomas as he stood at the barred door, hands wrapped around the steel and clenched tight.

  His eyes met mine, the gleam of yellow in them alive with rage and dark promise. He was a lot thinner than the last time I’d seen him at the Tuttles dinner table. They all were. But Todd and his companions, the last search party to wander up the mountain, were still in better shape than the others.

  “What do you say we bust you out of here my friend?” My eyes pulled to the original captives; the family of Tuttles that had first gone missing. The youngest victim, Jacob, clung to his mother Sally, who was in the worst shape. She didn’t even look at me. Her eyes stared into the world without emotion, expression empty and defeated. Her husband Lawrence, trembling in the grips of a fever, struggled to remain upright and hold his family. I had doubts the three of them would walk anywhere.

  I turned back to Todd. “They’ll have to be carried and we need to move fast.”

  Todd’s eyes moved to Elise, taking in her
pale skin and bloodstained lips with heavy disgust. “What about her? That’s a vamp.”

  “Yes, and that vamp saved your ass. We wouldn’t be here if not for them. That’s why we have to hurry. We have to make it topside and back down that tunnel before Elise releases the rest. We don’t want them to catch us anywhere in the tunnels.”

  Elise spoke up. “I can give you thirty minutes, but not more. That’ll give you a little leeway in case your noses aren’t up to par and to get the wounded away from here.” She stared at Todd coldly. I imagined she was used to the heavy disapproval her race suffered from other Magicals. Apparently it was all right to shape shift into a dog or exchange legs for a fish's tail, but not to consume blood as a main course. No wonder vampires kept to themselves.

  Elise herself inserted the key and swung the doors open. Nick planned to bring up the rear. I would lead with Todd in the front. I turned to Elise as Todd and his friends went to gather the family and the others and shuffle them into the main corridor. She stood frowning to the side, looking small and not at all dangerous, though I knew that was a lie.

  I took her startled hands. “Thank you. If we don’t meet again, I wish you the best of luck. Enjoy being a mother, you will be a great one. Be careful.” I pulled her in close for a hug. She stood stiffly and didn’t return it, but when I stepped away, she was smiling.

  “You as well, Sadie Cross, and all the rest of you. Get topside now, we have no idea how long those Juggat’s will keep them busy up top, we’re wasting time.”

  I turned and headed back the way we’d come, Todd at my side without another word. The rest followed behind. I’d been right. Several turns and corridors later the Tuttles led with no trouble, their noses in the air, following the sweet scent of freedom as we climbed level by level to the top. We were slower going up, hindered by those that needed to be carried. We came up into the main corridor with only a half dozen minutes to spare.

  The doors to the courtyard had swung closed and I wondered that one of our group had done the honors to prevent the Juggats and escaping wolves from using the tunnel. We turned right and headed towards the woods and the way back home. We were halfway along the tunnel when I heard the shouts and screams behind us. The vamps had made it to the surface. I hoped Elise still led and that they had all turned left.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Giat and Dae led as everyone else followed into the courtyard. The Juggat’s were doing their job and then some. Bedlam ruled as Demon wolves battled against an unbeatable foe. Though it seemed unnatural when he first saw it, Thomas realized that these wolves were armed and wielding swords and knives. Not that it was doing them much good.

  Together they edged around the perimeter of the yard, and onto the raised walkway. Signs of the fight were everywhere as the Juggat’s attacked in a feeding frenzy, enhanced by the spell Fern had used to drive them mad with hunger. To the wolves credit, their numbers might have been the only thing keeping them alive as they worked in groups to hold back the dragons.

  But Thomas and his group didn’t care about any of that. Instead, Giat led as they worked their way along the walk and past the carnage taking place around them. No one gave them a second glance. They were too busy just trying to stay alive. Giat moved inside the first doorway he came to. Sirris edged close to Thomas as they entered a large central hallway that emerged into a grand room rising several stories high in the middle. Around the perimeter of that massive room were a set of rails spiraling upwards and a multitude of doors behind them on each floor. The room itself should have been dark, but large windows on each level cut through and let in the light. It was still dim as there were few torches to light the way in sconces along the walls. Thomas shoved his way to the front. If he wasn’t going to take part in the rescue of his own brother, the least he would do was to lead the party to find and stop Will Bennett.

  A crash against the outer wall made them all jump sideways. A Juggat had plowed into the side of the castle. A billowing cloud of dust and stone flew into the air from the impact and they stared aghast at the spiderweb of fine cracks that spread over the inner wall. Castle stronghold or no, the Juggat’s were doing damage.

  Thomas turned to Giat. “You were his second in command. Where did he spend most of his time, where would he be hiding?”

  Giat’s eyes moved up along the spiraling staircase winding the circumference of the room to the towering turrets of the castle above. “He keeps a room at the top. I don’t know if that’s where he is, but it’s safer than out there for a coward like him. He had us to do all his dirty work. He only got his hands dirty when he had no choice.”

  Without a word, Thomas took the first steps at a run. Everyone else followed, weapons out and ready. Regardless of the battle going on outside, inside Will Bennett would not be unprotected. But it wouldn’t stop them. Not this time.

  Giat caught and stopped Thomas on the first landing while they waited for the rest to catch up. “Look, I know you want to lead this, but that’s not how this has to go. Think about it. If he has guards, seeing a bunch of humans running up the steps will not make them want to stop and talk. But if they think it’s two Demon wolves bringing the new captives up, they might let us pass without a fight.”

  Thomas scowled. Sirris put a hand on his arm and he shot her an irritated glance. “Thomas, he’s right. Put Giat in the lead, and Dae pushing the vamps and the rest of us at the end? It’ll look like they just brought their fearless leader, Will Bennett, a present. No one will want to impede that. It has the best chance of working.” His eyes moved to Fern, who nodded, her small face grave.

  “We need to be smart about this if we want to win the endgame, Thomas.” She confirmed.

  Thomas blew out a huff of air. “Fine, lead.” He took a step back and Dae brought up the rear.

  Giat didn’t move. He looked them over and rolled his eyes. “You should probably store your weapons out of sight. And look scared or something. You don’t look like prisoners.”

  Amid whispers and grumbling, all weapons were stored except the two swords Giat and Dae had commandeered along the way from a couple dead wolves.

  “Thomas leaned back to Fern. Are you sure those shell things are working? It occurs to me this would be a brilliant opportunity for a double-cross,” he whispered.

  Fern bent forward. “I admit the thought occurred to me as well.”

  “Have a Little Faith human,” growled Dae over their shoulder, listening to every word.

  “Fresh out.” Thomas growled back, facing forward as they climbed. He tried to remember to look defeated.

  The first set of guards were on the third floor on their way down at a trot. The four of them froze in shock when they saw them, their swords rising at an awkward angle.

  In a guttural language most of them didn’t understand, the guards shouted at Giat. He answered back in kind, just as loud. He reached back and snagged Sirris roughly by the arm and pulled her forward and gave her a good shake, making her cry out in real pain from the bruising grip.

  Thomas pursed his lips, a fine haze of red floating in front of his vision as he struggled to contain himself.

  Abruptly, Giat shoved her back behind him and motioned to the top. Thomas thought he heard Will Bennett’s name. The others grumbled amongst themselves and then without another word they continued down the stairs, ignoring them completely.

  Giat glanced back at them and nodded. Continuing up, they were stopped twice more by two other groups of wolves, all on their way down. Thomas assumed to join the fray. Will Bennett was calling in reinforcements to deal with the mess the Juggat’s were creating.

  At the top, the towers were divided into four main apartments. Doors led to the outside catwalk that ran the perimeter of the castle, with several bridges to lower floors and sections of the castle. Radmoor was a fascinating structure and Thomas imagined it had taken years to build. But the vampires were an old race, and he figured time was something they’d had plenty of.

  Only one of the fo
ur apartment doors stood guarded. Not all of the Demon wolves had been dismissed to fight below. Two stood at attention in front of the first door on the left.

  They stared at Giat in confusion. They blinked at the prisoners that followed with Dae bringing up the rear.

  Giat spoke in English, which gained him a puzzled look from the guards, but they spoke back in kind. “We’ve brought a gift Will Bennett won’t want to miss.” He growled.

  The larger of the two guards frowned at them. “We weren’t expecting any prisoners. We thought you were dead?”

  Giat shrugged, unconcerned. “We caught them wandering in the woods. Human Magicals. The ones that Will Bennett talks about. The vampires were with them, so we brought them along. Bennett will want to see these.”

  “He told us he was not to be interrupted.” The guard protested, jaw at a stubborn angle.

  Giat shrugged and turned to go. “Well, that’s it, I guess. Can you let him know you sent the humans he’s been looking for away without letting him know about it?”

  Giat had turned and was three steps back the way he’d come before the guard stopped him.

  “Wait a minute. I suppose it won’t hurt to check with him, see what he wants to do. Wait here.”

  Giat turned back with a dark smile. “Do that. We’re feeling like a bit of sport. We’re hoping that later he’ll let us toss them in with the other vamps in the keep below. Maybe you’d like to come along and watch. It should be entertaining.” He sent a sly glance behind him. Thomas growled and Giat smiled, eyes cold.

  The guard gave a greasy laugh and his companion joined in, looking their small group over with hungry eyes. The first guard turned and knocked on the door. Another wolf answered it. They spoke so low that even Thomas wasn’t able to make out the words. After several pregnant seconds, the door swung wider to admit their small group.