Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Katla couldn’t listen to Merrill’s pain any longer. She had to do something. If Villette wouldn’t, she would. Katla spun from around the tree but only got two steps before she found herself standing perilously close to the edge of a cliff. She stared down the drop and jerked back before she fell. Then she slowly turned her head to Villette .
“ What are you doing?” Katla demanded as she backed away from the edge. “ Take us back. Merrill needs us.”
“ Yes , he does. And quickly.”
What little remained of Katla’s patience was quickly dissolving. “ Then what are we waiting for?”
“ There are…things…you need to know.”
“ Then tell me,” she bit out.
Villette stood composed, her features even, but there was a slight tremor in her voice when she began speaking. “ I’m surprised Merrill has held out this long. They’re trying to tip him into madness.”
His screams reverberated in Katla’s head, an echo that she feared would ring for an eternity. The utter anguish, the unending misery…
“ It used to happen when we controlled the dragons.”
Katla held up her hand. “ We don’t have time for a backstory.”
“ You’ve never seen the destruction a dragon can do when riled. You’ve never seen one filled with fury and the need to decimate everything around them until everything is on fire,” Villette stated loudly.
A shiver of apprehension slid like an icy finger down Katla’s back.
Villette drew in a breath. “ Dragons live for thousands of years, but some of my kind had favorites and wished to prolong those dragons’ lives. Various attempts were made, but each ended with the dragons going mad. Seven worlds were ravaged and turned to dust before the efforts were finally halted. I witnessed the destructive power of a dragon with a single mission: death. Merrill is nearly to that point. When he reaches it, they’ll release him.”
Nausea rolled through Katla’s stomach. “ Why would they do that? Merrill will kill them, as well.”
“ The entity is doing this.”
“ Why ?”
“ I don’t know.”
That wasn’t what Katla wanted to hear. “ How many of them are there?”
Villette’s blond brows snapped together. “ There’s just the one.”
Katla had been sure there were others.
“ It’s new to Zora ,” Villette continued. “ I don’t know where it came from or how it got here, but its hatred is all-encompassing. Don’t let it touch you.”
“ Too late,” Katla murmured as she rubbed her arm where it had struck her.
“ There’s more,” Villette said, her eyes darting away for a heartbeat. “ Miena found the ore. She’s the one who had it tested on anything magical. However , I was the one who showed the Orgateans how to mine it, shape it, and use it.”
Katla shouldn’t be surprised to learn that both Miena and Villette had interfered in such a way. “ That crime pales in comparison to others.”
“ You aren’t listening,” Villette said, her voice clipped with urgency. “ It affects everyone with magic.”
“ And by everyone, you mean…?”
She drew in a breath and nodded. “ Even me.”
That meant Katla would also be affected. She put a hand to her stomach. The situation became more dire by the second. “ We should be fine as long as we aren’t chained.”
“ I wish that were the case.”
“ You mean we can’t even touch it?”
Villette swallowed and subtlely shook her head. “ The weapons the warriors use are also made of the metal. You hear what it’s doing to Merrill . It’ll do the same to us.”
“ Why not just kill the warriors? You can do that without even getting close to them. It might not free Merrill , but it would buy him and us some time.”
“ I already did. This is the second round of them. The entity brought them in within moments of my attack.”
Katla shoved her hands into her hair to hold her head. Her mind was racing, every idea met by a thick wall. She dropped her hands and looked at Villette . “ How is it doing that?”
“ I wish I knew,” Villette ground out.
“ Someone has to get to Merrill before it’s too late.”
“ You’ll never make it. I brought us as close as possible. They buried strips of ore in the ground at the edges of the clearing to keep us out.”
“ Then we’ll strike from a distance.”
Villette shook her head. “ And chance a confrontation with the entity?”
“ Why did you bring me here, then?” Katla yelled. “ Did you want to punish me further? Is that what this is? Showing me Merrill , but telling me we can’t help him?”
“ I brought you because I want to help.”
“ Then help!” Katla spun around and scanned the horizon. Which direction was Merrill in? She couldn’t hear him anymore and didn’t know whether to be glad about that or worried. “ I can’t sit here and do nothing. I don’t care if I end up pitted against an army of Orgate warriors. I don’t care if the entity comes for me. I’m not leaving Merrill to this fate.”
“ And if you can’t save him?”
Katla closed her eyes. “ I will end his misery.” She opened her eyes and squared her shoulders before facing Villette . “ I have an idea, but we’ll need Derek and Kora .”
“ They won’t work with me.”
“ This isn’t about you. This is about Merrill .”
Villette dipped her head. In the next moment, Katla stood in the trees outside Orgate . Derek and Kora startled at the sight of her. Villette had chosen not to reveal herself, which was probably a smart move.
“ Where have you been?” Kora asked worriedly.
Derek’s pale olive eyes scanned the trees as if he somehow knew Villette was out there.
“ I found Merrill ,” Katla said. “ There’s a lot to take in, and time is of the essence, so I need you to listen.”
She broke everything down as quickly as she could. The couple exchanged looks when Katla told them about Villette , but when they learned about Merrill and what the entity intended, they understood why Katla had gone with their enemy.
“ What’s the plan?” Derek asked.
Katla licked her lips. “ The entity has magic, yet it isn’t harmed by the metal in the ground.”
“ Because it flies,” Kora said.
Katla nodded and looked at Derek . “ Exactly . You can fly in and get Merrill .”
“ They’ll see me long before I reach them,” Derek said.
Katla knew Villette was there listening, but she wasn’t sure how either party would react to this next part. “ Not if you’re invisible.”
“ You can do that?” Kora asked.
Derek shook his head. “ She means Villette .”
“ We would all be passengers,” Katla hurried to add. “ Getting us in is just the first part. Kora , we’ll use your fire to melt the chains, thereby freeing Merrill . Then we get out of there.”
A tense few seconds passed before Derek bowed his head in agreement. Kora followed suit.
Only then did Villette appear in front of them. She looked at Derek and then Kora before her gaze came to rest on Katla . “ It might work. The minute we drop from Derek’s back, though, he’ll become visible. I can keep us invisible, but they’ll know we’re there.”
“ It might be better if you stayed with Derek ,” Katla said. “ That way, you can watch Kora and me and intercept anything.”
Derek grunted. “ I’d rather Villette stay with you two. You’ll be able to move around easier if the warriors can’t see you.”
“ That’s assuming the entity won’t be able to see us,” Kora added.
Villette said, “ It can’t. At least I’m pretty sure it won’t be able to. We have that small advantage.”
“ Will Kora’s hellhound fire be visible? Will she even be able to use it?” Katla asked.
Villette lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “ I don’t know.”
“ We don’t have a choice.” Kora looked at each of them. “ We have to do this for Merrill .”
Katla blew out a breath. “ We need to get moving before it’s too late.”
“ Take to the skies and head north. I’ll get Kora and Katla to you,” Villette told Derek .
He ignored Villette . “ It wouldn’t be wise to shift so near Orgate .”
“ He’s right,” Kora said.
Katla looked at Villette . The Star Person rolled her eyes before teleporting them to the spot she had brought Katla to earlier.
Derek lightly touched Kora’s face before diving off the cliff. Katla watched as he shifted in midair and spread his wings. He soared high into the afternoon sky after catching a current. Kora smiled as she watched him dip a wing and swing around toward them. For the second time in her life, Katla was about to get on the back of a dragon.
To have hated a species for so long, only to find them allies, wasn’t as disconcerting as she’d figured it would be. All because of Merrill . He had shown her companionship but also friendship. He had bared his soul and given her the courage to do the same. It was only because of him that she was here at all. She would be on another path altogether if for Merrill .
The fact that the very person they had banded together against was now helping her free him was unsettling. She was discovering that alliances changed as quickly as the weather. The real question was whether Villette was being completely honest about everything. There had to be a reason she was risking so much for Merrill , especially when she had gone to such lengths to kill before.
Katla looked at Villette and found her staring at her. Derek soared over them. Villette grabbed her arm and then Kora’s . In the next blink, the three of them stood on Derek’s back, the wind whipping past them so fast it stole her breath. Katla gingerly lowered herself to sit. Kora sat at the base of Derek’s neck while Villette remained standing between them.
To Katla’s surprise, the Star Person had her eyes closed and a smile on her face, almost as if she were enjoying the ride. Katla grimaced at the thought and locked her gaze on the horizon. She didn’t know how long the flight would take. Derek’s enhanced vision and hearing would likely find Merrill before Katla knew they were upon him.
She remembered Merrill’s gentle touch and soft words. That was the man she knew. He was already distraught over the actions that had led to him remaining at Stonemore . He wouldn’t want to fall into madness now. Merrill had been looking for redemption. It wasn’t right that he had ended up in the enemy’s hands.
Then there were the Kings . The way they had come as a group to the valley to look for him was all the proof Katla needed that they loved him. If he went insane and their group couldn’t stop him, the Kings would. His brethren would be forced to take out one of their own. It was its own kind of torture. Exactly like something Villette would think of.
Yet there was no denying she was equally unnerved about the entity and Merrill going mad. Everything Katla had learned about Villette was that she always had an ulterior motive for every action and decision. But no matter how hard Katla tried, she couldn’t figure out what it was. And there was no time to speak to Derek or Kora about it.
That benefited Villette , but Katla didn’t care. Everything now was about getting to Merrill before it was too late. They’d deal with whatever else happened after.
Katla wondered if Derek was informing the Kings of their plan. They had a right to know, but they might also come to help. While they could use the numbers, it could also make things difficult with the humans seeing dragons outside their borders again. The realm teetered on the brink of conflict already. It would only take the slightest push to ignite a war.
One Villette had spent centuries instigating.