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“Go,” I said, nudging my horse with my heels. The mare was tiring, but she gave me a canter, dutifully following Madinia’s horse as she picked up speed.
We needed to hide. But if the guards had hounds with them, they’d find us anyway.
I’d die out here before I allowed them to put me back in those manacles. My power was like a tiny spark within me, but I’d use it until I burned myself out if that was what it took.
The shouts turned to screams.
Horrifying, blood-curdling screams.
Madinia chanced a look over her shoulder, her mouth open, before facing forward once more.
The screams continued. Had the guards found someone else? I slowed my horse. I couldn’t allow anyone else to die. If those guards thought they could slaughter their way across this kingdom as they searched for us…
“Prisca,” Madinia hissed.
Silence.
No screaming. No hooves. No shouts.
My skin prickled, and the tiny hairs on my arms stood up.
A ball of fire appeared in Madinia’s hand. Her horse tossed its head, but she expertly reined her in.
Something rustled in the undergrowth to my left. Madinia bared her teeth.
Vynthar stepped onto the path, the sunlight catching his horns. His fur was covered in blood, his teeth stained with red.
“Stop!” I screamed, reaching for the wisp of power I had left. But it was too late. Madinia let her fire loose, aiming straight at the Drakoryx.
Panic swallowed me whole. I swung my leg over my horse, a shriek ripped from my chest—
The Drakoryx opened its mouth and swallowed her fireball.
Madinia let out a sound that was somewhere between a snarl and a hiss. Another fireball appeared.
“Don’t you dare,” I snapped.
She gaped at me. “Monster.”
“Well, yes. But he’s our monster.”
I slid off my horse and dropped to my knees, holding out my arms for the Drakoryx.
“Did you eat all the bad men?”
He stepped into my arms, butting my chin with his head like a big cat. “I did.”
“Thank you.”
Madinia stepped up next to me. “Next time,” she gritted out, “you may want to let me know when you’ve befriended magic-eating monsters.”
I ignored her, scratching Vynthar beneath his chin. “Were you the one who took care of the guards around the dungeon?”
“Yes. But one of them escaped. And he would have alerted more of them. I had to chase him.”
A long tongue slid over his muzzle, letting me know Vynthar had enjoyed the chase—and the spoils of that chase.
Regner would send more men when the ones Vynthar had killed didn’t check in with their superiors. But hopefully those men would be a lot more wary once they saw the bodies Vynthar had left behind.
