It was time to leave here.
I flew outside again. My fire was traveling through the caves, chasing their dwellers out like rats from a burning building. Stalks of smoke rose from the blackened gaping mouths of the caves. Patches of what appeared like smoke clouds dropped down before solidifying into escaping fae, only to be caught by Prince Rha’s warriors on the beach.
With a deafening roar, I sent more fire along the face of the Wall, burning the rope bridges. My flames climbed up the rock, then were sucked into the caves by the draft, incinerating Ashgate from the inside.
I descended to the base of the Wall and handed the human to one of the royal warriors.
“Take him to General Oskura,” I said. “The Joy Vessel belongs to Prince Rha now.”
A familiar bald head caught my attention by one of the caves on the lower level of the Wall, and I soared that way.
“Zayr!” I hovered in front of the man.
He shrank back on bent legs, his features distorted with shock.
“Fuck. Is that you, General?”
“Who else could I be?” I scoffed and demanded, “Where is Ray?”
All I wished to know was Elaine’s whereabouts. But if Ray had something to do with her disappearance, finding him would lead me to her too.
I whipped my tail around Zayr's neck, squeezing his throat. “Take me to him, and I’ll let you live.”
Zayr was possibly the only one I didn’t actually wish dead in this city. His eyes bulged out at the press of the exposed vertebrae of my tail against his throat. His fingers scraped against the bones in a futile attempt to loosen the noose.
“I can’t…” he croaked. “I gave a vow.”
That was true, he did. And if he broke it, he’d die a death much more gruesome than being choked by my tail.
I released him. “Go then. Go warn your master that I’m coming for him. Save him from my wrath, as your vow demands you do.”
He smirked, rubbing his neck.
“Ray’s order was to guard him on his visit to Mazra’s, and guard him I shall,” he said slyly, before turning his back to me and running along the line where the beach met the Wall.
This was the shared territory. Some caves here belonged to Ray, a few to Mazra. The chaotic structures of tents and awnings clung to the foot of the Wall all along the beach, occupied by whomever had claimed or stole the space last.
Zayr ran fast, but I easily kept up with him. He didn’t disperse into shadows or hide in the nearest cave, running in the open instead, for me to see him and to follow. He wasn’t taking me to Ray, he was running to protect his master as per his orders. But he led me to him nevertheless.
Reaching the main tavern cave, Zayr ran into it. I followed, barely containing the rage and the fire inside me. My skin burned as if on fire. My bones heated, feeling like armor made from molten metal against my body. I feared the flames wouldconsume me if I didn’t release them. Yet I held back, following Zayr into the dark corridor in the back of the tavern.
It could very well be a trap. But I didn’t care. A part of me even wished that it was an ambush, so I could finally release the flames that churned inside me and lashed against my skull like whips.
Drawing his long sword, Zayr turned into a side corridor next.
“What took you so long? What’s going on out there?” Ray’s whiny voice came from around the corner.
A heatwave of anticipation rolled through me, the fire all but bursting through my skin. I stretched my wings wider, moving them just enough to keep me suspended in the air.
Ray stumbled out from the side corridor. His skirt was hanging loose on his narrow hips, held crookedly by a single pin. His hair was only partially braided, the rest hanging in long tangled ropes. A naked human woman was draped over his shoulder, with his arm wrapped above her knees to keep her from sliding off. I didn’t need to see her face to know the woman wasn’t Elaine. I’d memorized every part of her body, from the exact shade of her skin to the shapes of her toes, and was absolutely certain even in this dimly lit corridor that it wasn’t her.
Ray rested his unfocused gaze on me, taking time to process what he was seeing right in front of him. His brain seemed too muddled for his face to express any emotion at all.
“Where is Elaine?” I roared.
Finally, he blinked, taking an unsteady step that sent him crashing into the wall instead of taking him forward.
I flinched, afraid he’d drop the woman, but he managed to keep her on his shoulder somehow.
