Page 14 of Why Broken Wings Fray

Dragon.

Killian, while reaching for his sword at his side, suddenly barked, “Get down!”

I didn’t have time to get down. Instead, the walls behind me were smashed into a thousand pieces of dust and debris – all scattering across the cell and knocking me down to my knees – and all I could do was bring my arms over my head and brace myself.

Guards thundered into the dungeon, spreading themselves out along the aisle-way with bows and arrows primed and pulled taut, swords glistening beneath the sudden natural light, and panic in their eyes as they stared behind me.

There, where I had been sleeping only moments prior, was a dragon-sized hole that slowly revealed itself as the dust began to settle. Within it, the creature that I had forgotten was anything other than a parrot, let out a low and damning growl that caused my bones to shudder.

Urram snapped his silver, leathery wings out and reared up onto his back legs as he let out a horrendous roar from deep within that scaled chest of his. As he landed back down again, the whole castle shaking, an ember built at the back of his throat where he lowered his head in front of me, latching his molten eyes on anyone who dared to come near us.

“Come, Little,” he growled. “We are leaving.”

I was torn.

Paralyzed by indecision.

Killian to my left. Urram to my right.

Saoghal in one direction. The human world in the other.

In that position of frozen confusion, I vaguely recalled hearing another noise. Another roar, yet it did not come from Urram’s mouth.

I forgot there was more than one dragon in Saoghal.

Urram tucked his forelegs in tight as he quickly pivoted around, the full extent of his attention now caught by something else outside. The sun was prominent behind him, where it was momentarily blocked by a figure.

A figure with two wide wings.

The earth shook as that figure descended, as two powerful haunches slammed into the grass and two winged forelimbs followed suit.

“Gliocas,” Urram hissed, in no way a happy greeting. After not seeing his companion for over a year, I was expecting a grand reunion. Instead, I watched as that flame flickered stronger in Urram’s throat, his whole body sliding out of the hole he had crafted and appearing in the meadow just outside the castle.

I shot an apologetic look at Killian before I turned on my heel and sprinted out of that cell. Most of the sight was blocked by Urram, who had his back arched and that fanned mane spread wide down his neck.

But I managed to get a good enough sight of Gliocas as he matched Urram’s posture. His own body, covered in that cherry-red hide, curled in preparation to launch at Urram. His mouth, equally as impressive and hosting dozens upon dozens of razor-sharp fangs, parted ever so slightly to reveal an equal flame at the back of his throat.

They continued to hiss at one another, the noise jarring and heart-breaking as I flicked my attention to two friends.

“Enough of this!” I bellowed, trying to slide past Urram and step between them. But my caraid spread his closest wing, causing a shield of his own flesh that I nearly rebounded against.

“You destroyed the castle,” Gliocas growled.

“You took my caraid,” Urram spat.

Hands were on my shoulders, gripping to me and trying to pull me backwards, but I just kept rolling my way out of them, clawing against this mass behind me in an attempt to get to Urram.

Both reptilian maws ripped open.

One breath of fire met the other, a grand show of spitting embers that sparked at the contact.

Each of them let out a low warning as they pulled back their flame, resorting to a slow prowl that took a circular shape. All the while, I was still being pulled at by someone. A quick glimpse in their direction as I shoved their hand off of my shoulder confirmed my suspicion – it was Killian.

“Olivia, we must go. Dragon fights… They do not end well,” he muttered as he continued to fight for a good grip on me. Finally, with a roar of my own, I slipped away from him for good and thundered my way across what was soon to become a battlefield.

Urram was too busy lurching away from a snap meant for his neck, his whole body leaping to the side just as Gliocas slammed his jaw shut. Urram, furious and insulted, parted his own lips and charged at his old friend.

That was where they both saw me. Stood between them both, staring back and forth at two mighty forces of nature.