Ruxi rumbles, the guttural release of their anger sending shock waves to bounce off the cave’s walls.
“This dragon will stand between you and any who’d do you harm,” I tell the creature with a hint of a smile.
Again, the silence in the cave is deafening. I don’t breathe, and I’m not sure if anyone else does either. It feels like the world awaits her decision—perhaps in penance for its role in her harm.
“I’d like to be free,” she says at last, a touch less despair in these words.
“What’s your name?” I ask, my heart in my throat.
She doesn’t answer right away, as if she’s forgotten. And maybe she has. Finally, she gives me the smallest smile, her eyes clearing for the first time since we entered this cave. “I didn’t think my name would ever be spoken again,” she explains. “I am Glow.”
“Hello, Glow,” I respond with a smile. “I’m Finaan.” I point to the others, giving her their names, and then turn back toward her. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
“And you,” she tells me with a blink.
Nodding, I rise to my feet and walk toward the closest chain, ignoring for now the gouges in her flesh from the decades or centuries it held her down. We’ll deal with those next. First, we need to free her. Ruxi, Svend, and Rata join me, the four of us walking back and forth as we search for any weakness.
It’s a single chain crossing her massive body a dozen times or more. It must be the work of the dwarfs, because it’s thin andlookslight enough to pull apart. If it weren’t for the massive gouges in Glow’s sides, I’d take a sword to it. But she’s been trying to break free for a very long time. Whatever it’s made of is stronger than anything we can do to it.
Thank the gods, though, the chain runs through rings embedded everywhere it meets rock and doubles back. It’s as if Loki intended to give Glow room to move while still keeping her trapped, but something went wrong. Whatever the reason, if we can find a way to release one side, we’ll be able to pull it free.
That’s not an easy task. Whoever trapped Glow here never planned to let her go. The ends of the chains are attached to iron deeply embedded in the surrounding rock. Ruxi might be able to pull them out, but we’re terrified to risk doing even more harm to Glow’s battered hide.
“I’ll look,” Rata offers after a few minutes, sitting up on his hind legs to groom his whiskers. “I can go where you can’t,” he explains. “See things you can’t see.”
“It’s worth a try,” I agree with a shrug. “Maybe you’ll find something.”
He flicks his tail and scampers around the corner close to where one side of the chain is bolted. We wander around a bit more while we wait, but there’s not much we can do. We’re still hoping to pull them out without hurting Glow, and it’s looking less and less likely. So I go back to Glow.
“Can I touch you?” I ask as I sit close enough to scratch her snout.
Her expression breaks my heart. Her eyes widen, filling with tears again as her brows lift and the corners of her lips droop. It feels like she can’t believe I’d want to.
“How long has it been since you’ve felt touch from anything except this stone and those accursed chains?”
“I barely remember that time,” she tells me. “There’s only this cave, the iron that binds me.”
I stretch my hands and she extends her neck enough to meet me. And I scratch.
The moan that rumbles through her brings a grin to my face. She shifts a bit, giving me access to a spot beside her eye, and rests her chin on the ground. We sit there, Glow’s rumble filling the space around us, until Rata races back, plopping himself down right in front of me.
“We can free her,” he declares, swinging his arms wide. “And I don’t know what you would do without me.”
“Nor do I,” I assure the squirrel, reaching over to give him a scratch too. “What did you find?”
“The stone at the chain near her tail is broken. Just beneath the surface, a massive gash. The dragon can pull it out.”
“Without digging too much into Glow?”
Rata’s gaze flickers toward the worm, then back to me. “It will hurt,” he says, “but no more than it already hurts.”
“I’d like to be free,” Glow tells us again.
So we free her. Thank the gods, ruthless bastards that they are, it’s easier than we feared. Rata tells Ruxi exactly how topull at the iron, and it slides out quickly. Minutes after Rata’s return, we pull the chains through their rings, freeing Glow of the prison she’s been trapped in for centuries.
Chapter twenty-seven
Wregen
