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36
“I must go to my men. I need to see if alive,” Jin says.
“What? No,” Hollis pleads. “We need you.”
I elbow her and scowl. She backs away in a pout.
“I must.” He bows slightly and places a hand on Tolliver’s shoulder. Their eyes meet and Tolliver nods.
Jin wraps his braid around his head, pulls his mask down over his face and scurries off into the wilderness. I watch him go, barely hearing his footsteps. His stealth and agility conceal his movements.
We follow the ridge around the east side of the mountains toward the dragon cave. We walk quietly out of sight of the castle and the winged slaves.
I need to find Alouette and her family and make sure she is okay. Not knowing where to start, I consider sneaking down among the Ellerian prisoners and asking them, but I’m not sure who is holding them captive or their capabilities.
“This is a bad idea,” Tolliver says, following behind Hollis and me.
“I have to see if she is here,” Hollis says. “You don’t have to come.”
“Hollis and I can go in together,” I state. “You guys can stay outside and stand guard.”
“No way,” Angus answers. “We don’t have any weapons. Maybe we can find some in there.”
“We stay together,” Tolliver says.
The cave isn’t being guarded. Inside are enormous cages built into the walls. Metal bars block off branches of caverns. We peer into several along the main corridor finding dragons in each. One hisses at us as we pass, another looks with mild curiosity. Shrieking and clawing echoes from farther down the tunnel.
“I don’t think we should go down there,” Kava says. “This is far enough.”
“Please, please let me see if she is in here,” Hollis pleads with determination in her eyes. She rumples her hair and shakes water droplets all around like a wet dog.
Tolliver nods and says, “We’ll stay hidden here. You sneak around that corner and take a look.” Tolliver guides Kava and Angus into a small, dark crevice in the wall.
“I’m going with,” I whisper and follow her.
We slide along the wall and crouch low to look around the bend in the cave. Beyond a wall of bars, there are seven men surrounding a large green dragon in the center of a huge round cavern.
Several men hold torches and one at the head holds a rope tied to its muzzle. The jaws are clamped shut. Letting out a muffled shriek, it rears up on its hind legs.
“It’s not her,” Hollis whispers, shoulders drooping. “Maybe she couldn’t fly this far.”
“Come on, Hollis,” I say. “Let’s go.”
She hangs her head and follows me back to the crevice. When we return, the others are gone. “Where are they?”
I wrap an arm around her. As we inch forward, I tiptoe making sure my footfalls are as silent as Jin’s. Hollis scuffs a couple of times and I point at her feet then put a finger to my mouth shushing her.
We creep back through the cave until we hear voices. My ears perk up at our language echoing down the halls. “What do you want me to do with them?”
“Take them to Ciel,” a man says.
“I’m not taking them. You take them,” a nervous voice says. “He will not be pleased to hear we allowed trespassers in the stables.”
“Then don’t tell him. Say you found them in the woods.”
I look at Hollis. She is nervously chewing on a piece of her hair. Looping my finger around it, I gently pull it out.
I am startled by a loud crack from behind us as a sharp pain shoots through my lower back. A man with a whip swings it in the air preparing to lash out again. I gasp and whirl around facing him, blocking his access to Hollis. He snaps the whip with a flick of his wrist and wraps it around us both. Hollis screams as it bites into her skin. It’s like a hundred bee stings all in a row.
The man is a head shorter than I am, but his wings unfurl aggressively behind him making him appear taller. He gestures toward the mouth of the cave, forcing us to join our friends, where he untangles the black leather whip from around us.
The man with the whip asks, “Who are these children in my stables?”
“We are taking them to Roi du Ciel,” the taller one says with a blade in his hand.
“Then do it,” he barks. They tie our hands behind our backs with strips of rope. I inspect their large gray wings, powerful and moving as if they were an arm or leg. Hollis is wide eyed gaping at them. She winces when one of them walks by and grazes her arm with his feathery tip. I can’t help but wonder if they are Ellerian, unless there is another winged race in this enormous world.
It is a long walk through the muck to the castle. I slip several times and nearly fall on my face because my hands are tied behind my back. As we walk across a makeshift bridge over the ditch the winged slaves are digging, some of them stop and stare.
The mud cakes on the bottom of my feet and I tiptoe carefully to avoid slipping again. Inside the archway of the east gate we follow the taller stableman into a wide hallway. On one side are tall window openings overlooking a messy courtyard still in the process of being built. There, several women with leather straps on their wings kneel with their hands in the dirt. My heart aches at the thought of Alouette’s wings being tied down like some ensnared bird and being forced to work.
Midway down the hall the men lead us through an enormous doorway into a throne room twice the size of the one on Ellery. The walls are a gray stone and the floor is some sort of smooth black rock I’ve never seen before. I am surprised by how shiny it is and peer down at our reflections. I am dirty and disheveled.
There are several groupings of winged men and women, dressed in fancy clothing and jewels all around the room. They pause mid-conversation and gawk at us being escorted to the king.
On the throne is a wingless man with piercing eyes. His short silvery hair spikes up around a thin gold crown. His eyebrows are dark and tipped angrily at us. My insides clench.
The stableman leads us to the foot of the platform on which the single throne sits. He takes a knee before Roi du Ciel. The man behind us does the same. The entire room is quiet. All eyes are on us. The silence jars me like a thousand stones being thrown at the same time. I don’t understand why no one is saying anything. The nervous man grabs the front of Tolliver’s shirt and yanks downward. Tolliver falls to his knee and one by one we all lower ourselves before the king. My face burns and my heart thrums wildly. I hold my breath, bringing it under control.
The king speaks in a deep powerful voice, “What is this?”
“Your majesty,” the nervous man says with head still bowed. “We found them wandering around the... in the woods.” His voice cracks on the last word as he lies and gulps down a breath.
“Perfect,” the king bellows. “Our first grounder prisoners. Throw them in the dungeon for trespassing.”
Looking around from my kneeling position, I notice several people seated on the right side of the room. Three women sit on a padded bench with a serving of tea before them on a round table. Their white wings are folded neatly, and their dainty hands are poised in the air with teacups. One of them, a woman with dark hair and brown eyes, jolts. Her face goes white and she drops her cup. Alouette.
The teacup crashes to the floor at her feet, breaking the gaping silence. Unable to take my eyes off her, I breathe heavily. The sound of the cup hitting the stone catches the king’s attention. My throat constricts as she rises from her seat. She curtsies in a wispy gold dress that is gathered at her narrow waist by a wide burgundy sash. Her thick brown hair hangs over her chest past her elbow. Her face is solemn but as beautiful as I remember, with wide cheekbones and dainty pink lips.
The king nods at her.
“I apologize,” she speaks. Her voice is like music filling my ears, singing a song that my soul has ached to hear for a long time. “I know these people.” She is being strangely proper and closed off, unlike the free spirit I remember.
The king’s eyebrows relax. “Who are they? And what do they want?”
“I believe they came,” she looks at me with intense eyes, “To visit me.” Her wings swish and spread to either side as she curtsies low again. “May I take leave and walk with them through the courtyard?”
Surprisingly, the king is actually considering her request.
“You may,” he says, moving one finger in her direction, his tone easing. She has favor with this tyrant. I loosen my jaw and take a deep breath.
Alouette gathers her long golden skirts in her hands and hurries to me. She tells the stablemen to untie us and waves them off as she leads us to the door. I reach for her hand, but she pulls away. An ache shoots through my chest.
“Lonan, escort Alouette and her guests,” the king commands as we head for the door.
She has favor, I think to myself, but not full trust.
Tracing our steps across the path of smooth black marble, I follow Tolliver, Angus, and Kava. Hollis walks beside me rubbing her wrists. Her eyes reveal confusion beneath her furrowed brow. Alouette walks quietly behind and my mind floods with questions.
As soon as we turn left out of the throne room, I spin around, mouth open, ready to speak. Alouette shakes her head vigorously, scowling at me. I swallow back the torrent of questions that swell behind a crumbling dam of patience.
At the end of the hall, she grabs my dirty sleeve and directs us through an archway into the unfinished courtyard. Alouette tells the guard to keep his distance so he pauses with his hands behind his back, wings blocking almost the entire doorway. We proceed down the only paved path and stop in the middle of the courtyard.
The sky is still gray and threatening but the rain has stopped. The wind tosses Alouette’s dark hair and ripples through her white wings.
“Leave us,” Alouette commands the wing-bound women working in the courtyard. They obey and scurry out of the area. Tolliver eyes her and looks at me, adding more questions to mine. The pressure of their weight bears down on me.
At the center of the rectangular garden, Alouette stops abruptly. “What are you doing here?” Her eyes finally reveal her surprise and delight that I am here.
“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” I demand. “When you didn’t come back, I thought...”
Alouette looks around and whispers, “I’m sorry. I had no way of getting news to you.”
I sense Tolliver getting antsy, but I don’t care. I need to know what is happening. “What is all this?”
“Our new home,” she blushes and shrugs at the mess around us. “I’m so glad you are here. How? You travelled all the way here, didn’t you?” She touches my face as if she can’t believe I’m real. I can’t look away from her deep brown eyes. They are like my mother’s eyes. Except on this exotic beauty, they are outlined with thick lashes and hold many secrets.
“Yes, I built a—” I interrupt myself and get right to the point, “It doesn’t matter how. I’ve come to rescue you.”
“Rescue me?” she scrunches her nose and her fearful eyes lie. “I don’t need rescuing.”
“Are those your people chained to the ground, forced to work?” The look on her face confirms what I already knew. “Your people are enslaved to that—that man in there!” I shout.
“That man?”
“Where is King Halcyon?” I ask.
“He is dead.” Alouette looks away, brows scrunching. She smooths her golden dress. “There was a shift in power and my father—”
“He is dead?” I ask. “Did that man kill him? Did he drag all of you here to force your people to build him a castle?”
“Ledger, silly boy.” She reaches for me.
Feeling patronized, I yank my hand away. “I’m not a boy anymore.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” Alouette puts a hand to her forehead. I’m making this harder on her, but I’m frustrated because I don’t understand what is happening.
“I’m getting you out of here.” To Tolliver and Angus, I say, “Let’s go.”
I offer her my hand and she reaches for it slowly. Her hand is a warm earthy color compared to my pale skin. When I pull her, she doesn’t move. Her eyes are sad, unwavering. “This is where I belong, Ledger. Stay with me.”
“What are you talking about?” I am in shock.
Her cheeks push back with an almost-smile as she says, “Stay here with me. I don’t have to marry Dayson. You and I can marry, with my father’s approval, of course. And this can be our home.”
This is not what I was expecting at all. I look at Hollis. Her blue eyes overload me with questions. The dam breaks. I’m confused by Alouette’s request. I can’t stay here. This is not my home. I don’t understand what is happening or what Alouette is thinking.
At that moment rumbling fills the air. I cannot figure out where it is coming from. Then rocks crumble from the castle walls. Looking up at the ominous storm clouds, men in black masks crest the top of the walls, set hooks into the stone and rappel down into the courtyard around us.
