To her relief, he jumped up, rushed to the window, and opened it. She pushed up and sat on the windowsill to give her arms and legs a rest. Then she looked at him.
“Who are you?” he asked, his blue eyes wide with fear.
“Tamlyn. I’m here to help you.”
He glanced at the door. “No one can help me.”
“I climbed this wall for you. We can go down together, or you can stay here and see how things turn out.”
He shook his head before she finished. “I don’t want to stay. But…”
“I know,” she said softly. “It’s scary. There’s a chance we won’t make it. But it’s a choice you alone can make.”
He lifted his chin, his slim shoulders squaring. “I’ll do it.”
“Good lad,” she said with a wink. “I’m going to get into place. I need you to climb out and onto my back. Be sure to close the window.”
He glanced down and then nodded jerkily.
“You can do this,” Tamlyn told him.
That seemed to bolster him. She flexed her fingers and hoped she would be able to maintain her grip with his added weight. Tamlyn held onto the sill and dropped down, using her arms to hold her until she got both her footholds.
“All right. Come on,” she urged.
The boy climbed out and scooted to the edge of the sill on one side of her. He closed the window behind him.
“Good,” she said with a nod. “Now, get onto my back. Use my body however you need to, but make sure you have a good hold on me. Just be careful not to choke me.”
The instant he told her that he was in place, she began climbing down. She hadn’t gotten very far when she realized that she would never be able to hold them both. Her fingers were slipping, and her arms were shaking so badly she could barely move them.
And then she lost her grip.
Air rushed past them as they plummeted to the passageway below. Just before they hit, they jerked to a stop. Somehow, they hung suspended in midair for a heartbeat before falling the last few feet. The impact jarred her, but nothing like what could’ve happened.
She sat and turned to the boy. “Was that you?”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Thank you.” She jumped to her feet. “Come on. We’ve got to get out of the city.”
Those at Stonemore didn’t know who was rescuing the children, but each time she came to the city, there was something else that hadn’t been there before. This time it was the soldiers in the forest. What would be next? They would catch her eventually. Until then, she would save as many as she could.
She took the boy’s hand and turned to retrace her steps. The only way out was to go down, and that meant walking across the empty square again. She kept a tight hold of the boy while also making sure their steps were easy and casual. One of the nearby soldiers turned to look at them. He started toward them, but another soldier told him to forget them. No doubt those two would be in trouble shortly, but she couldn’t let her thoughts linger on that. By her reckoning, everyone who didn’t stop the sacrifices was complicit.
Once they were off the fourth level, it took no time before they neared the drain. Tamlyn kept watch as she nudged the boy inside. When she knew that no one was coming, she ducked in after him. Then she lifted the grate on the other end and slipped out.
The boy looked at the forest. His face was pale, but he didn’t shrink away. He knew what was at stake, just as she had that long ago night when she escaped. It was either die in the temple or take a chance in the forest. Tamlyn hadn’t had to think twice about it.
“We’re going to be moving fast,” she told him. “Keep a hold of my hand. No matter what, stay with me. When I stop, you stop. When I go, you go. Don’t look back, and don’t hesitate. And don’t make a sound.”
He met her gaze and nodded.
She held out her hand. When he placed his in hers, she ran toward the woods.
Tamlyn wanted to use the easy path, but the soldiers were there. She was forced to retrace her steps from earlier. The thought of the brineling made her hesitate a bit, but she didn’t have another option. They moved slower since the boy jumped at every sound. Eventually, he blocked out the night sounds and focused on her.
Every step got her closer to freedom. She was hypervigilant. That’s what allowed her to spot the brineling. She didn’t know if it was the same one from earlier or not. The safe thing to do would be to stay put and wait for it to walk away. She was about to tell the boy that when the toll of alarm bells sounded from Stonemore.
Shit. They knew the boy was gone. She couldn’t see the city from the woods, but she didn’t need to in order to know that they were rallying the army. They would track her and the boy. Hiding from a few soldiers in the forest was one thing. Being tracked by them was another.
The boy’s breathing grew erratic as he looked back at the city. She touched her finger to her lips as she looked at him. The brineling might just save them. If it wasn’t there, they would be cornered quickly enough, but the beast would be drawn to the noise of the soldiers.
Already, the beast’s head turned in the direction of Stonemore. Tamlyn heard the clang of weapons as the soldiers rushed into the forest. She watched the brineling, waiting to see when it would attack. The warriors had fanned out, but there wasn’t enough of them to cover the entire woods. She’d head to the left if she thought she could get away, but her best chance was to go straight through.
When the brineling crouched, she tightened her hand on the boy’s. “Get ready,” she whispered.
The soldiers walked slowly through the forest, thrusting their swords into bushes in case someone was hiding. Animals scattered from them and their noise. The brineling had gone still as stone. It waited for them to get closer. Tamlyn spotted soldiers coming near. She wanted to bolt, but she knew that timing was everything.
When the brineling leapt to attack, she jumped and pulled the boy with her. The soldiers’ shouts joined the creature’s bellows as the men rushed to help their comrades. Tamlyn didn’t look back. She ran, half dragging, half pulling the boy with her. Their only chance was making it out of the forest.
Chapter Two
The air swept over Cullen, wrapping him in an embrace. He closed his eyes and soared through the night sky, basking in the silence and freedom. It was as if everything he’d hoped for had come to fruition.
He opened his eyes and looked at the ground far below him. He had left behind the fertile, flat, green fields and flew over rugged mountains dotted with waterfalls. Trees rose to the sky amid the jagged mountain slopes. He focused his gaze farther ahead. With his enhanced senses, he could see far into the distance to the canyon. It looked as if someone had split open the ground. He flapped his wings, flying faster in his eagerness. There was something about the canyon he couldn’t get enough of.
Cullen had arrived on Zora five weeks earlier at Constantine’s bidding. It had been time for a new adventure—though Cullen wasn’t thrilled there was a new foe. But enemies came from every direction when you were as powerful of a creature as a Dragon King. Many times, evil tried to tip the scales in its favor. That’s when Cullen and the rest of the Dragon Kings made an appearance.
From the moment everyone at Dreagan learned that the link between Earth and Zora was open, the Kings had wanted to go and get a glimpse of their dragons again. It had been entirely too long since they had laid eyes on their kin. Yet, Cullen and most of the others had to remain behind on Earth, chomping at the bit to see Zora.