Chapter 20
“To some, captivity is a comfort; to others, a death sentence.”
- Unknown
Itwasa sad day when all we had to protect a group of slaves was a couple of daggers and a mechanical dragon. I didn’t see any of us getting out of here anytime soon.
One woman screamed, adding to the chaos.
“Quiet!” Oss shouted. “Panic doesn’t help anyone.”
Truer words had never been spoken.
I turned to Justin. Marcus had been returned to him when everyone began panicking. The baby was probably the calmest in the group.
“The only way out of this is if you gather the other Lock Lords and take over Keys. You’ve allowed the magistrate to continue unopposed for so long you’ve lost your power over the government. You might be able to stall them until you can meet with the others.”
Justin nodded. He rocked Marcus back and forth, trying to keep him content amongst all the pointless screaming. “Here, hold him for me.” He handed Marcus to me. I got the dubious honor of a spit bubble.
“What are you going to do?” I swayed the infant back and forth, wishing I’d had the type of childhood that came with songs sung to me in my crib.
“Like you said. We need to take back our power. Hopefully, we haven’t left it for too long.”
Cruller roared, then shot a stream of fire at the door. The stench of burnt skin had me tucking baby Marcus closer. I spun around, blocking the sight from the baby who probably couldn’t even focus that far yet. Justin claiming I was Marcus’s other father must have dug out my tiny scrap of deeply buried parental instinct.
Justin marched right up to the scary flaming dragon. “Let me by, Cruller.”
The dragon turned his head toward Oss, who nodded. Obviously recognizing a larger dragon in human skin, Cruller backed off.
“I am Lord Justin Lear. Under whose authority are you invading this city?”
“My Lord,” the magistrate’s unctuous voice oozed through the doorway, seconds before he peeked his head through a small crack in the door.
“Calter,” Justin replied. “What are you doing here?”
“Some associates of mine have come to retrieve their property,” he called out, his eyes on the dragon.
“We have no one’s property here.” Justin angled his body to block the doorway except of him or the dragon.
It was damn sexy.
“Witnesses say that a group of automatons have come this way,” he persisted.
So that was how they were going to play this.
“Oh, yes. I was curious about that. Don’t worry. I have my automaton expert examining them.”
“What?” he screeched, forgetting to fawn for a moment.
“I found the group of automatons abandoned in the worst of conditions. I wouldn’t put a dog in cages like that. I’m sure a man of honor like yourself would never support the degradation of a being even if it weren’t fully human.” Justin’s voice rang with conviction of the goodness of the magistrate’s cold, black heart.
There was a long pause as each side considered their strategy.
“What do you plan to do with them after they are examined?” he asked.
“Hmm, that would depend on what they are trained for, wouldn’t it?”
I saw a few of them flinch, and right then, I was convinced I didn’t want to know how or what they had been trained for. These weren’t men of high moral standing.
