Fantasy Even Dragons Have Their Ending ||Closed||

[Reynarda]

Vlad arched an eyebrow at Agni as the young guardian stood. He was unsure why he was angry. Yes, the fact that Ellery--he was not counting Alex in this as the witch had dodged his questions like a vampire--had not been upfront with them was frustrating, but it was not surprising. Vlad would have acted much the same were he in their place.

But then the little guardian starting saying Alex should have--have--

Bram's eyes narrowed. Vlad had gone rigid next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, Bram could see the vampire's hands, which had been rested on his crossed legs, were balled tightly into fists. Vlad ran his thumbs jerkily over his forefingers as if that would soothe some hidden pain.

For her part, Starless laid her ears flat against her scales and shifted to a crouch just in case the little dragon jumped at someone.

Bram reached over and gripped his vampire's leg--more to ground him in the present than anything else. He understood that Agni didn't mean what he was saying--he couldn't possibly. The kid was ignorant, but he needed to learn, needed to understand that words had consequences. Words were the sharpest tools any one person possessed. They could be weaponized, and they could kill. You needed to be careful what you said because you never knew what demons people had to fight daily. And sometimes it didn't even matter if your words weren't aimed at a particular person. It could still poison them.

"You breathing?" Bram asked, his voice too low for any human ear.

"Yeah," Vlad said, his breath whooshing from his lungs without his typical verbosity.

"You can breathe with me if you want," Bram said.

"'M fine."

Which was why he had used one and a half words, but Bram wasn't going to push it. Besides, he could hear Starless mentally singing a dragon lullaby that apparently had a tempo designed to slow an upset hatchling's breathing.

But Agni was stalking off and now Teddy was yelling. Agni had struck a lot of nerves for obvious reasons. Bram wanted to yell, as well, but he doubted kid would have listened if he had. Agni had been too upset for it to have been just about Alex. Something else was at play here.

Then Teddy went to cool off, and Bram watched her go, truly feeling bad for her. It was hard to hear someone you cared about spoken as if they were a disease that needed culling.

Ellery began to speak in a calm and measured tone. Bram listened as she explained how offing Alex was not actually a panacea and wondered if she had done this before. Were there people who thought that way that were after him? Witch hunters, perhaps? Or, heck, other witches since Alex's existence seemed a little taboo.

But something struck him as funny, and he snorted. "Heh. 'Laying'."

"Abraham," Vlad groaned.

"That means--"

"I know what it means," Vlad snapped.

Bram made a suggestive hand gesture just in case the vampire was unsure. Vlad gave him one of the most unimpressed looks he had ever given him--and he had given him many unimpressed looks. Bram grinned. Well. At least Vlad was distracted.

The duo returned their attention to Ellery. Bram wanted to point out that Alex's mom sounded like a jerk, but Vlad spoke before he could. "Of course killing Alex is out of the question," he said, more to promise that he and Bram had no such designs than anything else. "But are you saying the Coven is... in favor... of--"

"Laying with humans," Bram supplied.

Vlad glared at him. "--in favor of creating vessels through this method? Not to be... callous, but creating another vessel would take some time."

"Nah, you could do it in an afternoon."

Vlad widened his eyes and pursed his lips as he turned his head very slowly to look at his companion. Bram was unapologetic. The two kids were gone, anyway. He could make jokes.

Vlad turned back to Ellery. "What I mean is, it seems in the Coven's best interest to make sure all goes according to plan. Should we be concerned about interference from them?"

"And why does the Coven want Lilith out and about, anyway?" Bram asked. "I mean... they live in the world too, right?"

He smiled and straightened a bit when Kaida said he made a good suggestion. He liked her. She was way nicer than Vlad. He grinned at the vampire.

"I did not say it was a bad suggestion," Vlad said, rolling his eyes. "I was saying this is not like vampire slaying."

"You worry too much," Bram said.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

May only slumped as Teddy turned on him. He knew why she was angry, and he didn't blame her.

"I'm sorry," he said, because what Agni said was wrong. He could explain the situation, but it wouldn't soothe the hurt he'd brought. And then Teddy was leaving, and May looked after her, preparing to stand up and follow, before he wobbled and sat back down. He pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them, pulling himself into a tight ball and playing with the bracelets on his wrist.

He did look up at Ellery's explanation, his mouth flattening into a thin line.

"It's... not a fated thing?" He asked, unable to quell his curiosity. "But it's... It kind of has to be a fated thing, right? I mean..."

No. This was not his situation. He leaned in and pressed his forehead to his knees before raising his head again.

"You were born. Like, regularly? Wait, that's a stupid question. It wasn't like, a big ritual or anything, it was just. You know. Laying."

He mimicked the gesture that Bram had just made, his brows drawing together.

It couldn't be as simple as just a witch and a human having a baby, could it? It was just circumstance? But it was planned circumstance. His mouth twisted. He shouldn't hide things from this group, now that he knew the whole situation. Agni would have objected to his story being told without permission, but there was a chance that this could work in his favour, now that the dragon was out of the picture.

"Uhm. Well. If we wanted to, I could take her in," he suggested, feeling a stone in his stomach even as he made the suggestion. "I mean, I'm not half witch, but I am, uh... A vessel. Made for, uhm, a different world ending calamity, that is still mostly sealed away and safe, but uh. If you put Lilith in me, then maybe the Serpent would like... Fight her off? And you could just kill me while she's inside, otherwise? I mean, would that get rid of her, or would she just fly out? I don't really know how demons work."

He scrunched up his nose, anxiety welling up inside him.

"Or do you have to have been, like, born to be a demon vessel? I wasn't really born. I was kind of, uh, grew. Like a plant, I guess, except as a baby, and inside a snake instead of in the ground. Wait, that's not the same thing. Wait, uhm. I mean..."

He began to fidget with his fingers. He was explaining way more than he should, and his nerves were making him talk more and more.

"I mean, would an artificial human work? I was kind of designed to hold crazy powerful magic and stuff, but I don't know if that's, like, attractive to demon ladies. Unless, uh, you guys don't trust me, which is cool! I totally understand that, but like, you have people who care about whether you're alive or not, and... Shit, that just makes me sound pathetic. I mean..."

It would be better if something happened to May than Alex. Alex had people who were fighting to keep him alive, and wanted to live. May also kind of wanted to live, but he'd given up on that being an actual possibility years ago.




Agni walked until he reached the river bank, the sound of the rushing water guiding him. He didn't understand why everybody was angry at him for making a suggestion that was sound. He had vaguely heard Ellery explaining as he walked off that killing Alex wouldn't actually stop Lilith, but the frustration was still roiling off him in waves. He just no longer had the energy to do anything about it.

It was unfair.

He knew that thinking that was childish. He had seen the humans in the fishing villages on the coast weather hurricanes and typhoons, people lose their homes and livelihood for no reason other than natural whim. He had seen the farmers on their way into the mainland mourning a poor harvest season, simply because of an unexpected cold snap. He had seen children kidnapped for no reason other than a greedy entity wanted their souls to wreak havoc on the world, even though they were completely innocent.

The guardians protected Domina island, but out here, life was decidedly unfair.

Still.

It hurt, in a way that he didn't have the words to describe, that Alex was in many ways the same as May, and yet people wanted to save him. Nobody was vying for his death, and he wasn't exiled for his purpose. People wanted him to live. People refused to accept the hand that fate had given him, and they fought against it.

Agni, on the other hand, existed solely to be the knife that slid between his best friend's ribs. Nobody cared if May lived. Nobody was trying hard to protect his life. Agni had been taught since he was born that his reason for living was to kill the serpent. He was an anomaly crafted by fate to cure another anomaly, and once it was done he would fade away, unless the elder dragon gave up his position.

He wouldn't. Who would trust Agni, who couldn't even be sure in his convictions, to take their place as a protector of the world and its balance?

It wasn't fair.

He bit his lip hard and fell to his knees at the river bank, slamming his fists down into the water on the rocks. They gouged into his skin, leaving cuts and marks, but no blood ran forth. This body wasn't really alive, and unless he made it bleed, it wouldn't. He smashed his hands down again and again anyways, watching the gashes grow deeper and deeper, until his fingers were misshapen and broken. He let out a cry of anger and frustration and /hurt/ confident that he was far enough away that the humans back at camp wouldn't hear. His vision was blurry, and he felt a sob rack him as wetness rolled down his cheeks.

He had never cried before. He didn't realize that it was a function his body was capable of. He reached up and rubbed his ruined hands against his cheeks, and they came away with a glistening black liquid that reflected the light like an oil slick. He was leaking Prana. He had only ever done that before to transfer it to the serpent. He rubbed furiously at his eyes, but the leaking wouldn't stop, and soon his face was just a dirty mess.

This was pathetic. He needed to fix himself until he returned to the others. There was no way that he could go back like this.

But he didn't want to fix himself quite yet. He wanted to wallow in his misery for just a moment before he needed to return to his responsibilities.

 

[Canth]

Ellery watched as Teddy turned to leave. She wanted to go after her, but everyone was relying on her for answers. Alex looked just as uncomfortable, caught between a desire to comfort his friend and an obligation to support Ellery in her explanation. She caught his eyes, and nodded in the direction Teddy had gone. Alex glanced around the circle, before pushing himself up to his feet.

They don’t need my whole life story. Just enough to give them a leg up. We don’t really know these people. Not truly.

Ellery held Alex’s gaze for a few seconds. I will not give them more than they need.

I know you won’t. Alex turned and, hands in his pockets and eyes on the ground at his feet, went off to find Teddy.

Ellery watched the witch leave before returning to the task before her. She drew a breath, and sorted through the questions that had been asked.

“We may be able to delay Lilith, but I do not know that there is any way to prevent the inevitable,” she admitted. “So long as she does not know where he is, he is safe, but running and hiding will only take us so far. We have spent our whole lives running from one thing or another, and we have prevailed thus far, but Alex…” Ellery’s eyes drifted downwards, lost for words. She closed her eyes and drew in a breath. She reopened her eyes and continued.

“While Lilith plans to keep the children alive for use once she possesses Alex, there is no guarantee she will wait. The longer she is without a proper host, the weaker she becomes. Whichever host she is using now is likely deteriorating and weakening, and her physical form is at risk. She will have to hop from one host to another while she waits, and she is likely to turn to the children to help postpone the inevitable destruction of her host body. So long as the children are at her disposal, they are not safe.”

“As for the Coven, I am not sure of their intentions. The Head Witch is very much in favor of Lilith’s possession of Alex, but she seems to be keen on keeping her hands clean for now. I do not believe their plans for Alex and Lilith are quite ready yet. Lilith’s presence on the earth is earlier than they had intended, and should Lilith fail, they would not wish to be deemed responsible for the failure. I do not think we need worry about them. Though, to be frank, we would benefit from the presence of one or two of them. Not all of the Coven supports the Head Witch’s plans.”

The real question, the one that everyone was no doubt considering but she had no real answer for, was what to do about Lilith. Was killing her an option? Was it even possible? Theoretically, Ellery knew it was possible, but she had no real answer on how. How much power and energy would it take to defeat her? Would a well-aimed blade do the trick? Or was it something specific, something so obscure and bizarre that they could not possibly come up with a solution in time? Ellery knew they should have discovered the answer before finding themselves in this mess, but Alex had been desperate. Ellery had been desperate. They had not thought beyond that.

But now May was speaking. Ellery had drifted off for a moment, and she looked up at the mention of killing. Again. Why was everyone so keen on sacrificing themselves?

“While I appreciate the offer, I have no intention of sacrificing another for Alex and me. I have no idea how Lilith’s presence would interact with your…situation. You are powerful, no doubt, but the unknowns are too many. It is not worth the risk.” Ellery paused, and then added: “No matter who else cares about your life, you sit among people who prefer you alive to dead. I will not allow you to risk your life for ours.”

~

Margaret eyed the woman carefully, not ready to believe that she would not turn her in, but deciding to allow the woman to think that Margaret believed her. She shook her head, agreeing to not run. At least, not until she had the opportunity to run. At the moment, Aislinn blocked her only path, seeing as what lay behind her was a dragon and her eggs. Margaret would rather take her chances with the Rider. She pulled back from the Rider as her grip loosened. She waited, mouth shut, for the woman to explain herself.

~

Beth clung to Lily, not sure if the girl was awake, but finding comfort in the touch. She wrapped one arm over the other girl, drawing her in close. She focused on breathing, no longer concerned about being quiet, just trying to breathe. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but she forced them to relax and then open. She turned her eyes up, squinting into the dark. A shape moved in the center of the cavern, shifting from one cell to the next. Beth watched it, unable to make out anything other than the soft shimmer of cloth as the dark mass moved away, circling the room, and then came back around. Beth’s eye were locked on it as it came back to their cell and paused. She wanted to look away, but felt compelled to stare. She could not see the being’s eyes, but knew that they were staring back at hers. They stayed like this, Beth frozen in place, unable to move, her heart thudding in her chest.

Is that you, little prophet? The voice hissed in her head. Beth felt a chill take her. It tightened around her heart, and she shivered. She tried to tear her eyes away, but could not. She tried to cry out, but found herself mute. She tried to shake Lily to her aid, but remained frozen.

No. Your mind is simple. But you know of the one I seek. Tell me, where might I find the prophet?

Beth flinched as the voice dug deeper into her mind, burrowing and searching. She wanted nothing more than to pull away and curl up beside Lily. To shut her eyes and hide her face and wish the creature away.

 

[Starlit Night]

Teddy made no special effort to be stealthy as she bounded through the underbrush, but it had long since become habit to make herself quiet, to pass beneath notice. All that her lack of care meant was that Alex would have a faint trail to follow, rather than no trail at all, one of scuffed ground and rustling leaves.

Small paws beat the earth, though they did not stay small. Her shift responded to the turmoil trapped in her chest, and without intent or notice she changed again, her form rippling like a shadow beneath the trees. No longer a house cat, but a wild one.

She ran, feeling the wind on her face and rippling through her fur. She ran until the sounds of the group faded into the barest murmurs, covered by the quiet sounds of the evening forest, and it helped, a little. It could have helped more, if she ran until she was breathless and exhausted, her roiling emotions fuel for her speed until at last the fire cooled and broke and she could stop, could rest, and begin to recover.

But.

She shouldn’t go too far. Ellery was with Alex, but what if they needed her? What if they called for her, and she was too far to hear?

So when she came to a break in the trees—scarcely large enough to be called a clearing—she paused there, tail lashing, and tried to redirect herself. A fallen log caught her eye, and she pounced, powerful claws sinking deep into bark and softening wood. But with fury still clawing up her throat, what should have been a harmless use of energy felt too much like violence. Stomach twisting, Teddy pulled away, shaking bits of wood off of her paws.

And without quite deciding to, she shifted once more, her skirts settling around her as she brushed her curls out of her eyes with a slim human hand. Alex would find her like that, her arms crossed tight over her chest as she paced back and forth, fingers digging painfully tight into her upper arms. She glanced over, but didn’t linger or pause when she saw who it was, just kept pacing.

“He’s horrible.” The words wrenched out of her almost against her own will, too raw, bleeding with something that hurt too much to be only anger. But once she started, she couldn’t stop. “How could he agree that nobody is a tool, that nobody should be used, and then turn around and—how could he even suggest—“

Narrowed eyes, slit pupils, a furious voice. It seems that the solution is obvious.

“If he tries anything, I’ll—“

Teddy choked on her words, pace faltering for the first time, because—what could she do, if Agni decided to enact his obvious solution? She would fight, of course she would fight, but she was no warrior. She had no stomach for violence.

Such weakness

All of these years, and when it came down to it, they were right. She was weak, too weak to be of any use, and she was only deluding herself to think otherwise. She could not even free herself from unwanted hands alone, not when it was the Dragon Rider in town, not when—

Such a disappointment—

She would fight, and she would lose, and Alex would step in, but Alex must not step in, not if he was the one that needed protecting—

Teddy took a ragged breath in, and in the space of that breath, it sank in that Alex was here.

Alex was here, not with Ellery, and who knew where Agni was—

In a moment she was at his side, taking his arm to tug him carefully to the center of the clearing, eyes gone wide.

“Here, sit, sit there,” she said distractedly, already scanning the surrounding area, alert for any threat. She needed to move—needed to guard, needed to be ready, because Alex was here and Alex was family, and Agni had threatened him, and she couldn’t protect him.

~

May’s flood of words was enough to break Kaida out of her statue stillness, and she turned to him with wide eyes as he offered to take Alex’s place, and to have them kill him if necessary. As he said, in all but words, that no one would care if he died.

That ‘kid’ is a very powerful magical artifact, Agni had said once before. At the time, she hadn’t understood what he meant.

“It is not a question of trust, May,” she said, once Ellery had refused, because this needed to be made clear. “It is selfless of you to offer. But trading your life for Alex’s is not a solution. Just as we would not use Agni as a tool, neither would we use you as such. Do you see?”

~

“Thank you,” Aislinn said softly, releasing Margaret’s wrists and lifting her hands in a peacemaking gesture. “I’m sorry for scaring you.”

She was not foolish enough to think that the child trusted her, but no trust could form between them as long as she was blocking the child in, even if she did so with the best of intentions. She had to take the girl at her word, and hope that by extending trust, she would receive the same. And so she stepped back and to the side, making an opening where Margaret could slip past her, and hoped that she wouldn’t regret it.

The girl was watching her intently, clearly waiting for her to speak, and Aislinn breathed deep and slow and wondered what to say. How could she convince this child that she wanted to help, when the Riders were responsible for her being here in the first place?

In the end, she just went with the facts.

“You can’t stay here, and if you keep wandering the Mountain on your own, you’re going to be caught. Guards are everywhere as of late, and not all of them will announce themselves as nicely as the last pair did,” she said, low and calm. “I want to help you, and all of the other children.”

Another slow breath. She had been planning this for weeks, now, but there was a difference between planning something and saying it aloud. Especially when getting caught could quite possibly make her ‘disappear.’

“I can get you out of the Mountain, but not until night falls. I can hide you until then, and I doubt they will notice your absence. Can you trust me to do so?”

~

Lily should have woken, then. She did not.

Instead the vision twisted, changing to show her different scenes—terrible scenes, flashing by almost too quickly for her to see. Rampant destruction and death—so many deaths, and still the fires spread and the high voice laughed, and laughed, and laughed—

And then suddenly it was gone, and she was left in comforting darkness. She saw nothing, and heard nothing, and yet there was a feeling as if someone had laid a hand gently over her eyes and whispered softly in her ear:

Hush. Don’t look.

In the darkness, someone held her close.

Beth, she thought, from very far away. The name came like a breath of air across a still pond, casting cool ripples across its smooth surface, but not touching the deeper waters. Her body felt heavy, weighed down.

In the waking world, Lily’s arms shifted just a little, turning a limp drape around Beth into a hug. She breathed softly, turning her face towards Beth’s neck and slightly jostling the other girl’s chin. But still, she did not wake.

 

[Reynarda]

Bram leaned towards May and said in a side whisper, "I can explain it, if you want."

Vlad swatted him, but Bram just winked at him. In all honesty, his antics were mostly to distract Vlad. The vampire's hands had loosened and his breathing had evened out in favor of fixing Bram with a scowl.

Mission accomplished.

"No, absolutely not," Bram started before May had finished, his head snapping back around to face the others. Yeah, the growing like a plant inside a big snake sounded like a load of crap, but he was willing to circle back to that later in favor of stopping May from offering himself as a sacrificial lamb. He nodded emphatically as first Ellery and then Kaida told May that was a bad plan. "Nobody has to die--well, with the exception of Lilith. But there is an option in which we all get out of this alive."

Vlad's lip twitched toward an exasperated fond smile. Abraham Leeuwen was the most optimistic person he knew. Sometimes, Vlad wished he saw the world the way Bram did. "I am inclined to agree. A plan that relies on trapping a demoness inside someone and killing them is a bad gamble at best. Perhaps we should do as Ellery suggested and take the problems as they come."

"The kids, then," Bram put in.

"Yes, Alex needs to be protected, of course, but removing Lilith's temporary vessels from the equation could give us a leg up."

"Also rescuing kids is the right thing to do," Bram added, wishing Vlad wouldn't sound so cold all the time.

Vlad inclined his head before flicking his attention back to Ellery. "If depriving Lilith of temporary vessels weakens her, could there be some way to keep her completely deprived?"

"I thought you said one thing at a time," Bram muttered.

"Yes, well," Vlad sighed. He couldn't help it.

"So we have a rough plan of attack, but do we know how many of them are in there? Not that I'm not down for a tough fight, but I wouldn't mind of at least having an idea." He glanced over at Sasha. He was pretty sure the man had been a Rider. "Do you have any wisdom for us?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

May's cheeks turned pink as everyone quickly shot down his offer.

Well, that was a good thing, probably. It had been a stupid thing to say. But he would have felt bad if he didn't say it. If he was the solution to all of their problems, it would be selfish to say nothing. But it seemed that he wasn't.

He was... a little bit glad of that. As much as he was willing to die for others, and as much as he knew he would eventually, it wasn't like he didn't want to live.

"Ah. Yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just-- It was just, you know, I wanted to say it, in case it could help. B-but if it won't, then that's good! I mean, not good that there still isn't a solution, but good that. You know."

He couldn't actually look anyone in the face. He felt awkward, although it was a little nice to hear that people here actually did not want him to die.

You sit among people who prefer you alive to dead.

The words were strangely heavy. He didn't really know entirely how to deal with that. He had never been around people who wanted him alive before. Sure, he had friends and family and people who loved him dearly, but they all had kind of just accepted his fate. This was a new experience, and he found he didn't actually dislike it.

He just wished Agni had handled the whole thing better.



Agni took another few minutes to wallow before he finally took in a shaky breath and decided that he had to go back. curled

He had apparently upset people. He didn't understand why or how, because he had only spoken the things he knew to be true.

He may have been a little bitter. He supposed he couldn't deny that.

He looked down at his hands and curled his lip in a sneer. He was tired and he had a headache, and he was having trouble recalling the exact way things fit together. Several of his fingers were bent at angles that he was sure wouldn't be possible if he actually had bones, and he was pretty sure one of them was just. Missing. It would fade away after an hour or so being detached, so he didn't bother to actually look for it.

Instead he focused on washing his face, using the heel of his hands to wipe the streaks of black oil away with the aid of the river water. Once he was reasonably sure he had gotten most of it, he turned and trudged his way back to the campsite.

He hesitated when he began to hear voices, not entirely sure he wanted to actually face everyone again. He hesitated behind the treeline for a long moment before he finally stepped out into the open. He kept his shoulders hunched as he made his way over to where he had laid out his bedroll earlier, keeping his hands behind his back.

May looked up as he approached, but he hesitated to say anything. Making a big deal out of it might make things worse.

"Yeah," he said, agreeing with Vlad's idea. "What if we could, like, trap her somewhere without a vessel? If she has no body and no way to leave, wouldn't it be like... better?"

He thought of the cage that was created for the serpent. He was sure that Agni was following his logic, but he didn't look up or say anything. In fact he was being strangely subdued. It was kind of weird.

Agni, in the mean time, was trying to be subtle as he folded his hands in his lap so that the injuries weren't obvious. He wished that it was lighter out, but with night falling it was difficult to see in the dusk. He looked at May's hands and tried to see exactly where the joints were. His middle and index fingers on his right hand, which had been bent backwards and broken slowly slid back into place with a tiny snapping sound. He tried to tune out the conversation to focus on his lessons on human anatomy.

Five digits, not four. He furrowed his brow as he looked down at his hand in his lap, mostly hidden by the bedroll he'd pulled up.

The arrangement was different. Humans had thumbs. They didn't have rear-facing digits. He glanced at May's hand again, scrunching up his nose. Four fingers in a row. Ok, he had that. There was a specific way that thumbs worked, but he was exhausted and frustrated and he didn't want to deal with this anymore.

His hands were looking less like hands and more like the scaled talons of a predatorial bird as his frustration mounted.

He hated the fact that he needed to try so hard at this. It would be so much easier if he had just been born as a human, or an elf, or any other mortal species instead of--

Oh no, he was not going to cry again. Not in front of everyone. May was already giving him a worried look. He flopped down, hiding his hands under his body as he curled up under the bedroll. He couldn't sleep. It was impossible to sleep without abandoning his vessel, but at least if everyone wasn't looking at him he would feel less like he was some kind of horrible freakish villain.

 

[Canth]

Ellery was glad everyone was on the same page regarding May’s suggestion. And now that that was settled, it was time to return to business. She settled on the ground beside Sasha, drawing her legs in and crossing them. She turned her eyes on Vlad, and then May.

“The logic tracks. We have never attempted a trap…there has never been a reason for one. But if we are able to deprive her of another host, or of a power source to maintain her current host, then possibly we can weaken her enough that trapping her might be possible.” No demon trap Ellery knew of could possibly hold Lilith at her full power, but Vlad was on to something. They just had to find a way to ensure she no longer had access to anything she could use to maintain her power.

Sasha had remained silent for most of the conversation, deciding the others had it well in hand. We was well traveled enough that he was no stranger to magic talk, and he had enough experience with elves to know that he did not know everything. He was no expert in this, and so he left the planning to those who were. But then Bram called on him to speak on what he did know.

“I cannot say how many Riders currently reside at the Mountain. Given their decline in power over the years, I would say their numbers have diminished. At their height, there were well over six hundred Riders. Queens would lay thirty to fifty eggs every other month, and children would be volunteered from all across the land with the hope of being paired with a dragon.” Sasha paused, eyes shifting to the fire as nostalgia tugged at his heart. “Last I checked, there were maybe three hundred Riders, and about three hundred and fifty or so dragons. Their sole queen has not laid for some time, not that has been rumored at least. I would not be surprised if their number is lesser still.”

Sasha lifted his eyes up, pulling himself back to the present. “The distraction is our best bet. Melkiel is proud and will be unable to resist a direct challenge to his authority. Even before his heart was tainted by this…demon.” It still felt weird to say aloud.

“To put it simply, we are no match for any numbered army of dragons…fortunately it is not the dragons we face, but the Riders.” It felt uncomfortable to speak of them in this way. Unnatural, against his nature. His stomach churned as he continued. “While the dragons have their own mind, they will not act against their rider’s will. It is in their nature, once bonded, to be loyal to death. Which they are. This relationship is supposed to work both ways, though I sense these Riders do not share their dragons’ loyalty. This will be their weakness. They will think only of themselves and not their dragons, and will fight as all men do, brashly and without much thought for the consequences. Their pride will be their undoing”

“And how do you suggest we hold them off throughout the duration of this distraction?” Ellery asked.

“Dragons are powerful, yes, but they are not all-powerful. And like their Riders, not all dragons are created equally. The small ones are fast and nimble in the air, but not as strong as the larger ones, who could knock your head clean off with a flick of its tail tip, but would have trouble keeping up in a chase. The large reddish-brown ones are the only dragons with the ability to breathe fire, but they do not produce the fire themselves. Their Riders provide the fire with a flint, which they spark into the dragon’s open mouth, where the flame erupts and can be maintained for an hour or so. A dunk in a lake is enough to snuff the fire out.”

Sasha had spent many years not talking about dragons, that he found he rather enjoyed the memories. “The ones with the dark purple scales along their spine have a powerful roar that’ll knock you right back, and the green eyed ones with the double-headed tail have a reputation for getting their teeth on you and not letting go. And then there are the queens…” here Sasha paused, and he remembered why he kept such talk to himself. His eyes shifted, but he pressed on. “There is only one left, and I doubt she will join the fight—she is too valuable to their survival. It is better, for the queens are both powerful and fast, largest of the dragons, yet nimble and swift in the air. They breathe fire without the use of a flint, sparking flame between their teeth. Their hides are golden, blinding in the sun, and their roar is powerful enough to make grown men tremble for miles. Their impending extinction is a tragedy beyond words, and the world will be lesser for their loss.”

~

Mariah watched the evening sun disappear behind the thick canopy, leaving their camp shrouded in long shadows and an unnatural breeze that she saw but could not feel. She had settled just outside the circle of travelers, not having much to offer in the way of planning. She was a sister looking for her brother—she had no experience in plotting rescues or fighting...demons. She was content to watch and listen and scratch Dark Tide’s muzzle while she slipped him sugar cubes. Ever few ones, she’d take one for herself, rolling the sugary square around in her mouth and dreaming of its taste as it melted against her tongue.

There was some commotion, people arguing. First the changeling took off, and then the dragon kid, and finally the witch. Mariah watched it all, dark eyes following them as they disappeared into the trees. The conversation around the fire shifted, and Mariah considered slipping away as well, to keep an eye on the witch, but then the dragon boy was back. She gave Dark Tide one last pat on the head, pushed up to her feet, and sidled over to Agni. She stood over him for a moment, eyes narrowed in thought, before settling in at his feet. She waited another few seconds of calculated silence before speaking

“You’re not wrong.” It was a whisper, a careful thought passing beneath her breath. Her eyes shifted to the group around the fire, watching them as she spoke. “What you said, about the witch. They have an easy solution before them, and yet refuse to accept it. No matter how many children might suffer for their weak moral constitution.”

~

Alex waited a few feet away for Teddy to gather herself. He knew better than to catch her by surprise, not that that was necessarily an easy thing to do. He tilted his head back, bright eyes searching the dark trees above for any sign of sky. His hands remained in his jacket pockets, fingers fiddling absently with the various trinkets they carried. He drew in a breath and closed his eyes, centering himself within the forest, allowing the soft cool breeze to carry him with it. He felt the damp earth beneath his feet, the shift of the air as the trees thinned and then gave way to a vast plain that sloped downwards and then melded into rock and stone at the base of a large mountain. He followed it up, to the highest peak, where a lone creature and its rider stood watch. The man blinked lazily as sleep loomed heavy over him. Something tickled his ear, and he swatted at it, frowning. Alex moved on, down that mountain and up the next, leaving each watchman he passed with the uneasy feeling of being watched themselves.

At the center of the surrounding watch caves was a massive mountain pocked with cavernous openings, each housing a dragon of varying color and size. Knowing dragons to be better at sensing unwanted presences than bumbling idiot men, Alex was careful to find the dragon who appeared to be the most skilled at sleeping, and slipped in through his cave. He hugged the cavern wall, rushed to the back, and escaped through the man-sized opening at the back. It gave way to a network of hallways lined with torches. He followed one down into the deepest depths of the mountain. It opened up into a massive cavern lined with cells crowded with children of all ages. They were asleep, dirty, exhausted, hungry. Piglets led to the slaughter. Alex left them, and followed the hallway back up. He took a right, weaving his way through the maze, passing a female rider speaking quietly with a young child who looked like she was meant to be with the others. Interesting. Alex moved on.

He followed the hallways that led upwards, making his way to the very top, where a lone rider slept fitfully in a large bed. His dragon did no sleep, but rested in the carved out space at the bottom of a set of stone steps. His eyes lifted when Alex entered the room, blinking slowly as he turned them about, searching for the intruder. Alex did not linger. He had explored enough. He shifted his focus to the dark concentration emanating from the center of the mountain. He followed it, allowing the sickening chill to lead him closer.

Lilith looked up as Alex entered her dark, wet hole. Her black eyes scrunched in a frown that twisted the soft, thin skin of her face. The body she had chosen was aging fast, and Alex could see the rapid deterioration in the wobble of her knees and the ripped skin of her fingertips. Their eyes met, and Lilith’ frown relaxed into a wide grin.

“You’ve come to surrender yourself?” Her voice was thin, shrill. The voice of a dying woman. Alex leaned back against the damp cave wall, watching Lilith with mocking eyes.


“You don’t look so good, Lilith. I’d say that body’s got two, maybe three more days?”



Lilith shrugged, her smile unfading. “I won’t need it much longer.”

“So I’ve heard.” Alex paused, and then continued. “Ive heard some other interesting things—like a debate on whether or not killing me would really stop you.”


“I’ll just bring you back.”

“We both know you don’t have that kind of power.”

Lilith’s smile faltered. “It is just like you to assume yourself more important than you are.”

“You’re not wrong there. I do fancy myself quite important.” Alex pushed off the wall and moved forward. He pulled his hands from his pockets and dropped into a disgusting, mildewed seat near the center of the cave. There was a table beside it holding a small unlit lamp and an unopened book. He grabbed the book, dusted it off, and popped it open.

“You’re not here to surrender,” Lilith knew Alex too well to have thought that a legitimate possibility. “And while you have no problem risking your life for a chance to gloat, it is not just your own life that you risk. So, why are you here Alex?”

A shadow came across Alex’s face, though his easy smile remained. “I came to ask you the same. Why are you here, Lilith? We’ve played this game over and over more times than I can count. We know each other better than anyone, ourselves perhaps. You’ve been inside me. I know your every move just as well as you know mine. And yet, you’ve never needed children…why now?”

Lilith’s smile curled back over her thin, shriveled lips, her black oily eyes shining in the dark. “I thought you’d appreciate the move. We’ve managed to leave the rest of the world out of our little feud thus far, but you cannot escape your destiny forever. Your dues are up, Alex. It’s time you paid.”

“That’s not really an answer, is it?” The smile slipped from Alex’s face as icy eyes narrowed on the demon before him. He could feel the gentle breeze of the forest calling him back, but he needed answers. He drew in a breath, focused his mind, and pressed on.

“The dragon riders aren’t enough…” It was not a question. “You’re weak. You’ve been above ground for far too long without a proper host. It’s not some grand plan that you have these children saved up for, it’s your own survival.” Alex paused again, watching Lilith’s shadowed face. “Why haven’t you returned?”

The black pits that served as Lilith’s eyes narrowed. She was not one to be baited like the idiot demons Alex most commonly dealt with. “I think it is time you returned to your pets. They can say their goodbyes.”

Alex watched Lilith for a moment, and then released. He was hit with a rush of nausea as he snapped back into his body miles away, leaving the dark festering caves for the cool damp of the forest. He opened his eyes just as he heard Teddy coming his way. He shook the fog from his brain, drew in a breath, and opened his mouth to greet Teddy before she grabbed him and tugged him forward.

Alex allowed himself to be maneuvered into the clearing where Teddy had apparently been wresting with her anger. She urged him to sit and he did, because he felt it was important to her. He watched her as she turned her eyes on the dangers around them, prepared for anything.

“Teddy,” he urged, crossing his legs and leaning forward, patting the ground in front of him. “Can we talk?”

~

Margaret stepped back as the woman released her, rubbing absently at where her fingers had gripped her arm. Her eyes never left the Rider, and her mouth remained a thin, thought line for a long while after the woman finished. She had no reason to trust her, and yet Margaret feel her resolve waver. She had played an older sister to a lot of the kids here, taking on the role of mother to a few of the really young, and yet she was but a child herself. She wanted to trust this woman because she had never been given a reason not to trust an adult. Until recently. Her lips parted, and she bit at her lower lip in thought.

“Okay,” she finally said. She lifted her chin and pushed back her shoulders to ensure the Rider knew that Margaret was making this decision because it was the right call, and not because she was a frightened child looking to trust the first parent figure that waltzed into her life. She wanted to ask about going back for her friends, but she knew it would be too risky to make the escape with the rest of the children in tow—and if this Rider was being false, Margaret did not want to risk the lives of the others because she was stupid enough to trust one of them. She would return once she had found a way out and established whether or not this woman could be believed.

~

Beth felt Lily’s arm tighten against her ever so slightly, and she drew on the comfort of her friend’s presence to steel her mind against the intruder. She drew in a breath, opened her eyes, and turned them up to the creature that now stood overtop her, inside the cell. She gasped, wanted to pull away, but found she was frozen. Her heart thudded against her chest, and she watched wide-eyed as the dark being leaned in, her face a shadow, her eyes dark pools that reflected Beth’s terror back to her. Her body trembled against her will.

“G-go aw-away,” she stammered, the words tumbling off her tongue in a jolted, quivering whisper. She drew in a shaky breath and tried again. “G-go away. Now.” Better, but still a hiss beneath her breath. The being came closer, it’s dark watery eyes bubbling as it’s gaze shifted from Beth to the smaller girl clutched in Beth’s arms. This gave Beth the strength she needed.

“Go! Away! Now!” She thought she shouted, she hoped she shouted. The creature snapped her head back towards Beth, took a step forward, and then slipped backwards through the cell bars and disappeared down a dark hallway. Light suddenly flooded the room as three guards came running in, lanterns held aloft, eyes narrowed as they surveyed the disturbed children waking from their fitful sleep.

“Keep it quiet in here,” one guard shouted once they confirmed the children were all in their cells and the shout had merely been yet another child crying out in their sleep. The guards gave the room one last look before turning and leaving out the way they came, taking the light with them.

Beth released the breath she had been holding, and realized she was still trembling. She drew in a breath and released, drew in a breath and released, repeating this over and over until her nerves settled and her mind was clearer. And then she remembered Lily.

“Lily?” She whispered, ducking towards the girl’s ear. “Lily?” She tried again. She gave the girl’s shoulder a small shake, trying to get a look at her face.

 

[Starlit Night]

Distracted as she was, it took Teddy a moment to realize just what look she had seen on Alex’s face, before she had pulled him into the clearing. Then all at once she stopped, her frenetic energy abruptly interrupted and her panicked thoughts slowing, swirling to a halt. The fears and old memories had been unceremoniously shoved aside—not forgotten, but temporarily displaced by a new concern.

Alex had been too still, his eyes closed, and his face had looked...distant. Like he was seeing and hearing things far away from this little break in the trees where he stood. She’d seen that look before.

So, if he had not been here, then where had he been?

It was into this moment of stillness that Alex spoke, and Teddy started and turned her gaze back to him. For a second, words escaped her—then she gave herself a little shake, forcefully regaining her grasp of herself. Her eyes flicked again over the trees, and she hesitated—

But she was thinking more clearly, now. Ellery wouldn’t have let Alex go off on his own, if there was a pressing danger. So she pulled herself away from watching the forest and sat where he had indicated, restlessly smoothing her skirts with her hands.

“We can always talk, Alex,” she said softly, striving for calmness and not quite managing it. But her words came out steady—that would do. “What about?”

~

Kaida looked up at Agni’s return, but she followed May’s lead and did not comment. The young mage would know his companion best, she thought, and Agni looked weary and withdrawn. As he settled on his bedroll she politely turned her face away, to give him a semblance of privacy even among the close quarters of the camp.

“I am practiced in forming barriers and wards,” was her contribution to the forming idea of a trap. It seemed a sound plan. “Though I have little experience with demons, so I cannot say how long they would hold. Still, perhaps they could be of use.”

Her attention moved to Sasha at Bram’s question, and she quieted to allow him to speak uninterrupted. His words stirred at old memories, and she thought again of the friends she had once had among the Riders, who would have been horrified by the state of their people now. She would see this blight on the Mountain’s people defeated, for the memory of those she had held dear as well as for the sake of the living.

The news of the lone Queen grieved her, and she dipped her head and held a moment of respectful silence when Sasha spoke of their extinction with the heaviness of an inescapable fate. Surely something could be done—?

It would be something to think on, once the looming threat was no more.

“Sasha, you mentioned before that you may be able to reach a Rider inside the Mountain, one who might ally herself with us,” she said. She did not wish to rush him, especially when talk of the Riders seemed to bring both nostalgia and pain, but this was important. The sooner they knew what allies they had, the better their plans could be. “Do you have an idea of when you might be able to reach her?”

If she is still alive, he had said at the time. Until they could attempt contact, all they could do was pray that she was, and that she had held out against the demon’s corrupting influence.

~

“Okay,” Aislinn echoed quietly, and a knot of tension loosened. She hadn’t known what she would do if the child had refused—but it didn’t matter now. “Thank you for trusting me.”

Now, what could they do? Wyatt and Daniel must have reached the kitchens by now, and she couldn’t count on them dawdling there. They would soon be back, and there was not enough time to get the child to Kieran for safekeeping…

“I have to return to the fork in the paths before the guards return,” she said, speaking calmly and assuredly despite the fact that she was piecing the plan together as she spoke. There was no need to worry the child. “You need to be hidden by then, as well. We’ll find you a hiding spot nearby, and when they are settled at their post, I will come back for you. It shouldn’t take long, and we can talk more when we make it to my quarters. Will that be alright?”

~

Lily did not respond to Beth calling her name, but when the other girl shook her shoulder, her lashes fluttered. The last glint of the guards’ lights caught in her eyes as she lifted her head, the warmth of the lantern light dancing briefly in their unnatural purple coloring. There was no awareness in her eyes.

She sat up, her movements strangely slow and smooth, and turned her face to Beth.

“The Riders fall,” she said, but it was not a lone young girl who spoke. A chorus of whispering voices, men and women, young and old, layered over each other until Lily’s voice—if indeed she spoke at all—was lost among them. “Their Mountain burns. I have seen the one who would make it so. Beware.”

And then all at once Lily came back to herself, like one abruptly woken from a dream. She gasped in a breath and clapped trembling hands over her mouth, her eyes wide as she darted a frightened look at Beth.

 

[Reynarda]

Nodding, Vlad pressed his fingertips together and rested his chin on them. How much they would have to weaken Lilith, he didn't know, and he could help wishing he had read more books on demonology. But that was something they would worry about after the children were all safe.

Bram whistled at the number of dragons and riders, but otherwise seemed undaunted.

Vlad, very daunted, gave him a look.

Starless pricked her ears at the mention of the lone queen, and a soft keening reverberated across her mental link with Vlad and Bram. Both reached up to stroke her long neck by way of comfort.

Vlad sat in silence once Sasha finished speaking. He shifted as if unsure whether to offer condolences or ask questions. Hearing the rush of questions, Starless rolled her eyes in good humor. She nudged his shoulder, but Kaida spoke first.

Vlad nodded, agreeing that was a good question. "And how do we intend to get all of the children to safety? It is one thing to get them out of the mountain, but another entirely to get them somewhere the Riders and Lilith will not find them."

Bram glanced up at the sky. It was getting pretty late. "That planning is all well and good, but if we stay up talking all night, we'll never get anything done."

Vlad shot him a dark look. "Running in and hoping for the best is not going to work, Abraham."

"Never failed me before."

Vlad's face shifted through expressions too quickly for even Starless' sharp gaze to parse. "Because I have contingency plans!"

Leaning back, the slayer shrugged. "Sasha talks to his friend, we do the distracting, you get the kids out. That's a plan."

The twitching of Vlad's face would, under normal circumstances, determine a positive aneurysm diagnosis. But in this case, it was just his companion's brash overconfidence that everything would work itself out if he stabbed it hard enough.

Starless stuck her head between them before Vlad could burst into flames--literal or figurative. While I agree with Vlad, Bram has a point.

Vlad gave her a look of utter betrayal. But, at her prompting, he translated for her. "Asteria’a Noxtis Aeralis says that not sleeping well could cause any plan we make to fail."

"She sounds way less verbose than that," Bram said.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

May listened to Sasha's description of the many dragons, unbridled awe on his face.

"I didn't know there were so many kinds," he admitted, clearly quite impressed with the former rider's knowledge. "I thought they were just, you know, all the same? Just with different looks. Like people with different hair colours. It's so cool that there's such a variety."

His experience with dragons was limited to the sect's teachings, which told of one being that protected the world from harm. The 'true' dragon, with all others being nature's attempt at matching that model of perfection. As foolish as it seemed, he had never truly thought of them as a varied, unique species.

Now that he did, he was intrigued.

"Is the queen the only one who can lay eggs? Or, like, can any girl dragon lay eggs? Wait, are there differences between girl dragons and boy dragons? Or is that just, like, a human thing that we kind of push on them? I know we call some magical creatures 'she' or 'he' but they don't actually have gender, so--"

He had leaned forward as he spoke, eyes bright. He had always liked to learn about the outside world. It was part of why he'd wanted so badly to leave the island of his birth to begin with. He soaked up new information like a sponge, eager for more, and it was a moment too late that he realised his excitement probably wasn't appropriate considering the task at hand.

He shrunk back, trailing off and clearing his throat. A hint of pink coloured his cheeks.

"Sorry. I, uh, kind of got excited. But, like I said, I'm good at distractions."

It felt a little lame saying it out loud, but he didn't want to look like an ignorant country bumpkin. More than that, it was insensitive to take joy in learning things when childrens' lives were at stake.

He was half-way through a yawn when Bram suggested that they sleep for the evening, and the colour on his face darkened when he realized.

"I... Yeah. That's probably a good idea," he said sheepishly. He cast a nervous glance to the woods, then turned his eyes back to Ellory. "Are, uh, are they gonna be ok? I mean, er... Alex and Teddy, right?"

He hoped those were their names.

(TW: abuse, cult things, the usual)

Agni had withdrawn from the conversation, his bedroll pulled to the far edge of the clearing. Just far away enough from the group that they wouldn't notice his distress, or if they did, that he could easily pass it off as nothing. Mariah's arrival surprised him, and he blinked up at her with wide, owlish eyes.

She agreed with him.

Everyone else here had acted like he was terrible, but this woman agreed with him. She saw sense. It made a small flame of hope light in his chest, pushing against the self-doubt and guilt that had been creeping in.

He was about to announce it to the others that see, he was right, before he thought better of the idea. Instead he pulled the top of his blanket to his chest, lowering his voice so as not to disturb the conversation.

"I don't understand why they want him to live so badly," he said quietly. "If somebody is a threat to the world as we know it, don't they have a moral obligation to end that threat? If he-- If his destiny is to cause harm and evil, then would he not be glad to end his life and prevent that from happening?"

He hated the pleading note that filled his voice, as though begging her to tell him that he wasn't wrong. He felt fragile, like the foundation upon which he'd built his life was cracking. If he was wrong, then where did that leave him?

He had never been able to afford being wrong. Mistaken judgement as the protector of the world and humanity could lead to the deaths of millions. He had once suggested to the Raven that he might find a way to save both the world and the serpent, and had the lowest part of his spine broken for his trouble.

The Raven had taken the weeks it took for him to heal enough to regain use of his hind legs to tell him just how stupid and reckless such an idea was. He was a foolish child, barely able to protect himself, and he was risking the lives of the entire populace on a fanciful whim. He was told how selfish he was for even thinking such a thing, for trying to go against the fate that was set out for him. It was the serpent's duty to die, and if the dragon did not carry it out, every resulting death would directly be his fault.

But these people so easily refused the simplest solution, risking all of those lives as if it were nothing. Agni couldn't comprehend it, and it left a sour and hateful feeling in his stomach.

 

[Canth]

Alex stared across at Teddy in silence for a long while, eyes on hers, staring in a way that would make most people uncomfortable. He wasn’t entirely certain where to start, which was a new sensation for him. Words and how to use them was one of his many talents, or so he liked to think, and he was acutely aware of how they had abandoned him at this moment. But he had to say something. This was Teddy. They were…he didn’t know what they were. Except that was a lie because he knew exactly what they were he just didn’t have the balls to say it. Not even in his own head. Either way, he knew he couldn’t lie to her any longer, despite it being his second favorite pastime. And his number one way of dealing with most people. Except Teddy wasn’t most people and he needed to be straight with her. No amount of lying was going to protect her from what Alex knew was coming next.

“What I’m about to ask of you isn’t fair, I know that. But I need to know that you understand before…” Again the words were just out of reach. To say Alex feared death would be an understatement. He had clung to his miserable life every second of every day since he could remember. Everything he did was for the sake of extending his life expectancy, which he had passed years ago. He was living on borrowed time. It was Alex’s desperate fight to live that had gotten them into this mess in the first place, and it was about time people stopped paying for his mistakes. Not that he would ever admit that out loud. “I need you to understand what might happen. I know they’re back there workin’ on a plan an’ all, but if it doesn’t work…if I’m not strong enough…I need to know that you’ll be okay.”

~

May’s excitement was refreshing. Not because people weren’t excited by the prospect of dragons, but because they usually didn’t broach the subject with him. Not that he blamed them—he never gave anyone the opportunity. Sasha kept mostly to himself and when he was forced to interact with people outside his solitary home he kept his past life close to his chest and avoided any conversation that might lead down that path. It was too painful. But tonight, sitting under the stars in the fresh air, it wasn’t so painful. It had been at first, but the more he talked about them the more he wanted to say. But May was right—now was not the time.

“I had a bond with her dragon, Kieran. If they’re still at the Mountain, and they haven’t been corrupted by…” Sasha couldn’t bring himself to say it. He wasn’t a suspicious man by any means but he thought it best not to make the night any darker with such talk. “Soon as we reach the tree line, I should be close enough to reach out for him.”

“I don’t know that we can,” Ellery turned to Vlad. “So long as Lilith is on our plane, they will not be safe. All we can do is free them and get them back to their families. And then hopefully, without their souls, Lilith will be weak enough for us to…” she wasn’t sure what it was they were doing with Lilith, really. But Bram had mentioned sleep and everyone was in agreement and they could figure out the second half of their plans tomorrow.

“They’ll be fine,” Ellery assured May. She shut her eyes for a second as her mind touched Alex’s. “They’re not far.”

Despite the long day Sasha did not feel the pull of sleep. In fact, he hadn’t felt this alert and alive in years. He watched May for a moment. “Soon as this is all over, if you still want, I can tell you all about dragons. And other things. Dragons aren’t the only wonder of the world.”

~

“Humans are sentimental.” Mariah dug into her pocket and pulled out a sugar cube and offered it to Agni, balanced in the palm of her hand. “And weak. They know what the moral thing to do is but they are too scared to do it. Too scared to soil their pretty little hands. But you’re not scared.” It wasn’t a question. She reached her free hand out towards Agni’s knee.

~

Margaret had only just met this woman and she didn’t want her to leave. The thought was absurd and Margaret wondered if she had been too quick to trust her. She wanted to tell her no, that it wouldn’t be already and that she wasn’t allowed to abandon her. But whether or not this woman was worthy of Margaret’s trust didn’t really matter. She was her best hope. Either Margaret would be freed and able to return to free the other children, or the rider would turn her in and she would be sent back to her cell with the others. If the riders had wanted them dead they would have killed them already. They needed the children for something, this Margaret knew. So long as she was still needed, she would be safe. Margaret decided to trust Aislinn.
“Okay,” she nodded, her voice low.

~

Beth started when Lily sat up and spoke in so many voices Beth was unable to make out Lily’s own voice among the mix. She pushed backward, eyes on Lily as she maintained a safe distance from the girl. She watched Lily’s face until the girl finished and the voices escaped her and she was once again mute.

“What was that?” Beth shifted onto her hands and knees and scooted back over to Lily. The girl looked terrified and Beth suddenly wondered if she should be terrified to. “What does it mean?”