Dragons of War - Rising Storm

Chapter 11 (2/3)

"It seems to me that there is a reason you are not able to transform." Carl folded the papers and stood in his chair. "I can't tell you what to do, but I know someone who can." He held out the papers for me to take and I grabbed them with a loose grip, my hands shaking.

"I need you to deliver these, prison block 23, cell number 56."

I looked up at him with wide eyes. "Isn't that-" I began.

"Yes," He replied. "I have faith in you, and so does he. But I also need to see progress, and so do the other generals. We want to see what you can do, how different you may be. But we're not getting anywhere like this."

"What if I really am just a dud though?" I asked.

"Then you're a dud, simple as that." He smiled and returned to his chair. "Take your time with that delivery, it may be the last time you ever see him."

His words sent my heart racing and a chill shock through me that easily replaced the warm excitement of seeing Lewis again. I didn't want it to be the last time in forever. I wanted it to be the first time in a while.

I bid the general farewell and took off down the hall.

I never thought I would see him again. Excitement rushed through me and at the same time, dread. What would I say? What would he think? Did he know I had failed? That his sacrifices had been for nothing? I didn't want to be the one to tell him.

I ran through the caverns faster then I had ever before. For a moment I wondered if my speed was because of my target, or because I was changed now.

At least I wasn't a complete dud.

The path to the jail block lead me through the back parts of the Caverns, away from the public, but it was a part of them that had been abandoned. I didn't stop long enough to care who was there, or what lay behind the junk machines and piles of ruble. I raced through tunnels I had only seen in blueprints and once I had finally broken out into the main cavern paths, I was out of breath and gasping, bent over.

The cave in front of me across the main path was one I had only ever seen in passing but it always sent a spark of fear through me.

Every time I had even come close to that place, I had heard the angry cries of the prisoners within. Yet I stood in front of that cave in complete silence today. Somehow it made it eerier. Why was it so quiet?

Carefully I stepped inside and looked around as I went. There were no guards at the door like there should have been. Every cell I walked past was empty.

I looked up to the endless darkness above me, the ceiling hidden with the height. Level after level above me was lined with cells. I could tell by the way the sound bounced off the walls that almost every one of them was empty.

Curiosity slowly replaced my fear.

At the end of the path, there was another, smaller, cave opening. I stepped inside and a soldier looked up at me behind a book.

"Your business?" He asked. His gaze drifted over me with narrowed eyes.

I waved the parchment in my hands at him and he nodded.

"Fifth level, right in the middle." He looked back at the book in his hands without another glance.

I didn't question how he knew where I was going. I could figure it out easily enough on my own.

I backed out of the cave and noticed a staircase along the right wall. I walked towards it but every step I took was slower than the last. My thoughts dragged behind me like lead weights.

Up to the fifth level I went, my steps soft enough to barely make a sound. I stepped out onto the fifth level and glanced inside every cell I passed with a tension in my throat and quiver in my stomach. The further I went the more my steps faltered.

My eyes glanced over a shape in one of the cells and I froze. There he was.

His back to me, he was sitting on a small bed and a lone desk stood in the right corner.

Lewis looked up and over his shoulder with squinted eyes but they widened when they met mine.

"Jaya?" He rose to his feet and walked over to the bars.

I stood there for a moment, unsure how to speak but then I just shook my head and held out the envelope.

"You have a package." I told him.

He grabbed it and looked it over quickly before returning his attention to me.

"I was waiting for you, you know." He said.

"What?" I asked, confused. "I thought you were on lock-down."

"Well, I am." He turned away and returned to his bed. "It's good to see you, Jaya."

I could barely hold back the burning in my eyes that warned of tears but I bit my lip and squinted my eyes to keep them away.

Lewis wore dirty, smelly clothes. He was unkempt and he stood with a slouch I had never seen in him. His hair was greasy and lose, and his eyes had dark bags beneath them.

Why had it come to this.

"Where did everyone go?" I asked, trying to keep the other thoughts away.

"You didn't hear?" He asked without looking up from the papers he pulled from the envelope and placed around the bed in front of him.

"Hear?" I questioned.

"Yes, the prisoners were released to help with the lack of resources. Surprised I knew and you didn't." He mumbled.

I looked down at my feet. Was it really getting that bad? I never even noticed. The food I ate was always the same. I never interacted with anyone that wasn't in the army anymore. I never even left the restricted area.

Were things getting that much worse?

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