Blood Runner: Book Three of the Empress Saga

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

"Enfri, stop!" Jin shouted. She pursued Enfri down the stairs and through the door. Enfri was halfway to the stable before Jin finally caught her by the hand. "You heard what he said! This dragon means to destroy you, and with a creature that size, I don't see him having trouble doing it."

"You don't understand," Enfri said. She spoke frantically, needing the words out of her mouth before something else terrible happened. "His name. It's him. It's Varn, Jin!"

Jin furrowed her brow, confused, and she didn't loosen her grip on Enfri's hand.

My light, I know you're protective, but this isn't the time for it.

"He's Deebee's granduncle," Enfri tried to explain in a rush. She had to shout to be heard over the ringing of the alarm bells. "Do you understand? An elder dragon, one of the ones who knew the truth about Shan Alee. Winds, Jin, he was actually there!"

Reyn came running out of the manor. She sprinted to catch up to them and was halfway there when Ban, fully armored, charged out from the estate grounds on a brown horse. What looked like two full companies of Yora armsmen were on his heels. He saw Jin and Enfri, and he pointed his mount in their direction.

"I don't care who he is," Jin shouted back. Her eyes had gone wide with fear for Enfri's wellbeing. "He's not in the mood to give you a first-hand account!" She looked to Ban reining in his horse at their side. "Take her," she commanded. "I will face the dragon."

The visor of Ban's helmet was lowered. His black full plate had crimson scorch marks around the engraved sigils, and the runes weren't yet glowing with etherlight. He shook his head while gesturing towards Varn with his full blade. "Waves, Jin! Didn't you see what he did to the tree line? No one's walking away from that fight, not even you. You're taking Enfri out of the city through the smuggling tunnels while I run interference."

"So it'll be you who sacrifices himself?" Jin demanded.

Ban scoffed. "Waves, no. I'll lie through my teeth until you've had a chance to get away, then hope he doesn't decide to find out what Altieri taste like. Don't forget that I've had experience with talking down pissed off dragons."

Jin grit her teeth, but she nodded in agreement. "As you say, but horses won't fit through the tunnel. We'll have to see if any of the dragons can meet us on the shore to carry her away while his attention is elsewhere."

"I'll see to it," Ban said.

Enfri held her hands to her ears, trying to think past all the shouting and bell ringing. They weren't listening to her. What was the use of being an empress if she couldn't get anyone to blustering listen?

It might help if you could make sense, Shoen mocked.

"Listen to me!" Enfri screamed. Ban and Jin looked at her, startled by her sudden cry. "Varn withdrew. That's like dying of old age for dragons. He left the Continent, and not even Deebee had the slightest idea of where he and the others went."

Ban raised his visor. "What difference does that make? If he knows what the old Shan Alee was like, that'll just make him all the more set on taking you out. Penny against a mark, he means it when he says he'll destroy the city. He won't risk you putting a bond on him."

"I'm not talking about me!" Enfri could hardly think straight for the panic. "Deebee! When she finds out she'll..."

The sky seemed to crack as a new sound rose above the bells. A roar consumed with bitter fury split the air, dropping Enfri to her knees with its force. From the direction of the palace, a silver shape streaked overhead. Deebee flashed over the Yora Estate, faster than Enfri had ever seen her fly before, darting directly towards Varn the Librarian. Her outraged howls trailed behind her like a wake.