Smoke and Flame (Rise of the Dragons Trilogy Book 2)

by N. R. Hairston

  “Alright then.” Coen rolled his eyes at them. “Let’s get on with it.” He charged forward, and the rest of us followed behind him.

  By the time we got to the back of the house, the cart was empty, but the group hadn’t gone far. Through one of the large open windows, we could see a large gilded room.

  Golden feathers molded the top and bottom of the walls, and every few feet was a large column, decorated in gold penises and men’s bare chests. My mouth hung open a little as I looked at the crude designs, and the only thing I could wonder was why someone thought this was a good idea to have in their home.

  About twenty people were already in the room. Most lounged around on couches and settees in front of small square tables. Many had bowls of fruit and large gold and silver cups in front of them.

  They looked like a group of indulgent individuals who were so rich they hadn’t a care in the world, and could confidently sit around all day eating food and gossiping.

  In the front of the room was a pair of black marble steps, about fifty of them. They led up to a single man on a golden throne. I blinked, trying hard to figure out what the deal was here, though I was too afraid of being discovered to say anything.

  The man on the throne had brown curly hair that reached well past his ankles. He wore a white toga and a pair of brown sandals. He was slim in size, and his hard, green eyes bore into the two prisoners before him.

  The men who’d bought them in stood a little behind the pair, leaving them to face this man’s wrath on their own. “What have they done now?” the man on the throne asked.

  One of the men bowed his head. “Man One Chila, we caught them on your farming land.” He pointed to the young woman. “Stealing one of your chickens and a bag full of eggs.” He pointed to the guy. “Stealing grapes, figs, and olives.”

  The man on the throne looked at the pair and rubbed a slow hand across his chin, giving me the impression of a lion ready to attack. “These two have been brought here before.” He said in a way that made me think he remembered their faces but not necessarily their previous offenses.

  The same man with the bowed head spoke again. “Yes, Man One Chila. This is the fourth time we bring these two before you. Each time for stealing food from your farmlands.”

  Now at this point, a kind man would have taken in their gaunt appearance, looked at the tatters that served as their clothing, and offered them help in the form of food, shelter, or employment. I found out quickly that this Chila was not that type of man.

  He looked at the pair, eyes hard like steel. “The punishment for thievery in the fourth is to eat your dominant hand.”

  I gasped horrified, as Reid cussed beside me.

  “You will be taken to the Unders, where your hands will be removed. Next time it will be your heads,” Chila finished.

  I took a step back, and Reid put his hand on my back to steady me. In addition to people on the couches, there were about thirty men and women dressed as guards, in gold and red uniforms standing in front of and behind the throne.

  I felt my heart hammer with the urge to do something. We couldn’t take them all on, I knew that, but we couldn’t let these two get their hands cut off just because they’d been hungry.

  Iago took a step forward, watching as the guy and girl were grabbed by two of the guards. “We want to go to this Under, maybe Lantana is there.”

  Coen scowled at him. “How about we want to save these two from losing a limb, or does that not register with you?”

  Iago turned to him, exasperation on his face. “I’m capable of more than one thought at a time, Coen.” With that, he turned back to the rest of us and threw his hands out. “Let’s do this.”

  We charged forward, and I heard a few stirs of outrage as our presence became known. I went straight for the guards holding the pair. “I’ll pay their debt.” I reached into my pack and slowly pulled out one of the money bags we’d gotten from Vilion. If money could convert from world to world like Edward had said, then I didn’t think it would be a problem.

  The girl looked at me shocked, while the boy turned distrusting eyes my way. I tried to offer them a smile of comfort to let them know I was on their side.

  Reid came up beside me, with Coen on his left. Iago and Trout stood on my right. All five of us looked to the man on the throne, as it was clear that any decision made would be by him alone.

  He mulled us over, jaw tight, and eyes assessing. “What blood are you to these two?” he asked, looking at me.

  “None,” I said, meeting his gaze and trying not to shiver from the hardness of his glare.

  “Then you cannot assure me on the honor of your family blood that these two will not steal again. Request denied. Lessons must be taught.”

  “Is your lesson to let those less fortunate than you starve to death?” I asked, heat rising to my cheeks and spreading through my body. I was mad, and keeping it in check was hard, especially when the dragon inside me was clawing and fighting to get to the surface.

  He gave me a closer look, taking in everything from my clothes to my style of hair. “We on Emor do not go to other worlds to push our ideas and beliefs. Nor do we treat kindly those who come here with change in mind.”

  He pointed to a group of guards that were standing a few feet away from us as if awaiting instruction. “Take her and her friends to the Unders. One thousand days there should be long enough to teach them the consequences of meddling in affairs of worlds they do not belong to.”

  “Wait a minute,” I said, but it was too late. Four guards grabbed me, their hands touching and pulling. I tried to push them off, but they were too strong. One went to the floor and held my legs together, while another grabbed me from behind and wrapped his arms around my chest. One stood, hands up, as if waiting for me to make a move, while another put my hands together and tied them with thick yellow rope.

  It was hard and bit into my skin, making me want to cry out, but since I was not willing to show weakness in front of these people, I sucked it down and looked around for the rest of my crew.

  They each had four guards on them, and their hands too, were held by the same yellow rope. None of us had put up much of a fight, only a little for show so they wouldn’t suspect anything. Iago wanted to have a look at the jails, and this was our way to do it. That didn’t mean the thought didn’t make my skin crawl though.

  The girl’s shoulders slumped once she saw we’d been captured and a wall slammed over the boy’s face, shutting off any emotion he might’ve had.

  I let out a breath and tried to keep from crying. I’d offered them freedom for a minute, only to have it taken away in mere seconds. Perhaps it would have been better to not have given them hope at all, if it was to be so cruelly snatched away.

  “It’s okay,” Reid said under his breath, looking at me. “It’s okay.”

  Our backpacks and belongings were snatched from us, and I was glad that Reid could at least be optimistic, because right now, I felt as if I was drowning and had no idea where the shore was.

  Chapter 10

  They locked us up in a dungeon below the house. No windows were down here, but the ceiling was cracked in several places, allowing small bits of light to shine through.

  They kept the men in one cell and the women in another, though we were right across from one another. The smell of rot, mold, and unwashed bodies hung so heavily in the air that my stomach clenched with every breath I took.

  Large wolfrats, and some other animal that looked like a cross between a pig and a raccoon, scurried around our feet, not intimidated by us at all. I swallowed hard when I saw them and yelped when they ran by my feet. Sweat prickled my skin, and I tried to tell myself to keep my composure. Breaking down would help no one.

  The cell we were in held about thirty other women. The men’s cell held about fifty.

  Five stone benches were in each cell, which meant a lot of us had to sit on the concrete floor. I chose to stand. The stone walls looked cobbled together and leaked enough
that large basins had been put down to catch the excess.

  Thick yellow rope bound my wrist so tight they cut into my skin, and I could already feel a small bit of breakage there. I’d tried to call my powers forward so that I could break free and my heart had almost stopped when I realized that I couldn’t.

  Much like the powerless bangles Iago had on when we’d first met, these ropes seemed to neutralize our powers.

  The young woman I’d tried to save stood beside me, a hard look on her face, her eyes staring off into the distance. “Thank you for offering to help. It’s more than I’ve ever had. Someone standing up for me.” The matter-of-fact way she said it, as if none of this really mattered, made my heart hurt.

  “I’m Alisa,” I said. “Where’s your family?”

  She shook her head, and her eyes drifted over to the men’s cell. “What do we know about family? Ridge and I have been on our own since we were thirteen. Family died, we kept moving.”

  I blinked, stunned at the non-emotional way she said it. I pointed to the guy she’d come in with. “So, Ridge, he’s your brother?”

  She nodded. “Same day of birth.”

  Twins, okay then, at least we were getting somewhere. She looked down at her hand but didn’t say anything. I couldn’t tell if she feared losing it or just didn’t care at all, as her face gave nothing away.

  “And your parents?” I asked, because if they were dead like she said, I wanted to know what had happened to them.

  She chuckled, dry and humorless, then her eyes looked up at the cracked ceiling as if she was trying to peer to the house above. “My dad. He worked for Man One Chila, on one of his farms.” She swallowed hard and took a breath as if she needed to collect herself before getting the words out. “Man One Chila was usually good about paying on time, but this time he hadn’t, and we had to pay rent on the tiny room we lived in, or we’d be put out that day.”

  I thought I knew where this was going, and my stomach became queasy as I waited to hear the rest.

  She got up and walked toward the bars, gripping them tightly as she kept her back to me. “My father went to confront him, brought us with him because he was scared of what the landlord would do if we were left alone. Man One Chila was insulted that one of his workers would come to his house demanding money.”

  She stopped talking for a second, and her knuckles tightened even more. This time when she started back, her voice was trying hard to stay even, but I could hear the tremble. “He had his guards beat my father, and when my mother tried to intervene, he used his super-strength to throw a large stone at her. Because of the commotion, my father was able to get away from his attackers, and he jumped in front of her.”

  Her shoulders were tensed, and I waited the few seconds until she was ready to speak again. “It split his head open, and when my mom charged, Man One Chila threw another stone. This one hit her on the side and...” Her voice wavered, and her grip was so tight on the bars I was sure she’d leave an imprint there. “The stone split her in two.”

  My inside’s twisted at what they’d had to witness at such a young age, and I put a hand over my mouth horrified. “I’m sorry.” Because what else was there to say after hearing something like that?

  “They had four guards on Ridge and I, and we tried to fight, but we were only thirteen and no match for them.” She let go of the bars and her fists clenched at her sides, back still to me. “So, we watched our parents die, not being able to do a thing about it. Afterwards, Man One Chila kicked their bodies over to us, told us to clean up the mess, or he’d have us arrested for littering.”

  I thought back to what the men had said when they’d first brought her and her brother in. “So that’s why you keep going to Chila’s farms and vineyards. It’s the ones your father used to work at.”

  She nodded but didn’t turn around. “He never paid my father that money, so he owes my family a debt. Ridge and I take what we can when we’re able, but it’s not enough. The landlord put us out the same day my parents were killed, and so we’ve been on the streets for the last six years. No one will hire us, they're too scared of Man One Chila’s wrath.”

  She let out a dry laugh and ran a hand down her face. “I don’t even think he remembers us, yet there are still no jobs to be had.”

  I thought back to my own parents and my own life. It hadn’t been easy growing up in a house with my father, yet I’d always had him. He and my mother had always been there, and I’d grown up knowing that if things got too tough, I could turn to them, they’d always be there and until this moment, that was something I’d just taken for granted.

  Looking at her made me realize that not everyone had that and though they drove me crazy, I wondered what my life would be if I didn’t know they’d always be there in the background waiting to bail me out if things got too bad.

  I turned to her. I didn’t do well with touching people or being touched by people, never had, but something in me wanted to pull her into a small hug. What she and her brother had been through was horrible, yet even if I were in a position to give her one of the bags of money we’d gotten from Vilion, it probably wouldn’t do much good. If people were this scared of Chila, they probably wouldn’t rent to her, nor sell to her.

  He may not remember her parents, but she and Ridge had been caught stealing from this Chila four times, and others would remember that. Besides, if he cut off their dominant hands, it would send a signal that they couldn’t be trusted and make it even harder for them to find work or housing.

  She turned back around, and her eyes were glassy but had softened just a bit. “Name’s Chibo, and I’ve never told anyone that. Never talked about it before. Ridge, he doesn’t like... He doesn’t want to think about it. My mom was so protective of us. She—”

  “Your mom was a filthy bitch who got what she deserved.” A woman with black hair, wearing a dirty yellow toga stood up. “Bitch kept her nose turned in the air like she was better than the rest of us.” The woman threw her head back and laughed, and I saw Chibo go rigid beside me.

  I held my breath, as the air turned tense and dangerous. This did not look good, but I wasn’t sure how to stop it. Chibo got in the woman’s face, her chest rising and falling from her anger.

  The black-haired woman went on talking, paying her no mind. “That bitch—”

  Chibo gave the woman a quick headbutt and then waited until she fell to the floor before she started kicking her in the face. The woman screamed in agony as blood flew from her nose and mouth.

  Chibo’s body shook with rage as her foot came down on the lady’s face again and again. The only thing I could hear was a strangled “Don’t” as she landed each blow.

  Another woman, this one with blonde hair, ran up and pushed Chibo, trying to get her off the other lady. Chibo raised a leg and kicked the second woman in the face. The blonde flew back and landed in a heap on the other side of the cell.

  I’d been too stunned to move at first, but now I knew I had to stop her before she killed the woman. From the cell, across from us, her brother screamed her name as he rattled the bars trying to break free.

  “Enough!” I said, walking up beside her. She halted and then turned so that she could see where the voice came from. Her hard eyes landed on me, and all the air seemed to go out of her. She looked down at the bloodied woman she’d been stomping, eyes wide as if she hadn’t even realized what she’d been doing. “I... I’m...” That’s all she got out before she crumpled in my arms.

  I wasn’t good at this comfort thing, and I suspected she wasn’t good at receiving it. But I held her close, wiping hair out of her face as best I could with my hands bound, telling her it would be okay. It wouldn’t, though. I knew that. She’d almost killed a lady, and something told me this Chila was going to take more than just her hand now.

  Chapter 11

  The black-haired lady was helped from the floor, and though she was bloodied and bruised, she was still able to walk on her own. She shot Chibo a scathing look as she
hopped to one of the stone benches and sat down.

  Across from us, Chibo’s brother’s eyes were wide, his jaw tight, as if he knew what was coming. The guards were on the other side of the stone door and probably hadn’t heard a thing. If they had, I was sure they would have come charging in to mete out punishment as they saw fit.

  Chibo sat up against the wall now, knees drawn to her chest, head down, as if she was ashamed of what she’d done and didn’t want to look at anyone.

  I left her to it, scratching my head. I felt something there, but for some reason, I couldn’t get to it. I tangled my fingers in my hair until they closed around something short and cylinder. The ropes bit into me as I did so, making the task that much harder. It felt like... I pulled the object out and saw a mini bottle of lotion, even smaller than the standard hotel size.

  I sighed, as I looked at the thing remembering Vonda fussing around before we left, sticking stuff in my hair, bra, and socks. A feeling of adrenaline ran through me as I thought back to what she’d been saying as she’d done it, and I perked up a little.

  We’d told her and Todd about our bags getting taken on Graven, and she’d said something about us being better prepared this time. I wondered what all she’d fitted me with because I hadn’t been paying attention, but knew from now on this was something we could use to our advantage. Thank you, Vonda.

  I felt around in my bra and pulled out a mini thing of hand sanitizer.

  Shaking my head and wondering what she’d been thinking, I reached into my socks. My hand wrapped around an object that was small and oval. My heart sped up, and I pulled it out expecting to see my porter. I could have sworn I’d stuck it in there, but I couldn’t really remember.

  I looked at the thing in my hand and groaned. It was a lighter, a yellow one. I let out a disappointed breath and reminded myself that my sister was new to this as well. Yet something was still in my hair. I came to my feet and felt around some more and then my hands clamped around something else small and oval, and I pulled it out and gasped in relief when I saw the small, silver, missile shaped thing. My porter, finally.