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“Any idea where Mrithun is?” He scratched at his forehead. The guards had dragged him into the building and neglected to offer him the grand tour, but he’d seen plenty as they tossed him into the room and then after when they’d brought him down here. If they could get a level higher, they’d be met with resistance, but they could get to an exit.
Meira turned from him and pointed down the long corridor of cells. “This way.” Then she was running, bolting away with quiet footfalls and fading back into the dark. He lurched forward, too afraid to get lost, though he doubted that would even be possible now. Meira’s life was like an extension of his own body. He knew her, felt her, shared this undeniable well of magic with her.
Sprinting after her, Remis did his best to ignore the smell of rot as it became so thick he was certain there was a dead body down here somewhere. At the end of the hall though, they came to a door. Meira tried the handle and rattled the lock but it didn’t move. He moved in time with her, aware of her next move without her having to tell him. Remis gave her space as she stepped back and kicked the door in with three kicks that sounded far too loud. He strained to hear if the sound had called the guards to investigate.
Light flared in the room, pouring out around curling lips and sharp pointed teeth. Mrithun breathed fire but it stayed trapped in her closed jaw. It was enough to illuminate the room for brief seconds. The Bold Wing was tied like a hog, her wings pinned to the ground. Black blood seeped from her wounds and pooled around her.The harness on her back remained but several of the straps were tattered, torn, and hanging loosely from her body.
“Help me pull the stakes out of her wings!”
Remis hurried to one side and Meira to the other. His muscles strained against the stakes clearly pounded in with the use of a large hammer but he was able to yank it free. More fire flooded the Bold Wing's mouth as he forced the next one out. In the light, he was able to glance upward. They were in a tower, one that opened up to the night sky. How torturous that must be for Mrithun to be pinned facing the sky she could not take flight in. These guards were cruel men who didn’t understand anything but the hatred they’d been taught.
The moment they’d gotten Mrithun’s wings free they’d each sprung toward the ropes, hastily working at undoing the knots. Remis’ fingers were pricked with splinters from the wood and ropes but he kept trying.
“Stand back!” Meira shouted.
He’d nearly tripped over his own feet backing away toward the walls as Mrithun began thrashing in her bindings. Ropes tore and snapped as the beast rose. With a roar that had him covering his ears, Mrithun broke through the bindings over her mouth and her flames coated the wall before her. Heat filled the room and ate away the cold that had settled in from sitting on the stone floors.
A man bellowed from the opposite end of the long hall. “Sound the alarm! The prisoners are escaping!” Not even a second later a bell was being rung. What time they had, had officially run out.
“Get on her back. We’re going to fly out of here,” Meira shouted, already reaching for one of the spikes that ran along the dragon’s back and hoisting herself up. She offered him a hand.
“Her wings! How can she fly?” The spikes had driven several gaping holes through her wings. He couldn’t imagine that it was very conducive to flight.
“She’ll fly.” Meira beckoned him up. He grabbed her hand, letting her help pull him up behind her.
“How can you know that?”
Meira flashed him a smile, only visible because Mrithun had sent a column of flame through the busted door. “Because she told me.” They took flight then to the sound of men burning. The throes of death had never sounded so good.
34
Meira
Meira was used to moving through time. She’d done it on several occasions in her life, though it always took its terrible toll. Now time felt as though it was moving through her. Everything was hurried, a rushing daring escape from death by the skin of their teeth.
At the back of her mind, Remis’ thoughts were like a shouted chaotic mess. She almost didn’t notice the quiet voice of Mrithun when she’d spoken, but her voice grew louder and masked the frantic back and forth of Remis’ internal dialogue. And what a beautiful voice Mrithun had.
The lull of the drug in her veins had promptly been replaced by this pure ecstasy. She wasn’t sure if she was pulling strength from Remis or Mrithun or where exactly this power that rose up within her was coming from. Together they’d found strength they didn’t have separately a moment before.
Wind filled the tower bottom, stirring the heat of Mrithun’s flames. The screams of men had turned shrill and violent before they slowly died down altogether. Outside of the prison, bells were ringing, sounding warnings to all that the witch, the mage, and the Bold Wing were fleeing their cages.
Mrithun rose, completely lost to her bindings, and sent them up through the tower. The walls pressed in from every angle, giving the Bold Wing and her massive wingspan little room to work. But with every pulse of her wings and the sharp tip of her talons scaling along the walls, they made it farther up. Stone crumbled under Mrithun’s touch, falling below them in a cacophony of shattering rock.
Where there might have once been a ceiling on the tower there was only star-flecked sky. The last few rotting beams that had still held their place shattered as Mrithun pushed through them. Bits of wood rained down over Meira and Remis as they clung desperately to the dragon’s back. Meira was used to bareback riding, knew how to dig her feet into Mrithun’s scales and where to hold onto her spikes to keep from slipping off as they went vertical. She didn’t have to rely on the tattered remains of the harness. Still, Remis’ arms had curled around her waist, held onto her, and added his weight to hers.
Hold her spines. Shove your heels into her side until her scales shift enough to give you purchase.
Calling out to his mind was remarkably easy. She didn’t need to hold onto the curse to find him; Remis was just there in her mind. Though she wished that perhaps his thoughts were quieter. His chanting worry that he’d slip from Mrithun’s back and end up as a pile of guts on the tower floor was quite loud.
It was only seconds though before the Bold Wing was clear of the stone walls and had evened herself back out. Remis’ arms unwound themselves from her and he settled into the proper position at her back. His entire body was trembling and he gasped for breath.
Wind whistled past Meira. An arrow shot from the guards who walked along the outer walls. Men in the grass looked like scrambling ants around the structure that sat in the middle of the large yard. The platform meant for Remis’ and Meira’s execution, no doubt.
Mrithun was climbing in the sky, pumping her large powerful wings to get out of range of the arrows that raced after them. Meira felt the moment of impact when her Bold Wing took multiple arrows to her underside. Several managed to be deflected by her scales but these few found home underneath her scale when she’d angled upward again. This Bold Wing was a battle-trained dragon. She’d taken an injury before, fought through it, flew through it. Worry niggled the back of Meira’s thoughts but there wasn’t time to handle it.
They broke through the cloud cover, cold mist dampening their bodies. Meira inhaled the fresh evening air, free of the moldy cellar scent she’d gotten used to. The moon was full, casting them in brilliant white light and revealing the dip of wings, talons, and snapping teeth as they appeared through another layer of fluffy white clouds.
Even in the sky, they were not alone. They were not free. Scale riders dropped down around them. Familiar faces all pinched with anger and confusion as they spotted her.
