A little cage about the size of a tankard hung from a hook on the mast, out of reach. A tiny hand reached out through the bars. Dyna cast out her power and unhooked the cage, levitating it to her hands. Inside was the fairy princess, no bigger than her forefinger. Her once beautiful butterfly wings withered into awful dull shades of yellow. Keena curled into herself on the floor of the cage, lost in a puddle of pink petals that made up her gown. Her rich dark skin had taken on a horrible gray hue. Her hands and arms were mottled with angry burns.
“Please set me free,” the little fairy pleaded. She looked at her with fatigued eyes, and they widened. “Dyna? Oh, thank the gods.” She reached out pleadingly, her wrist brushing a bar. She cried out as her skin sizzling with new red welts. “The iron. It burns.”
“Those fiends,” Dyna hissed. She inspected the cage for the door and found the opening, but it was locked. “I need a key. Where’s the key?”
Keena moaned and dropped her head, too weak to hold it up. “The poacher…”
Of course. Draven would have them, but Dyna couldn’t wait for him to return.
“Don’t worry. I’ll get you out.” Dyna tucked the cage in her satchel, leaving the flap open.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Dyna jumped at the snarl and spun around to find a man standing on the threshold of the captains’ quarters. He resembled Draven, but he was younger and lankier.
His angry gaze dropped to the cage. “Wretched whore. Put that back.”
“No.” Dyna hurtled a surge of green flames.
He threw himself out of the way. The blast hit the wall, singing the wood. The poacher scrambled to his feet with a curse. She cast flare after flare to keep him at bay as she made her way back to the gangplank. He dodged them all. Her power quickly drained until the last spell abruptly stalled behind the barrier. Essence sparked uselessly in her hands.
The poacher grinned as he armed himself with a dagger. “Did the little witch run out of magic?”
Dyna took a step back, panic stiffening her limbs. She’d left her opal knife behind at the tavern, sitting beside Cassiel’s sword. She was halfway across the deck. Escape was a mere handful of steps away.
The poacher saw where she was looking, and he blocked the way. “You’re not going anywhere.”
The sky darkened with a sudden call of storm clouds, blotting the sun. Dyna gasped. But the storm disappeared as quickly as it arrived. Something was wrong with Lucenna. She had to get back to her friends.
Dyna shifted, and her foot hit something, causing a heavy thud. It was a hatchet. She snatched it off the ground and braced her stance. Whatever happened, she would get off this boat.
The poacher licked his lips and swung his knife around. “Good. I like it when they fight back.”
She bared her teeth. “Come any closer, and I’ll stick this in some part of your body.”
He laughed. “Not before I cut up that pretty face.”
Forcing a steadying breath, she gripped the handle tightly and kept retreating until her back hit something hard. A loud caw made her flinch, and she found herself face to face with the phoenix. The massive red bird watched her through the cage bars, smoke billowing out of the sides of its large beak. Heat came off it in waves.
There was no time to debate. Dyna swung the hatchet down on the padlock. The bird squawked loudly, startled at the loud bang. She kept hitting the padlock repeatedly, casting sparks on the deck, but it wouldn’t break.
“Stop!” the poacher charged at her.
The phoenix shrieked, scaring her into stepping back. It reared its head and blew a gust of flame at the poacher. He ran out of range, tripping over crates. The phoenix then aimed its fire at the metal lock until it blazed molten orange, softening under the heat. Dyna grinned and raised the hatchet, bringing it down with all her might. The lock cracked in half and hit the deck with a dull thud, sizzling as it charred the wood planks with its shape.
Using her satchel’s flap to grab the cage bars, Dyna quickly yanked open the door. The talons of the phoenix scraped against the bottom of the metal cage as it stepped out. The bird reared on its legs with an angry caw and spat a stream of fire at the young poacher. He jumped backward out of the way, his foot caught on a mound of rope by the banister, and he fell over the side of the ship. His cry ended with a splash into the sea.
Dyna laughed and waved her arms. “Go.”
With a flap of the phoenix’s large red wings, a powerful gust blew through the ship. It gave her one last squawk before soaring into the sky. She watched it go until it was a speck of red. Freedom wasn’t something that could be bought, sold, or given. No one belonged in captivity. She hacked away at the other cages, liberating most of the animals till they swarmed the deck. The parrots flew out to their freedom, streaks of color against the clear blue sky.
A hand snatched her hair, making her shriek.
“You’re going to pay for that,” the young poacher snarled in her ear. He yanked her against him so hard tears of pain sprang in her vision, and her scalp burned. His wet body soaked through the back of her dress.
They heard the rapid pounding of footsteps on the gangplank as Draven came bounding onto the deck with his dwarves. “Galen, why is my phoenix flying over the damn city!”
He roared in rage at the sight of the empty broken cages. Animals scurried between his legs and down the ramp.
