“I’m coming, Roam,” she growled aloud.
Her eyes narrowed, her entire body focused like a blade.
Whoever took him had just made the biggest mistake of their lives.
Spring flew as fast as her wings could carry her towards the towering stone spires in the distance. The capital of the Giants was still far off—but her dragon had locked on to something closer.
A wagon.
Her heart stuttered.
There—beneath a frayed tarp flapping wildly in the wind—was a striped tail. Familiar. Motionless.
Roam.
A low growl rumbled in her throat, deepening into a savage snarl that shook her ribs. The dragon surged, talons curling, wings folding tighter as she dropped into a blistering dive.
Spring opened her jaws—and unleashed a furious stream of superheated blue fire.
The flames whooshed in a tight arc around the wagon, licking the edges of the road and forming a glowing barrier that penned in the group of shouting men like rats in a blazing trap.
Weapons clanged as the men scrambled.
“Dragon!” one of them shrieked.
A barrage of projectiles burst upward—bolts, arrows, a knife that glinted in the sunlight. Spring tucked and twisted midair, her wings slicing through the smoke as she looped around the flames and landed on the road in front of the wagon.
Light shimmered.
Scales receded.
Spring stood on two legs again, her chest heaving, her eyes wild and crackling with fury. She clenched her fists at her sides, staring down the men as she stepped forward.
“Let him go,” she commanded, her voice cutting through the roar of the fire like steel.
The leader—a mountain of a man with a jagged beard and one gold tooth—lifted a hand to stop his men. He grinned.
“Well, well. It looks like a pretty little dragon’s got a temper. Wouldn’t you say, Bones?” he asked.
Bones, lean and mean-eyed, spat at the ground. “Might be we get a bonus for her,” he sneered, his gaze crawling over her. “The Pirate King likes the fiery-tempered creatures.”
Laughter rippled through the group.
Spring stepped forward, her fists flexing at her sides. “Let. Him. Go. Or else.”
The leader chuckled. “Or else what?” he called. “You try anything, we turn the cat into a rug. Bet the Pirate King would like that.”
The laughter turned ugly.
Spring’s eyes narrowed. Her dragon growled inside her.
“Last warning,” she snapped, lowering her head.
And then—she vanished.
Bones blinked. “Where’d she?—?”
“Where is she?!” the leader barked, spinning in place.
