I watch the red cloth unfurl with a sick churning in my stomach. That fear gets even worse when the soldiers tie the lengths of fabric high and let them flap in the breeze like two loud and hideous flags.
“Please don’t do that,” I whisper. They’re calling a dragon over to me. I know they are. I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but it’s not because I stole a few things. “Please. I have a sister.”
The captain hesitates and then approaches me. I hold my breath as he pulls out the keys to the cuffs and unlocks my hands. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs.
Then he grabs my dress by the shoulders and rips it from my body.
I shriek loudly, grabbing at the fabric that pools at my feet. “Hey!”
The captain nods at me and puts the key away. My ankle’s still locked. I’m still trapped.
“Hey!” I scream again, clutching the torn fabric to my breasts. The men turn and begin to file out the door. “Wait!” I yell. “Don’t leave me!”
“I’m sorry, Miss Jones. It’s no longer safe here.” The captain gives me a sad look, then squints at the red banners. “You know as well as I do that those are going to draw every dragon in the area.”
“But why?” I squat, no longer caring about modesty, and claw at the cuff on my leg. “Why are you leaving me for the dragon?”
“Because we’re out of options, and because as a criminal, your life is forfeit anyhow.”
“Please don’t leave me,” I call out again as the captain turns to leave. “I’m going to die if you leave me up here!”
He turns one last time, pausing at the top of the stairs. The look on his face is haunted. “There is a rumor out of Fort Orleans, Miss Jones, that a dragon found a human woman and she…” He swallows. “Well, she tamed it. And rumor has it the tame dragon fought to defend Fort Orleans.”
“What?” My breath leaves my body. “T-tamed a dragon?”
“Yes. We’ve sent a runner to Fort Orleans to find out more, but we have not heard back. We might never hear back. You know as well as I do that runners almost never make it…but we’re trying anyhow. It’s worth the risk.” His smile is thin. “You’re as good as dead anyhow. At least this way, you can help those that survive in Fort Dallas. You said you have a sister? Tell yourself you’re doing this for her.”
“My sister wouldn’t leave me up here!” I try to snag a finger under the cuff on my ankle, but it’s impossibly tight. “She knows as well as I do that this plan is crazy! You’re a monster for leaving me here!”
The captain’s face grows cold, and I can tell I’ve lost him. “You’re bait,” he says in a somber voice. “If a dragon approaches, try to tame it. There’s a large gold in this area. The king dragon. It’s strong enough to burn the entire city to ash, and it’s not leaving. That’s why we need you to tame the thing.”
“I can’t tame a dragon—it’s not a puppy! This is insane—”
“Insane or not, the attacks are growing again. They’re killing people now more than ever, and Fort Dallas is not equipped to deal with another year of merciless attacks. We’re doomed if we do not find a way to stop them. You’re our only hope.”
Me? “But you want me to tame a dragon! How the hell am I supposed to do that?”
“Figure it out.” His face is grave as he stares at me for a long moment, then he turns away. He takes a few steps into the stairwell, following his soldiers. A moment later, his voice floats back to me. “If you can’t, then we are all as doomed as you are.”
4
CLAUDIA
I thought it couldn’t get much worse than being abandoned in the midst of the dragon-infested Scavenge Lands. I should really, really stop daring the universe sometimes. Because you know what’s ten times worse? Being chained to a pole and abandoned in the dragon-infested Scavenge Lands.
For the hundredth time in the last few hours, I rotate my ankle, trying to squeeze my foot out of the cuff. It’s no use, though. I can’t get the metal past the bones in my heel, and the constant pushing and scraping to try to force it otherwise has made the skin on my foot blister up and swell.
Blisters are not my biggest problem, though. If I don’t figure out a way to get myself free, I’m dead.
The red banners of cloth flap in the breeze less than a hundred feet away, taunting me. So close and yet so far. Not that it matters how close they are—I’m not going anywhere. I’m chained here like a dog, waiting to be eaten. Desperation and panic make a knot form in my throat, and I choke it down. Now isn’t the time to freak out.
I need to think.
I have to get free. Somehow.
And these idiots want me to tame a dragon for them. Somehow.
It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of. It’s about as plausible as someone telling me I need to drag the moon out of the sky and park it in the street. I mean, at least the moon doesn’t want to eat me. I’m pretty sure dragons eat people regularly. To them we’re just small moving bags of meat, like a cow or a sheep. They’re not our friends. They’re not pets. No one’s getting ‘tamed.’
And I know for sure that I’m not the expert here. I’ve never even been close to a dragon, hence why I’m alive instead of being a human piece of toast. The last dragon I saw was coasting high over the city, at least a thousand feet into the air. Even that high, it had been enormous, deadly, and utterly terrifying to behold. If he’d been any closer to the ground, I bet the shadow of his wingspan would have blotted out the sun. I shiver just thinking about it.
And wouldn’t you know it, that’s when a shadow falls overhead.
My skin prickles with alarm, and I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Oh god. Please be a bird. Please be a bird. Or a cloud. A big, dark, rogue cloud. I squeeze my eyes shut, and wait. Nothing happens, so I carefully open an eye again and scan the sky. There’s a gleam of gold that’s entirely too close, and I slide down to the bottom of the pole, hugging it close as if it’ll protect me.
As I do, the shadow crosses overhead again. I watch, mouth dry, as it travels from one end of the room to the other.
A cloud, I chant to myself. A cloud. A cloud. A cloud.
It glides past again a moment later, bigger and closer…and moving far faster than any cloud should. I can’t catch my breath. Panic has set in, and I’m hyperventilating with fear. Please. Please. I grab the chains as quietly as I can, careful not to rustle the links, and give them a fierce tug. Maybe they’ll break. Please. I need a shot of luck. The chains don’t give, though, so I yank on them again—
A roar fills the skies. Trumpeting. Angry. Defiant. It’s so loud that the building shivers, and glass rains down from broken windows. On the far side of the room, an old office chair falls over. Everything trembles, including me.