Abandoned

The Revinir and her team of mind-controlled dragons flew a lot faster than the ghost dragons had, but Fifer and Thisbe weren’t sure they would survive the trip.

It hadn’t been hard for the girls to figure out that the dragon-woman had been hiding in Artimé’s jungle, waiting for them to take their evening walk. She’d swooped down and snatched them up when they neared the lagoon. The Revinir’s six red water dragons had risen from the sea to assist, but the dragon-woman wouldn’t let the twins go—she dangled them from her claws the entire journey back to the land of the dragons. By the time they crossed over the gorge, the twins were unconscious.

It worked in the Revinir’s favor. She didn’t want them to be aware of where she was planning to drop them off. She wanted them to be disoriented. Lost and scared. That was the only way to bring them around to her way of thinking. Make them desperate, dangle a carrot, and then they would see her side of things. Break them down and train them back up.

Once Thisbe was supportive of the Revinir as the ruling dragon of Grimere, then the true power could be transferred, and she would officially be number one in the land of the dragons. Along with Thisbe as the ruling black-eyed human, of course. Unfortunately, the Revinir needed to keep at least one of those black-eyed children around for this purpose, and maybe a backup or two. The rest, she’d come to realize, were disposable.

And there was no way she was bringing these two back to the castle or the catacombs. Neither place had been a good prison for Thisbe—she’d escaped too many times. But Ashguard’s palace and the deserted wasteland surrounding it were just the decrepit mess of sheer nothingness for miles to make Thisbe and Fifer beg to be rescued. Surround them with dragons to keep them contained, and eventually they’d promise to do anything… even make a pact with the Revinir to rule together.

The Revinir knew Thisbe had it in her to be evil. The girl had tricked her in the past and was more stubborn than the dragon-woman had expected, but she would come around in time. It was Fifer she was more worried about. That young woman was awash in goodness. She might have to be disposed of once the plan was in place—but not before, or the Revinir might lose Thisbe’s allegiance. It was a tricky affair. The dragons would keep an eye on the girl.

By the time they soared over the crater lake and the palace ruins were in sight, it was midafternoon.

“Something was stirring a moment ago,” said one of the red dragons in a monotone voice. “I don’t see it now. It went off toward the orchard.”

“Probably those foxes, like the last time we were scoping things out,” said the Revinir. “Or some other animal. Deer, perhaps.”

“Probably.” Drool dripped from the hungry red dragon’s mouth, but he fell silent, and the moment was forgotten.

The Revinir glanced down at the twins hanging from her grip and noticed they looked half-dead. She didn’t want them to die, but other than that she didn’t have much pity in her, though she did feel a small pang somewhere deep under her scales. She remembered when she was about their age. Young Emma, plotting her revenge against her horrible siblings, Marcus and Justine.

Just who had the upper hand now? They were dead, their legacies no doubt soon to be forgotten with the passage of time. But the Revinir… Eagala… Emma… She was about to rule an entire world, and these girls were going to help her.

They circled just above the palace, and the Revinir studied the sagging, rotten roof between the four corner towers and the large center tower. “I wonder if this old roof will hold them or if it’ll give way?” she mused. “What do you think?” she asked one of her companions.

The dragon eyed it. “It doesn’t seem sturdy.”

“Good. You four, take your positions,” she called out to the dragons, and four of the six swooped down to land on the ground, one in each corner of the vast property.

“Don’t kill the black-eyed ones, but don’t let them get away, either,” said the Revinir, circling again above the roof with the remaining two dragons. And then she let go, dropping the unconscious girls onto the rotting palace roof.