“Do you think she’s still alive?”Victor asked.
“Yes,”I responded without hesitation.
“How do you know?”Frid asked.
“I just know.”
Silence followed my response.
“I still can’t believe you let her handcuff you,”Victor continued.
I had a strong urge to punch his smug dragon face.
“It could happen to anyone,”Sol chimed in.
“Thanks,”I responded.
“If a beautiful girl offers to handcuff me, I wouldn’t say no,”he continued.
I closed my eyes. It took all of my self-control to stay silent.
“I really don’t want that mental image,”Frid muttered.
Another hour passed and the blackness of the sky above made the search more difficult. She was close. So close that I could almost feel her. I could feel her presence deep in my bones.
“We need to make camp,”Victor said.
“Not now,”I growled.
“We can’t see anything in the dark,”Frid added.
“I agree. We need rest,”Sol joined.
Instead of answering, I descended lower, surveying the city below. She was not here, but she was so close I could almost taste her scent. That was impossible. My sleep deprived, tired body was playing tricks on me. But, I knew she was nearby.
As soon as I found a safe place, and everyone had landed on the roof, I took off again.
“Ty! Seriously?” Frid called, but I was already far away.
The clouds covered the moon up above and without itslight, I could see almost nothing. I followed my instinct and turned east. Another small city, its shape distorted and clearly abandoned, suddenly appeared beneath me. I slowly flew above it, watching the outlines of buildings get larger. The growls from below, the unsettled state of the crawlers, told me everything I needed to know. Chills ran deep under my scales.
She was there.
I landed behind the group of the undead that crowded around the storefronts.
My eyes darted from shadow to shadow, praying to all the gods I knew for her to be still alive.
Without hesitating any longer, I lifted my body up into the air, and waited until my lungs burned with the unspent flames before unleashing the fire on the crawlers below. The last thing I wanted to do was to set the buildings on fire, but it was the only way to get the herd out of the way. The burning bodies scattered all over the street, walking aimlessly back and forth. When the flames died down. I landed, shifting back to my human form, and unsheathed my long hunting knife.
My blade worked almost mechanically, slaying the monsters on both sides of the raging flames. The flying suit was good protection, but how long the leather could shield me from the flames was not something I wanted to test.
I rushed to the closest one of the abandoned stores. I clenched my teeth and booted the door, but it was locked. Then a crawler jumped on me from the side, I plunged myknife into its temple and threw him through the glass storefront.
Without wasting any more time, I stepped through the window frame. A tiny shape was crouched on the floor. Her hands covered her ears as she rocked back and forth.
“Alina!” I called, but she did not react.
I looked around, noticing the crawler on the floor. A discarded poker was on the other side of its body. I kneeled in front of the girl, lightly touching her shoulder.
