Chapter 32
Chapter 3 2
Elpis
The knights didn’t give any of the guards at the gate a moment to process what was happening. Two males—who were already shifted—ripped the gates open, and Keyon’s small army surged into Astertrove. Leofwine’s team worked on the perimeter, apprehending anyone who was trying to escape the raid. Apparently, the cage we’d brought was not for the slaves but for those who were suspected of being slave owners or sympathizers.
I strode down the main road and felt my attention being pulled in several different directions. I followed the largest pull first, thinking that maybe it would be the closest location that hid slaves. When I pointed to the gate of an estate, several knights who were escorting Keyon and me ripped them off their hinges. The strength they possessed was frightening, and I was certainly glad they were on our side!
A team of guards raced to engage us, but they were quickly overpowered, apprehended, and shackled with a metal that apparently couldn’t be melted by normal dragons. They were also masked with the same metal to keep them from breathing fire. Once Keyon burst through the entryway, we were met with very little resistance. Maids and servants scrambled to escape, and I followed the intense despondency to the kitchen.
I frowned and looked around for a hidden door. “We’re right over them, Keyon, but I don’t know where the entrance is…” I said, shuffling around the large kitchen and peeking into cabinets. Keyon told his two knights to spread out, and he joined my search. I walked into an adjoining room and found the larder, then Keyon squeezed past me and kicked a hole through the wall, which turned out to be a door. He reached around to try to figure out where the handle was and finally exposed a hidden passage.
I teared up and frowned deeply at the door’s chosen location. The larder was filled to the brim with food that was locked behind a metal grate. How cruel to force slaves to walk past that every day. Anger boiled inside me, and I followed Keyon down the stairs into a room that housed slave pens. There was only one guard down here that immediately moved to attack Keyon.
“Anyone past hidden doors, Elpis,” he said almost casually as he sent a thread of blue fire through the male’s heart, “is fair game. These people know what they’re doing.” He dug through the guard’s clothes, found a heavy set of iron keys, and began unlocking the doors that imprisoned the slaves. Both of Keyon’s knights had found us and waited patiently while Keyon explained what was happening to the poor, abused, and disoriented souls.
“You are all being freed per the knight general, Sir Keyon. Please follow my knight, Sir Adalbern, out of the mansion to a safe location where you’ll be treated and fed before eventual rehabilitation,” he announced and checked each cell to make sure no one needed help standing. “The raid is occurring throughout Astertrove, so your departure will be protected.” He turned to Sir Adalbern and said, “Let me know if there are any issues, but we have several more locations to get to. I trust you to handle this.”
Sir Adalbern nodded and began gathering the slaves. Some looked shocked, while others cried from relief or laughed from frayed nerves. I looked forward to returning to the cabin after this raid and taking care of the injured. It itched within me as much as freeing them. I was beginning to see what the Sun God meant about His unicorns. It felt like I was burning out a sickness and drawing out poison. It was deeply satisfying, and I was compelled to keep going.
Once we left the estate, Keyon called a second knight to escort us to replace Sir Adalbern. The next location ended up being two neighboring shops and an enormous inn that shared one large holding area underground. There were easily another hundred slaves in there, perhaps more. The conditions were much worse than the estate, and many of the slaves were sick from one illness or another. The air was thick with disease.
“I don’t think some of these people will make it if I don’t treat them now, Keyon,” I whispered worriedly as he unlocked the cells. I wrinkled my nose, trying to get out the sting of impending tears.
“How many do you think you need to treat, Elpis? We just need to get them back, so you have to pace yourself. There are still many more to free,” he replied just as quietly. “You need to be honest with yourself here.”
I frowned and paced by the cells as one of the knights organized the survivors. I tried to pick out who the sickest were, the ones who couldn’t walk and the ones with heart problems or breathing difficulties. I rubbed my temple, feeling anxious about making a judgment call.
“Sixteen,” I said firmly, worrying at my hands. Please don’t say no…
He sighed and unlocked the last cell door. “Fine… pick them out, and we’ll bring them to a private corner where you can heal them.” I slumped in relief and pointed out the sickest to a second knight, who helped me while Keyon gave his speech to the slaves. The knight made sure the slaves didn’t get a good look at me so I wouldn’t be pressured to heal more than I could handle if they started begging on their friends’ behalf. It killed me that I couldn’t heal them all right now .
I worked through the sixteen slaves and ended up on the floor, leaning against a cell. Breathing hard and sweating, I felt like I’d just done pushups with Keyon. I wiped my brow and looked up at a concerned mate, who crouched and grabbed my hands. He pushed some of his energy across our bond to help me recuperate, and my grateful heart accepted it, drinking deep.
After a minute, he helped me stand, and we returned aboveground to go to what felt like the last location. Another knight joined us, and I led Keyon to a larger mansion with a private landing on the cliffside. There were a surprising number of guards at this location, and it took the knights a little more time to subdue and chain them.
“Be faster if I just killed them,” Keyon muttered darkly. His mood was getting progressively worse the more he saw of Astertrove, a town built on broken spines.
When we entered the mansion, we quickly realized why it’d been so heavily guarded. There were a number of portraits of Gero littering the entryway and halls. All of which made him look more attractive than he really was… or apparently used to be. I had to remind myself that he was very much dead now—his portraits brought horrific memories. He’s dead. He’s dead .
“Guess no one got the notice that he was dead,” Keyon muttered, his thoughts following me as closely as his stride. No, and I doubted he had any legitimate heirs to take over this place either. Distracted by dark thoughts, I struggled to pinpoint the location of the slaves and ended up zig-zagging through the mansion in confusion.
“I think there’s more than one holding area,” I said, backtracking into the previous room. I snorted in frustration and tapped my toe, trying to focus on just one. A knight returned to us, saying that they found a trapdoor in the wine cellar, and we followed him. Keyon forced it open and sighed in relief. This definitely seemed to lead to one group, and we descended to find several floors of penned slaves. There were no guards here; I had to assume they’d joined the other guards to defend the property, so they were likely already in custody.
It took longer to free these slaves, but we finally got through them all. Like the others, they were either in shock or extremely emotional, but the level of despair I felt had dropped considerably. There was just one more location I had to find. It was smaller and upstairs, but I had a bad feeling about it.
I jogged up the stairs and followed my senses to the western wing. The area reeked of Gero, and I faltered in my steps to gag. I covered my nose and mouth with my arm and walked into the master suite, additionally revolted because I knew what I would find. When I pointed to the walk-in closet, Keyon kicked a hole through the hidden door, not wanting to waste time searching for the hidden handle. He reached in, opened the door, and walked in first, then backed out immediately.
“Elpis… I don’t want you coming in here. I’ll send the girls out to you,” he said in a voice void of emotion. The warning made me sick. It must be bad. I stayed with the other knight and received the young women one by one. They weren’t communicative at all, choosing to just stare into the distance as we gathered them.
“I’m getting Leof to escort Adelais here. I want her to bring them back with our knights. They’ll feel safer,” he said. His entire body was on edge from what he’d seen. His neck was corded with tension, his quivering knuckles were blanched, and his jaw was clenched so hard I could hear his molars grinding. If Gero wasn’t already dead, I felt like Keyon would take his time killing him.
Adelais arrived and herded the women out as fast as possible, wanting to get them into fresh air and far from the nightmare they’ve been trapped in for who-knows-how-long. Keyon took my hand in his, desperate for comfort, and I yearned to give it. We reached the mansion’s exit when Keyon pulled me toward the privacy of the cliff landing and yanked me against him. His tears dampened my cheek as he clutched me, like he couldn’t get close enough to receive what he needed so badly.
I rubbed his back and made calming noises while he released his grief away from his knights. “There’s always something worse, Elpis,” he croaked. “Every time I think I’ve seen the worst…” He was so vulnerable right now, and all I could do was hold him and send him as much soothing energy as I could.
He pulled back and held me at arm’s length. “I don’t know what I’d do if you’d been in there. I… If I hadn’t met with Adelmar. If I hadn’t taken you from Gero’s bid.” His arms shook in his distress, and his eyes searched mine, still brimming with tears. “This is probably the absolute worst time to say this, but… moonflower, I lo—”
His words were cut off with a choke, stopped by the arrow sticking out of his throat. I shrieked, and when I turned, I saw my old handler with a bow. I was disoriented for a second. I thought I’d never see her again! Tofa swiftly nocked a second arrow and released it, hitting me in the stomach. I stumbled backwards with a pained cry and clutched at my abdomen.
Get it out, get it out! shrieked Rein. Our hatchling!
I tried to yank it out, but the resistance had me screaming in agony. It was lodged in deep, and I was too terrified to pull on it. I glanced over at Keyon, who snapped off the head of the arrow penetrating his throat, yanked the shaft out, and blew blue flames at the next arrow that came flying. I didn’t know what the arrows were made of, but it didn’t get hit hard enough to divert. It landed firmly in the side of his chest, where there was a small gap in his armor, and the impact was punctuated by his scream. Keyon’s flames extended farther and enveloped a shrieking Tofa, giving her a brutal cremation. My mate stumbled back, coughing up and choking on blood as I hobbled toward him as fast as I could.
“Keyon!” I screamed, trying to reach him before he got too close to the cliff. His face paled, he fell to his knees, and he collapsed toward the right, which was far enough to take him over the edge.
I shrieked and jumped off the cliff after him .
REIN, YOU HAVE TO FLY! I cried, knowing that if Keyon died, I might as well too. Rein forced her body out and screamed in terror as we descended. There was no time! No time! The treetops were rising, and I wondered if this was finally it. No one else was close enough to catch us. We didn’t know what we were doing, and we were all going to die.
Pain laced through Rein, and she was taken over by a violent shift. It ripped through our body at a fast and brutal pace, almost causing us to black out from the pain. This was new. This was unfamiliar—terrifying.
We were in between bodies and following our fated mate to our deaths. Everything became smaller, and Keyon became a lot closer. Rein reached out and snagged him with jaws that were way too large to belong to us. Somehow, we met with wind resistance, and Rein flailed with her limbs, trying to slow our fall with that resistance as a compass.
The ground came fast, so Rein curled herself around Keyon and leaned into the sloping cliff wall to break our fall as much as possible. We hit the forest floor with a stunning impact and rolled to a stop, our ears filled with the sounds of our shattered bones crunching. Rein released Keyon’s body and stumbled to her feet the best she could, wobbling and struggling to balance. So much pain... we were in so much pain...
Horn! Where’s our horn? Heal him! HEAL HIM! I screamed madly, my nerves completely shattered. Rein bent over him and shakily nudged his head with a horn. He was limp and bleeding heavily, and she pressed against him as gently as possible. She was making odd, breathy noises as she cried, and I noticed her front limbs were no longer hooves, but large, white, clawed hands.
After what felt like an eternity of absolute torture, Keyon’s wounds closed, and his chest finally pushed out the second arrow. It rolled to the forest floor, soaked in blood. Rein’s chuff-like crying became uncontrollable as he stabilized and took in steady breaths. His heartbeat strengthened, and we weakened, but it was a trade I’d make any day. The healing we’d done had exhausted us, and the new shift had depleted us. Rein finally succumbed, falling on her back to avoid pushing the arrow in farther, and we both fell unconscious.
Sir Keyon
I groaned and rolled onto my side, feeling like I’d been thrown into a tree at best. I slowly blinked my eyes open and stared at a solid wall of scales. Where was I? Why did I scent Elpis but didn’t see her? Then it all came back to me. The fucking handler from Adelmar’s mansion had been at Gero’s place.
She shot us… Toast’s voice said groggily, but then it sharpened. SHE SHOT ELPIS! REIN! WHERE ARE THEY? WHERE’S OUR MATE?
The realization struck me like another arrow.
I stumbled backwards from the wall of scales. “Not possible…” I murmured in shock, realizing that the large creature next to me was no stranger. I should have known. There’d be no dragon in the world this beautiful that wasn’t our mate.
R-Rein? Toast choked out as I walked around the unconscious beast, stunned.
She wasn’t as big as Toast; no one was. I found her gentle face and cradled her snout in my arms, crying softly. Then I ran a palm across her lovely white gold scales and took in her state. She was still alive, but her body was wrecked. Lightning struck my heart at the sight, and nothing else mattered.
I sent a desperate call to my Inferno. I need a knight to come to me immediately! There’s been an accident off the cliff! Let Leofwine know as well!
Sending someone, a knight reported immediately, and I waited for help to arrive. I wiped tears from my eyes and ran a palm up her long horn, the one part of Rein that was still a unicorn. I felt around my neck, then fingered the hole in my coat where the arrow had pierced.
She finally flew, Toast said, grief-stricken. She caught us and healed us. I can’t believe she did that in the amount of time it takes to fall from that height.
She looks completely drained, I said, wiping away another wave of tears with a quivering hand. She can’t even heal herself right now. I feel so fucking guilty! That was such a stupid fucking place to stop.
It’s done. We can’t help our mate by kicking ourselves, Toast said, though it sounded like he also needed to convince himself.
A knight landed by the edge of the cliffs and hurried over to survey the situation. Reporting as requested, Knight General, he said, gaze darting from me to the unusual-looking dragon.
“I need you to head north and veer slightly west toward the Solar Coven. They’re located on the west cliffs. Go and ask if they can send a healer out for the unicorn. Tell them it’s an emergency,” I said and pointed northward with a hand that wouldn’t stop shaking. “Sir Eadwine, this is my mate, Lady Elpis. I need you to be swift about this!”
Leaving immediately, Knight General! the knight replied, backed into a clear space, and launched into the sky. I crouched to give Rein my full attention, trusting that Leofwine and our teams had everything under control in Astertrove.
So, the Sun God just gave Rein a second body? That’s unheard of. A shifter only has one beast body.
As far as we know, I said with a sigh, gently laying Rein’s head down on the ground so I could look at the rest of her injuries.
Seems like it would have been easier to have just given her wings or something, Toast pondered.
I don’t think you can just slap wings on any animal and expect it to do well in flight. The Sun God would probably have to completely redesign Rein for air movement. Seems easier to just slap her into a dragon’s body, I reasoned and looked sick at the state of her wings. I couldn’t even bring myself to touch them for fear of doing more damage. The membranes were intact, but the bones were… just destroyed. They were br oken in so many places.
Maybe so, or He didn’t want to change the body of His unicorn . She’d be something new. This is making my head spin, Toast admitted.
I think we need to take it at face value, Toast, I said, realizing something. This could even be a reward, giving us both compatible beasts.
Let’s not… discuss that over her unconscious body… Toast said uncomfortably, and I hummed an agreement. I walked around and discovered that the arrow was still lodged in our mate’s belly. It’d have to be cut out if her body couldn’t reject it. The arrowhead used was deeply barbed and would shred her insides if I was to yank on it. I had no idea if her being shot and going through two shifts made the internal damage worse. All I could do was try to give her energy and wait for help to arrive.
I need out, Toast said firmly, and I nodded, moving to get undressed. I tucked my clothes by a tree and shifted. Toast stalked over to lie by his mate, extended a wing over her battered body in a protective manner, and nurtured her through the mate bond while we waited. He growled viciously at anything that came near, including a squirrel.
I need a knight to bring us, the knight general, a fresh kill, Toast ordered our Inferno.
Food will let us give her more energy, I agreed tiredly. Good idea . Toast ate the entire buck brought to us and settled protectively by Rein again. Another hour passed, and Sir Eadwine landed on the forest floor with a witch in his palms. Toast shifted back, returning my body to me so I could talk to the witch about what’d occurred. I dressed and waved her over to Rein’s body.
She approached with a hand held up in greeting. “Eloise at your service. I see the unicorn is in a different body,” the brunette said, tucking her short, straight hair behind her ears.
“The Sun God blessed her with flight. We were ambushed with arrows and fell off the cliffside. She shifted into this form for the first time and saved us but seems to have sustained a plethora of injuries from the impact,” I answered, trying to not let my voice waver from emotion. “She still has the arrow in her belly.”
“I see, I see, I see,” the witch said and climbed onto Rein’s stomach to assess the injury.
“It’ll have to be cut out…” I said, not feeling very helpful, and went back to holding my mate’s snout in my arms, cradling it. I watched the witch remove her backpack and unroll a sleeve that contained surgical instruments. She sterilized one and made an incision into Rein’s belly.
This is hard to watch, Toast said in a strained voice. But I will, in honor of her pain and sacrifice.
I didn’t have anything to say to that and just followed the witch’s progress. Eloise dug into Rein’s abdomen and excised the arrow, then threw it bitterly to the ground. After that, she started on the other internal injuries, and I cringed as she swapped between magic and surgical tools. The witch looked like she was playing a game of chess with how focused she was. It seemed like the coven mothers had sent a practiced healer, and I was grateful for it.
We should find a way to thank the Solar Coven for all their help. I’m not sure how we would have coped otherwise, Toast commented quietly.
When this is over, we will, I agreed.
The witch sealed up her injury and worked her way around Rein’s prone form, applying a sedative before setting bones. “Until she heals, do not let her fly or shift,” the witch ordered while setting the tenth break in Rein’s wings. “Once she wakes, make sure she eats plenty of food. This dragon is… uniquely herbivorous, so make sure she gets greens. Her nature hasn’t really changed, Sir Keyon. She just has a dragon’s body. Likely has the same abilities too, if she healed you as you said.”
“Understood,” I said, absorbing every detail.
She continued to work for another several hours and finished after setting a dislocated joint in her back left leg. The witch left me with a pouch that contained herbs and bark that acted as painkillers and would help her sleep. We thanked her profusely, and Sir Eadwine left to return her to her coven. I shifted into my dragon form so Toast could act as sentry again. All we had to do now was wait for her to wake. She was too fragile to carry.
It wasn’t until sunset that we felt her heart rate and breathing change. Mate’s waking! Toast yelled and rose to eagerly watch her face. Rein’s eyes slowly opened, displaying the same sweet brown sugar-colored eyes that she shared with Elpis. Toast’s heart melted at the sight, and he nuzzled her snout. Mate, you gave us a scare, Toast said gently. We are so glad you survived that fall.
And thank you for saving our lives… I… I sighed in frustration, but I was too emotional, too relieved to berate her for putting her life at risk for ours.
And do not shift! Toast said hastily as Rein tried to right herself. The witch who helped you said not to until you’re all healed.
Oh… o-ok, Rein said in a trembling voice. What happened to my body? I feel… strange.
The Sun God gave you a second body, I think, I said to Rein. You are currently… very much a dragon.
I had a feeling, I heard Elpis murmur. I saw our claws and…
Rein turned her head slowly to look at her body and balked. I never would have guessed this was what He gave us!
He seemed desperate enough to do something this extreme, I replied, relieved to finally hear Elpis’s voice. As desperate as the Sun God can sound, I suppose. Are you able to stand? We can’t risk carrying you, and I want to get some food into you as soon as possible. I’m not comfortable staying in this location for long.
I will try, Rein said and managed to hobble to her feet with Toast’s gentle assistance. Fortunately, her wings were bound, so she didn’t have to worry about catching them on branches or shrubbery. The walk back to the cabin was a long and painful one for Rein, and we had to make frequent stops to let her rest.
I ordered a knight to request a favor from Leofwine; I needed him to send someone to discreetly pick up a bale or two of hay for Elpis. It was the easiest and fastest thing I could think of to get in bulk for her. She needed as much energy as she could get as soon as possible.
They ended up having plenty of time to find the bales because we didn’t arrive at the cabin until well into the night. I saw that we’d set up a camp for the ex-slaves a little farther south from the cabin in a well-covered, heavily forested, and remote part of the mountain. A small team worked to weave branches over the camp to diffuse the smoke from the campfires and provide better camouflage from aerial searches. Protecting the new Reborn was our highest priority.
Rein finally dragged herself to the side of the cabin where the bales had been delivered and ate ravenously. I was relieved to see that she had an appetite because that meant her body was ready to put that energy into healing. She ate an entire bale, spreading grass everywhere, before flopping over and closing her eyes.
Leofwine was finally able to get away from our teams to check on us and was quite shocked when he laid eyes upon our mate. He patted Toast’s arm and said, “Great Sun God, can’t believe what I’m seeing. She’s alive, Toast. That’s what matters. We’ll get her back in shape soon. She’s a tough survivor, right? Prettiest dragon you’ve ever seen, I bet.” He nudged Toast playfully, trying to cheer him up and lighten the mood as best he could.
Toast just nodded morosely and stared at his exhausted mate, unable to take his eyes off her. Leofwine gave Rein an affectionate pat on the head and walked off to get some rest himself.
Keyon? Elpis’s voice asked tiredly.
Yes, moonflower?
You know female anatomy... right?
Er... Yes, why are you asking? I replied. Where was she going with this?
Do you know if that arrow hit our womb...?
No, Elpis... you got hit right in the belly. Your uterus is much lower. Why are you asking? Are you worried about permanent damage? You’ll be just fine .
Rein’s body seemed to relax further with my answer, and her tremulous voice filled our heads. Ready, Elpis?
I don’t want to wait until the next time we fall off a cliff, Elpis replied nervously. Now they were making me nervous. Toast was getting tense. What was about to happen?
Rein tilted her head to look into our eyes, and I could see Elpis’s array of emotions in her gaze. I could feel their hope, worry, relief, and affection. All four of us were held tight in that moment and were unable to sense anything outside of us.
Toast... Keyon, we’re carrying your croutons.