Chapter 17 #2
Sofia’s chest tightened. The king’s men were going into the mountains.
Fox was going after the dragons. She didn’t know how solid the chief commander’s information was, but if he knew they were in the mountains, that was too close to the truth already.
And the rest of the resistance was heading there, too, with no idea that an army was marching toward them.
Sofia took a step forward, but Harlow yanked her back by her cuffed hands.
She saw for the first time that they weren’t alone in the cavern. A king’s man stood to the side, looming over the hunched figure of a woman, clothes in tatters. Sofia would have bet her life it was a Dragonborn, the dark curls of her hair shining in the torchlight, despite the blood caked there.
“Jon,” he shouted. “Take this one to the cells. One of the front ones. She’ll be a perfect addition to our experiments.
And send a message to Junior Major Martín.
Her dragon must be close by. I want it. Tell him to send as many men as he needs.
It may be about time to reveal our secrets to the rest of the king’s men. ”
“What should I do with this one?” the guard said, motioning at the woman. “I was just about to start the experiment.”
Harlow looked between Sofia and the woman, his eyes alight. Sofia tried to keep her face neutral, but the muscles in her jaw tensed despite her best efforts.
“On second thought, leave them both. Sofia here will be more amenable with some external motivation.
The woman’s shoulders slumped, and her hands shook where they clenched together in prayer.
Sofia felt her rage like a fire in her chest. She wouldn’t watch this woman tortured on her behalf. Sofia knew where Eha was. She knew where Fox was and what Harlow’s plan was for now. That would have to be enough.
“Chalia?” she asked, seeking out the dragon. “You think you can meet me now?”
The dragon sent an image of the cliffs she’d been flying along with the crease of a door. “I can sense you and Eha inside.”
“Come and get us.”
Silence followed, and Sofia’s blood ran cold. She waited, each beat of her heart feeling like an eternity. Please Chalia, she prayed. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t watch this woman be whipped while she stood by helplessly.
As Harlow reached for the whip that Jon held, a crash echoed from somewhere beyond. Eha let out a growl, stretching her body as far as it would go, and the shadows of a dark tunnel became visible behind the dragon.
Harlow froze, face going white and then red as he squinted into the darkness.
Another boom and the ground beneath her feet shook. Something like an explosion cracked in the darkness beyond the tunnel.
Chalia erupted from the shadows with a roar that crashed through Sofia’s blood.
“Help me with Eha,” she yelled into Sofia’s mind, louder than necessary, though Sofia didn’t have the time to point that out.
“Break my cuffs!” she shouted, even as she plowed into Harlow, knocking him to the ground before he could grab her.
She sprinted toward Chalia as the dragon raised a talon’s claw, bringing it down on the chains behind Sofia’s back, twisting.
Her wrists screamed with pain at the force of the dragon’s claw, but she clenched her muscles with everything she had until she heard the snap of the metal.
“Now, Eha,” Chalia said, already moving back to claw at Eha’s chains. Along with the heavy collar, chains encircled each of her feet as well.
The Dragonborn woman screamed, and Sofia froze. She turned to see Harlow, holding her by the hair, his face twisted in rage.
“Shit. Give me a minute,” Sofia said. If they left the woman with him, she was dead.
Sofia pulled out the dagger strapped to her thigh and lunged forward, slashing down toward him.
He snarled, dropping the other woman and twisting back.
Her dagger scraped against his side as she went stumbling to the ground, his fist cracking into her back.
Her lungs, already abused from the climb and run, ached as she tried to take a breath in.
She turned just as she saw the chief commander’s short sword coming down where she lay.
Its silver edge gleamed. She rolled, stumbling to her feet and spinning even as he redirected his swing, the shudder of their blades meeting, reverberating up her arms. She pushed back and lashed out as he parried.
She knew he was holding back. He didn’t want her dead yet—he still thought she held the secret to controlling the dragons. It was her only advantage in the fight between sword and dagger.
She could end this now. She could finally save someone—truly save them.
“Sofia!” Chalia called, just as Sofia lunged at Harlow.
She stumbled, his blade coming down against her arm, slicing into her flesh. She felt Chalia’s stress at her pain, but the dragon responded with an image of her and Eha fighting off two king’s men, the chain still dragging Eha’s neck down with every snap of her jaws.
Sofia wanted to scream.
“I’m coming,” she said, keeping her focus on the chief commander. One stumbling step and he’d cut her down.
“You look tired, old man,” she said, sneering. “I could have sworn you’d been intimidating, but maybe that was because I was a child.”
“And you’ve only ever been a rat.”
Sofia pulled her blade back to throw it, even as Harlow bent toward the Dragonborn woman who was huddled on the ground.
Her hands covered her head as if she might disappear.
The dagger flew from Sofia’s hands a moment before she realized what the chief commander was doing.
The blade would be faster. It had to be faster.
But even as she thought it, he pulled the woman up, placing her body between him and Sofia.
The dagger plunged into the Dragonborn woman’s neck as blood splattered across Harlow’s snarling face.
Sofia gave a strangled scream as the woman dropped to the floor. Unmoving. She’d likely never know the name of the woman she’d just killed.
“You broke my tool,” Harlow said, glancing in irritation at the body.
Sofia, weaponless, felt a primal scream of rage claw up her throat. And she released it. She lunged forward, as if she might strangle him with her bare hands, but a sharp claw sank into her shoulder and wrenched her back.
“We need to go!” Chalia’s voice shattered through Sofia’s rage and grief.
Sofia turned and saw Eha still chained. Blood was gushing from her claw where she’d been gnawing at her own ankle, trying to free herself.
“The chains are iron,” she said. “I can’t break them. Go! Find Pale One and save the flock.”
Sofia turned to look back at the cavern, seeking out the chief commander. He had her dagger in his hand and was shouting commands as dozens of king’s men sprinted down the stairs. A glint of silver caught her eyes, and she saw netting held aloft between a few of the men—iron netting.
“Let’s go!” she said, hating herself as she said the words. She’d failed at checking on the civilians in the city, failed to kill Harlow, and failed to free Eha.
Failed, failed, failed.
“Save our nestlings,” Eha said, even as Sofia thought the words. “Go!”
And she did. Jumping on Chalia’s back faster than she thought herself capable of as she shook and wheezed.
Chalia surged out of the dark tunnel and into the gray dawn.
Sofia could hear the echoing shouts of the chief commander as Eha let out a bloodcurdling roar, but the cavern had disappeared behind them.
She looked up to see archers along the cliff.
“Shit!” she screamed as a volley of arrows arched into the sky and fell toward them.
Chalia veered to the left, narrowly dodging the torrent, only for another wave to follow.
“Do you trust me?” Chalia asked in Sofia’s mind.
“With my life,” Sofia said without thinking.
Chalia dove, and the last thought Sofia had as the icy water of the ocean engulfed her was that she hoped Lumi and Flor had made it into the slums safely.