She jerked to the side, snapping at him, her teeth grazing skin. He stumbled back, surprised, and she sent her chained hands straight into his groin. He snarled, pulling his sword, and she waited for the blow, but there was only the ringing of metal above her. Fox stood above her, holding back Harlow’s blow with his sword. She fell back as Fox swung again, sending the chief commander back a step.
Fox didn’t follow, grabbing Sofia instead and pulling her toward where Chalia was lashing out at six soldiers trying to circle her. Two of them had an iron net hung between them. Sofia pulled her dagger with her cuffed hands and brought it down on one soldier’s neck. Her moves were clunky, but Chalia distracted them, shooting bursts of ice and water at them in turn.
“My parents,” Sofia said, whipping around, trying to find them in the chaos. Her father was still on the dragon, a soldier gripping him tightly. He wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at Harlow. Her heart dropped when she saw her mother kneeling in the mud where she had just been, Harlow standing above her with a dagger against her neck.
“I tried to be nice and make this easy,” he said. “You should have taken my deal.” He hadn’t even finished the statement before his arm was moving. A geyser of red sprayed from her mother’s throat, and Sofia screamed.
It couldn’t be real, because blood shouldn’t look so bright—so red—like the flowers that bloomed along the edge of the cenotes during the rainy season.
Sofia lurched forward, trying to reach for her mother. She could hear screaming, and she didn’t know if it was her or someone else. Fox wasthere, grabbing her. She fought against him, but her hands were still shackled and her body was shaking.
“Let me go!” she screamed. “I need to help her!”
“She’s gone.” He might have been yelling or whispering in her ear. She didn’t know, but the words echoed hollow in her chest as she was pulled back farther and farther. “She’s gone. We need to go.”
Chalia’s scales were icy beneath her as Fox pushed her onto her back and jumped up behind her. He was hot, wrapped around her, holding her. She was still pulling at him, trying to get away but her attempts were too weak. She was useless.
And as they swept into the air, her own screams echoed in her ears.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
FOX
Fox kept his arms tightly around Sofia, his legs clenched against Chalia’s side as they spun up and out of the trees. The wind above them was loud in his ears as Chalia twisted to the left, heading toward the mountains. A roar on their tail made Fox’s stomach drop.
Eha rose above the trees directly behind them, the black dragon not far back.
“Shit,” Fox said, throat going dry. “Fly, Chalia!”
The dragon didn’t need his direction, she was already shooting forward.
“Backup is coming,”she said.“Hold on!”
“Backup?”Fox asked, by Chalia ignored him. Fox flung himself and Sofia forward, pressing her into the dragon’s back. She’d finally stopped screaming, but she was still shaking, her entire body wracked with it. He felt helpless, unable to do more than hold on to her and pray.
He reached out, vaguely sensing Eha’s presence behind him.
“Eha,”he said, not knowing if he was even reaching her.“Please stop. Please fight this.”
He was met with only silence. He kept his head down, unable to look back, but he could feel her ontheir tail.
A blast of ice shot to the side, and Fox turned just in time to see Chalia’s wing flicking violently, the ice that had coated it shattering. He covered Sofia’s face, not knowing if she was aware enough to do so herself. Chunks of ice flew at them, slicing into the exposed skin of his forearm.
Chalia twisted back, sending her own roar of ice at the black dragon. It reared up, nearly throwing the soldier on its back. It fell back just enough that Fox let out a breath.
“Go go go,”he urged Chalia on. His eyes swept the horizon. They were nearly at the mountains now. But it didn’t do them much good. Eha and the black dragon were still coming up behind them.
“How are we going to lose them?” Fox asked. He turned, briefly making eye contact with Harlow. The man’s eyes were unlike anything he’d ever seen before—hatred, rage, disgust. For the first time, he wondered if he’d ever truly known Harlow. He finally saw the side of him Sofia saw. This was what the Dragonborn in the city had been fighting against. This was him unmasked. And Fox hated it.
“You won’t win!” he yelled out into the wind, baring his teeth. “You think you know about the dragons. But you don’t!”
Harlow smiled, Eha pulling ever closer. “You know your father wanted me to kill you when you joined the king’s men training.” His booming voice somehow cut through the wind. “He said it would be better if you simply died early and saved everyone the trouble. I should have listened.”
Fox didn’t flinch. The words didn’t hurt. His father had hated him out of fear. What did it mean that Harlow lashed out now?
“You’re afraid,” he said, eyes sharp, “and you should be.”
“Hold on,”Chalia said.