“Okay, you hook up the horses, I’ll go start the fire and then get ready to scram,” I told my bestie and second-in-command.
She nodded and got to work tying our horses to the wagon. My wolf pulled at my attention and I focused on her, seeing that she’d allowed the men to catch her. She growled as they pulled her into the front doors of the barn with a rope around her neck. The big dude then handed the rope to Marmal, who was bent in front of Pearl’s cage. She had a special key in her hand and was opening the lock. She’d told us last night that on Pearl’s “harvesting” day she was permitted to use the key to take Pearl out and bring her to the back room. She’d worked there a year and they trusted her to do this alone now without an escort. She wasn’t able to open the lock with her magic, as it had some type of protective spell over it that the others did not.
“Keep the damn animals in the cage or I’ll have you fired!” the troll-fey Ithaki snapped at Marmal, handing her the rope-leash that was connected to my wolf.
She took one look at my wolf, eyes widening slightly, and nodded curtly to the man.
Good. My wolf was safe with her, and she’d gotten the key to let Pearl out. Time to light this place up.
Literally.
Scrambling up the hill to the back barn door, I pulled out the lighter and kindling from my pocket that I’d stashed there earlier this morning. Shoving the kindling into a crack in the wooden siding of the barn, I lit it, blowing softly to increase the flame. It caught and slowly flickered up the wall, causing tendrils of smoke to waft up to the sky.
Okay, now to throw some fuel on that fire.
Pulling out the small bottle of fuel Marmal had given me, I stood back and popped off the lid.
Here goes nothing.
I threw the liquid, dousing the bottom half of the flames. For a second I feared they would go out, but then the fire roared to life and engulfed the entire back wall of the barn in seconds. I stumbled backward as the heat became too intense, the crackling and popping growing louder.
Time to scram.
Running to the side of the barn, I pulled my hood up as I heard a commotion inside.
“Fucking fire!” I heard someone yell.
I snapped my attention to my wolf, who was still inside the barn, and was immediately assaulted by the smell of smoke. Marmal was in the corner near Pearl’s unlocked cage, looking at the ceiling like she was in a trance. My wolf was curled protectively around her feet, staring up at her. The scent of hot wires and burning electricity filled the air.
Magic. Troll magic.
Click, click, click, the sound of hundreds of locks opening clattered throughout the space like an orchestra. The fire had fully engulfed the entire back wall, including Trip’s office, and people now abandoned all thoughts of putting it out as they fled for the exit.
“Magic!” someone yelled, and that’s when Marmal stepped over to the door of Pearl’s cage and pulled it wide open.
My wolf tipped her head back and howled, long and deep, and I felt a stirring in the air, as if she’d somehow sent out a signal to the other animals that it was time to fight and be free. The animals had gotten wind of the fact that their cages had been unlocked, and now they butted the cage doors open with their snouts. Marmal’s magic was so powerful, she’d unlocked every single cage. I was in complete awe of her.
A gray plume of smoke filled the barn so quickly I worried they wouldn’t get out in time. Dozens of different animals leapt out into the commotion, all abandoning their cages. Foxes, bears, wolves, otters, eagles, it was insane.
“Come on!” Marmal screamed as she yanked Pearl’s neck. The dragon looked afraid, like she wasn’t sure if they were going to do another experiment on her. “I promise,” Marmal said with a fierce look, peering into Pearl’s eyes. “Never again. You’re free.”
With that, Pearl stood, climbing out of the giant cage and standing to her full height just outside of it.
Holy shifter.
She was huge. Like … definitely not going to fit in the wagon huge. She stood over twenty feet high, her head almost touching the barn roof, and her wings weren’t even outstretched yet. Her gaze darted around the burning barn with paranoia, and then suddenly she swooped down, grabbing the back of Marmal’s shirt with her teeth and lifted her into the air with a squeal. Flicking her head backward, she tossed Marmal onto her back and then took off for the open doors, running on her talons.
Holy shitballs.
‘Get out of there,’ I told my wolf. Pearl clearly had an instinct to protect Marmal, but not my wolf, whom she didn’t know from any other animal there.
My wolf ran for the entrance, where I was waiting as people and animals passed me in a panic. She darted through the terrified animals like she was stuck in a maze, when suddenly a sharp pain shot up her back as someone grasped her by the skin and lifted. The second Trip pulled my wolf to his face and sniffed her, my human-self tried to rush forward and help her, but there were so many people blocking the entrance in their urgency to escape.
“You look familiar,” he growled to my wolf, walking quickly toward the exit as his barn burned behind him and the freed animals ran for their lives.
Switching back to my human perspective, I looked over my shoulder to try to locate Sage or Marmal, and gasped when I saw a shiny blur of white take off into the sky above me.
Pearl had gotten out, and now she flew, with Marmal on her back!
“Follow them!” I yelled down the embankment at Sage, who was riding as fast as she could on our horse and buggy to get up to the main road. I wasn’t even sure she heard me, but I couldn’t waste any more time or Trip was going to hurt my wolf. Pushing through the crowd, I finally broke into the smoky barn and stopped a few feet inside just as Trip ran for the exit.
Trip took one look at me and stopped dead. He stood in the doorway of the smoking barn and wrapped his fingers tightly around my wolf’s throat until she couldn’t breathe.
“It’s you,” he growled.
Motherfucker.
Without another thought, I yanked my cuffs off and threw my hands outward. An unseen force slammed into him, flinging him backward into the burning barn. My wolf went down with him and I surged forward, past the panicked people and animals. My wolf went spectral and wriggled free of Trip’s grasp as he attempted to stand up, and then she bolted toward me.
‘Run!’ she said.
I didn’t need to be told twice. Pivoting where I stood, I kept my cuffs in my hands and took off at vampire speed with my wolf hot on my heels. I blasted past the scared animals and screaming fey, troll and Ithaki, and caught up with Sage in no time. With a giant leap, my wolf sucked back into my body and I snapped the cuffs on.
“I almost shot you!” Sage grumbled as I appeared quickly at her side. Reaching out, she extended her arm and then pulled me up onto the moving horse carriage.
“Where the hell is Marmal? Did she get away?” Sage peered behind us at the smoking barn that was now in the distance. So she hadn’t heard my order to follow them.
I grinned and pointed up to the sky.
Sage looked upward at the shiny white dragon with a tiny brown dot on its back and her mouth popped open. “So … it can fly…” she said.
I grinned. “Yep.”
Jumping over to my horse, I look the reins and we urged them to go faster. The ride was rough, the carriage bulky, and Trip was no doubt not going to stop looking for us. I chewed on my lip. “If Pearl can carry Marmal all the way to Magic City Prison, we don’t need the carriage,” I told Sage.