Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Emma
A zar landed a good distance away from the Pit fields, having taken the long route so we wouldn’t be seen in the air by anyone. We were close to the gnarled and twisted black trees, so they helped hide us—well, Azar mainly, because his dragon body was so massive.
He gently set me on the ground, and I faced the fields, seeing several people working. It would have been safer to come at night so we wouldn’t be seen, but I wouldn’t have been able to speak with Tilly then, not out in the open. And besides, Azar didn’t want to risk me having to go underground and into the tunnels of the community to find her.
He wanted to keep me close in case he had to take flight and leave to protect me. And I wasn’t foolish enough not to know he was right.
The idea that I could be “captured” by the elders and council was very real. As far as I knew, no one had ever seen an actual Dragao. So to them, I was the first, and probably pretty valuable in that regard.
I felt even more beads of sweat cover my body, the twin suns intense. The Scorch was coming on fast. Or maybe it wasn’t any hotter than normal and my nervousness made me anxious.
Azar was a strong, silent presence behind me and clearly staying in his dragon form. I took a couple of steps forward and could sense him tensing behind me, knowing it worried him not to be close to me.
But I was trying in vain to see if I could spot Tilly and focus on that, not all the worry clouding my brain. There were a few people far in the distance, but I could tell by their body shapes that they weren’t her.
I stared at the other people I could see, a couple of them closer, but no Tilly. I started to feel despair that I wasn’t going to be able to see or find her, or maybe they’d taken her off field work. Had coming out here been a waste of time, alost cause?
I felt Azar’s snout nudge my back, and I turned to look at him, knowing he could sense my feelings as easily as if they were his own.
I reached out and ran my fingers along his hard yet smooth scales. “Let me just keep looking. Maybe she went underground for a moment.” He huffed out, and I knew he was relenting and giving me what I wanted. I smiled and rose to press my lips to the side of his face, hearing his dragon instantly purr from the small touch.
My heart was thundering in my chest as I turned back around and continued to scan the bodies, squinting to see if I could make out the forms clearly. I moved closer to a large boulder, placing my hands on the stone but quickly taking it away, as it was too hot to touch. The heat was steadily rising these days.
Azar made a sound of distress behind me, and I knew he hadn’t missed the fact that I’d slightly burned my hand. I gave him a reassuring look over my shoulder and then focused on the field once more.
It was clear that no one cared enough about seeing Azar or that, for the first time in our life, a dragon had made contact, as I didn’t see any extra bodies outside and no guards patrolling. Then again, it’s not as if their spears or swords, their bows and knives were any match against a dragon, even if they did think they had a chance.
I leaned over the boulder to look on the other side, and my breath caught as I finally spotted Tilly a good distance away. She was alone close to the edge of the field, a thick swatch of fabric covering her head and tied under her chin to keep the sunrays off as much as possible. She was digging some roots before picking them up and putting them in a satchel that hung around her waist. When she straightened and stretched, her hand going to her lower back, I could almost imagine how sore she was, knowing she probably had blisters on her fingers.
I looked over at the other workers again to make sure it would be safe enough to call her over and they wouldn’t hear. When I was confident, I licked my lips and looked over my shoulder at Azar. His focus was on Tilly, and when he glanced at me, his big head went up and down, letting me know he had seen her.
After making a deep sound in his throat, almost as if encouraging me, I focused on Tilly once more.
But suddenly my body froze, every muscle tense, my voice gone. I felt dizzy, scared. All I could think about was someone hurting Azar, of the Pit taking me from him. I looked at my dragon again, and I knew he could sense more of my distress. He huffed out, and I knew he was moments away from taking me away, seconds away from pulling me against his chest and never to return.
But I told myself to woman-up and call out for my friend, who was more like a sister to me, and who I needed to get out of here.
“Tilly,” I whispered and hoped it was loud enough that she heard but quiet enough others hadn’t.
She glanced around but didn’t turn in my direction.
“Tilly,” I said a little louder, terrified of being caught.
She looked over at me, and it took her a moment before her gaze landed on mine. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened. She snapped her head in the direction of the closest field workers, and when she was confident they hadn’t heard or noticed, she made her way slowly to me.
She stopped every few steps to act like she was working, and when she was only a few feet from where I hid behind the boulder, she stopped. She kept her back to me as she kept working.
“Oh gods, Emma. I thought you were dead.”
“No… far from it.” I felt my face heat as I remembered what Azar and I had done just the night before, and all the other things we’d done before that.
I should’ve felt guilty that Tilly had been here worrying about me, and a part of me did, but I’d been in this euphoric bubble because for the first time in my life I felt like I was truly happy and safe.
And then that in itself made me feel guilt too. It was this never-ending, vicious cycle.
“What happened?” she whispered and glanced over her shoulder at me. “Everyone said you’d been taken by a dragon. They said you were dead, food for the beast that actually blew fire out of its mouth.” She eyed me up and down and then looked behind me, her eyes widening and a squeak of fear leaving her. I realized she’d just seen Azar.
I held up my hands and shook my head. “No, he’s not here to hurt you. He’s here to protect me… to protect you. There’s nothing to fear from Azar.”
Her brows pulled low, and she looked unconvinced, but she wasn’t running or trying to pull me away from Azar because she feared for me.
After a second she nodded but glanced at Azar hesitantly. “You don’t look scared or hurt, so I believe you, but good gods, Emma… he’s massive! And those teeth.” She whispered the last part, her eyes wide, and her hands gripped tightly around the field tool she still held.
Tilly looked forward again, and her chest moved up and down as she exhaled roughly, then went back to pretending she was busy working.
“I’m glad you’re safe. I was so worried. I’ve done nothing but cry when they told me what happened, and although I didn’t want to believe the dragon killed you…” She shrugged. “It’s not like I could believe anything else.”
My chest lurched at the emptiness in her voice. “I want to take you from here,” I said instead of going into all the details about Azar and his kind, the Draco, the Cord , and all the other things I’d learned about in the short time with my dragon. There was plenty of time for that later, when we were safe on the mountain.
Tilly turned around sharply. Clearly my words shocked her more than the fact that I had a dragon standing behind me.
“W-What?” Her eyes were wide, her mouth moving as if she were trying to tell me something more but was at a loss for words.
“I want to take you away from here. We can go to where Azar lives, a cave within the mountain. It’s high and far away and will be safe. We’ll be safe with the Scorch coming, and no one will ever hurt us again.”
She was shaking her head, but I didn’t think it was because she was declining. I think she was just stunned by the offer, that there was finally a way for us to leave the tyrannical hold of the Pit. We’d certainly fantasized and talked about it enough.
“Leave?” She looked at Azar again, and I saw the way her throat moved as she swallowed. “Escape?”
I nodded, not daring to speak right now as everything settled into her.
She might be acting strong right now, but she was still afraid. “And then what? It would just be you and me and… that? Him? What about everybody else? What if they come for us?”
Now it was my turn to shake my head before she even finished speaking. “They won’t find us. Isn’t this what we’ve always wanted? Isn’t this what we’ve talked about? Leaving?” In the few days I’d been gone from the Pit and the controlling regime of the elders and the council, I’d realized what true happiness was. I took a step toward Tilly, and I sensed Azar moving closer—always my protector. “Being here, living in the Pit, it’s not true happiness.” I slowly shook my head and held my hand out to her. “It’s not true living. Come with me, and we can finally start living, Tilly.”
I knew Ryezan would come for her if he knew she was with us, but that was a chance we’d have to take, and I knew that if Tilly didn’t want to go, Azar and I would fight anyone and anything that came for her.
She stared right into my eyes, not speaking, her expression and body hard to read all of a sudden. And then she licked her lips and glanced up at the sky. I followed her gaze, but I saw nothing.
“Tilly?” I whispered, waiting until she glanced back at me before holding out my hand a little bit more.
“I’ve seen a dragon, Emma,” she whispered, and I saw the movement of her hand tighten around the handle of her tool. “He looks just like that one.” She tipped her chin toward Azar. “But it’s different. It looks dangerous, and I know I should be scared, but…” She didn't finish speaking and went back to looking at the sky.
Of course I wasn’t about to bring up the whole Ryezan situation or what I’d learned about that. I wanted her away from the Pit so she was safe before I could tell her the truth. And I would, but the longer we stayed here, the more chances there were for us to be found.
“Tilly, we have to go now . Trust me.”
She darted her gaze to Azar again, then back to me before looking at the field. I saw her body tense and followed her line of vision to see several of the field workers looking in our direction and pointing.
And then I heard the yelling and saw a horde of humans rushing.
Oh gods.
Azar made a low rumble of warning behind me, and I hissed out, “Now, Tilly. We need to leave now.”
She nodded and dropped her tool before rushing toward me, but when I heard a familiar sound in the air—wings flapping—followed by a vicious roar, I knew things had just gone from bad to worse.
Ryezan was here.
Azar had his tail wrapped around my abdomen instantly and pulled me in close to his chest. I still had my arms out, my hands outstretched to Tilly, who couldn’t seem to take her focus off the sky. Her eyes looked massive in her too-pale face, and her mouth was open in shock.
I could still hear the horde of humans running toward us, saw Bryce and Leland leading them. Those bastards. There was no way they would miss out on the violence, not with their dark, corrupted souls.
I could feel Azar tensing further behind me and knew he was about to take flight, but Tilly wasn’t anywhere near me. I couldn’t leave without her. I wouldn’t.
“No.” I almost screamed that lone word out, and I felt Azar still against my much smaller body. “I’m not leaving without Tilly.” My voice was firm, and I looked over my shoulder and up at him. He was watching me, one of his giant eyes unblinking, the dark pool so dark that it showed my reflection.
And then the great black-scaled dragon was swooping down and landing his huge body several feet from where Tilly stood… right between her and the rushing horde of humans. The very ground shock from his hard landing, his wings spread out as they moved up and down, the gust of wind fierce and vicious enough that if I hadn’t been pressed to Azar, I would have stumbled back from the force.
Tilly was now looking at Ryezan, her body seeming locked in this stony composure. And then when Ryezan looked over at her, their gazes holding, I knew without a doubt there was no way I could take her from him. There was no way he’d let me.
He’d come for his mate. Just like Azar had come for me.
Ryezan turned back toward the threat and roared out again and again, loud enough I wanted to cover my ears as they rang in pain. But the humans were stupid, led by Bryce and Leland, their weapons raised, their expressions violent. I’d never seen so many of the Pit guards together, all of them rushing toward us with harmful intent. It was like a wave of bodies. Although they seemed tiny compared to Dragao and Draco dragons—even when the dragons were in human form—there were so many of them that I was afraid they’d be able to use it to their advantage and inflict serious harm.
I was trying to get to Tilly, but Azar had a viselike grip on me. I wasn't thinking clearly, only wanting to go to my friend and get us out of danger. Azar positioned his body in front of mine, using it as a shield to protect me from any arrows that came too close. But I could still see around his dragon’s body, still watch in horror at the events that unfolded.
I wished I could do more to help, wanted to scream at the humans that the dragons weren’t here to harm but to protect. At least Tilly and me. Azar and Ryezan would have no issue decimating a threat to their mates.
And right now I couldn’t have cared less if they laid waste to all those who meant us harm.
I focused on Tilly, her shock keeping her in place as she stared off with the rushing barrage of humans storming forward.
I was screaming her name over and over again, but I knew she couldn’t hear me, not when it was clear by her expression she was lost in her own head. The Pit kept advancing, nocking arrows and letting them fly. A few landed in Ryezan, and he roared, his thick tail moving back and forth, the barb at the end a deadly weapon keeping everyone back.
Ryezan let out a stream of fire, liquid heat arcing through the sky. I was behind him and far enough away that I shouldn’t have been able to feel the heat… but fates, I did.
I felt bile rise up in my throat as some of the humans caught fire, their screams filling the air before they dropped to the ground and started rolling and slapping at their arms and legs to put out the flames.
More arrows were nocked and sailed through the air. I heard Tilly scream and stared in horror as an arrow was sticking out of her thigh, the material of her pant leg already turning crimson.
Azar lifted me off the ground and lunged for Tilly, and I knew he was seconds away from grabbing her and taking both of us to safety. But Ryezan snapped his massive head in her direction, peeling his mouth from his teeth, and roared a warning to Azar. Ryezan was in front of Tilly a second later, the rage-energy seething off Ryezan as he placed his big body in front of hers and faced off with Azar.
No. This would be a fight to the death as they each tried to protect their mates.
“No, Azar!” I screamed. “He won’t hurt her. He’s protecting her.” I was yelling so loud and hard my throat burned. “Don’t engage.” Because the truth was, I didn’t know who would come out the victor in this fight.
Ryezan gave another gut-wrenching roar, and Azar moved backward, his forelegs wrapped around me protectively, like a shield. I could see from this vantage point that although Ryezan was between Azar and Tilly, he used his tail to protect the other side of her—where the Pit humans were still coming.
It was clear that only when Azar was far enough back for Ryezan’s comfort, did he feel safe and turned and faced Tilly. My friend was staring up at him with those same huge eyes she’d had since everything had gone down. And when Ryezan leaned down and nuzzled the side of her body, mindful of the arrow sticking out of her thigh, I felt something clench in my chest.
Ryezan only wants to protect her.
There was this clarity covering Tilly's face. She’s not afraid of the Draco dragon. At all. She was just looking up at the beast’s visage, an almost content expression covering her face. There were more arrows sailing through the air, some hitting Ryezan, but his big body kept any and all from hitting Tilly.
And it was clear he didn’t care that he had numerous arrows sticking out of his back and flank. His entire focus was on Tilly. I watched as Leland and Bryce were the first to rush Ryezan, but with one swipe of his massive barbed tail, he knocked the two assholes away so hard they flew across the field and landed on the ground I swore I heard bones crack.
Good, let those assholes suffer.
Ryezan tipped his head back and blew a stream of fire out, high enough it didn’t reach the humans. They were smart enough not to advance and kept their distance.
And then I was in the air, my body clutched to Azar’s chest, my arms dangling down from the force, as if I were still reaching for my friend, and I screamed her name. I couldn’t be mad at Azar for wanting to get me out of there. I’d wanted out of there as well, but I wanted to take Tilly with me.
And before we were too far in the distance, I felt my eyes widen in shock as Tilly lifted her arms up to Ryezan, wrapped them around one of his forelegs, and held on as he took flight with her. He was taking Tilly with him and was flying in the opposite direction of where Azar was taking us. I wanted to scream for her again, but my voice was lodged in my throat.
Because she clung to Ryezan like he was her lifeline, and I knew without a doubt—somehow—that she was his lifeline.
She’d gone with him willingly.
And although that should’ve terrified me, I felt relief, because deep down I knew she’d be okay. I’d seen her face. I’d seen the relief as Ryezan cradled her in his forelegs, mindful of her leg wound, and took flight.
I didn’t know how I was so sure, but I knew Ryezan would protect her with his life. I knew he’d make sure she was okay.
And I also knew I’d see her again. I’d make damn sure of it.