by JD Monroe
After using the guard’s sword to start a few strips, she left Kaldir shredding her blanket while she peeked out into the antechamber to see if the guards had noticed anything amiss. One of the guards sat at the table, absently shuffling through a deck of cards while the other rattled about in the storeroom. Whatever noise Kaldir had made in the scuffle with the guards hadn’t caught their attention.
She returned to her cell and found him sitting on her chair with his legs splayed.
“Oh good God,” she muttered. She pointedly looked away.
“You seem very uncomfortable,” he said.
“You dragons are way too comfortable being naked. Just because you’ve got it doesn’t mean everyone wants to see it,” she replied. She knelt in front of him, then looked up. “Don’t you say a word or so help me…”
His lips quirked. “I would not dream of it.”
“This may hurt,” she said. She gingerly touched his knee, and sure enough, it was completely out of place. With one hand supporting the inner part of his knee, she gently straightened his leg and moved the kneecap back into place. He grunted in pain, his muscles tensing. “Give me those.” He handed her the strips of linen, which she wrapped carefully in a makeshift brace. After tying them off, she looked up. “Any better?”
“Much,” he said, though his face was still etched with pain. She stood up and handed him the ragged remains of the blanket. “What’s this?”
“You wanna go get your prince? Then suit up and let’s go.”
“Tell me first why you interfered,” he said. “You could very well be leading me right to Halmerah so she can take my head off.”
Gabby shook her head. “You think they staged those two coming to get you so I could save you and then trick you? That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
He stared at her coolly. “Then why are you doing it?”
“Because I know you didn’t hurt Ashariah,” she said. “We figured it out yesterday, and Tarek confirmed it.”
“That’s still not an answer,” he said. “Why risk yourself?”
“Because that’s what the good guy has to do,” she said. “I’m not going to let them make a mistake and kill you.”
“And if you get hurt?”
“You’ll protect me.”
He stood suddenly, and she became keenly aware of how big he was. He had to hunch slightly to even fit in the room, and he had a solid foot of height on her. “Will I? I think you presume too much.”
Her heart thumped. Had she misjudged him? “You already did once.” He tilted his head. “At the feast. When everything went to shit, your first instinct was to protect me. And then, I was just an inferior human to you.”
“You say that as if you’re no longer just an inferior human,” he said.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re kind of a jerk?” He cocked his head in confusion. “Whatever the dragon word is for asshole. You are one. A simple thank you would suffice.” She threw up her hands. “Do what you want. I’m going to see if your prince is a little more grateful.”
She stepped out of the cell and headed down the hall. Kaldir’s hand closed around her arm. With the same gentle, yet unyielding lead as when they had danced at the feast, he pressed her against the wall and went ahead. As an afterthought, he looked back. “Stay behind me. Your skills lie in healing. Mine lie in protecting.” It was strangely comforting, though he was the very opposite of warm and fuzzy. He continued forward, and she had to hustle to keep up with his long strides.
Pressing tight to the wall, he peeked around the doorway at the guards. He looked back to her. “Will you distract them?”
She nodded and slipped past him to approach the table. Both guards were sitting there now, talking quietly. They looked up, hands going to their weapons as she scuffed one foot against the gritty floor. At the sight of her, they relaxed, though their expressions were skeptical. She sat at the far end of their table so they had to look away from the doorway to see her.
“I was wondering if you had something to eat,” she said, her heart thumping with apprehension. “I was supposed to go back home this morning, and I didn’t want to eat before traveling, cause, you know, flying and all that, and now it’s been…well, I don’t know how long, and I’m starving.” They looked like they would have prepared her a seven course meal if it would make her stop talking. “If you have some of that flaky bread I had yesterday, that was amazing.” As she chatted about all the food she’d tried on her visit, Kaldir poked his head out, scanned the room, then bolted through the small chamber and toward the central stair. Tension flowed out of her shoulders as he disappeared from sight.
“We haven’t sent up for anything yet,” the older of the two guards said, cutting her off in the middle of enthusing about the wine from the feast. “We’ll be getting some provisions down here soon for all of you.”
“Yeah, but I’m hungry right now. And I have this blood sugar thing. Do you guys know what blood sugar is? You know, like when you don’t eat for a while and you get all dizzy,” she said. The younger guard rolled his eyes. Now it was getting fun. “You know what, I remember where the kitchen is. Could I help out and go get something?”
The older guard looked pained. “You really should stay put.”
“It’ll only take me a few minutes,” she said. “Do you want something? What about some of that crazy good cheese? You know the spicy one that they served warm? God, that was so good I woke up this morning thinking about it.”
The younger guard flicked his eyes to his partner. The mention of cheese had piqued his interest. “You should stay.”
“But cheese, right? Just wait, I’ll be right back. I’ll bring you some too. And some beer or whatever you like,” she said. “Oh, this is going to be great.” She jumped up from the table and hurried toward the stairs.
“Miss—” the older guard called.
“I’ll come right back, I swear! You guys just hang out, let me do my part for the cause,” she said. When she glanced back, the guards hadn’t made a move other than standing up from the table. She gave them a wave, then headed for the stairs.
The round stairwell was empty and eerily quiet. Had Kaldir left her? As she looked around, he rose from a crouched position along the wall. She gasped in surprise and waited for him to join her.
“Where is he?”
“He’s on the guest floor,” she said. “It’s up about four levels, I think.”
“I know where it is,” he said mildly. “I have been here many times. Let’s go.” Gabby had to take the stairs two at a time to keep up with him. The injured knee wasn’t slowing him down one bit.
They were on the second floor above ground when she paused to speak. “Kaldir?”
“Hm?” She sprinted up half a dozen stairs to catch up with him. He clearly heard her approach, held out an arm to bar the way, and looked over his shoulder with irritation on his handsome face. “Stay back.”
“Can I ask a question?”
“If you must,” he said. “But stay behind me as you do.”
“Why would someone pretend to be the Ironflight?”
“To provoke war,” Kaldir said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
They reached the first level above ground. As soon as they crossed the threshold, emerging from the dampening depths of the stone, the noise rose dramatically. There were panicked shouts, the metallic clanging of bells, and the occasional screech of a dragon engaged in battle.
“But why?”
He paused and surreptitiously rubbed the back of his knee. “I don’t know. Strategy is the prince’s domain. But I do know that a war between us and the Stoneflight would be hard-fought and disastrous for both sides.”
They continued plowing up the stairs. As they ran, Gabby tried to stay focused in the moment. Fear was an ever-present companion that kept her head spinning and her stomach churning. What would happen? Would she survive? Would Tarek survive? Would she ever get home? But she knew tha
t there was nothing she could control except this moment, right here and now. She could climb these damn stairs and get Kaldir to his prince. And when that was done, she’d worry about the next thing.
They had rounded another spiral of the stairs, passing a familiar archway when she realized where they were. She lunged forward to grab Kaldir’s muscular forearm. He tensed and looked back at her. “It’s here,” she blurted, breathing hard. He’d been about to run past it, which confirmed that even dragon men wouldn’t ask for directions.
He nodded and brushed past her into the hallway. Things up here looked calmer than they had downstairs. The signs of the raging battle were subtle here. All along the corridors, the open windows were barred. A pair of Stoneflight guardians paced the hallways with jagged spears at the ready. The sounds of battle were different here, too; it was far away and muffled by their height over the city. Here and there was a clear screech or roar, but the shouting of the human crowd was far away.
As they rushed down the hallway, the two patrolling guards suddenly snapped to attention, pulling their spears up at the ready. “Stop!” they ordered.
Kaldir hesitated for a second. The muscles in his back twitched, then he flew into motion. With a quick lunge forward, he grabbed the spear of the closer guard, just below the sharp head. He yanked it back, then slammed it forward so it struck the man right in the forehead. The guard’s head snapped back, and he slumped to the ground like someone had taken the skeleton right out of him.
The second guard whipped his own spear around and went for a vicious lunge.
“Stop!” Gabby shouted. “We’re on the same side! Quit fighting!”
But the two men were too busy showing off their battle prowess. Their spears clanged together noisily. Kaldir was strong, swinging with powerful strikes that would have laid any normal man flat on his back. While he moved with efficiency and great skill, he didn’t have the same natural grace that Tarek did. Instead, he used his huge size to his advantage. He eventually managed to knock the other man’s spear away, then slammed his own spear into the man’s chin, butt first. Like his partner, the guard hit the ground hard, unconscious before he even hit the ground.
“We could have talked to them,” Gabby said.
“Fighting is much faster,” Kaldir said. A shallow cut marked his cheek, a trickle of blood running down his jaw. He didn’t seem to notice. “Which door?”
She pointed to the end of the hall. “Last one.”
He nodded and handed her the spear. “Can you use that?”
She accepted it and nearly dropped it. The way he’d flipped it around, she’d expected it to be no heavier than a broom. It weighed easily twenty pounds, if not more. She recovered and leaned it over one shoulder. “Enemy gets the sharp end, right?”
“Good enough.”
Kaldir charged toward the door. He didn’t even stop when he reached it, just let out a shout of effort and barreled into it with his shoulder. The wooden door shuddered in its frame. He backed up and hit it again. The door splintered away around the lock. He put out one hand and simply shoved it. It swung open, with a crescent torn out of one side as if something had bitten through it.
Well, that was impressive.
Upon walking through the doorway, he immediately bowed at the waist. “My prince.”
The prince had been treated far better than his bodyguard. The room was well-furnished, though not quite as nice as her own room. It was light years better than the cell Kaldir had been locked in. Zayir had changed clothes into some plain, linen-looking garments like what Tarek had worn to show her around the fortress. The dark circles under his eyes said he hadn’t slept, but he looked unharmed. “Interesting,” the prince said. “Not who I had expected.”
“My prince, we must go,” Kaldir said.
The prince regarded him. “You’ve had a shit time of it, haven’t you?”
“I’m fine. Come along.”
Zayir instantly reached to pull his shirt off over his head.
“What the…” Gabby murmured.
“My prince, really? Now is not the time for your vanity.”
“My vanity knows no schedule,” Zayir said. He tossed the shirt onto the bed and raked his fingers through his glossy hair like he was fluffing it up for a picture. Like Kaldir, he was easy to look at. He was considerably smaller, but was still lean and muscular. His fancy clothing might have evoked a foppish noble, but the chiseled muscle and smattering of scars across his chest spoke of someone who had both fought and survived a number of battles.
What had she stumbled into? This was not at all how she’d seen this situation going. Kaldir’s shoulders slumped. The prince looked up and caught her staring. What was it with the Ironflight dragons? “I know, this is truly a work of art, my dear woman,” he said wryly. “I can hardly blame you for looking.”
“I didn’t mean to—I swear—I mean—”
Zayir laughed, a rich sound that broke the tension of the situation. He crossed the room quickly and picked up a bundle of fabric. Upon shaking it out, she saw that it was the gorgeous copper tunic that he’d worn to the feast. He threw it over his shoulders, leaving it open over his bare chest. With the smirk he gave her, there was no doubt that he did it on purpose. “I will not make my exit looking like some common Stoneflight peasant.”
He placed the hammered bronze circlet on his head, then slung a crescent-shaped leather satchel over one shoulder, like the one Tarek had carried to keep his belongings when he transformed.
As if he’d just realized who Gabby was, he stared at her quizzically. “Why exactly…never mind. I’m sure there’s an explanation, and I’ll be happy to learn it from the safety of Ironhold.”
“Now can we leave?” Kaldir asked, with the air of the long-suffering.
“Now we can leave,” Zayir said. He eyeballed Gabby and said, “A lady has no business with such an ugly weapon.”
“You’re much prettier than I am,” Gabby said. “I’m keeping it.”
Kaldir snorted a laugh as he brushed past her and into the corridor. As before, he led the way, but Zayir took a place between them. It was clear who took the highest priority for protection.
But to her surprise, Kaldir started down the stairs, instead of up toward the roof. She wasn’t the only one to notice. “Kaldir, while I always trust your judgment, at least insofar as wine is not involved. But shouldn’t we be heading upward?” Zayir said.
“I would take our friend here to safety below ground again,” Kaldir said.
“Which will have us pass directly by Halmerah and her retinue, along with every guard in the palace who may still wish to remove your head from your shoulders.” Zayir arched an eyebrow. “Besides which, I’m sure you’re quite lovely by Vak standards, but I would hardly call you a friend to the Ironflight.”
Kaldir paused and looked back at his prince. “Yes, my lord. Friend. She knows that we are not the enemy, and she helped free me and cared for my wounds. That is worthy of such a title.”
“Oh, would that the Flame Lords would strike me dead,” Zayir groaned. “You and your bloody honor.” He rolled his eyes, although the whole exchange seemed jovial, the banter borne out of a long friendship. He looked back at Gabby, then nodded politely. “We will escort you as far as the gardens. Count yourself lucky to be escorted by not one, but two dashing gentlemen of the Ironflight.”
“My lucky day,” Gabby said.
“Quite,” Zayir said. “And I’ll thank you to remember it when your queen asks about the events of today.”
Despite his previous behavior, the prince was quiet and nimble as they moved through the citadel. He followed Kaldir’s lead, often pausing to duck out of the way while his bodyguard checked the way ahead for safety. If Kaldir gestured for him to stop or move, the prince did it without question.
They were descending the last spiral stairs into the garden when Zayir paused. “This is it,” he said. “Kaldir, I must insist that we leave now.”
Kaldir paused, then ge
stured for Gabby to come down the stairs. As she passed him, he took her hand. His callused hands were huge compared to hers. He raised it to his lips and kissed the back lightly. Then he released it, pressed his closed fist over his heart, and bowed slightly. “Go safely,” he said. “Na keth uran halar.”
“What does that mean?”
The prince made a chuffing noise. “He requests the blessing of the flames upon you,” Zayir said. “It’s a compliment. If it’s all the same, I’ll pass on the hand-kissing and all that. Thank you for your assistance, though I’m rather sure Kaldir could have handled the door-kicking without you.”
“You’re welcome,” Gabby said drily.
Zayir eyed the spear. “Don’t think you’ll be needing that now.” The way he said it was light, but had a clear command.
She hesitated, then handed it over. “Don’t work up a sweat. You might mess up your hair.”
Kaldir’s eyes widened a little, and she wondered if she might have made a misstep. Instead, Zayir laughed. “That would indeed be a tragedy of epic proportions. Thank you very much for your concern, Lady Gabrielle.”
With that, he turned to follow Kaldir back up the spiraling stairs, leaving her alone. Gabby hurried through the archway and into the garden. She followed the spiraling paths until she came upon the central clearing. Strange shadows criss-crossed the stone floor. Overhead, the open roof had been covered in a net of chains. The sky was still visible, but it was marked into a grid through the heavy links.
Tarek, still in his human form, turned and walked toward her. “What are you doing here?” he spluttered. “I told you—”
“I just broke Kaldir and the prince out,” she said quietly. “Either the queen didn’t buy your story, or the message didn’t get to them, because they were bringing Kaldir up to her.”
Tarek rubbed his forehead. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
He nodded. “Then I need you to go back down. Things are getting bad.”
In the center of the pavilion, Halmerah paced with her councilors all talking seemingly at once. The low, shuddering call came again. As it echoed, a shadow fell over the garden. The councilors quieted suddenly, all of them slowly looking up. The sky was obscured by the white dragon’s monstrous form. There was a thunderous sound as it seized the chain net and shook it.
