Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

A week passed, in which we got the ash and dirt cleaned out of the cave, and replaced most of its necessities. When questioned, Zariah admitted to stealing things from the Seat where he could, though most people knew the areas he could stick his long neck into where the dome didn't quite cover, and protected their valuables.

"They put all their things, though, in great piles, and most stuff looks broken or full of holes," Zariah admitted, rubbing a hand down his face. "Sometimes there is no more room, so I simply set it all on fire and burn it down, but they just bring more! Isn't that curious?"

I thought for a moment, Shava shooting me a look as we came to the same conclusion together.

"Zariah: the great trash dragon," I intoned, trying hard to keep from laughing. Shava snorted, struggling equally for control. D had no such problem and laughed long and hard.

Zariah scratched his head. "Trash dragon? You mean they leave these things for me on purpose?"

Shava erupted into a fit of giggles. I cleared my throat.

"It's not stealing, then," I offered.

Zariah sighed and shifted back into his dragon form, and Shava and I grabbed the goat carcass he'd just brought. Shava knew quite a bit about skinning a once-living creature, and in a way none of my anatomy and medical texts had prepared me for.

Zariah flew off, leaving us to it.

It was bloody business, but I didn't shy away from it. The skill was useful, and I was accustomed to spilling my blood for rituals—so gutting an animal was hardly any trouble. Shava had a steady hand, and D was eager to learn as well, so between the three of us we made quick work of the animal.

"Did you want to go exploring today?" Shava asked just as we finished spearing a few chunks of meat over the fire, which Zariah had helpfully lit again for us. The goat's skin lay out in the sun to dry, and D was happily sorting through the larger bones and cleaning them. We'd use them later for anything we needed. The rest of the guts and unneeded bits got tossed over the side of the cliff.

The meat sizzled as it cooked, and juices dripped down onto the rocks, leaving hissing columns of steam to rise into the air. The smell made my stomach rumble.

"Explore? Do you mean the hot springs?" I asked, confused. We were stuck up on a high cliff; what was there to explore besides the sharp drop?

Shava shook her head. "No, the other caves. Zariah said this mountain is full of them."

My brow furrowed in thought. "This kingdom used to be rich from mining. It would make sense if there were tunnels that connected old mines to the kingdom, wouldn't it?"

Shava blinked. "Like tunnels? I know of a few tunnels."

Now it was my turn to blink. "You do?" The possibilities exploded in my brain, my mind whirling with all the implications.

"Stupid me. I forgot all about them, but there was an old tunnel in the mud quarter. If there are more that lead out of the kingdom, that's our ticket to smuggle people out!" Shava said, standing up with excitement.

I nodded slowly. I'd had no idea of how I'd actually ‘help' her when I agreed to it, but this was a definite possibility.

"There are more details to figure out, but finding if tunnels exist would be a good start," I admitted slowly.

Not to mention, I could find an even more secluded, secure place to do my rituals.

D reached out and plucked a stick with meat out of the fire, testing its heat with the pad of a finger. Blowing on it once, he wolfed it down and reached for another.

I took a stick for myself and held one out to Shava. We crossed sticks and traded grins.

"Cheers."

It was unseasoned, and a little charred on the outside, but it would do. D and Shava ate with apparent relish, and again I was forced to admit the privileged life I had led despite its hardships.

It made me angry on Shava's and D's behalf. They deserved to taste the finer things in life, and shouldn't have to fight for the right, only once reaped and at the palace. The disparity of resources made no sense. Once I was more powerful, I'd use my powers and my alliance with Zariah to make real changes.

My fingers itched to plan my next ritual.

One thing at a time .

"Where are these other caves?" I said instead.

Shava pointed behind me, to the left of our cave. I followed the direction of her finger, heart sinking as I saw the dark slice cut into the rock, level with us. Only a thin ledge of stone lay connecting where we were to the thin opening.

"You aren't serious," I deadpanned.

Shava grabbed another stick of meat and downed it, chewing loudly.

"What?" she asked, her mouth still full. She swallowed, wiping her greasy hands on her tunic. "That? I've scaled thinner ledges than that in the mud district."

"But you never explored the tunnel in the mud quarter?" I challenged, one eyebrow raised.

Shava rolled her eyes. "You try to poke around forbidden tunnels with Fireguards up your ass every hour of the day and night."

D cowered a bit, as if caught unawares by a bad memory.

I hated the constant reminders of how disparate our childhoods were. I didn't like the feelings it brought up in me; feelings that only complicated my goals and ambitions.

Because you know it isn't right.

She shucked off her ineffective silk slippers from the palace, which were already torn and had a hole in her left sole. I glanced down at my own shoes, but I didn't see how my sandals would help her, being much larger than her feet.

An uneasy tingle went down my spine as she eased her way onto the ledge and crept sideways, progressing inch by inch. Her bare feet gripped hard onto the ledge, doing just as much work as the fingers that clutched onto the rocks.

At least I didn't have to feel bad about keeping my own shoes on.

A small hand balled into the fabric of my tunic, and I whipped around.

"Do you think she's gonna make it?" whispered a small voice.

Frowning down at D, I jerked away, but he held on. I ignored him and kept nervous eyes on Shava, who was now more than halfway across. If she jumped, she might even make it one leap. The sure thing would be to keep inching forward, however.

"Shava is capable," I muttered before I realized it. Perhaps I needed the reassurance, because I certainly wasn't comforting the boy—what a ridiculous notion.

D cried out as Shava's foot slipped, her weight shifting as her body fell. With a grunt and a scrape, her fingers clutched onto the ledge her feet had just been, and impossibly, she hung on.

I stopped breathing, every scenario whirling through my head, hundreds of possibilities and outcomes in the blink of an eye.

I saw my mother's body in bed, motionless and dead.

I saw the lumps under sheets when I'd first passed through the bathing chamber with the other reaped boys all those years ago. Hindsight taught me they'd been bodies: dead mud girls who'd been tossed into the tubs and drowned.

It couldn't happen again. Shava wasn't just any mud girl, and I wouldn't let her die. I wouldn't lose one of the few girls I'd ever found tolerable and worth being around. I couldn't lose another woman I cared about.

Damnit. Fuck. Shit.

I cared about her .

And just like when I risked myself to jump onto the dome to save her, I barely gave it a second thought as I inched out onto the ledge, D shouting at my back. But what could I do? She was halfway out on the ledge, clinging on for life. I'd never reach her in time, and even if I did, how would I be able to help her?

We needed a dragon. But how to call him?

Without warning, I turned on D and struck him across his face. His eyes went wide with fear and he crumpled to his knees, but silently.

That wouldn't do.

I grabbed him and walked to the edge of the cliff, hands balled in his tunic, and held him out over the ledge.

He writhed and kicked. His face was white, and his mouth was frozen open with the rictus of terror.

And yet he didn't scream.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" Shava screeched at me, predictably in an uproar over someone else, although she was one hangnail away from death herself.

I wasn't proud of myself, but I didn't see another way.

I dropped D, and he scuttled away, making a high-pitched whining sound.

"Get away from him! I'm going to rip out your spleen if you go near him!"

Her shouts echoed off the rocks, loud and erratic.

A good start, but I needed more.

"Climb back up and make me," I taunted her. "Or can't you see with all that mud in your eyes?"

It wasn't the most clever insult, but effective.

Shava bellowed with rage, trying to lift herself, then swing her legs back over the ledge. All her efforts were in vain, as she only exhausted herself.

"Come here, D. I'll throw you over to give her corpse some company."

D yelped, but it was a quiet gasp as I took a fake step towards him. Shava, however, exploded. Her high-pitched scream rattled my eardrums as the cliff magnified it.

Perfect.

I turned towards the east, sweating and holding my breath. I blocked out Shava's tired grunts and D's whimpers of fear.

"Come on. Come on. "

My eyes strained as I squinted, desperately willing the familiar black silhouette to appear.

And impossibly, it did.

Emotion swelled in my heart as Zariah's dragon form grew larger and larger. I waved my hands over my head, jumping up and down and not caring if I looked like an absolute fool.

"OVER HERE! ZARIAH!"

The dragon banked hard from his path, taking in the scene with his keen eyesight and adjusting his trajectory.

"Fuck, fuck!"

Shava's arm muscles shook and spasmed with effort, her fingers sliding off from the edge as she couldn't hold on any longer.

Zariah was close.

D cried out in warning.

Shava fell.

Zariah dove. That's when I noticed he already carried something in his claws.

Or someone.

How would he catch Shava?

D curled into himself and covered his head, unable to look. I wanted to do the same, but forced myself to watch.

Zariah dove after Shava as she plunged, catching her leg in one claw and pulling up hard with a roar, inches from the ground.

"YES!"

My fist pumped the air, and I jumped up, grabbing D and twirling him around in my arms.

He squeaked in terror and punched me in the nose.

The blow wasn't hard, but it surprised me. I fell to my ass, wincing but unable to take my eyes off the sky as D scurried away from me.

Zariah wheeled around wide as he leveled out and regained control, fighting hard to gain altitude and flying back towards us. Shava's face was a red blob as Zariah awkwardly held her upside from one leg, but she was still the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen as he set her down as gently as he could.

"Shava!"

I rushed forward to help her up, her hair a frizzy, tumbled mess over her face and shoulders as she fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. She accepted my hand to stand, then immediately swung for me.

Expecting it, I ducked and put my hands up to block any more blows.

"I was trying to scare him so his screams called Zariah!" I argued. Surely she couldn't be mad once she understood I did it for her, and the overall greater good?

Her face didn't soften in understanding. If anything, her eyes burned hotter with hatred. She held her arms out and D ran into them, not crying but clutching onto her tightly, as if at any moment she might fall off the cliff again. "You're heartless. You don't terrorize a child like that!"

My jaw dropped. Was she serious? Shava was angry because I'd saved her?

"You could have told me to scream! I would have!" She shot at me.

I laughed. "Oh? You would have simply accepted you needed to scream and not asked why, or peppered me with a thousand questions?"

Her lips thinned. "Maybe, but at least I wouldn't have traumatized anyone else for no reason!"

My eyes slid to D, who glared back but also slid himself a little behind Shava.

"He's a child! I thought he would scream and squeal the moment I touched him, just like—"

"You moron! He isn't a pampered little brat from the Seat! He's a mud boy! Pain is our bedmate! Screaming draws the Fireguards!" Tears welled in the corners of her eyes, her hands resting protectively on D's shoulders.

I stared at her in shock. I'd come up with (what I thought) was a clever plan and saved her life, and I'm the bad guy?

"Um … excuse me?"

A woman with blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes brushed herself off and stared at us.

"You," she marveled.

There was a goddamn dragon hovering over her, but she only had eyes for me. I didn't like her stare, because I didn't understand it. And I hated what I didn't understand.

"I don't know you," I pushed out, irritated at her open rudeness.

"Everyone knows you," she breathed back, voice soft. "The king's bastard son; the mud boy experiment. But more importantly, I knew your mother."

I took an involuntary step back. Has everyone known the truth but me? No wonder the Noble boys had wanted nothing to do with me.

"Well, clearly you also pissed off the queen. What did you do? Break her nail?" I sneered.

The woman rolled her eyes.

"I've seen … things. By accident, I walked in on my sister and her husband. He… well, anyway, when the queen asked to see me, I thought she wanted to hear what I'd seen because she was concerned …"

She barked out a dry laugh.

"The Fireguards tossed me up through the hatch before I could so much as blink. Then the dragon—"

She whipped around as if expecting Zariah to swoop down and finish the job at any moment. He just tilted his massive head to the side at her.

"Did it bring you all here too?" she asked. "My brother was sent to the dragon a few months ago. He isn't here, is he? I'm really glad he isn't just eating all of us."

Her small laugh grated against my nerves.

Shava bit her lip, eyes on the ground.

"The dragon tries to save who he can, but the queen makes it difficult. The four of us are the first of a new … understanding," I managed, hoping she'd read between the lines.

She nodded, her smile still bright.

"This curse … tell me more." Because I'd scoured the archives for anything related to a curse and come up short. If there was a record of it, it'd been long destroyed.

The woman glanced around before leaning in. The movement was comical since we were on a cliff in the middle of the desert, miles away from the palace. But I understood her reticence; those instincts to keep knowledge hidden are what kept her alive and able to gather it.

"I hear," she whispered intensely, "that the curse is on the queen and her family for something they did. It brought the dragon here, and it's why Nobles disappear. I know the queen didn't want to take any chances with her bloodline. She forced the king to take a Noble woman, to see if the child would be healthy or cursed. Once you were a few years old and shown no signs of the curse, she had the prince."

I took all of that in. If that was true, then my mother had been a victim. No wonder she'd always had an aura of sadness that clung to her like a well-worn cloak.

And yet … I wasn't angry at the king. I knew where to place the blame: directly at the queen's feet.

"You've seen them change?" I clarified, wanting to know exactly what she'd seen.

Her eyes shuttered as she crossed her arms over her chest, as if catching a sudden breeze in the hot sun.

"I don't want to talk about it."

I frowned as she switched topics faster than a candle flame snuffed out by a puff of air.

"So … where are the others, then? The ones who were saved?" the woman asked, looking around as if they would spring into being. Where would we be hiding them, Shava's skirts?

Shava's eyes bored into the side of my head.

"We are the first ones saved I know of. We have a plan in place to save as many people as we can. We'd like you to help us with that."

I'd rather stick a spoon through my eye than add more people to my plot, but I thought it would be the polite thing to say.

Tears welled in her eyes as she finally put the pieces together. "Wait … so … that's not right." She turned and glared at the dragon. "You ate my brother?!" Her hand went to her hip and a shining dagger gleamed in the sunlight as she brought it down in a flashing arc. With barely a sound, Zariah shifted until he was curled into a ball in front of her, a small naked boy unable to strike back.

She jolted and cried out, her arm freezing in midair.

"But … I … the prince?" she finished weakly, looking as if the next strong breeze would topple her over.

Shava came up behind her and snatched the dagger out of her hand, tucking it away into her own pocket. She made a sound of disgust, turning her head towards me so it was clear it was directed at me.

"Come on, let's go talk." Shava reached out with the other to snag the woman's wrist and dragged her back into the cave, D trailing behind them after shooting me a look.

I was left alone with the naked prince.

"We need to get you a loincloth or something," I grumbled.

Zariah rolled his eyes.