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Marli waited, tense, to see who would win the scuffle. She couldn’t let either of them get away with the seal, but she still couldn’t identify the other woman.
Just let things play out a little longer…
“If we capture the librarian, maybe we can get her to tell us more about the Consortium.” Sten whispered. “And where the third seal is.”
Marli turned to look up at him. “Not without extreme force, if she has something to protect. Some of us would die before giving up information to the enemy. Besides, the seals were separated for a reason, weren’t they?”
“We don’t need to go after it, but knowing where it is and who has it is wise. Especially since the Consortium seemed to have known where the pieces were all this time.”
“And Aeleftheria.”
“Not necessarily. Depends on that player over there and what her true intentions are.”
Sam cried out, stumbling back toward Marli’s position, clutching the bag to her chest. She collapsed on the rocks, chest and arms bearing deep claw swipes. Blood soaked her clothes and dripped over the bag. She melted out of Marli’s likeness to her own natural one.
The other woman lunged forward with clawed hands to grasp the satchel from her position, which brought Marli into her line of sight. She bore several bleeding claw slashes across her arms too. She turned and ran toward the ocean.
“Sten, alert the guardians and ensure they get Sam to the shamans at the infirmary before she bleeds to death.” Marli ran after the cloaked figure.
The hood fell away from the woman’s head, revealing light hair as she waded out into the water’s rolling surf. The way the sun shone on her head made it difficult to discern if it was blond or gray. She dove into the water.
Shit.
Marli dove into the ocean after the woman and shifted into her dragon form to access her more acute senses. The islands were surrounded by an underwater landscape as complex as the one surrounding the mountain. It would be easy to lose someone there. The ocean floor surrounding Aeleftheria Nisi thrived as well as any tropical jungle, full of vegetation and fauna.
As Marli’s eyes scanned the seascape, she swam forward, jaws open, tasting for any human or dragon scents.
The scent of a female dragon drifted over her tongue, inciting her to follow its trail to the source. Propelling forward, she approached the edge of the jagged land shelf, where the most vibrant ocean creatures lived. Beyond, the ocean dropped off into darkness.
Marli followed the trail as far down as she could, further still, even after it dissipated. She stayed as long as her aching lungs would allow, still failed to find the dragoness. She surfaced and dove again, searching. When she surfaced again, guardians circled overhead. From her vantage point, Sten was still on the beach with the librarian. Some of the guardians had him at spear point.
Fuck.
They won’t kill him.
One more dive.
She stayed under as long as she could, but the scent was long gone, with no clue as to where the dragoness had gone.
Marli joined the others on the beach.
The librarian was still alive, clutching at the seal.
Sten held his ground, despite the spears pointed at him.
“I lost her,” Marli said to Red as she landed on the beach and shifted.
Several others joined them, handing robes to the dragonesses that needed them.
“Who?” Red pulled on a robe on as more guardians arrived.
Marli nodded toward the librarian. “She met with a dragoness here. And it sounded as though she was one of ours, but I couldn’t identify her.”
Red sucked in a breath. “Mother won’t be pleased about that.”
“No, I expect not.” Marli rubbed her hands over her face. “Sten saved my life on the way here. Is he under arrest now?”
Red scowled at the guardians. “Put those away. Councilman Flintail is an ally.”
