Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
The moss was damp beneath Roam’s boots as he followed Spring along the narrow, winding trail, ducking under low-hanging leaves and brushing aside vines that looked more curious than threatening.
The forest hummed with life—buzzing insects, birds with haunting calls, and an occasional breeze that rustled the canopy like whispered secrets between ancient trees.
Spring’s voice floated ahead of him, animated and thoughtful.
“…And Madura said the woman’s name was Ruth. She shrank like we did, but she met the King of the Giants—Koorgan. Apparently, they got married. Isn’t that wild?” Spring glanced over her shoulder, her golden-brown eyes bright with wonder. “She said if we find him, he might help us find the others.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Roam replied, though he’d only caught about half of what she’d said.
It wasn’t that it wasn’t interesting—it probably was. But his mind wasn’t on ancient tales or helpful kings.
His mind was still on the moment they’d had— specifically, on her lips.
A goofy, contented grin curved his mouth. For once, his cat was blissfully quiet, purring like a smug furnace somewhere deep in his chest.
Now that was new.
He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, the other dipping into his pocket where he’d tucked the leftover sliver of mushroom from earlier. His mind was still repeating the miracle of Spring’s kiss, and he was certain that if he ever messed up with her again… all he had to do was kiss her.
Apparently, that worked on both Spring and his cat.
Excellent data. Very useful. Noted for future emergencies.
This will keep me out of trouble, he thought smugly.
“—and he lives near the cliffs, I think. Madura said something about stone halls and goats the size of horses,” Spring was saying. “I mean, I guess that makes sense for a giant.”
“Totally makes sense,” Roam murmured dreamily.
Spring turned toward him, hands on her hips, her brows pinched in mock exasperation. “You’re not even listening, are you?”
“Nope.” He grinned, then winked. “Still thinking about kissing you.”
Her cheeks flushed pink, and she looked away, but not before he caught the smile tugging at her lips. Victory.
They stepped out of the trees and onto a wide road of packed dirt that curved gently into the distance before forking left and right. A thin veil of mist drifted in from the hills, softening the edges of the towering wall of trees on either side. It felt… still. Expectant.
Spring extended a hand, palm outward, her eyes scanning the horizon. “I can shift,” she said, biting her lip. “Fly up and take a quick look.”
Roam shook his head. “Nah. I’ve got this. You stay here—I’ll climb one of those trees and check the view.”
Spring frowned, clearly torn, but nodded. “Okay. Just… be careful.”
He gave her a quick salute and a wink. “Aren’t I always?”
Before she could answer, he shifted, fur rippling over his skin as his limbs compacted into his feline form. With a powerful leap, he darted off the road and into the forest again, aiming for the tallest pine he’d scoped earlier.
The cool shade swallowed him as he padded over roots and fallen branches, his ears flicking at the sounds of birds above and insects buzzing past.
He was about halfway to the tree when a faint noise drew his attention—a crunch of boots on gravel. He paused, his ears swiveling toward the sound.
Voices!
They might help him and Spring!
A small group of figures was walking up the other fork in the road.
Roam trotted forward. There was six… no, seven of them.
Travelers from the looks of it. Rough clothes.
Worn boots. Supplies clanked against the worn side of the wooden cart they were riding in.
He noticed their eyes were scanning the woods like they were searching for someone.
I no like. We go back.
But they might know where this Koorgan is and how to get to the castle.
We climb. We find ourselves.
This would be faster. Mom is always complaining that Dad never stops and asks for directions. What’s the big deal?
Big deal is trouble. We protect Spring!
Okay. Fine. We’ll let them pass, then climb the stupid tree and hope we see something!
He backed away from the road and crouched, waiting for the men to pass. He followed the group with his eyes, sighing as they rumbled past, before rising to his feet. He would just double back to Spring and let her—
Thwack.
A sharp sting bloomed in his rear flank.
“Yowch!” he yelped, spinning around. His vision blurred slightly, his legs wobbling underneath him.
He looked down.
A thin wooden dart protruded from his hindquarters.
What the—?
Thwack.
Another dart struck just below his shoulder. He staggered. The world tilted sideways. Panic roared in his chest as his legs gave out beneath him.
No. No, no, no—
He collapsed face-first onto the forest floor. Dirt smeared across his muzzle, but he couldn’t move. Couldn’t call out a warning. The edges of his vision frayed like paper curling over fire.
Footsteps thundered toward him.
A shadow passed overhead.
Rough hands flipped him over. His eyes tried to focus, but the world smeared around him like wet paint.
“Well, would you look at that,” a man’s voice chuckled, low and greasy. “I ain’t never seen no cat like this one. You think it might be one of Nali’s monsters?”
“Could be. Bet the Pirate King would pay a mint for him if he is,” another voice said.
“He don’t got no collar. He must be one of the Empress’s creatures. I don’t want to mess with her. I agree with Bones. We sell him to Ashure. The Empress won’t kill him.”
Roam hissed weakly, baring his fangs—but it came out more like a sigh.
Stupid, stupid, he thought bitterly. I should’ve waited longer. I should’ve let Spring shift. I should’ve stayed close. I should’ve thought…
His vision wavered, dimming until everything went black.
Spring paced at the forest’s edge, her boots digging shallow divots into the mossy ground. Back and forth. Back and forth. Her fingers twisted around each other like vines tightening around a tree trunk.
Roam should have been back by now.
She tilted her head, scanning the treetops. A fine mist drifted through the canopy, swirling like ghost-breath between the branches. The longer she stood still, the louder her heartbeat was.
He said he’d only be a few minutes.
She should never have let him go alone. What was I thinking? I let pride—or affection—blind me to the risks?
Her jaw clenched. She should have just shifted. She should have taken to the sky, circled once, spotted the castle—and been done with it.
But no. Roam had insisted on climbing, and she hadn’t wanted to bruise his pride. He was trying so hard to be protective. So hard to be something more than a boy she wrestled with in the palace gardens.
You don’t always have to be the smart one, she’d told herself. Let him be the hero for once.
Her dragon stirred restlessly beneath her skin, its unease coiling tighter with every second that passed. Another minute ticked by. Then another.
The knot in her stomach pulled tighter.
“This is ridiculous,” she muttered aloud, turning sharply toward the forest.
The silence that answered felt wrong. Too quiet.
With a breath that burned in her lungs, Spring shifted.
Light shimmered around her, folding her body into the sleek, pale form of her dragon. Her wings spread wide with a soft whoosh, then lifted her effortlessly into the trees. She beat them once—twice—and was gone, soaring through the light fog and over the green canopy like a white shadow.
Roam, she called inwardly. Where are you?
The wind rushed past her face, but no answer came. Just the ache of emptiness.
She followed the route he would have taken, her eyes sharp as a laser cutting diamonds. A moment later, she dropped through the branches and landed hard on a patch of flattened ferns.
The moss here was disturbed.
Clawed feet and heavy boots had churned it up.
Too many boots.
She sniffed the air. The scent of earth. Bark. A bitter tang of sweat and greasy food. Locals—maybe? And Roam.
But there was something else.
She padded forward, wings tucked close, until she stepped on a thin shaft of wood. It snapped under the pressure of her paw and released a bitter smell. She hissed and jerked back.
A dart.
Thin, with a small thorn attached to the end.
She lowered her snout. Her nostrils flared as she breathed in deeply. She shook her head violently and sneezed at the sharp, fragrant scent still clinging to the tip.
No…
She knew that smell. A sleeping sedative brewed from dream thorn—or a variation of it adapted to this world.
Someone had darted Roam.
Spring’s vision pulsed crimson at the edges. Her chest tightened until she could barely breathe.
Her dragon growled, low and thunderous.
They took him.
She leapt skyward in one powerful burst, her claws shredding the moss below in her fury. Her wings snapped open and caught the wind, propelling her upward, higher, faster. The forest blurred beneath her, streaks of green and brown and shadow.
And then—off in the distance—a shimmer of light on stone.
A spiral tower.
The castle.
She roared, a sound that cascaded from the sky over the ground as she angled her wings and dove toward it, following the faintest trail below: deep ruts from wagon wheels, blurred boot prints, and the familiar scent of masculine cologne, moss, and boy-sweat.
“I’m coming, Roam,” she growled aloud.
Her eyes narrowed, her entire body focused like a blade.
Whoever took him had just made the biggest mistake of their lives.
Spring flew as fast as her wings could carry her towards the towering stone spires in the distance. The capital of the Giants was still far off—but her dragon had locked on to something closer.
A wagon.
Her heart stuttered.
There—beneath a frayed tarp flapping wildly in the wind—was a striped tail. Familiar. Motionless.
Roam.
A low growl rumbled in her throat, deepening into a savage snarl that shook her ribs. The dragon surged, talons curling, wings folding tighter as she dropped into a blistering dive.
Spring opened her jaws—and unleashed a furious stream of superheated blue fire.
The flames whooshed in a tight arc around the wagon, licking the edges of the road and forming a glowing barrier that penned in the group of shouting men like rats in a blazing trap.
Weapons clanged as the men scrambled.
“Dragon!” one of them shrieked.
A barrage of projectiles burst upward—bolts, arrows, a knife that glinted in the sunlight. Spring tucked and twisted midair, her wings slicing through the smoke as she looped around the flames and landed on the road in front of the wagon.
Light shimmered.
Scales receded.
Spring stood on two legs again, her chest heaving, her eyes wild and crackling with fury. She clenched her fists at her sides, staring down the men as she stepped forward.
“Let him go,” she commanded, her voice cutting through the roar of the fire like steel.
The leader—a mountain of a man with a jagged beard and one gold tooth—lifted a hand to stop his men. He grinned.
“Well, well. It looks like a pretty little dragon’s got a temper. Wouldn’t you say, Bones?” he asked.
Bones, lean and mean-eyed, spat at the ground. “Might be we get a bonus for her,” he sneered, his gaze crawling over her. “The Pirate King likes the fiery-tempered creatures.”
Laughter rippled through the group.
Spring stepped forward, her fists flexing at her sides. “Let. Him. Go. Or else.”
The leader chuckled. “Or else what?” he called. “You try anything, we turn the cat into a rug. Bet the Pirate King would like that.”
The laughter turned ugly.
Spring’s eyes narrowed. Her dragon growled inside her.
“Last warning,” she snapped, lowering her head.
And then—she vanished.
Bones blinked. “Where’d she—?”
“Where is she?!” the leader barked, spinning in place.
None of them looked down.
Beneath their boots, dirt churned violently as Spring’s dragon dug a tunnel under the ring of fire and the feet of the men.
She created an opening in the earth behind the wagon, just beneath the tarp, and slipped into the shadows above ground, her body trembling from the effort.
“R-Roam,” she breathed, crawling up beside him.
His face was still, too quiet. “Roam, wake up,” she whispered, patting his furry cheeks. “Please. Come on.”
Nothing.
Panic clawed at her chest. The flames wouldn’t hold forever, and it was only a matter of time before the men found her. She didn’t have much time to get Roam to safety.
She hooked her arms beneath his and dragged his limp body toward the wagon’s edge.
A roar went up as the tarp shifted.
“There she is!” the leader bellowed.
Spring shoved Roam off the back of the wagon and into her tunnel, then leapt and shifted in midair.
Her dragon form surged into being.
She spun, fire bursting from her jaws, the heat so intense the wagon blazed instantly. Men dove for cover, cursing and screaming—trapped between the first ring she had created and now the blazing wagon.
A blade whirled through the air—bright, spinning—and slashed across her shoulder.
She howled in pain, reeling back. Her wings faltered. Blood sprayed down her foreleg as she dropped beside Roam, shifting back again to give herself room to maneuver in the tunnel with Roam.
No time. No time, her dragon whimpered in pain.
She hooked her hands under his arms, dragging him further into the tunnel.
Flames licked higher beyond the entrance of the tunnel.
“Kill the she-creature!” the leader shouted.
Another dagger flew. Spring ducked, her breath rasping in her throat. She trembled from the strain of pulling Roam into the narrow tunnel, her body scraping the sides and leaving a trail of blood from the wound on her shoulder. Her muscles burned.
She pulled on Roam until they vanished into the shadows.
Only after they were hidden did she collapse beside him with a whimper. Blood soaked her shirt, hot and sticky against her skin. She was too tired and dizzy to shift back again.
Her arms curled around him.
Roam’s head lolled against her shoulder.
“You’re safe now,” she whispered. “I’m here. I’ve got you. No one’s taking you ever again.”
Outside, the men’s shouts grew fainter, smothered by smoke and the crackling blaze above.
Spring pressed her forehead to his, her hand trembling as she brushed the hair from his brow. “Just stay quiet. Please, Roam. Please be okay. We’re safe for now. You’re safe.”
A tear slipped down her cheek and onto his.
“I won’t let anything happen to you. You mean everything to me.”
The dim light that reached them flickered from the burning wagon above. In the hush of the tunnel, she held Roam’s furry body against hers as the fire raged and her heart whispered healing words in the dark.