by J. Kearston
“Climbing. It’s always fucking climbing,” Cai mutters under his breath in annoyance. “Leading us around by our dicks, like any of us would willingly sit out.” He continues his grumbling and bitching, but he sure is walking quickly for a guy that claims to be upset.
My eyes lock onto Ezra, studying her to make sure she’s handling the hike well with her bad leg. She doesn’t falter in her steps, but the ones on her bad leg are quick compared to the other. Yri passes her a protein bar, knowing it isn’t a cure all, but wanting her to at least keep her strength up if she insists on not taking it slow.
We follow a narrow, winding dirt trail for hours and it feels like we’ve barely made any progress. Ezra hasn’t tried to use her abilities in the last two days, but she hasn’t been complaining about sleeping in the small tent with us anymore either. I’m not sure if she’s adjusting to the heat that comes from sleeping with other people in close quarters, or the effects of the drug are wearing off. But like her, I’m scared to know the answer.
If I was wrong, if they’re permanently gone or she won’t be able to shift now, it will wreck her.
“Angel, you’re dead on your feet,” Yri insists, grabbing her elbow gently to stop her from pushing on. “At this rate, you’ll fall off the side once the climbing begins and you’ll have to start all over.”
She opens her mouth to speak, but Cai interjects and cuts her off. “And none of us know what the ritual involves. What if it’s a blood sacrifice or another trial? Do you really want to come that close just to fail?”
She swipes a shaky hand down her face, defeated. “Fuck, you’re right. I’m just worried about my brothers and want to get home, find out if they’re alright. And we’re just so damn close.”
I kiss her forehead, lifting her to finally rest on a boulder beside the path. “But you know better than to let excitement overrule common sense. Take a nap at least, alright?”
We set up camp and the three of them crawl into the tent while I take first watch. I don’t distract myself organizing backpacks, playing solitaire; nothing. I remain ever vigilant because that last ambush scared the hell out of me, in all honesty. Beyond training, the only battle I’d been involved in was the one during our escape out of the country. I’d never killed a man before that day, but I did so to protect myself and my flight, so I don’t have the same regrets Yri and Cai do.
That attack I knew was coming though, expected it. I had no delusions we were going to get on that boat without a hell of a fight. But this? They just appeared out of fucking nowhere, and I don’t know how they managed it.
No, I do know, and it’s my own fault for losing my sense to lust. I can’t let that happen again, can’t risk my flight’s lives.
She could already be pregnant for all we know. How am I supposed to protect a baby? I’ve never even been around one, but I hear they cry a lot; it would give away our position. Shit, Ezra can’t run in any gauntlets after this unless we know for sure and I’ll be damned if she goes without me after the stunt she and Cai pulled.
There’s a glint of light that catches my eye and I’m on my feet in an instant, scanning the area for anything out of place. I see nothing, but I don’t relax, too high-strung and on edge. I carefully walk the perimeter we set up for camp, eyeing every stray leaf with distrust.
A half hour passes and I slowly start to relax, but I don’t drop my guard. I stay on my feet, not wanting to be a sitting duck if something is out there for a clean shot. When I see the light catch on something again, I instantly sidestep, assuming it’s the sun reflecting off of the barrel of a gun.
There’s a sharp stab in the back of my shoulder, and I reach back to wrench it out with a snarl. “Vyrian!” I don’t use his nickname, so that even in his sleep addled state he’ll understand something’s wrong. It’s not fight or flight, it’s fight for your flight. It pushes me to fight through the sluggishness starting to seep into my muscles, through the fog beginning to cloud my mind.
Stupid, so fucking stupid. Someone had to be out there drawing my eye on purpose, letting whoever was behind me fly under the radar.
I manage to get a bullet in the man that shot the tranquilizer dart into my back, not understanding why they wouldn't try to kill me. It's Ezra they want, we're just in the way. I see the three of them scrambling out of the tent and into action, but there's no one there to fight. My fingers are loosely curled around the handle of the ground and my head is swimming as I stumble back towards them. I pass Cai my weapon, knowing I'd do more harm than good right now.
"Shit, is this what you felt like?" I mumble towards Ezra, slumping against a tree.
I know we need to move, need to find whoever distracted me. "One more," I manage, struggling to lift my hand in the right direction.
Yri darts off as my eyes slip closed, panting heavily. My stomach roils, and all I want to do is vomit, then sleep for three days. But we can't, we don't have time.
"Give me a couple hours and we can get going again."
Ezra gently brushes the hair from my face, and I can feel the sweat trickling down my forehead. I turn just in time, heaving and vomiting. I don't feel any better, if anything, I feel worse. I manage to open my eyes, but it's a struggle. The afternoon light is blinding and stabs into my head, making me cringe.
Wiping a hand across my face, a streak of red swims in my vision and I narrow my eyes in an attempt to focus. Blood. Just...everywhere. I touch my mouth again, my fingers coming away wet with the blood I just threw up.
That didn't happen to her.
"What's happening to him?" Ezra demands, bringing a water bottle to my lips.
I can't tilt my head, much less swallow. My eyes flutter shut as exhaustion pulls at me, tempting me with a reprieve from the pain. I just need sleep. Just a few hours, maybe a day, and we can get going again; we have to. We can't come this close just for me to die in such an anticlimactic way. It was a fucking dart, not even anything memorable like taking down a bear.
"Hey, Ren, come on," Ezra pleads, firmly slapping my cheek a few times to try and keep me conscious. "If you wanted to get out of child support, there's other options; no need to be so melodramatic," she teases, but her voice is strained.
I groan, leaning into her touch. I try to speak, but no words come out. I feel myself slumping to the side, but can't so much as put out a hand to catch myself. Ezra manages to ease me down on my side, and the next convulsing of my stomach coats her jeans in blood, but she doesn't move away.
"It's going to be alright," she continues, stroking her fingers through my hair soothingly. "Just like you said, they can't take my abilities away permanently with one shot and they can't kill you with one either. You're built like a brick house and you're going to go down from a mosquito bite? No way. A little sleep and you'll be good as new."
She continues to ramble, tries to convince herself that everything's going to work out. I don't hear Cai or Yri, not that I blame them. I promised to protect them, and here I am adding more fuel to their nightmares. How much death can one person handle before they snap?
I focus on her voice for as long as I'm able. When the words stop making sense, I focus on the sound, soaking up every bit of her that I can while I'm still able.
I never got to give her my gift, never told her I loved her.
When oblivion threatens to consume me, pulling me under, I'm only left with one thing for company. I stop fighting and let go, surrendering to the unknown hand in hand with regret.
Chapter 19
Caius
There's a low groan on the other side of the small room and my head whips around in relief, despite the way it makes my head scream. It sets off a chain reaction and Yri starts to wake up next, he and Soren crammed on the small bed beside each other. I get up on shaky legs, stumbling over that way.
I don't know how long it's been, but I was starting to lose hope.
"I'm going to puke," Yri manages, and I kick the empty bucket across the floor. It slides to a stop just in time as he vo
mits, but thankfully this time it's not bloody.
"What's going on?" Soren rumbles, his voice low and raw.
I slump back to the ground near his head, on the floor beside his half of the bed. "They got Yri as we were dragging your heavy ass, trying to find a new spot to lay low while you slept it off. After he started to go down, a couple bastards appeared out of fucking nowhere, hands up in surrender."
I give him a few seconds, not only because I know he just started to come to and will be confused, but I still feel like hell. "And that's when they told Ezra about the poison and claiming they'd trade the antidote for a couple pints of her blood," I finish on a whisper.
Yri sluggishly adds, "So she told them to prove it and they shot Cai, then again with the cure to show it worked."
I fight my rolling stomach, still feeling sick. The poison didn't have long to spread through my system, so I'm not nearly as bad as the other two, but it still wasn't a miracle cure. But when I didn't start vomiting blood, it was enough to prove their claim. Soren though, if he wasn't as massive of a man as he is, I doubt any amount of antidote would have been able to bring him back.
"She didn't," he whispers brokenly, knowing the answer without us saying a word.
We sit there for a few minutes, trying to get our heads on straight. "I tried to stop her."
I close my eyes, shame washing over me like a tidal wave. I could see the moment she made her decision in her eyes, but no matter how much I tried to talk her out of it, I couldn't. I was too sick to fight off the assholes on my own, couldn't just grab her and run without leaving Yri and Ren behind. There was no solution I could find in the heat of the moment that would keep everyone alive.
They're my weaknesses and we're her's. They played us perfectly and backed us into a corner. We were so goddamn fucking close, but it just proves the thing that I hadn't wanted to admit to myself.
"We don't deserve her, we never did."
I pass back out for a while, but there's no way to tell the passing of time in this cell. There's a single bed that I managed to drag the other two onto after we were tossed in on the cement floor before passing out the first time. There’s a single bucket and a small drain on the floor, but that’s it. Three sides of cement and the other wall is made of iron bars with a door in the center.
It’s a cliché villain dungeon, and I know Ezra will be mocking it on principle. I close my eyes, letting my thoughts keep me company. There’s no food and I doubt any will come. They’re only keeping us alive long enough to use against her, no doubt expecting her to snap and fight and want something to lord in front of her face.
Maybe then. Maybe if they take one of us out in a show of strength we can figure out a way to escape. I groan, already defeated, because it’ll just be a repeat of what happened in the forest; someone would get killed or left behind. Yri and I aren’t novices by any means, and I still can’t figure out how these men were able to sneak up on us, how they appeared out of thin air.
Eventually, Ren’s able to sit up, and maybe a day later he’s able to pace the room. We trade off sleeping in the bed, barely able to fill the painful silence with conversation. We all know how this is going to end, that we don’t have the means for a way out, and we’re just...lost.
“What do you think they’re doing to her?” Yri croaks, trying to see anything down the hallway from the bars.
It’s dark, the ground made of cement, and we can see a few more cells on the opposite wall on either side of us, but no one answered when we tried to reach out for information.
“Don’t,” Soren spits, the first blip of emotion I’ve seen on him since he awoke. “I can’t go there, I.” He cuts himself off, shaking his head and pacing the room.
There’s a small sound in the hallway and we all freeze, Yri craning his neck to try and locate the source of the sound. I get to my feet, preparing myself for the inevitable. Maybe if one of us gets close enough, we can at least get her free before they kill us. I could make my peace with that fate; a chance to redeem myself, just a little, make my existence count for something.
Footsteps echo, a single set. This is good. If we can get the door open, the three of us can overpower him. One of us might go down, but even weak, we can do some damage. Without Ezra here, with knowing we’re going to die anyway, we could still put up a decent fight.
When the figure comes into view, I actually double over, vomiting into the drain on the floor. The blood drains from my face with the violent reaction, and the edges of my vision blur. Vyrian helps to pull me up and I close my eyes, taking in deep breaths until I can stuff back the memories.
But seeing her face brought every last bit of pain I’d buried to the surface with a vengeance. Every blow my fathers dealt me, the smell of burning flesh. The screaming, the crying, Blood staining everything around me and smoke, so much smoke.
“How? How are you here?”
Her face is deathly pale, like she hasn’t seen the sun since I let her go. Her dark hair brushes her shoulders in a straight curtain, desperately needing a wash, and her once bright blue eyes seem dull. But still, there’s no mistaking that face, despite the bruises.
Blue eyes meet mine, and for just a brief second, the life flickers into her eyes and her face hardens into a determined mask. “They got me a few years after you let me go. I was shipped off to this location, and have been here ever since.” Her voice is rough, as if she isn’t used to speaking much.
“Cai, who is this?” Soren asks, his brow furrowed in confusion. Because this is the one thing I was never able to tell my flight, never wanted them to know in case the fallout ever came back on me.
“She’s the human I let escape in the counter attack.”
Because that was the heart of the matter; the dragons believed in an eye for an eye. The humans killed our females, so it was only fitting we eliminate theirs before killing them too, so they could know that pain. It wasn’t bad enough they dragged me off at sixteen and expected me to slaughter people in the fights, they wanted me to kill innocent women right alongside them. Human, but still people, and most didn’t even know how to fight back or what was happening, had no idea about the uprising the human group organized. Yet still, they were all expected to die.
I was clearing houses on the street and found her hidden in the closet, but I just couldn’t do it. She was a couple of years younger than me and radiated innocence and fear. So I hid her in with the corpses that were being taken to the pyre and got her into the woods. I couldn’t do more than that, but it gave her chance at least.
“Saige,” she whispers timidly. “And I came to return the favor.”
Yri is shaking his head, lost in his own horrors from that time and wrestling his way back to us. I grab his arm and smack it as hard as I can, knowing the pain will help ground him in the present and not having anything to stab him with.
“What do you mean? How?” Soren demands, not trusting her, assuming it’s a trap.
But at this point, anything is better than sitting in this cell another day as we wait for our turn at the gallows. Even if it is a trap, at least we’ll end this here and now, go out fighting. I can die saying I at least tried instead of rolling over and accepting defeat.
She looks both ways before slipping her arm between the bars, holding out her palm. I hold out my hand and she drops a key in it, that I wrap my hand around instantly.
“In twenty minutes, open the door, follow the hall to the right, and take the first hallway on your left. You’ll have two and a half minutes to get there,” she rattles off quickly, voice raspy. “There’s a series of solid metal doors and you need the eighth one on your left. She’ll be unconscious, but when she wakes up again, she’ll have access to her abilities.”
She takes a deep breath, getting jittery the more time passes. Her finger taps rhythmically on her thigh, keeping constant time despite her nerves and never missing a beat.
“Don’t freak out when you see her, don’t let them see a single reaction. You’re going
to think she’s dead; that’s the point. Continue down that same hall until you get to the main room, wait thirty seconds, then take the path carved into the wall that leads above us,” she finishes, even the blood drained from her lips now.
“What about you?” Yri whispers while I struggle to memorize her instructions without screwing them up.
Her eyes close for a brief moment. “If they figure out how to use her blood, it’s over for all of us. If they can find a way for us to carry a viable dragon embryo, they’ll breed us until we die. It’s already bad enough, but they space it out now at least. I can survive this, but not having child after child ripped from my arms while I’m chained down like an animal.”
I don’t have anything left to throw up, but that doesn’t mean the urge isn’t there.
“Come with us.”
I know what her answer will be already, see the resignation in her eyes. “I can’t, not if you want the door unguarded for your escape.”
Yri has tears streaking down his cheeks that I do him the courtesy of pretending not to see. I know his mind has to be a chaotic mess; being faced with the fate his sister would have had if she hadn’t taken matters into her own hands, of what state we’re going to find Ezra in. And of this human, that’s better than all of us, willing to suffer to give us all a chance. The dragons stole her life, yet still, here she is; helping us.
I jerk my head in a sharp nod, hoping she can see how grateful I am. “We’ll figure out a way to come back for you. I can’t promise it will be soon, but we’ll find a way.”
She gives me a sad smile, resigned. “Hope is more dangerous than escape, dragon, so you can keep that for your own. Twelve minutes.”
Then she turns to quickly walk away without a backward glance, and I start tapping on my thigh, mimicking her. In a place without the sun or clocks, she had to adapt. Tracking the movements of the guards, of everything; I can only imagine how she holds onto all of those numbers while carrying on a conversation, keeps it all straight.
