Chapter 32
Thirty-Two
Aesira
“What was that?" Bee asked as another piercing sound shot through the air.
“The dragon, or whatever that was, Stone and I heard last night.
" Fire spread through Aesira’s chest, her legs trembling.
“We need to get them out.” Another roar tore through the ruins as they pushed their way in, weaving around vines and debris.
“Stone!” Her voice echoed back to her, a pit of unease sinking in her stomach. “Birdie!”
The hatch.
She had to find the hatch. A root caught her boots, sending her toppling to the ground.
Scrambling to her feet, she crawled the rest of the way to where she remembered the hatch was.
The door was thrown open, the weak ladder trembling with the power of another roar.
“Stone!” She couldn’t hear anything but the heavy beating of her heart in her ears and the roar of the beast.
Bee pushed her aside. “I’m going down.”
Aesira gripped Bee's arm and yanked her back. “And get yourself killed?”
“Birdie is down there!” The next roar shattered one of the only windows left, shards of glass cutting through the room. “Birdie!” Bee’s voice cracked as she reached for the hatch again.
“Bee?”
A brief pulse of relief pushed through Aesira's chest as Birdie's voice drifted up the hatch.
“We’re almost there!” Aesira wasn’t sure there was anything better than the sound of Stone’s voice right then. Nothing sweeter, nothing more full of promise. “You need to get out!” he called, his voice drifting closer.
Bee and Aesira shared a glance. There was no way they were leaving them now.
They watched the hatch, waited for some semblance of light or life all the while more deep bellows filled the room, loud enough for them both to cover their ears to dull some of the pain.
Other than the deep, deep rumblings of a beast that should not exist, no other sounds drifted up the tunnel.
“We have to go in.” Bee was frantic, biting her lip and pacing next to Aesira.
“Just give them a minute.” Please, let it only be one minute. Aesira watched the darkness at the bottom of the hatch like it was her job and then, through the inky black, a flicker of movement.
“Stone,” she whispered, not entirely sure if her eyes were deceiving her. Then the ladder shook and Stone and Birdie emerged one at a time. Sweat beaded across their brows, dirt splayed across their cheeks and face.
“I told you to go,” he said, cupping Aesira’s face in his hands. Bee and Birdie were already wrapped up in each other, whispering things Aesira couldn’t make out, nor cared to. All she wanted to do was look at Stone. Drink him in.
“And leave you here?”
A smile slashed across his lips. “You worried about me, Commander?”
Another roar echoed up the chamber, bleeding into her ears, and the reality of their situation came crashing down. “Something like that,” she said. “Let’s go.”
The four of them ran for the entrance of the ruins.
Dusk had settled across Ravki, the luminous moths starting to emerge from their cracks, making their way to the fields of astra.
Behind them the earth shuddered, more and more bellows shook the ground and pierced their ears.
They tumbled through the opening of the ruins in a giant heap, panting and sweating.
Stone was on his feet first, pulling Aesira to hers.
They ran forward, finding coverage behind a group of tall, green trees.
Aesira tried to slow her breathing. Tried to calm her heart but when the dragon emerged, not from the opening of the ruins, but from the top, with its glowing orange eyes and black jagged scales, her heart only sped up.
The beast shook, its scales rippling down to its long, pointed tail.
It fanned its wings, large enough to block the ruin behind it, then spread them wider and took to the sky but then, with a harsh jolt, it was thrown back.
Its roars turned to a broken wail as it tried again to reach the sky.
Tethered.
It was tethered to the ruin.
“It can’t get free,” Stone whispered. Another deep roar bellowed through the air.
Aesira couldn’t tear her eyes away. It flew up, over and over without prevailing.
Another roar but this time the sound felt like it had been broken in two. A desperate cry.
A plea.
Stone’s hand found hers, their fingers twisting together. He squeezed once and she squeezed back, keeping her eyes on the dragon. “We need to help it.”
Stone leaned forward, squinting through his glasses. “And what happens if we let it go?”
“I don’t know,” she said. She looked back at the dragon as it made a final attempt to break free. “I don’t think it’s meant to be here.”
The dragon retreated back to the ruins and they spared no time gathering their things to leave.
“How much do we need?” Aesira and Stone stood above a row of glowing astra.
“At least six,” he said. “That should get us back to Vargah.”
Aesira crouched and ran her fingers along the glowing petals but reared back when a searing pain shot up her arm. “Shit,” she muttered. A deep line bloomed red on her hand, white-hot pain aching through her palm. “How are we going to harvest this?”
Stone frowned then reached out and ran his fingers along the flower.
The golden petals opened with his touch, yawning, stretching toward him.
She waited for him to revolt back, to hold his hand like she had hers when it burned, only he never did.
“I’ll do it, you help Birdie and Bee get the rest of the camp packed. ”
“But how—”
He stroked another petal and the flower shook, golden light bouncing off it like rain drops. “I don’t know.”
“Stone,” she gasped, dropping to her knees beside him.
He held the first astra flower in his hands, the brilliant light illuminating his face, his arms, but the beauty of the astra wasn’t what took her breath away.
“Your scars.” She ran her fingers over the scars on his arms and face.
“They’re glowing.” He placed the astra in a bag and studied his arms, now illuminated to match the flowers.
Stone was always attractive, with his dark auburn hair and blue eyes, but with the scars illuminated he looked ethereal. Unreal. Like a painting. She couldn’t tear her eyes away.
“Well that’s new.” Stone held out his arms. She reached out, running her finger along one of his scars. “Must be because I touched the astra.”
But it burned me, she thought. Maybe it could see how unworthy she was. Maybe it knew if there was anyone here that should be allowed to take the flower, it was Stone.
“What are we going to do about the dragon?” she asked as they made their way back to camp.
“Well, we have two choices,” Stone said. “We leave it, pretend it doesn’t exist.”
Her stomach sank. “Or?”
Stone stopped, adjusted his pack on his shoulder. “Or we let it go. Set it free, somehow.”
“Bee will hate that idea.”
“But it does feel wrong, doesn’t it?” He turned and glanced at the ruins. “The way it cried. Tried to break free.” He shook his head. “I can’t explain why but I could feel it in my chest.”
“Feel what?”
He sighed, pushed his glasses up. “Feel its despair.”
She wove her fingers with his and squeezed. “Then we set it free.”
His eyes locked with hers. “We set it free.”
“We’re going to do what?” Bee’s face scrunched, eyes bouncing between Stone and Aesira.
“It’s dying in there,” Stone said. “We can’t leave it.”
Birdie tapped her boot before kneeling and rummaging through her bag. “I’ve been waiting for this.” From her bag she pulled a weapon with a wide, double-edged blade, runes and words etched into the handle that Aesira couldn't decipher.
“All this time, Bird?” Bee shook her head. “What if you tripped and fell with that in your bag? You’d impale yourself.”
“It didn’t happen so it doesn't matter.” Birdie raised the sword, moonlight reflecting off its pointed edges. “Now this is special,” she said. “Forged in the Isles with the highest quality steel."
"And how did you afford that?" Bee crossed her arms then rolled her eyes at Birdie's silence. "You stole it?"
"Are you surprised?"
"Not in the least," Stone said.
"If you're all done judging me, you'll see how perfect this blade is.
" She held it higher. "It would have been a waste to leave it with those stuffy royals.
" She swiped it through the air then balanced the point of the blade on the tip of her finger.
"Surely sharp enough to break through even the toughest of scales," Birdie said through a grin.
“We’re not going to hurt it, Birdie,” Aesira said. “We’re going to help it.”
“I know that,” Birdie snapped. “I’m saying it’s sharp enough to cut through the toughest of scales or chains. It’ll work. We just have to get close enough.”
“And therein lies the real problem,” Stone said.
“It’s quiet now,” Bee said, “maybe it’s sleeping.”
“The issue is how do we get down.” Stone tapped his finger against his lips.
“We can go in through the hatch,” Birdie said, polishing the sword with the end of her shirt. “We can use rope to lower us into its den. Cut the tether from there.”
“And leave us nowhere to run?” Aesira shook her head. “We have to lure it out the top, the same way it came out earlier.” She pointed to the top of the ruins where the dragon had emerged. “There,” she said. “That’ll get us close enough to strike and leave us plenty of room to escape.”
Stone wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. “A very tactical answer, Commander.”
She shrugged. “I’m good at some things,” she said.
“Oh I don’t doubt there are many things you’re good at.”
A sharp ping pierced the air pulling their attention. Birdie tossed a stick then sliced it clean in two. “Let’s fucking go then.” She marched past pulling a wary Bee in tow.