The Last of the Firedrakes [Watty Award Winner 2015]

Chapter 4 - THE BLACK WOLF - Part 2

I nodded and tried to keep myself from panicking. There had to be another way out of here.

Suddenly, there was a scraping noise at the dungeon door. I looked up.

Kalen put his fingers to his lips. "Shh."

I held my breath. Terror welled up inside my chest. Had they come for me? Or were they going to take one of the others? My hands had gone clammy, and I clutched them together to stop them from shaking.

We waited as the grating noise went on. After what seemed like hours but was really only a few seconds, the thick and battered wooden door to the cell opened slowly.

A young man stepped inside, his black cloak billowing, the hood over his head. He removed his cowl and turned toward me just as a shaft of moonlight streamed in through the tiny barred window, illuminating the stranger. He wore a black mask over his glittering eyes, and his dark, untidy hair fell in soft waves that framed his finely chiseled features—strong jaw and high cheekbones. But his gray eyes looked like storm clouds as he scanned the room in one quick sweep.

Who was he? He didn't look like one of Oblek's men.

"Well, well, if it isn't the infamous Black Wolf," said Finn in a whispered sneer, coming out of the shadows. "Come to save the day again, have you? And how do you propose to do that this time? Oblek has doubled the guard, and there is a price on your head. Morgana's men have been given instructions to kill you on sight."

The mysterious stranger just turned and gave Finn a charming smile. He didn't look perturbed in the least. He was over six feet tall, lean, muscular, and dressed in a loose white shirt worn over fitted brown leather trousers. A dark leather belt around his waist had a whole arsenal of weapons tucked into it, including a sleek sword and a small knife. I also noticed another knife strapped to his thigh and an additional pair tucked into his high brown boots. He seemed well equipped for anything, of that I was quite sure.

"Rafe, you came," said Kalen softly.

Rafe nodded as he shut the heavy wooden door quietly. "Did you doubt that I would?"

"Finn said you didn't have time to come get a useless pair of fae like us and that you were going to let us be executed. But I told him that I knew you would find a way to get us out," he added with a smug glance at Finn.

Rafe looked Finn straight in the eyes. "Ah yes, Finn . . . quite the pessimist, isn't he?"

Finn, quite surprisingly, appeared embarrassed and kept quiet.

Rafe turned to Kalen. "Well, we're not out of danger yet."

"You shouldn't have come, Rafe." Kalen lowered his voice. "Your life is in enough danger as it is. We could have escaped on our own, you know."

Rafe smiled and patted Kalen on the back. "You know I would never let down my friends, Kalen, no matter the dangers. And I don't think your mother would have ever forgiven me if I let anything happen to you."

Kalen beamed at Rafe.

I looked at Finn, who was glaring at Rafe. I couldn't understand why he wasn't happy that someone had come to help us.

"And who is this?" Rafe asked Kalen, suddenly seeming to notice I was there. He glanced over at me with an amused expression on his face.

I stood up, smoothed my hair and tucked stray strands behind my ears. I must have looked a sight.

"Another prisoner brought in today," answered Kalen quickly, and he proceeded to give Rafe a quick summary of who I was and why I was here.

"So you see," he said to Rafe, "if we don't take her with us, she will surely die." Kalen was being quite dramatic, but I thought it worked.