His father looked annoyed. “Stop playing with the girls. I want to be on the road before sunset.”
Amos grabbed each woman one by one and repeated his instructions with a small push until every last scream was seared into his memory.
A few hours after sunset, Amos walked into the cave leading to the den and hurried to the cliffside. Hopefully he’d have eachgirl up before Ruth and Rainer arrived, so they could get them to safety before sunrise.
He’d brought blankets and water for each of the women, along with bandages. There was no way they hadn’t banged against the cliffside when grabbing the rope or gotten rope burn on their hands.
Staking himself to the ground, he leaned over the edge and reached for the first rope. His heart sank to the pits of hell when he felt the lightness of it.No. Faster he pulled until he held the harness dangling from the end. He scrambled to each rope, his soul blackening with every empty harness.
Amos scooted away from the edge and pushed into a sitting position to stare into the dark den. A bleakness unlike anything before filled every part of him. Every month he’d be forced to send women to their death. Could he survive it without turning into a cold, cruel man like his father?
It had been years since Amos cried, but in that moment, staring at his future, tears burned at the corners of his eyes.
Flapping snapped him out of his misery just as Sasha appeared at the den’s opening and landed inside the cave. According to his father, Sasha said the dragons demanded he do this as punishment for not having a dragonfamiliar.
How dare she send me here?“I trusted you,” he snarled. Sasha only stared back; no nod of acknowledgement or nudge to let him know everything would be okay. He climbed to his feet and ripped off the rope around his waist. “How could you tell him to make me do this?” he demanded, flinging his arm toward the cliff’s edge. “Five women died because ofme.”
Sasha tried to walk toward him but he backed away. “Stay the fuck away from me Sasha.” She lowered her head and made a sound of distress, and Amos’ voice lowered to a broken rasp. “I can’t come back from this.” He dropped his head.
A great roar sounded from within the den and Sasha moved away from the edge just in time for Ember to appear… with women on her back?
Amos shook his head, sure he’d hallucinated. Ember lowered her body and Ruth climbed off her back before turning to help another woman down.
“I don’t understand,” Amos stammered. “How were you in the den…” His voice trailed off when he recognized the other woman. She was the first sacrifice he’d pushed over. “You’re alive?”
He might faint. His hands were tingling, and the world around him wobbled a little.
“All of them are,” Ruth told him. “She was the only one brave enough to ride Ember back up so I could show you.”
Amos stared at them, trying to make sense of what he saw. “Did you grab the rope?”
Ruth snorted. “That was a valiant effort, but it wouldn’t have worked. They fall too far from the wall to grab it.”
Coming back to himself, Amos raked a hand through his hair. “Then I don’t understand. How is she alive, and how did you go into the den without being killed?”
“Because the dragons have been saving the sacrifices since they started,” Rainer’s voice said from behind Amos, scaring the shit out of him.
Amos spun around. “What?”
“There’s much to tell you,” his cousin said, “but the gist is that the dragons don’t require sacrifices, and when they started, the dragons heard what the men said, and when they pushed the women, they did their best to catch them.”
“Catch them?” Amos echoed. “What if they drop them?”
“Some did,” Ruth confirmed, “but once enough sacrifices survived, the women engineered a giant net to affix not far belowthe cliff’s edge. It took a while to construct with the dragons’ help, and a lot of trial and error, but now it’s solid.”
Amos looked at everyone like they were crazy, because they were. “The dragons don’t allow anyone in their den. They kill them immediately. I’ve heard the stories.”
“They don’t allowmenin their den,” Ruth corrected him.
“The men try to climb down, and burn for their efforts,” Rainer explained, “so when they throw the women over, they assume they die.”
Amos’ shock slowly receded. “What happens to the women after the dragons save them?” He pointed at Ruth. “And how does she get to come and go as she pleases?”
“There’s an entire village worth of women who live down there,” Ruth replied with an unnerving amount of calm for someone who just stepped off a dragon. “I was a sacrifice years ago.”
Maybe Amos would faint after all.
“Ember told me about the women,” Rainer interjected. “From there, I had her bring a leader of the women to me. Together, we’ve helped create a well-trained battalion.” He walked to Amos’ side and grabbed his shoulder. “You look a little pale, prince. Are you okay?”
