“Taro!”came a low, terrified whisper.Two Yvri, a male and a female, hurried into the swinging lamplight.“They’re coming!”
Taro gritted his teeth, wrenched his horns from the floor, and shot to his feet, taking his daggers with him.
Ulla turned her gaze on them, while Bastion became vaguely aware of the thumping of feet overhead.The ship rocked again.This time, it didn’t settle, shuddering as something massive hit the hull with a reverberatingthump!
“Where are the others?”Taro asked darkly.
“Safe,” the male assured him.
“And the whale?”
“Enjoying himself,” the female said, “if the movement of the ship is any indicator.”
Taro turned luminous eyes on Ulla, determination in the downward curve of his mouth.
“Let’s go,” he commanded.“Now.”
Ulla hunched over Bastion.She returned Taro’s stare with a stubbornness as enduring as the tide.An exasperated sigh escaped him and he glanced at the others.
“Hold her.”
They lunged.
Ulla’s nostrils flared.She slapped her hands against Bastion’s chest, and healing magic flooded his body.
A violent scream exploded out of him.
Bone reconnected, and tissue knitted back together.Suffocating pressure crushed his chest, like a boulder that grew heavier and heavier with each attempt to draw breath.Every nerve sang with lightning.He thought his fingers and toes were disintegrating while someone tore out his spine.
Then, it was gone, and Bastion was left exhausted, but virtually painless.
He sucked in a ragged, desperate breath.The two Yvri dragged Ulla away thrashing.She let out a guttural scream, a sound so foreign it shook his soul.
Taro knelt in the space she’d occupied and lifted his dagger.
The ship lurched.Taro flew off balance, and Bastion punched him in the groin.Taro doubled over, and Bastion caught the wrist holding the dagger.The next moment, Bastion sprang to his feet and spun Taro to face the others.His hand over Taro’s pressed his own blade to his throat while his free hand seized the male’s horn.He forced Taro to turn his head, further exposing his throat.
“Release her,” Bastion fumed.Anger coursed through him, fueled by adrenaline and newly healed nerves, raw and hot, like iron in a fire.
The Yvri looked to Taro.Bastion shook him, and the blade broke his skin.
“Now!”Bastion barked.Shouts overhead sent a growing sense of danger dancing down his spine.
The Yvri stepped back, and Ulla jerked her arms out of their grasp.The moment she stepped behind him, Bastion shoved Taro forwards.
The other dragon-kin caught him as he stumbled to his feet.He swiped his fingertips across the thin, red line at his neck and sneered at the blood on his hand.
“You may have saved him,” Taro hissed, “but you probably destroyed his insides in the process.Let’sgo.”
Taro held out a hand to Ulla.She bared her fangs like a viper, and that was all Bastion needed to know.
He took a step forwards and growled, “Fuck off.”
Taro looked between Bastion and Ulla.A sudden clarity lit his eyes and his gaze raked over them from head to toe.Then, disgust wrinkled his nose.
“Ulla, you can’t be serious,” he said, aghast.“Him?”
A yell cut off any response.They all turned as pirates barreled down the stairs with weapons drawn.
