Burned

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  “You’re right, sir. The wardens don’t appreciate what they have. Your father-in-law was concerned about the dragon eggs, sir. The community in the Dimond City cannot give them enough magic. Apparently, there is a shortage everywhere,” the official continued and I glanced at Idris. He looked bored, but deep down, I knew he was catching every word.

  We were both right: The Dark Ones were still breeding dragons after decades of lies and deceit. There was nothing I could do now. We just needed to get to that prison, so I could locate Nicolas. Baxley wasn’t going to walk around with Avianna the whole time. I just had to find the right moment while he was busy with interrogations or talking to Idris’s father.

  The Dark Ones were keeping the dragons in the underground of the Dimond City, but that seemed almost impossible. Even there, the space was limited. I just didn’t want to believe that the enemy would risk such high exposure.

  We entered the prison ten minutes later through a large metal gate. A sand storm was approaching from the north. In this world, the Dark Ones were in their usual form; their skin was sparkling and shimmering. The guards stared at all of us and I couldn’t read anything from their expressions.

  “We’re officially here. I believe Magnus requested me to interrogate the prisoner?” Baxley asked, puffing up his chest.

  The prison guard was a female Dark One, she had honey-coloured hair and I instantly wanted to touch her. The magical energy that spread in this place had me feeling invincible.

  “The integration cells are on the lower level—don’t go near the cells. The wardens there have been infected with Dragon Fever,” she explained after she handed him several forms. Avianna was moving around the cage, her golden eyes were seeing through the blanket. It shocked me to the core that we couldn’t communicate like we used to. The warlock’s spell must have removed some of my abilities.

  The guards directed us downstairs where I saw several prisoners. This place reminded me of the Underworld: Dimond city where I’d been kept for a little while, although conditions there were worse. Everyone had to fight for a scrap of bread.

  The place stunk, so damp and dirty; the wardens were staring at us and I desperately wanted to get the hang of the magical energy I had left inside me.

  “Good that Zuzanna didn’t come with us. She would have been such a girl about it,” Baxley said, laughing.

  Idris was quiet, and I really wanted to have a moment alone with him. We needed to think about our plan.

  We reached the lowest level.

  “The prison director wants to see Idris,” the other Dark One said, staring down at some paperwork.

  “I’m the interrogator. Magnus is expecting me. I need to speak to the director right away,” Baxley said, raising his voice and pushing me out of the way. The guard didn’t even lift his head. I had no idea what was going on. Apparently, Magnus was supposed to be meeting us here, so why did they want to speak to Idris?

  “Whatever mate, the director gave me an order. She wants to see Idris and as far as we know, Magnus isn’t here,” the guard responded, and another door buzzed, then opened. Idris and Baxley looked at each other.

  “I’ll be back shortly,” Idris said, and he glanced at me. I couldn’t read anything from his expression. A few other Dark Ones let him through and told Baxley and the other guy that we could wait in the meeting room at the end of the corridor.

  I was getting nervous; this wasn’t the plan and now I was separated from Idris. He obviously must have had some connection to the prison director, the female Dark One.

  “Coffee, I need some coffee. James, maybe you can go and fetch some?” Baxley asked the official, who probably wasn’t here to fetch drinks for him. The man was much older than Baxley, but I suspected he was from the lower class, so he had to obey that moron’s every wish. I didn’t even know why he was here in the first place.

  I was biting my lips anxiously, thinking about other ways I could communicate with Avianna. The spell was going to last for a little while longer. It bothered me that there was no way I could tell Avianna I had come for her, that she just needed to be a little more patient.

  “Yes, of course, madam—would you care for a drink?” the bald Dark One asked me, but I shook my head quickly.

  Once the official left the room, Baxley took the blanket off of the cage. Avianna woke up and started moving around, releasing fire and smoke.

  “Stupid, little creature. Magnus will give me a serious raise and he might even put me in charge of the entire council because of you,” Baxley said looking down at Avianna, smiling widely. My breathing was becoming uneven.

  Avianna hissed and then released more fire than he expected. Besides, he was standing too close to her. She burned the tip of his nose, and he screamed moving away.

  “Fuck! The dragon burned me!” he shouted like crazy then started shaking the cage with rage. My fingertips started sparkling and Avianna was now in serious distress.

  “What the hell are you doing? Leave her alone!” I shouted, forgetting about the whole plan, but I couldn’t stand by while he was trying to hurt her. This was not going to happen. Baxley ignored me, and he kept shaking the cage. Avianna didn’t like it. She was making strange, hissing noises and fury rippled through me. He wasn’t holding his nose anymore, he was just laughing, so I grabbed his arm.

  “Stop hurting her or you will regret that you were even born,” I snarled at him. That finally got his attention. My magic was tearing me from the inside out and I wasn’t thinking about my future. Avianna released more fire and Baxley finally looked at me with the frown.

  “How do you know it’s a female?” he asked. I didn’t give him another opportunity to react. I pushed him to the wall, losing complete control of my abilities. The impact surprised me. Baxley crashed against the wall; sparks rolled over the surface of my skin and I was just getting started. No one was going to get away with hurting my dragon.

  Chapter Eighteen

  To the rescue.

  I exploded, fury blinded me for a moment. I was trembling, and heat was raising the temperature in my body. It was like the time when I lost control and threw the breakfast tray at Idris’s bedroom wall. Fury sank its angry claws and teeth into my hand. I had never in my life been more pissed off. Baxley had crossed the line.

  However, this time my anger—it multiplied. Baxley didn’t pass out like I had expected. He was already up, brushing off the bits of drywall from his suit. Seconds later, he charged towards me with his magic, but I was more than ready. It felt like something had snapped inside of me. A ball of bright light exploded from my palms, shattering my vision.

  “What the—”

  “You shouldn’t have touched Avianna. She’s a living creature!” I screamed, attacking him with every ounce of energy I had left inside of me. My magic was almost like an atomic bomb, pounding through my system. Sparks of magic were flying around the room. This new, darker energy was deadly; the fire in my core spread everywhere.

  Another burst of strong magic left me, hitting the ceiling. I allowed the rest of it to slide down my arm. It was difficult to say how long I continued shooting deadly spheres of light from the palms of my hands. Baxley was defending himself well, but a few of my spells must have caught him. When I finally ceased my magic, the whole room was filled with smoke. My heart stopped, because I couldn’t hear Avianna any longer.

  I grabbed the cage and sighed with relief when I saw that Avianna was all right. She was staring at me with her wide golden eyes.

  “It’s me, Fran. I had to take this identity in order to get close to the Dark Ones. Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here,” I said, loudly, not even attempting to use my internal voice. I felt like myself again, powerful and strong.

  Baxley was lying unconscious by the wall; he wasn’t moving. I checked his pulse; he wasn’t dead yet, but I should have killed him. His chest and part of his right arm was burned badly. My thoughts were in havoc and I realised that I couldn’t just stand here. The other Dark Ones were
going to be back in this room at any moment.

  Without a second thought, I grabbed the cage and then kicked the door open with my boot. Adrenaline was still coursing through my body. The corridor was still empty, and I had to find my way out of here. Avianna most likely still didn’t understand me, so I covered the cage with the blanket. Idris was on his own now, and he could take care of himself. I needed to track Nicolas first, now that I had Avianna back.

  I ran across the hall and then looked through the corner behind the wall. The prison was huge and somehow, I had to find my way back to the lower level. Blood pounded in my ears. I wished that I’d killed Baxley; he deserved it. At the same time, the tiny voice in my head reminded me that I wasn’t a cold-blooded killer.

  “Hey, you. I’m an official from the office and I’m looking for a prisoner,” I said, stopping a Dark One who was walking downstairs. He was tall and armed, but I didn’t give a crap. His magic was apparent, slamming into my system, almost overwhelming. On top of that, Avianna was spreading her fire through the blanket. There was no alarm yet, no sound that something was wrong.

  “What prisoner are you looking for?” he asked, frowning. I had a feeling that he didn’t believe a word that was coming out of my mouth.

  “Nicolas Sergei,” I replied, remembering his surname.

  “Don’t know him. You have to go to lowest level and then turn right. The guards know everyone who goes in and out,” he told me. I nodded my thanks, moved past him, not waiting to carry on the conversation.

  I took the stairs running, knowing I had to be careful because Avianna was roaring loudly. She seemed to be in major distress. In the end, I decided to take the lift the rest of the way. I was lucky there was no one else inside.

  I caught my own reflection in the mirror and my eyes widened. For a split second I wondered who was staring at me from the other side. The woman looked like she was possessed. There was soot smudged all over my cheeks and my blond hair was a complete mess.

  I placed the cage on the floor when the lift started moving and glanced down at my hands. I was shaking, and I thought the lift was going too slow.

  My body was like a ticking bomb, ready to explode again if anyone tried to get in my way. I was too scared of this new me.

  After another painfully long five minutes, the lift finally stopped and when the door opened up, two guards were standing on the other side. Behind them there were cells filled with wardens. Most of them were in the last stages of the disease. The smell of urine, vomit and blood hit me instantly, but I tried to compose a serious expression. No one here knew who I was, and for now, I needed to keep it together for Nicolas’s sake.

  “I’m here to for Nicolas Sergei. Where is he?” I demanded, standing in front of them and charging my hands with magic. They needed to know that they couldn’t mess around with me.

  “Who are you?” the shorter one asked, staring at me suspiciously. They were both glowing and my now magic fed from theirs. My senses were all over the place. I wasn’t used to being around the Dark Ones in their true form. Some wardens must have noticed me standing there. Maybe they sensed that I was different, maybe even recognised me as one of their own.

  “I’m the official from the office in London and I don’t want to be kept waiting. My time is valuable,” I shouted, pinning one to the wall. The other one laughed and then I lost it. Flames shot from my palm once again, and he screamed. It was just like with Baxley. My anger shocked me. I must have gained some kind of super strength, because I grabbed the guard’s neck and squeezed with strength I didn’t know I had.

  “You’re going to kill him. Stop it! Please, he’s my brother,” the voice of the other Dark One reached me, and then I realised I was literally trying to suffocate the poor guy.

  In the past several years I had been so scared of all of them. Now they were powerless. I had the strength within me; I could easily just twist my arm a tiny bit and break his neck. It was that simple. Anger continued to roll through me and I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop.

  I wanted to see how his life faded away, when his eyes lost their spark. Dara died in pain; no one, even I couldn’t make it to be with her. Someone had to pay. The other Dark One was begging me, so I finally let go of his brother.

  My entire body was pulsating with foreign power, but I managed to take a deep breath of the new me. That unexplained fury distracted me. The guard went down coughing and I backed away. The wardens were shouting at me, screaming at me in Draconian dialect.

  “Where the hell is Nicolas?” I asked. Both Dark Ones looked at me with pure fear in their eyes, like they were expecting me to lose control again. The other one swallowed hard.

  “He’s gone, he was transferred over to the Dimond city prison. Magnus took him. Have a look for yourself. His cell is empty,” the brother shouted. My jaw dropped, and all the energy I had in me faded in an instant.

  I ran towards the cell, not waiting to believe it until I made it to the last one. It was empty just like they’d said, and I couldn’t believe that my Nicolas wasn’t there. On top of that, Avianna was hissing, jumping up and down the cage, like she wanted to get out.

  Seconds later, I heard some noises and went back to the guards. The wardens were screaming, banging on their cells.

  “Fran, hey, Fran. What’s going on? Where is Nicolas?” Idris asked, appearing at the stairs. He must have run all the way down here. The brothers were too busy trying to get away from me. I must have really scared the shit out of them.

  “Those two told me that your father took him back to Draconia. He’s gone, Idris,” I said, feeling like I was going to collapse.

  Idris grabbed me and forced me back to the lift. He pressed the button and we were going up. He dragged his hand through his hair.

  “Crap, this was definitely not a part of the plan. It’s a complete mess upstairs. I panicked when you weren’t there. What the hell happened with Baxley?” he asked.

  “He was hurting Avianna and I snapped… My magic just exploded, and I lost control,” I explained, feeling a little ashamed of myself now. “Idris what are we going to do now?”

  “I don’t know. We have to get back to London, then—”

  “No, there must be a way to travel to Draconia from here. We can’t just leave him alone. It’s all my fault that he was transferred. Now we can actually do something. I finally have Avianna back,” I said, not even thinking about returning to the city.

  I remembered hearing about stories back in Draconia. Many people told me there was a tunnel in this part of the Lower World that existed connecting this part of the Lower world with Draconia’s square. And it was actually somewhere in the prison.

  “What are you even talking about, Francesca? We need to separate, otherwise we don’t stand a chance of going back in one piece,” Idris told me.

  “Are you scared?” I asked, feeling impatient.

  “No, but—”

  “So, shut up and listen to me for a second. There is a tunnel. If all the rumours are true, then this tunnel runs under the prison. This is our way out of here, but first, we need to get all the way to the lower level,” I told him, grabbing his hand. Avianna was still going crazy in the cage and I couldn’t wait to get rid of that damn spell. I hated that I couldn’t communicate with her like I used to.

  “I suppose you’re right. Baxley is unconscious, and he can’t tell anyone what happened,” he said. “I have an idea. Press the red button. That should take us all the way to the lower level.” I pressed the red button and waited.

  Idris was right. No one was looking for us just yet, and if we were careful enough we could just leave this place without anyone knowing about it. His father was in Draconia.

  Ten minutes later we reached the last stop. When the door opened we found ourselves in a very dim large cell. There was only one guard sitting in a chair. He glanced at us, looking surprised.

  “What are you doing down here? This is a restricted area!” he shouted, standing up. Idris’s energy
swamped through me.

  I felt it in my bones, and the guard’s eyes changed colour into a bright glowing green.

  “You have seen no one. You were here alone most of the night. Tell me how to get to the tunnel that leads to the other parts of the Lower world?” Idris asked, using his magic to our advantage. The guard’s magic started to fade. It wasn’t something that I’d never experienced before. He looked lost, and eventually, he sat back down.

  “To the right but be careful. Sometimes the dragons wander around the tunnels,” he mumbled, his eyes glazing over.

  I glanced at Idris wondering what the hell that was supposed to mean, but we didn’t have time for hesitation.

  We had to get to Draconia somehow. My stomach contracted when I thought about it. It had been months since I fell through the crack and ended up in the world without magic.

  Soon, we left the oddly-shaped cell and entered a large tunnel. Large drops of water were falling from the ceiling. We must have been beneath a ditch or stream of water. Avianna finally calmed down.

  “The spell is fading away. Your energy changed,” Idris pointed out after a long moment of silence. I glanced at my hair; it was still blond.

  “Francesca, it’s that you? I can’t believe it. Please tell me you came for me, that you rescued me?”

  For Qesborth, I never thought I would say it, but I missed that voice inside my head. I stopped and placed the cage on the floor.

  “What are—”

  “You’re right,” I said, interrupting Idris. “The spell is fading, and we can communicate again. I need to get her out of this cage.”

  My hands were smaller, and I was struggling with the lock. Then I realised that I didn’t even have the damn key. That bastard, Baxley, must have had it on him.

  “Yes, I had to change my appearance to get into the prison. We thought we could get Nicolas out, too, but he was transferred to Draconia,” I told her.