AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We need to get out of here.” I stomped to the rock wall, ready to punch my way through somehow.
“Then step back.” Ariella stood in the middle of the tunnel, her hands raised. “This is how I got out the first time.”
I stepped back, watching. Ariella closed her hands. Light surged from within two rocks. It spread fast until the rocks seemed made of pure light. They imploded with a muffled boom and became dust.
She kept going and I paced behind her, my impatience taking a new high. This certainly was a more effective way than manually removing rocks, especially the bigger ones, which I wasn’t sure I could lift. But all we needed to do was open a space big enough for us to squeeze through.
As the rocks disappeared, sounds from the other side reached my ears. I shifted my arms into claws. “There’s someone on the other side. Be ready.”
Ariella imploded two larger rocks, making smaller ones move and slide down. For a moment, I thought she had made a mistake and more were falling into place, and we would still be trapped here, but then it all stopped.
A hole big enough for me appeared in the rockslide, and I lunged through it, ready to shift. I halted in front of two figures, my claws raised to strike.
I stepped back as Evelyn and Ash raised their hands and sword at me.
“Shit, sorry.” I let go of my wolf and my arms went back to normal.
Ariella climbed through the hole.
“What happened?” Evelyn asked.
I told them about Raika, the goblins, the demons, then Roman and Ivy taking Raika.
“I need—”
Movement to my right had me calling on my wolf again. My fangs bared and I snarled at the newcomer—the man who had been with Raika and the others when we first arrived.
He appeared from the side of the mountain, his hands raised, a crossbow neatly resting behind his back. “I’m not here to fight.”
“Aren’t you working for Paimon?” I asked, a bite to my words.
He stopped a good ways from us and lowered his hands. “I don’t care about him or the others. I just needed this.” He pulled out a broken dragon scale from the inside of his jacket. “With this scale, I can track the dragon.”
Evelyn frowned. “What do you want with the dragon?”
“To set her free. To help her escape to a place where she can hide in peace.”
“She?” Ariella asked.
“Yes, the dragon is female,” the man said. “My plans were thwarted, though, when Paimon sent the others with me. I had hoped to come alone. Alas, I was going to get rid of them one way or the other.” He gestured down the mountain. “Apparently, I don’t need to worry about them anymore.”
I snarled again. “Perhaps you need to worry about us now.”
“You can try,” the man said, matching my glare. “But I don’t care about any of you either. But if you stop me from saving the dragon, I’ll end you.”
I advanced a step, ready to take him head on.
“Wait.” Evelyn lifted a hand. “Are you saying you can keep the dragon safe from Paimon or anyone else?”
The man nodded. “Yes. If I can get to her, I can take her away from here, to a place no one will be able to find her.”
Evelyn crossed her arms. “And what is that place?”
He shook his head. “I can’t tell you that.”
“Then how do I know you’re not lying? That you won’t take the dragon and kill her?”
His eyes hardened. “What you think or don’t think doesn’t matter to me, but the dragon does. Dragons are the purest magical beings in all the realms, and it’s my duty to keep them safe.”
