Fledgling (The Dragonrider Chronicles) (14 page)

The bearded man cackled another
gravelly, rasping laugh. “You think I’m interested in
ransomin
’
any of you? Don’t be stupid, boy.”

“We don’t have any money!” I yelled at
him, feeling my face burn with fury. “We don’t have anything for you to steal!”

When they all laughed at me again, I
realized what they were. Slavers. I’d seen these kinds of people before. Filthy
liars who captured anyone they could to be sold in the slave market. They
weren’t going to care
who
we were, or what we had;
they would sell us off as workers for the mines, or worse.

“The halfbreed won’t fetch much,” one
of the men pointed out. “He looks sickly. We’d be better off dumping him at one
of the prison camps.”

The bearded man seemed to agree. He
pulled Beckah’s hair and it made her whimper in pain. “We’ll more than make up
for the loss with her.
A pretty young thing like this?
There are plenty of pleasure houses in
Halfax
that’ll
pay twenty in solid gold for her. I bet no one’s ever even kissed those soft
lips of hers yet.”

“Leave her alone!” My face burned. I
was seeing red. Beckah was looking right at me with her big green eyes begging
me to do something.

One of the slavers aimed a crossbow
right at me, and gave me an evil smirk like he would shoot me just for fun. It
made Mavrik roar with rage, snapping his teeth and making the guys pointing
their crossbows at him a little nervous.

“Call off the dragons, halfbreed,” the
bearded man commanded. He was looking right at me. “And I won’t cut her throat
open right here.”

I wanted to tell Mavrik to burn them
all to dust. The arrows from the crossbow wouldn’t have hurt him much, not with
his thick scales to protect him. But I wasn’t going to risk Beckah’s life. I
couldn’t risk her being burned along with them.

“Go, Mavrik.” I told him. My dragon
looked at me like he couldn’t believe I was agreeing. His yellow eyes narrowed,
and he hissed again in defiance. “It’s all right. I’ll be fine. Just go. Take
Nova with you.”

Mavrik didn’t like it, but he obeyed.
He growled and glared at them as he retreated backwards into the marsh. Nova
followed, and after a few minutes, I could hear their thundering wing beats as
they took off into the sky.

“Tie ‘
em
up,
boys! And bring the wagon around!” The bearded man bellowed, throwing Beckah
down into the mud at his feet. She hit the ground hard, and I saw her arms
shaking as she tried to sit back up.

Felix cursed and fought them until a
slaver kneed him hard in the gut, making him fall to his knees and groan. He
couldn’t fight anymore after that, and they tied his hands behind his back with
ropes. They tied Beckah up, too, and then they started after me.

I backed up a few paces, tripping over
my own feet in the mud. I could try to run, but there was no way I could outrun
their arrows. Besides, I wasn’t going to abandon my friends like that. I raised
my hands in surrender, and went down on my knees before I gave any one of those
slavers the satisfaction of getting to kick or punch me, too. They tied my
wrists behind my back so tightly I could feel the circulation being cut off
immediately.

The slavers were traveling in a big
group of ten or so armed men. The bearded man, who they called
Grothar
, was obviously in charge. He ordered us to be taken
up to the road, and we stood there waiting with slavers guarding us on all
sides while two wagons pulled by a team of horses galloped toward us. I still
didn’t know how they’d found us, but that was the least of my worries now.

The wagons stopped right in front of
us, and I got my first good look at the slave caravan. Both the wagons were
made of solid black metal, with only one long, narrow window cut into the top
of the door. It was barred, so no one could escape through it.

We came to the first wagon, and
Grothar
started barking out orders to his men. “Hurry it
up, boys! I don’t pay you to stand around
runnin
your
mouths!”

Grothar
opened the door to the first wagon
with a big ring of keys he wore clipped to his sword belt. The slavers shoved
Beckah into it. The inside of the wagon was totally dark, so I couldn’t see
into it, but I heard the panicked cries of other girls inside. It made fury
boil in the pit of my stomach. There was nothing I could do as they slammed the
door and locked it again.

Felix and I were tossed into the
second wagon. It was just the same as the first, except there were men and boys
in it instead of girls. It smelled like rotten hay and sweat, and I could hear
other people moving around close by. When
Grothar
shut the door, it was pitch black, and the wagon groaned and
rattled
as it started moving again.

“Jaevid?” I heard Felix wheezing my
name. He must have still been in pain from the blow he’d taken because his
voice was raspy and faint. “Call Mavrik back like you did before! Get him to
burn these guys to ash!”

I was struggling to sit up with my
arms tied. I couldn’t even move without bumping into someone close to me in the
dark. It was terrifying, and it made it impossible think about anything except
how afraid I was. I tried to find that same kind of calm I’d had before, to get
that knot of heat back in my chest. But I couldn’t focus at all. It was like my
fear was jumbling my thoughts, making me confused. I worried about where we
were going, I worried about
Sile
, about Beckah, and
how we were going to get out of this mess.

Of all the bad things that might ever
happen to me in my life, going to a prison camp was the worst possible option.
Most gray elves got to live in the ghettos, but if they ever broke any rules or
were caught doing anything illegal, they were put in shackles, loaded into wagons
just like this one, and shipped off to the prison camps. Not one of them was
ever heard from again. I had seen it happen before. Mothers and fathers torn
from their shacks, separated from their children. Anyone who tried to help them
ran the risk of being shipped off, too. Those images played through my mind
over and over, and I was so afraid that I couldn’t breathe.

“I-I can’t,” I stammered and choked.
“Felix . . . what’s going to happen to us
?!
I can’t go
to a prison camp! Felix, p-please! They’ll kill me in there!” Tears were
starting to well up in my eyes, and my chest felt tight. I was fighting for
every breath.

Through my fear and panic, Felix’s
voice reached out to me in the darkness. He still sounded hoarse, but he was
totally calm. “Jaevid, listen to me. You have to calm down right now. You’re a
dragonrider. You can beat this. But you can’t let yourself surrender to fear.
So pull yourself together. It’s time to man up. You’re not a kid anymore.”

I could hear the whispering of other
voices around us. There were at least a dozen other people in the back of the
wagon, but all I could see of them was faint shadows and occasionally the gleam
of their eyes. They were like ghosts in the darkness.

I shut my eyes to block them out, and
tried to concentrate on my breathing. Felix was right. I had to pull myself
together. Beckah needed me.
Sile
needed me.
Dragonrider or not, I couldn’t let this be the end. I had to survive.

“You still with me?” Felix asked.

“Y-yeah. Yeah. I’m fine.” I answered.

“Good.” His voice was getting a little
clearer and stronger. “Because I have a plan.”

seventeen

I
was smaller and more flexible, so I started working my way out of the ropes
first. The slavers had tied me up tight, but I was able to curl my legs up to
my chest and slip my arms under my feet. Once I had my hands in front of me, it
was much easier to move around. My eyes were getting used to the small amount
of light that trickled in from the narrow window at the top of the door, and I
could see Felix sitting nearby.

           
“I’ve
got it.” I whispered to him. I didn’t want to run the risk of the slavers
outside hearing me. “Hurry up and turn around.”

           
He
scooted closer and sat with his back to me. I had to feel around in the dark to
find the ropes tied around his wrists, which was awkward since my hands were
still tied together, too. I started untying him, and when I got the ropes
loose, Felix was able to work them off himself. I heard him let out a loud sigh
of relief.

           
While
he untied the ropes on my wrists, Felix was looking around like he was
plotting. I had no idea what he was going to do. Things didn’t look so good
from where I was sitting. We were outnumbered, locked in what was basically a
metal box on wheels, and neither of us had a weapon.

           
“F-Felix?”
A familiar voice whispered from the dark. It startled me because even though I
couldn’t see him, I knew who it was immediately. Lyon Cromwell was tied up in a
corner of the wagon with his wrists and ankles tied up. While I couldn’t be
sure in the faint light, it looked almost like he had a black eye.

           
“Lyon?”
I had to ask because I thought maybe my mind was just playing tricks on me. Why
would he be in the back of a slaver’s wagon?

           
“It’s
really you!” His voice was shaking, and he started sobbing. “Please, you have to
get me out of here. Don’t leave me here!”

           
Felix
untied my hands and went to start doing the same for Lyon. I followed, but I
kept my distance. After all, I hadn’t had very good experiences with Lyon in
the past. In fact, he had tried to beat me to death both times.

“You idiot,” Felix growled at him as
he pulled at the ropes. “How did you wind up in here?”

Lyon was sobbing hysterically. “H-he
promised me I’d get promoted straight to captain!” I could barely understand
him as he sniffled. “But he tricked me! They all lied!”

“Who?” I dared to ask.

He shuddered. “The king’s Lord
General. He came to me while we were at Blybrig, before training ever started.
He said if I did what he told me, if I cooperated, he’d make sure I was
promoted to captain straight out of the academy.”

“You really are an idiot,” Felix
growled as he finished untying him. “You fell for that?”

“He’s the Lord General! I had no
reason not to trust him!” Lyon barked back defensively.

“Why is he trying to kill Lieutenant
Derrick?” I tried to cut off their argument before it got started. After all,
it wasn’t like we had a lot of time. “And where are they taking us?”

“I-I
don’t
know the details. At first, he just wanted me to sabotage Lieutenant Derrick’s
saddle. Hey wanted me to make sure that . . . well, you know. But he came to me
again before we left for Duke Brinton’s. That time he just wanted me to lure
Lieutenant Derrick out of the ballroom. Those guardsmen in masks jumped us as
soon as we were alone.” Lyon stammered and sniffled. He sat up and started
rubbing his wrists. I could see him a little better when he leaned into the
light from the window. He definitely had a big, shiny black eye.

“You don’t know anything about why
they’d want to kill a decorated, Seasoned Lieutenant like that?” Felix growled
at him threateningly. “That didn’t sound the slightest bit suspicious to you?”

Lyon actually looked a little afraid
of him. “I don’t know why, I swear! They didn’t tell me anything. But I
overheard the Lord General talking to those guardsmen from the king. They were
saying something about a stone. They called it the god stone.”

Felix and I glanced at each other. I
had no idea what a god stone was, and I got the feeling he didn’t either. But
this couldn’t be good—not if it was worth killing over.

“Do you know where they’re taking us?”
I asked him again.

Lyon started wiping his nose, but he
was beginning to pull himself together. “The prison camp outside of
Halfax
, I think. I heard some of the slavers talking about
it.”

Felix grabbed the front of his tunic
suddenly. It surprised me, and it made Lyon tremble and throw his hands up in
surrender.

“This is all your fault, you little
worm,” Felix growled through his teeth. “Where is Lieutenant Derrick? Where did
they take him? You better start talking, or so help me, I’ll make both your
eyes black!”

“Felix!” I touched his shoulder
hesitantly. I was kind of afraid he’d hit me too, just out of blind fury. “Let
him go.
Just calm down.
This isn’t going to help.” I
hoped Lyon didn’t change his opinion of me too much, just because I was saving
his neck now. If Felix still wanted to beat him up after this was over, I
wasn’t sure I’d be so quick to stop him.

As soon as Felix let him go, Lyon
started backing away from us frantically. His eyes were wide, and he looked
terrified. “They separated us,” he started to explain. “I saw them put
Lieutenant Derrick in the back of another wagon. We only stopped once, outside
the marsh. I guess they must have seen you guys flying over, because they
started shouting orders and split up the caravan. The Lord General and the
king’s guardsmen took the lieutenant the long way around the marsh.”

Felix cursed. It was a big mess, but
at least now we knew how the slavers had found us in the first place. They’d
probably been lying in wait for us to land. “Well, at least we’re going in the
right direction.” He snorted.

           
I
wasn’t nearly as glad about that as he was. I didn’t care which direction we
were going—all I wanted to do was get out of this wagon. “So what’s your
plan for getting out of here? There’s only one door, and it’s locked from the
outside.”

           
Felix
shot me a dangerous look. It made me wonder if he was going to punch me in the
face, too. “You get to work on calling Mavrik back. You did it once before, you
can do it again. You have to. Because if I have to go with my fallback plan,
it’s basically guaranteed to get all or most of us killed in the process.” I
swallowed hard when he turned away again. “Lyon, help me cut loose the rest of
the prisoners.”

           
Lyon
hesitated. “But . . . they’re gray elves.”

           
He
was right about that. There were three other men in the back of the wagon, and
all of them were gray elves. They were just staring at us with their
diamond-colored eyes as big as saucers. They didn’t say a word, and I knew that
was because they were probably terrified of Felix and Lyon. One of them was
elderly, his skin sunken against his cheekbones, and another looked like he was
about
Sile’s
age. The last seemed to be about Felix’s
age, and he just kept staring right at me.

           
“So?”
Felix challenged. I saw him turn on Lyon, using the fact that he was bigger and
definitely stronger to dare him to say something about it. “You see anyone else
in here who can help us?”

           
Lyon
did not look happy. I could see the disgust on his face as he went to help
Felix untie the other prisoners. I could also see how afraid the gray elves
were. They were terrified, and began pleading with us in the garbled
elven
language not to hurt them.

           
“Can’t
you get the halfbreed to tell them to shut up? They’re going to give us away if
they keep jabbering on like this.” Lyon grumbled.

           
Felix
didn’t get a change to jump to my defense. I beat him to it. “I don’t speak
elven
,” I snapped at him.

           
Even
Felix looked surprised about that. The way they were both looking at me in
stunned silence made me blush until the tips of my pointed ears burned.

           
“At
least, not very well anymore,” I clarified. After all, I could understand it. I
had spoken it once, when I lived with my mother, but that seemed like such a
long time ago. “My father didn’t allow it. I haven’t spoken it in years. I
don’t remember much.”

           
The
silence was awkward. Now the gray elves were staring at me, too. They probably
hadn’t understood anything I’d said, but I knew why they were staring at me. I was
a halfbreed, after all. They didn’t like my kind, either.

           
“Just
get to work.” Felix commanded.

           
I
didn’t argue. I sat on the floor of the wagon, and tried to get my mind to be
quiet like it had been before. I tried to push away the fear, and find that
knot of warmth in my chest that sent chills over my body like a cold shiver. I
focused so hard that sweat started to run down my forehead and get into my
eyes. I concentrated as hard as I could, but the jarring motion of the wagon
interrupted my thoughts. It made me wonder if Beckah was okay, and worry about
if we would even
be
able to get to
Sile
in time now. As easy as it would have been to just blame Lyon for everything, I
didn’t. It was the Lord General, the supreme leader of all the dragonriders in
the kingdom, who had started this. It was his fault.

           
I
started to get frustrated with myself. I was getting angry, and my hands shook
as I clenched them into fists. “
Just get
me out!”
I yelled, slamming my fists down onto the floor of the wagon. It
made a loud metallic thump.

           
Just
like last time, nothing happened at first. Minutes passed, and Lyon was staring
at me like I was out of my mind. Felix just looked worried, but the second he
opened his mouth to say something to me . . . there was an earth-shaking rumble
from underneath the wagon.

           
All
of a sudden, the wagon stopped. Outside, I could hear the sounds of men yelling
and running past. My heart pounded in my ears as I strained to hear
Mavrik’s
thundering roar coming to our rescue.

           
I
did hear a roar. It was a bellow so deep that it made the wagon shudder, and
the horses outside began to whinny in terror. It definitely wasn’t Mavrik or
Nova.

           
“What
was that?” Lyon whispered shakily.

           
Felix
was still staring at me with eyes wide and afraid. “Not a dragon,” he whispered
back. “Jae . . . what did you bring here
?!
”

           
I
had no answer. I didn’t know. The earth shook again, and the bellowing roar
shook the wagon again. The gray elves started praying in frantic voices, and
clawing at the walls of the wagon. We were stuck inside, only able to listen as
men shouted and fought outside. I could hear arrows from crossbows pinging
against the side of the wagon.

           
Felix
covered his nose with his hand, and he frowned hard. “What is that smell?”

           
I
smelled it, too. It reminded me of the silt mud from the marsh; the reeking
stench of old rotting plant life. It was putrid, and it made my eyes water.

           
Suddenly
the back half of the wagon blew open. Shards of metal flew, and I was ripped
right off my knees and sent flying out into the sunlight. I bounced off the
ground like a stone off the surface of a pond, and when I finally landed, I
couldn’t catch my breath. I gasped and wheezed, looking up through the spray of
mud and the chaos of slavers running back and forth.

           
What
I saw made my jaw drop. I was too afraid to move. Never in my life had I even
heard of something like this before, but there it was—a massive,
incredibly huge, utterly giant turtle.

           
It
was as tall as four horses stacked on top of each other, with massive claws on
its feet and a big, diamond-shaped head. Its shell was covered in jagged, sharp
spines, and there was old moss and vines hanging off it. When it snapped its
jaws at the slavers, its neck shot out like a snake’s strike and I saw it split
shields in half like crackers. It was fast, huge, and covered in thick plated
scales. None of the slavers’ arrows even pierced it, but they kept firing
anyway.

           
“Gods
and Fates!” I heard Felix shout in horror. He was running toward me, but he
didn’t take his eyes off the giant turtle. “Jaevid, why would you bring
something like that here
?!
”

Lyon was right behind him, running for
his life and screaming, “It’s a
paludix
turtle!”