Dragon Witch ✔️

76 - Fugitive

After an age, the icorits dragged us into view of three enormous black pots, each big enough to put a person in. They stood in the middle of a clearing that almost looked natural, until you noticed the treehouses all around it. If it weren't for the icorits peering from doorways and windows, I wouldn't have seen the treehouses at all. They were too well hidden by carefully placed branches and leaves. This was a whole village of monster-eating monsters.

After dragging us right up to the pots, a couple of icorits cut us free. All of their buddies hurried forward to bind our wrists behind our backs with coarse rope. Three icorits hoisted Kyton, Nissa, and Piper over their heads before tossing them each in one of the pots.

A fourth icorit moved to me. He--or she, I couldn't really tell--was a good foot taller than me and carrying a large battle axe. He gestured at another icorit, who came over and grabbed Eva. Since there wasn't a pot for her, I guessed they planned to have her as a pre-meal snack. I sunk my fangs into his arm. With a shriek, the icorit backed away, arm limp.

Every other icorit raised their crossbows to point at me. As thick as my scales might've been, I knew they weren't invincible. And they probably weren't arrow-proof.

The big icorit with the axe moved forward, muttering something in another language. When it became obvious that I couldn't understand him, he bobbed his eyestalks and spoke in something akin to English.

"Talk this words?"

I nodded.

He grinned revealing a mouthful of fangs. "You like bird?"

Holding Eva closer to my chest, I hissed. "Mine."

"No, mine." He swung his axe, and it hit my shoulder.

I stared at the blade. It was deep, much too deep. I couldn't feel my left arm. It went limp at my side as silver-red blood pooled around the blade. Still, it didn't hurt. Cold. It was too cold.

He pulled the axe from my shoulder with a wet squelching noise. Through the blood, I caught a glimpse of sliced muscle and white bone. My stomach lurched. I gritted my teeth against the urge to heave.

Shrieking, Eva flew off of my right arm and dive-bombed the big icorit. He hit her with the side of his blade, and she fell limply to the ground.

"No!" I lunged at her.

Someone grabbed my injured arm, twisting it behind my back. Cold gave way to blinding pain. I cried out. Spots swarmed at the corners of my vision. No, I couldn't pass out. I had to get us out of this. Eva was hurt, possibly dead if she'd been hit hard enough. I couldn't focus enough to sense her mind.

Lightning flashed in one of the pots, and Nissa cursed. "Stupid metal pots. Are you okay?"

The axe-wielding icorit slammed the side of his blade into my head. It hurt like heck, but my horns caught the worst of the blow, and I stayed conscious. He bared his fangs.

"Come easy, or..." He aimed his axe at Eva.

"Fine," I spat. "But if you hurt one feather on her body-"

Shaking his head, he scooped Eva up on his blade and tossed her in the nearest pot. "Come quiet." He nodded at the other icorits, and several of them moved forward to place metal grills over the tops of the pots. My friends wouldn't be climbing out anytime soon.

The icorit who'd grabbed my arm shoved me forward. Pain burned down my arm and flashed red across my vision. I struggled to stay on my feet.

Big Icorit and Pushy Icorit led me through the treehouse village to what looked like a massive trapdoor in the ground. Each of them took one half of the trapdoor and pulled it up. Pushy Icorit shoved me over the edge.

I hit the ground hard. Pain ricocheted through my arm. Screams echoed around me. My screams. The pain was so bad I couldn't move for a long while.

When I finally wiped away the tears streaming down my face, I pushed myself up with my good arm. The pit they'd stuck me in was walled, floored, and ceilinged with rusty metal plates. It was just big enough to hold me and the silver dragon lounging a few feet away.

That was quite a show, the dragon said, laughing. It was worth staying in this hellhole of an arena for the last three days to see you suffer.

I shivered as his wing nubs twitched. The only fairy dragon I'd seen without his wings was Clastor, the one who tried to kill me on the full moon. The one who tried to kill Kyton's dad at the beginning of the summer.

"I thought you were being executed."

I was. Obviously, I escaped. He growled, scraping his claws on the floor.

I winced. Whatever he was in here for, he had very little motivation to keep me alive. I needed to keep him talking until I could find a way out of here.

"How did you escape?"

That's none of your business. He stood, stretching his long neck so that his head almost touched the ceiling. You know, I was once your father's right hand dragon. He trusted me with his most secret plans. Even after I lost my wings, he put me in charge of the invasion of Earth.

"The what?" I tried to sit up, and my left arm reminded me exactly why I should stay lying down. "What do you mean, the invasion of Earth?"

He continued like he hadn't heard me. If it weren't for you, I would be living in luxury in the Dark One's own palace. If you had been any other changeling, I could have killed you with impunity for being weak. The Dark One should have killed you the moment he learned you were still alive, but his illness has made him sentimental.

He paced from one side of the pit to the other. A quick death would be too kind for you, after all you've done to me. No, your friends will be boiled alive first. You'll hear their screams from here, then you'll be the guest of honor as I and the entire icorit village devour their corpses. Finally, I'll return to Earth, where I'll kill every single pitiful inhabitant of that town you love so much. You'll be left here, of course, to live in fear of every monster in the arena.

Pausing, he exhaled a cloud of silver mist that burned my eyes and nose. "This island is tame compared to the rest of the arena, as you know. The icorit will drive you away as soon as I'm gone. It could be weeks, months, even years before anyone uses the arena again. You'll never survive that long. You'll die knowing that your weakness sentenced everything and everyone you love to destruction."

He moved past me to stand under the trapdoor. I have a feast to prepare. We'll see each other soon. He clawed his way up the wall and out the open trapdoors.

The icorits closed the doors behind him with a clang.

I slammed my good fist on the ground and instantly regretted it. The shock jarred all the way up my arm and down the other. Silently cursing, I fought to take deep, steady breaths. I had to hold myself together.

Since I hadn't been slated for a quick death, I had the biggest chance of getting out of here alive. If I didn't do it quickly, my friends wouldn't be alive to come with me. They had a little while, though. There hadn't been any fires going under their pots, so they couldn't be filled with water that was already boiling. Heating up a human-sized pot of water would take a while, maybe an hour or more if I had to guess.

Of course, the icorits could just boil smaller pots of water and dump them in the bigger pots. In that case, I had a lot less time to get out of here.

I crawled to the corner. The metal peeled back a little to reveal rocky soil behind. Digging to the surface might be a slight possibility if I had more than an hour and the edges of the metal didn't rip me to pieces. If I didn't have that long, there was no chance.

Could I climb up the wall? Maybe. Could I hold onto the wall and open a huge steel trapdoor with one good arm? Definitely not. I had to get the icorits to open the trapdoors for me. Somehow.