Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
SOFIA
They headed toward a rocky cliff that shot up into a peak just lower than Quelia’s Wings.
Only once they were nearly at the peak did Sofia realize there was a crevice that opened up into a large cave, two hundred yards above the slope.
Chalia swept sideways into the cavern just behind her father.
Sofia expected the dragons to stop or slow down, but they kept flying, twisting down and into the heart of the mountain.
The air was hot, a thick fog swirled below, hiding the ground or whatever lay there.
They broke through the white and landed beside a large boiling lake in the center of the giant cavern. Sofia couldn’t see the ceiling above or the opening they’d come through. She almost choked on the steaming humidity of the space.
It was dim in the cave, but somehow lit, the lake emitting a rainbow of light from its hazy depths.
Ielo’s wings beat hard in place, blowing away the steam and fog and revealing countless crystals tucked along the edge of the shallow lake.
Only when Fox dismounted and stepped forward, hand outstretched but not quite touching one of the sapphire clusters, did Sofia realize they weren’t gems at all, but massive eggs.
Dozens of them in every imaginable color.
Sofia also noticed the divots—empty spaces between them.
There were a handful of dragons scattered along the shore, two keening painfully as Ielo tried to talk to them. Another lay on the ground, bleeding from large slashes across their scales, chest rising and falling in sharp breaths.
Yet another was slamming his head into the wall, and Sofia watched with a gaping mouth as stones crumbled down the wall, the mountain groaning in protest.
“Rost, stop,” Ielo said.
“I can break it open wider,” the dragon snarled. “We can go after them.”
“You’ll bring it all down on the rest of the eggs.”
“They stole our nestlings! We can’t let them go.”
The dragon stopped with a growl, stomping the ground in frustration.
Sofia saw the thin crack that ran down along the stone from where he’d been trying to break open the mountain.
Near the ground, the crack opened up into a narrow crevice just big enough for a large human to slip through—or a wolfshifter.
“We’re too late,” Fox said, his shoulders sagging with the weight of the words.
Sofia slipped from Chalia quickly and strode toward the crevice. She peered into the darkness of the tunnel beyond, ears straining. Fox stood behind her, breath held.
“Do you hear that?” she asked, but Fox only shook his head.
She looked at the empty divots where eggs used to be—at least seven were missing.
Two of the dragons were still wailing as Ielo tried to calm them, but there was nothing the dragon could say to comfort them.
One of their own was seemingly dead, and their nestlings had been kidnapped.
Sofia knew what she was going to do—what she had to do.
“ Are you with me?” she asked Fox before she had time to second-guess herself. She didn’t know how many wolfshifters they’d be facing.
“Always,” Fox said. Before she could process the depth of his response, he was already pushing ahead of her, diving through the tunnel. She followed, pulling out her dagger. Her bow and arrow wouldn’t do much good in the tunnel’s confines.
Only a few minutes into running, Fox nearly slammed into the wall as the path took a sharp turn.
“I can’t see a king-damned thing in here,” he cursed.
“I can see well enough,” Sofia said, stepping past him with a hand on his shoulder. It was dark, but she could just make out the traces of the walls and floor around her. Perhaps her sun cycles spent in the cenote had done her good.
Fox followed her footsteps closely, occasionally reaching out to brush a hand along her back to help guide him when the tunnel turned or dipped.
In any other world, the wolfshifters would have slipped away long before they’d caught up.
They were faster than humans. But the tunnel was thin and twisted.
Plus, they were carrying a set of oversized dragon eggs.
When Sofia and Fox came upon them, they were moving single file, hunched over, each holding a glowing egg against their chests.
The light sent colors dancing across the dark tunnel as the shifters ran.
The moment they were within view, Sofia heard the growled words exchanged. The shifter in the back passed his egg to the man in front of him before turning on them.
“Fox—”
“I’ve got him. You get the eggs.”
The shifter heard their exchange, lunging for Sofia first, his claws extended.
She smiled with her teeth as she ran to meet him, waiting until the last minute to duck under him.
The floor scraped against her arm as she fell, but she jumped up the moment she’d cleared him and kept running.
Behind her, she heard Fox and the shifter collide.
There was no time to worry about their fight.
She was already on to the next shifter, moving even slower now, a purple egg under one arm and an opal white one under the other.
He couldn’t fit in the tunnel without twisting sideways and shuffling.
Sofia was wondering how she’d attack him without threatening the eggs, when he dropped them himself.
She winced to see them bounce against the rocky tunnel floor, but it just opened her up to attack him without fear.
She dove at him with her dagger extended.
He feinted to the left, but the tunnel was so thin that Sofia dodged the swipe from his clawed hands—mostly.
It missed her stomach but slashed into her upper hip instead.
She let out a cry as she lashed out to the left with her dagger and cut into his thigh.
They twisted around again and came together in the space of a breath, his claws erratic.
She stayed low, using her dagger to carve at his thighs, calves, and ankles over and over again.
When a claw came too close to her face, she twisted her dagger around and swiped to the left.
Two fingers went flying against the wall, and his pained howl made her smile widen.
He reared back, but she followed, dagger slashing at his claws as he recoiled, his moves now defensive.
They twisted around in their fight, and the shifter was now moving back up the tunnel, directly toward Fox. The one he’d been fighting was lying on the ground, bleeding.
“You’re giving this one to me, too?” Fox said, a smile in his voice. “I thought you were better than that.”
The wolfshifter whipped around at his voice, and Sofia took that moment of distraction. Her dagger sank into his gut. She twisted it up and under his ribs, pushing with all her strength until she met her mark.
He gave a guttural cough and fell, writhing in pain on the ground. His breaths turned wet and gurgling.
Sofia had missed his heart and hit his lung instead. She turned away. He’d die eventually.
“The others,” Fox said, stepping over him and looking down the tunnel.
Sofia nodded, already running. She glanced long enough at the two eggs the shifter had dropped to see that they were okay before she darted past them.
The tunnel began to widen, the black shadows turning gray with a distant light. The air grew colder by the second.
They ran for another few minutes before Fox finally slowed her with a hand on her shoulder. She was wheezing, each ragged breath echoing in the tunnel.
“You’re no use as a fighter if you’re dead,” he said, preempting any argument.
Sofia knew he was right. She still had the coldfled in her bag, but that was back in the cavern. Her ears strained. The tunnel was silent other than her breathing. The other wolfshifters were gone, along with the rest of the dragon eggs.
“We can’t give up,” she said, no conviction left in the words.
“It’s not that simple and you know it.” He looked down at her, and his face pinched in concern. “And you’re bleeding. We need to head back.”
Her shoulders slumped in defeat. Two was better than zero. They’d made a difference, even if it didn’t feel like enough. She nodded and let Fox turn them back.
By the time they made it back to the eggs and the shifters, the one she’d torn the lung of was dead.
They each picked up an egg gently. They were heavier than they looked and large enough that Sofia could barely see over the egg as she cradled it in her arms. She had to take breaks occasionally to rest, but they made their way slowly back to the main cavern.
They heard the keening wails of the dragon before they were out of the tunnel, the sound making Sofia’s chest ache.
They’d saved two, but even more had disappeared with the wolfshifters.
Each egg was a potential dragon for Harlow to manipulate and control.
Or perhaps he’d simply smash them. She didn’t know.
Chalia was at the tunnel opening when they came through, eyes searching over them both, noting their wounds before taking in the two eggs in their arms.
“You saved them,” she said.
“We only saved two,” Sofia said, arms shaking as she made it to the edge of the lake and set the egg down in one of the empty spots.
Chalia’s father was there, along with the three other dragons.
He bent down, lowering his head until he was looking her in the eyes. They were a deep blue that made her think of the sky just before dawn. “You saved two of our kind. We couldn’t have saved them without you. Thank you.”
Sofia couldn’t hold back her tears and words escaped her, but she nodded.
Fox was beside her, pulling her into his arms, his chin resting on the top of her head. “You did good,” he said, his words murmured into her hair. “You did so good.”
“They got away with so many of them,” she said, the words cracking something in her chest.
“But not all of them.”
She was so tired of losing people—of losing.
Fox seemed to sense her thoughts. He pushed her gently away until he could look her in the eye.
Callused fingers lifted to tilt her chin up, forcing her to look at him.
His eyes were bloodshot, his blond stubble having turned into a full beard at some point over the past few weeks.
His face was drawn, but he looked at her as if she held the world.
“You’ve done more than you could ever know.
You’ve saved more than you can count. You saved me.
” He waited until she gave a small nod, and he rubbed his thumb across her cheek, wiping the tears.
She believed him in that moment, his eyes so earnest and honest. “You can cry and grieve, but it doesn’t change what you’ve accomplished. ”
She didn’t move, breathing him in. He smelled of sweat and salt, and it made her feel safe, even if only for a moment. She stepped back at last, feeling more centered.
“Your wound,” Fox said, fingers gently pulling her bloody shirt up to look at the damage.
She looked down, too, expecting the worst. But the cuts weren’t as deep as she expected from the amount of blood. They were barely scrapes.
“I thought they were deeper,” Fox said, not quite relieved, as if his eyes were playing tricks on him. He ran a finger over the skin, and she shuddered.
“Me, too,” she admitted. She traced a finger over the bloodstains, her mind wanting to articulate something she couldn’t quite grasp—like trying to grasp a wave as it crests. She shook away the thoughts. There were more important things to worry about now.
“Well, I’m fine. We should check on the others.”
Fox nodded. For a moment, she thought he’d kiss her. She wanted him to kiss her. It wasn’t the time, but her chest ached for it. Instead, he pulled away, eyes not quite meeting hers.
They left Chalia’s father behind, still trying to quell the chaos the attack had created.
Chalia brought them up and out of the mountain, the cold air from outside slamming into Sofia like a wave and making her shiver.
Her skin was wet from the humidity and sweat, and it made her feel all the colder.
Fox wrapped himself around her, bringing her into his body until she stopped shaking.
Out on the slope, the battle had ended. Red streaked through the snow and down the slope, and Sofia’s breath caught.
“Chalia, do you see Javi?” Fox asked, reading Sofia’s mind before she had to ask. Chalia dove, sweeping low over the slope so they could take in the scene.
Sofia breathed out when she saw Javi’s curls. He twisted around to watch as they landed directly behind him. She was off Chalia immediately, throwing herself into his arms. He was covered in blood, but she couldn’t see any major wounds. None worse than her own bleeding cuts from her fight.
“You’re okay?” he asked, looking her over the same way.
“I’m good. We’re good.” He looked over her shoulder at Fox, giving a small nod of acknowledgement. “They went after the eggs. We saved a couple, but they still got too many.”
Javi’s eyes darkened. “They got at least four more dragons as well. Aurelia is counting everyone since some were out on flights or in the mountains. They also took the three scouts she’d sent out.”
Sofia felt her hands shaking as she looked at the damage around them.
“How many of our people…?”
“Only two, Maya and Victor,” Javi said. “But more wounded.”
Her hand clenched, nails biting into her palms, and her spine straightened with resolve.
She was done with losing. She was done with failing.
She was going to kill the chief commander and end this war.
It didn’t matter if it killed her. She knew she’d promised Fox she wouldn’t sacrifice herself, but she didn’t have a choice.
She wouldn’t let Harlow take anything more from her.
A roar echoed through the air, and Sofia turned to see Aurelia flying out of Quelia’s Womb.
The ground shook as she landed, a large piece of snow breaking off from the slope and sliding away in a cloud of snow.
Her words echoed through their minds, her people turning to look at her.
“They will pay for what they did. They’ve declared a war, and we will not let this stand. Today we mourn. Tomorrow, we go to war.”