Chapter 21

There was the sound of a latch lifting.

For a moment, she thought it a hallucination, or maybe just a dream, that she had lost the will after so long and had finally fallen asleep after what felt like years of struggling to stay awake.

But then the door opened, letting light stream inside. The creatures flew from the light, dissolving like shadows.

She blinked several times and knew she wasn't dreaming or hallucinating. A pair of men—two uugari—came rushing down the narrow stairs. They kicked away the bones and took out their blades. Their orange eyes shone in the dark as they searched around.

"Where is she?" one hissed.

"Come on, find her quickly!" It was Margrul, calling from above.

The uugari moved, crushing bones under their feet as they advanced farther into the cavern, checking every corner. She didn't move as she watched them. She hadn't moved since she crawled into the little space below the rock. She wondered if she could even move at all, her body so stiff, as if she'd been stuck that way for more than just several hours. The blood on her hand had dried, but there were new cuts on her cheek and jaw, and her coat was shredded all across the arm and back from those damn creatures that hadn't let up. She still gripped the bone in her good hand, now stained with black blood from one of the little monsters she'd managed to kill.

She'd been so fucking tired, her eyes glazing over several times, her body straining, her pulse in her ears, the pain in her lungs a dull ache. But she was alive. And now, as she watched the uugari, she grew suddenly alert, her last reserve of energy pouring through her.

One of the men moved along the wall nearest to her. "We need more light," he grumbled. "I can't see enough."

He stopped to inspect a pile of bones in front of her. She gripped the thigh bone tighter, waiting.

"Nothing over here," his packmate called from the other side of the cavern.

Something must have caught his eye as he turned to face her. A growl slipped from him as his dim gaze cast down on her. "There you are—"

She swung out, whacking him across his ankles with the bone. The bone split down the middle, and the uugari snarled as he stumbled back, tripping over the pile he'd been inspecting and falling on his back with a thud.

Ria snapped the rest of the bone in half, now sporting a sharp end. Adrenaline rushed into her veins, and she surged out from the rock, ignoring every pain and strained muscle as she pulled herself up onto her feet and stumbled forward.

The uugari started to rise, and she rushed for him, kicking him in the face, stomping it back down as she jumped over him. She stumbled again, then pushed her legs up to make for the stairs.

As she started up them, the other uugari saw her and lunged for her. She got halfway up when he caught her ankle. She swiped at his face with the bone and slashed him across one eye with the sharp end, making him howl and let her go.

Before she could turn to climb up the steps, the ground shook underneath her, making her flinch. Dust fell from the cave floor and dozens of wings flapped around in the darkness. The uugari fell back while the other on the ground yelped as the creatures overtook him.

Steadying herself, Ria crept up the stairs, making sure not to fall back with them.

"To the front! Get outside now!" she heard Margrul roaring above her. As she snuck her way up the staircase, she could see him shouting at his pack, ordering them outside to fight. Not to run and hide.

When his back was turned, she clenched the bone tight in her fist. He partially blocked her way out. She wouldn't be able to sneak past him without him seeing her and she couldn't overpower him once he caught her.

But he was distracted now…and he didn't see her coming up on him from the dark. Only one chance.

She sprinted up the rest of the way, pushing herself with all the strength she had left. As he turned on her, she leapt toward him, plunging the bone into his neck. His mouth opened as if to roar or scream in her face, but it was silent. He swung an arm at her and knocked her back, knocking the air from her lungs. She slid across the ground, hugging her chest.

He started to move on her as she crawled back away from him, gasping for air.

"You…you." His voice cracked like thunder, the need to kill dead set in his eyes. He lunged for her, and the ground shook again, a powerful boom making the very building quake.

Margrul collapsed to his knees, and she shuffled away, backing into a wall. She stared up at the ceiling, wondering if it was going to come down on them. She could hear shouts everywhere. Men were bolting away and out of sight.

What the hell was happening?

Another boom and debris startled to fall, crashing on the ground.

Using the wall at her back, she lifted herself up. She pressed a hand to her ribs, then lurched forward. Margrul swung out for her once more, but this time he missed. She side-stepped away from him and bolted like the others for the front.

No one tried to stop her. Everyone was too panicked by the chaos going on outside. She raced for the front door and shot out into the courtyard. The night was fading, and she could see the sky brightening along the horizon.

It was a soft yellow light that penetrated the darkness to the east. But as she looked over, across the distance that led down to the city, she saw orange. She halted as smoke, not steam, rose in a plume over her.

She turned her gaze back across the courtyard and inhaled sharply, like she was about to scream.

The shadow of a giant lumbered across the path toward where she stood, its glowing green eyes fixed on one side of the courtyard where a group of Margrul's men stood their ground by the wall. The giant lifted one fist and, from the top of the arm, shot out a set of narrow missiles. They hit the side of the wall, exploding one after the other in plumes of fire, taking out the wall and the men with it.

She lifted her arm to cover her face from the heat of the blast. In the sudden bright light, she caught the giant's true form, a huge black and silver mech, assembled with the parts Draka had stolen and scavenged. Drones, machine parts from the factories and mines. It towered over everyone at least two and a half stories tall, with a narrow, serpent-like head and body that reminded her almost like the skalegs, raptor-like. She could even see along its spine the fuel capsules being used to power it.

She would have stopped to marvel at how incredible it was that he'd made such a thing, and how long it must have taken, but she was in the middle of a firefight and the adrenaline in her blood was starting to wane, her energy fizzling out.

She moved steadily across the courtyard toward the mech in hopes he would see her, one arm hugging her ribcage, the other waving toward him.

"Draka, I'm here!"

The mech lurched around, green eyes scanning across the yard. It paused when it saw her. It dropped its arm and moved to meet her. As the distance was closed between them, the mech dropped to its knees, then bent forward into a cat-like pose until the head rested on the ground. The top of the head opened, and Draka jumped out. Before she could utter a word, his arms were around her, holding her tight.

"I feared you were dead," he said in a shaky voice. "I was ready to burn everything if you were."

"I know," she sighed, her arms wrapped around his waist, head buried in his chest.

She could feel his muscles tense as he peered toward the building, his claws digging into her tattered coat. "Margrul, where is he?"

"Inside. I stabbed him with a bone. I'm not sure if he's dead or not."

He pulled her away so that he could look at her, his eyes wide with shock. "You...fought him?"

She shrugged. "More like got a lucky jab in. He had it coming, didn't he?"

His awed expression turned to giddy excitement, a wide grin splitting across his face. "Yes. Yes, he did." He pulled her in and hugged her again, lifting her off her feet, his chest shaking with laughter. "Gods, I love you. Ria, my fierce queen."

She winced as she smiled. "I'm determined to get the hell out of here. And it has to be with you."

"As you command." He set her on her feet and saw her grit her teeth as she pressed a hand to her ribs. His smile dropped as his hand covered hers. He examined her body and face. "What did they do?" he said in a guttural voice.

"Might have broken a rib. They threw me down a hole."

The look in his eyes was murderous and determined. Carefully he lifted her and returned to the mech, using one arm to climb back inside while holding her. He set her on his lap as he reclined back in the single seat. She shifted around and sank into him, her back to his chest, allowing him to bring his arms around her to take hold of the steering and controls.

"Hold on, my sweet Ria," he said. She could feel his smile against her ear. "This is going to be fun."

The top of the head came down, enclosing them inside. As Draka worked the controls, the mech began to move. It lifted up onto its feet, making Ria's stomach drop as it rose, then started back across the yard.

As he came upon the building, he raised one giant metal arm and aimed at the door. "If he isn't dead, he will be now," he growled. He pulled a trigger and another set of missiles speared through the entrance, and the walls crumbled as the building went up in flames.

They watched Margrul's place burn down before Draka turned the mech around and moved back down toward the city. At the edge of one hillside, she saw down into the city center, saw the factories up in flames, half the buildings decimated. Inmates were running out, crowds of them waiting at the edge, watching the fires.

"Shit," she cursed softly. "You weren't lying. You took out the factories. But what about all the people?"

"I sent teams down to warn them I was coming and to evacuate," he assured. "Not so much the guards though."

"And the drones?" She gazed over the sky, looking for them.

"Gone," Draka said. "Now, let's go get us a ship." He steered the mech west, heading toward the port. Groups of inmates started to follow.