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The heater has been at least nice each time and the cominent abjur knowing ine when I wax postinger has sinck in my head and let me with burning questions only he can answer. The onlgique I foresee now is we have an unconscious afphe female and a coppled old healer I have to somehow get out

Let’s move. Ibiran says, when he notices I am not following along “You must stay close or I can not protect you.”

1 scurry to keep up with his long steps and as we come close to the corner, I hear the distinct hobble of the man we have been waiting for. Teiran says nothing as he rushes forward, laying my mother down on a metal topped rolling cart. The healet bumbles around for a moment, the clinking of glasses as he rustles through his jars before a hum of excitement echoes off the wall.

“Hold her trouth open,” He says, looking up at my dragon partner in crime who pinches my mother’s checks and pries her bruised jaw open.

“Careful,” I hiss at him, but both of them ignore me, the healer incorking the bottle as he pours it down my mom’s throat. “What the hell is that? What are you doing to her?”

“How long?” Teiran asks him and the healer presses his lips together, his fingers touching her neck and feeling for a heartbeat. After a moment, she grows more pale, and he nods at us.

“It’s time.” Then he flings open his little metal doors and Teiran grabs me, dragging me forward as I try to sink my feet into the cement to stop him.

“Woah, woah, this wasn’t part of the plan,” I say, putting my hands up.

“It’s too late for the original plan. This is called improvising.” He says, giving me a serious look that says this is happening

whether I like it or not.

“Maybe you should tell me what we are improvising, you know, just for shits and giggles?” I ask as he frowns, his hand on the back of my head.

“The primary goal has not changed. I get you all out alive. This is where that trust comes into play.” He reminds me and I

groan.

“Yeah, trust is hard to come by in a fucking dungeon, as I’m being shoved in a tiny metal cabinet on wheels.” I mutter, forcing my body to bend in ways that are not even remotely comfortable.

“Your mother will get us out of here the back way.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Used how, exactly?”

He blinks at me before he slams the metal doors shut with a loud echo, closing me in the darkness until my eyes adjust and a tiny sliver of light makes its way into my current tiny prison. It doesn’t take long before the cart rolls; the wheels creaking and crashing over tiny bumps that inflict more pain than I’d like to admit.

Teiran,” I hear someone say in a greeting before a pause, “Well shit, what do we have here?”

“The wolf.” Teiran says, an air of boredom in his voice.

Id

Spander is going to be set that hes fatorite my is bioken” Itay in a low whistle

ART

by the whiny bokeh Ibiran says, “I need the deall La

hon is the clinking of what womits like keys before the liver of light disappears and I find my heart racing in fear af ping cough. Then I hear a heavy sigh and shift on the table before the whole cart shakes and I have to press into the wait to steady myself thin rolling out.

Well it’s a good thing you are getting the body out while it’s still limp. Dogs sinell as it is, but a dead dog after it bloats up?” The guard scolts, “That’s a nasty smell.”

Bde rising in my throat at the thought of my mom being dead, he was alive when Teiran picked her up and placed her on the can. And alive when the healer poured that substance down her throat. It is obvious they gave her something, but what they gave her. I do not know.

“ATTACK” a voice booms through the hallways, carrying down each stony wall as if the voice were more than the mere echo it is. “All dragons to the main gate!”

“Damn it.” Teiran growls out at the guard, mimicking his surprised tone in a strange, strangled squawk. “You go. I will dispose of the body and be right there.”

Yes, sir.” The guard doesn’t hesitate as his thunderous footsteps are heard retreating and suddenly, the cart is moving once

more.

It’s started, the distraction and I can only hope it works and that Merikh is safe at the same time. I know he will be in the midst of the danger. That is the kind of man he is. He never runs from a physical fight. A verbal, emotional one, he will sprint a marathon away, but this? No, he will be the one out there striking down anyone who comes close until…until he runs out of energy.

I swallow roughly, closing my eyes to calm myself and my wolf. Merikh will be okay, I have to trust that, if I don’t then I will find myself paralyzed and unable to think. Everyone will be okay, that I know. I know it just as much as I know who I am

now.

It seems like we move for forever, every single push feeling like a step closer to eternity when all I want to do is break free and call everyone back. Teiran needs to hurry the fuck up or I will have to jump out of this metal tin can and force him to take me out to where the fight is. What will I do? No idea. But I can’t sit and do nothing when everyone is sacrificing so

much.

“Teiran,” I whisper, rapping on the metal doors.

“Ah!” I hear Teiran say over my noise. “Are you on your way to the surface?”

“Yes, sir. You can leave the body for me to dump after everything is sorted.” The warrior says. “Are you sure she is dead?”

“I am positive, and Trey just verified as well. Here is the death tag”

“Leave it there on the desk. You should head up as well…” the warrior says, his voice lilting in a somewhat accusatory tone.

“And leave the healer with her body to do with her what he pleases?” he scoffs.

“Fair point. The old blob does do strange things,” he mutters. “I will toss her when I come back.”

After a moment of silence, the doors fling open, and I am ripped out by the collar.

“Are you trying to get us all fucking killed?” he growls in my face, my feet dangling as I glare at him.

“Are you done being a macho dragon, now?” I sass him and his lips twitch in anger.

“The next step is you three going down the chute.” He says, and I watch as the healer’s face grows pale.

That is disrespectful of the dead, he argues, and Teiranshauge

join them sive or join them when you are dead. Either way, it is where you are going

And where are you poing?” I ask him and he pinches the bride of his

Am I your mates Heapat me, “N

o what I do is my fucking by

Theld up my cl

Teren tosses me over a ledge, my heart hitting the back of my throat as my stomach withs, my Boxy Sailing of anything i can reach. Then I see the healer who looks like he jumps on his own, coming down after me and shorty my mother’s body is gently lowered over the edge.

I land with a grunt, my body feeling like it was driven into the ground by a sledgehammer as the air whooshes from my lungs. The healer lands far too close for comfort as I stand, wheezing to catch my breath and look up, waiting for try mother’s body to move closer before I place my arms out and cushion her fall. My legs and back scream in pain and I ga

The healer makes his way over to me, quickly uncorking another vial from a hidden spot in his shirt. He pours it downs stry mother’s throat and the second it is in her system she jolts up, making me drop her and stumble backward. She scrambles to her knees, heaving as the color returns to her face.

The second her eyes meet mine, I feel tears streaming my cheeks and I rush over to her, pulling her into a hug

“Mom!” I squeeze her tight as she whines.

Top hard, sweetheart,” she croaks, and I pull back.

“Sorry, I’m sorry.” I murmur, wiping my face.

“We need to go Luna,” the healer says, looking around everywhere but under our feet.

The smell hits my nostrils now that the adrenaline is gone and I gag, my hand covering my mouth and nose as my eyes stupidly scan down. Bodies of varying levels of decay stare at me some fresh and others more than a month old. Hair tangles and body parts blend together as I snap my attention up forcing the image from my head.

“Which way?” I ask him.

“Teiran said there is an entrance that way. For when the wolves who live here come to clear out the ash every month.”

“They burn the bodies?” I ask, my heart aching for every loss, deserved or not. This is no way to be laid to rest. No honor. love or family should have to think of their dear ones burning in a mass grave before being swept away for the wind to

scatter.

They are dragons, dear. The healer reminds me. “What other way would you like them disposed of?”

“Do you feel that?” my mother asks, her eyes growing wide as she struggles over bodies to get moving “Something is coming

“Fire?” the healer questions, breaking into the best run he can. We shouldn’t stay to find out.”

I usher my mom after him, taking care to help her along the way. I don’t know what the hell she was given, but she seemn like a whole new person. Only problem is I don’t know how long she has until she is back to being in agonizing pain and incapacitated again.

He makes it to the door first, throwing it open as we come up behind him, only for him to stop abruptly clinging to the frame. There is no stopping him and my mother from falling through as I trip and push into them, sending them careening over the narrow pathway carved into the rock and down into a dark crevice.