“What’s it saying? Is it telling you how cruel I am? About its spawn?”
“Where is your child?”
“They took him—to the mountains.”
Sofia’s stomach dropped.“The mountains?”The Dereyans didn’t travel to the mountains. They hadn’t in hundreds of sun cycles since King Erion forbid it.
“He’s found the nesting grounds. He sent an army out. I don’t know how long ago now. Time means nothing without Quelia’s light.”
Fox would have?—
“Pale One is with them.”
Sofia’s chest tightened. The king’s men were going into the mountains. Fox was going after the dragons. She didn’t know how solid the chief commander’s information was, but if he knew they were in the mountains, that was too close to the truth already. And the rest of the resistance was heading there, too, with no idea that an army was marching toward them.
Sofia took a step forward, but Harlow yanked her back by her cuffed hands.
She saw for the first time that they weren’t alone in the cavern. A king’s man stood to the side, looming over the hunched figure of a woman, clothes in tatters. Sofia would have bet her life it was a Dragonborn, the dark curls of her hair shining in the torchlight, despite the blood caked there.
“Jon,” he shouted. “Take this one to the cells. One of the front ones. She’ll be a perfect addition to our experiments. And send a message to Junior Major Martín. Her dragon must be close by. I want it. Tell him to send as many men as he needs. It may be about time to reveal our secrets to the rest of the king’s men.”
“What should I do with this one?” the guard said, motioning at the woman. “I was just about to start the experiment.”
Harlow looked between Sofia and the woman, his eyes alight. Sofia tried to keep her face neutral, but the muscles in her jaw tensed despite her best efforts.
“On second thought, leave them both. Sofia here will be more amenable with some external motivation.
The woman’s shoulders slumped, and her hands shook where they clenched together in prayer.
Sofia felt her rage like a fire in her chest. She wouldn’t watch this woman tortured on her behalf. Sofia knew where Eha was. She knew where Fox was and what Harlow’s plan was for now. That would have to be enough.
“Chalia?”she asked, seeking out the dragon. “You think you can meet me now?”
The dragon sent an image of the cliffs she’d been flying along with the crease of a door.“I can sense you and Eha inside.”
“Come and get us.”
Silence followed, and Sofia’s blood ran cold. She waited, each beat of her heart feeling like an eternity.Please Chalia,she prayed. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t watch this woman be whipped while she stood by helplessly.
As Harlow reached for the whip that Jon held, a crash echoed from somewhere beyond. Eha let out a growl, stretching her body as far as it would go, and the shadows of a dark tunnel became visible behind the dragon.
Harlow froze, face going white and then red as he squinted into the darkness.
Another boom and the ground beneath her feet shook. Something like an explosion cracked in the darkness beyond the tunnel.
Chalia erupted from the shadows with a roar that crashed through Sofia’s blood.
“Help me with Eha,”she yelled into Sofia’s mind, louder than necessary, though Sofia didn’t have the time to point that out.
“Break my cuffs!”she shouted, even as she plowed into Harlow, knocking him to the ground before he could grab her. She sprinted toward Chalia as the dragon raised a talon’s claw, bringing it down on the chains behind Sofia’s back, twisting. Her wrists screamed with pain at the force of the dragon’s claw, but she clenched her muscles with everything she had until she heard the snap of the metal.
“Now, Eha,”Chalia said, already moving back to claw at Eha’s chains. Along with the heavy collar, chains encircled each of her feet as well.
The Dragonborn woman screamed, and Sofia froze. She turned to see Harlow, holding her by the hair, his face twisted in rage.
“Shit. Give me a minute,”Sofia said. If they left the woman with him, she was dead. Sofia pulled out the dagger strapped to her thigh and lunged forward, slashing down toward him. He snarled, dropping the other woman and twisting back. Her dagger scraped against his side as she went stumbling to the ground, his fist cracking into her back.
Her lungs, already abused from the climb and run, ached as she tried to take a breath in. She turned just as she saw the chief commander’s short sword coming down where she lay. Its silver edge gleamed. She rolled, stumbling to her feet and spinning even as he redirected his swing, the shudder of their blades meeting, reverberating up her arms. She pushed back and lashed out as he parried.
