by Amelia Jade
“Ash, she’s being held by the Guardians. She might even be questioned and gone by now. How’s he supposed to see her?” Dom asked the questions Zeke wasn’t able to voice.
“You have to try.” Asher’s calm, measured tone was at direct odds with Dom’s disbelief.
“He’s right,” Zeke said, closing his eyes briefly, the image of her smiling up at him just before he left her clear as day on the underside of his eyelids. It never seemed to leave him.
“I need to see her. No matter what.”
***
His heart fluttered as he spread his wings wide, using the huge flaps to slow his descent, until he landed on the stone circle, touching down with a grace and ease he could never have dreamed of six months earlier.
Straight ahead, two men turned to face him, though they didn’t approach. Zeke filed that away, along with the other four Guardians he had seen patrolling the outer edges of the Guardian building, walking their rounds along the low stone wall that surrounded the property.
The security was much tighter than the night before.
He focused his mind, and the familiar flame-tinged smoke billowed out from around him. Forcing himself to take it slow, he waited until the wall of flame had spent itself trying to reach out past the edge of the stone circle before he began to stride forward.
“Hello,” he said, dipping his head formally in greeting to the two Guardians who stood before him.
“Good evening,” came the courteous reply.
“A few more of you around tonight than there were the other night,” he commented.
“Indeed. More than you know,” the same Guardian replied, the unspoken threat indicating that, if he were there with ill intent, they were ready for him.
“Easy, gentlemen,” he said, peacefully putting his hands out wide. “I was the one who brought her in.”
“Brought who in?”
Zeke rolled his eyes. “The woman who you’re all here to guard.”
The two Guardians looked hesitant.
“Oh for—”
“Zeke? Is that you?”
“Tobias! Can you tell these two goons to relax, that I’m friendly?”
Tobias came jogging out of the shadows. “Guys it’s fine. He knows everything, he brought her in last night, and fought off those dicks who tried to take her.”
The other two Guardians relaxed at last, though not completely.
“What are you doing back here, Z?”
“I need to see her. Is she still here?” Zeke wasn’t in the mood to chitchat; he wanted to get it all out there right away.
“Yeah, they had to delay the meeting. A couple of key folks weren’t able to make it yesterday.”
“Good, can I see her?”
Tobias looked unhappy. “You’ll have to talk to Delilah,” he said with a grimace. “She’s on counter tonight, and she gets to decide.”
Zeke swore under his breath. Delilah was a Guardian, so he had to play nice. But she was nobody’s friend. Her penchant for following the rules to the finest detail was practically legendary, and she had made many enemies, and several powerful friends. All of which conspired to keep her as a Guardian, but also to ensure she never moved upward. Which meant Delilah had a chip on her shoulder.
“Well isn’t that just lovely.”
He glanced at the two whose names he did not know, noting that they were trying not to smile.
“Let’s see how this goes,” he said, jogging up the stairs, pushing open one of the doors and striding up to the desk.
“No visitors.”
He stopped in his tracks, jaw dropping open.
“How did—”
“I’m not an idiot. But no visitors, that’s the rules.”
“Come on Delilah. I brought her in. I said I’d visit tonight. I’m not going to try anything.”
“No visitors,” she repeated.
Zeke hissed in frustration and spun on his heel, descending the stairs to where everyone waited.
“That was quick,” Tobias joked.
Zeke shot him a glare. “I need to get in there. Can you help me?”
The shifters looked at each other. A grin spread slowly across Tobias’s face, and then to the others. “Yes, I think we can. But only because we all hate her equally.”
They walked around to the back of the building.
“That’s her room there,” Tobias said, pointing at one of the few with bars on it.
“Well, bars are no good. They would hear me ripping those off.”
“Yes, but that one is right next door,” Tobias said, pointing to a window free of bars or cage-mesh.
“Okay, nice. But how do I get up there? Shifting won’t help.”
The three shifters looked at him, walked below the window and then the pair he didn’t know locked hands together between them, like a platform. Tobias put his hands under.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Zeke said. “You guys have done this before, haven’t you?”
The Guardians all looked at him, and then shrugged innocently in unison, prompting a snort from Zeke. They were terrible liars.
“Okay, here we go,” he said, taking a few steps back.
He jogged forward, jumped onto their hands, and was hurled upward. The window went past, and he landed on the edge, arms flailing as he tried to recover his balance.
“Shit,” he said dully and fell backward, rotating in mid-air to land on one knee.
The Guardians were snickering, not making any attempt to hide their amusement.
“Yeah yeah,” he said, standing up.
The second time he landed smoothly on the little ledge, forcing the window up. He shouldn’t have been surprised at the fact there was no screen, but he was. Clearly this was a well-known entry point by the Guardians.
The room was empty, and a quick peek told him the hallway was too. The door was a simple bar lock, so he slid it aside and without further hesitation, slipped inside.
“Hey!”
“Shhh,” he said, throwing a finger to his lips as he closed the door behind him.
“Zeke?” Amber asked, dropping her voice. “What’s going on?”
He looked around awkwardly. “Uh, nothing?”
“What do you mean?”
He felt his face warm lightly at the embarrassment. “I just needed to talk to you.”
Amber frowned. “So you what, sneaked in here? I was told nobody would be allowed to visit today.”
Zeke nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. So I broke the rules.”
She smiled happily at him. “Really? Thank you. This has been such a ridiculous waste of my time. It’s nice to see someone willing to help me out.”
“I didn’t come to break you out,” he told her.
“So what are you here for then, more information?” she asked, her guard going back up.
He shook his head. “No, nothing like that.”
Amber looked at him quizzically. “You really went through all the sneaking around just to talk to me?”
Zeke shrugged helplessly. “Maybe?”
She relaxed once more, falling back onto the bed and motioning for him to take the chair at the desk. “Well, that’s sweet, but a rescue would have been nicer.”
“You don’t need a rescue,” he said with a chuckle, sitting gently into the chair as it groaned beneath his weight. “You’re safe here. Once they get your story and information, they’ll let you go. Someone will take you back across the border.”
“It doesn’t feel like it. I feel like I’m a prisoner,” she said, reaching up above her head and dragging a nail across the concrete wall to make her point. “Not exactly five-star accommodations.”
Zeke smiled. “It’s not to keep you in,” he explained. “It’s to keep others out.”
Amber sat up, looking at him. “You mean the people who brought me here in the first place.”
He nodded. “Or anyone else with a grudge against humans. Not everyone in Cadia is as easygoing as I am. Most are, the vast maj
ority. But we have our fanatics too.”
“Well, that’s reassuring.”
“You’re perfectly safe here,” he reassured her. “But if you were to escape out into Cadia, you probably wouldn’t make it through the night.”
Amber’s eyes darted to the window, and then refocused on him. “So, Zeke the Fire Dragon, besides scaring me into staying put, what else did you come here for?”
He hesitated. Saying the true reason was unlikely to work. They’d met the night before. He wasn’t about to tell her that she had been on his mind all day. His dragon wouldn’t hesitate, but the human portion of Zeke knew that he couldn’t be so blunt. Fortunately, he had a ready-made excuse.
“I promised you that I would come back. I keep my promises,” he said.
Amber eyed him skeptically. He hadn’t promised he would be back, only that he would try. Sneaking in against the rules was a little more than was to be expected.
“I see. Well, now that you’re here, I guess I’m stuck talking to you, aren’t I?”
He grinned, moving the chair over to the bed so he could put his feet up.
“Yes, I think you are.”
Amber gave him that same little smile.
It was going to be a good night.
Chapter Five
Amber
The pounding on the door eventually forced her eyes open.
“Yes?” she called, her eyes slowly opening, greeted with the sight of bare whitewashed walls.
She frowned. That wasn’t right. The walls of her room were a desert beige. And they weren’t devoid of decoration either. There were pictures, and a mirror.
Amber sat up, looking around her in panic. Where was she? This wasn’t her room! She threw off the covers, halfway to her feet before the memories of the past thirty-six hours all came flooding in.
The room spun slightly as she put her hand out for support against one of the empty walls.
Head rush. Take it easy.
She blinked rapidly, inhaling slowly and exhaling the same until some semblance of balance and calm returned to her.
Right. She was in “protective custody” in the middle of Cadia, a shifter territory. The banging at the door came again.
“What?” she said, pulling the door open a crack.
Tobias, the only shifter whose name she’d been able to memorize, was standing there looking apologetic.
“Sorry to wake you, miss, but it’s time to go.”
“Are we actually doing it today?” she asked, pulling the door open and stepping back inside. She was already dressed in the only clothes she had, thankfully cleaned at least, though they still were sporting some rips in them. Sleeping clothes weren’t a thing here apparently, so she’d just stayed clothed.
“Yes, the Guardian Council is all assembled now, and ready to hear your story. They will likely have lots of questions.”
“There’s a surprise,” she said, pulling on her shoes and gesturing for him to lead the way.
Tobias shot her a look, but then realized she was being sarcastic.
“Ah, yes. Well, most of them will believe you, I think. But beware of the gryphon representatives. They’ve been rather snippy about the whole thing. They likely won’t believe a word you say. Just don’t rise to their challenge, and you should be okay.”
She looked at him sharply as they descended the last of the stairs, a grand set of double doors looming above them, dark wood inlaid with what appeared to be gold. Large brass handles stuck out, and Tobias reached for one.
“Wait, how will I know who the gryphons are?” she asked, suddenly nervous. The idea that not everyone would believe her had never crossed her mind until now.
“You’ll know,” he told her, and with a nod, yanked on the door, swinging it open. With a gesture he escorted her inside.
The room wasn’t all that large. Black painted benches to either side, five rows worth, each of which could hold perhaps ten people. There was a metal wall separating them from the interior of the room, much like a courtroom. Tobias showed her down between rows, until he reached a gate in the wall, which slid open easily. He held it as she passed through, and then showed her to a chair in the center of the semi-circular portion of the room.
Amber sat, the empty pews behind her no longer visible. In front of her, fourteen chairs sat in an arc, raised up upon a dais so that they could look down upon the rest of the room, including her. Even as she sat, Amber realized the chair was quite squat, designed to enhance the feeling of being loomed over.
It’s like an evil boss’s lair in here.
“This is where I leave you,” Tobias said, giving her shoulder a squeeze and departing.
The door behind her banged open, and almost simultaneously a second door recessed somewhere behind the dais in front of her opened, and people began to file into the large chairs. There were footsteps behind her, and she realized others were assembling in the benches behind her. Why they waited for her, she wasn’t quite sure, but it seemed to give her a bit of power.
Seizing the moment, she crossed her legs and leaned back as imperiously as the she could, allowing a disinterested look to cross her face, as if she were bored, and unimpressed that she had been kept waiting on their presence instead of vice versa. She saw several of the newcomers reevaluate her as they settled into their seats.
Some looked permanently sullen and unhappy. The majority of the others looked neutral, while a few actually smiled or tilted their heads toward her.
The grumps must be the gryphons, she realized.
Ha ha. Grumpy Gryphons. Gee-Gee’s.
She realized her mind was wandering and snapped it back into focus almost at the same time a solemn, but not angry, figure in the center of the circle raised their hand.
“Thank you for coming.” His voice, though not a yell, boomed out across the room regardless, audible for all without being overwhelming.
That’s one hell of a trick.
She noticed now as she looked closer that there were crests inlaid into the top of the high-backed chairs they sat in.
The one who had spoken and the one to his right bore the figure of a dragon. She looked to the right of the woman who occupied the second dragon chair, and saw what appeared to be a bear. Scanning them all, she came up with seven different ones in total.
Wolf.
Gryphon.
Bear.
Dragon.
Tiger.
Pegasus.
The last one was actually more similar to a collage than any one animal. She thought she saw leopards, bats, and possibly even a whale, though they were much smaller individually than their other shifter relatives.
Perhaps that pair are representative of all the less common shifter species.
Her thoughts were interrupted as the same man spoke again, this time looking at her.
“For the record, please state your name.”
“Amber Klose,” she said, without rising, speaking firmly enough that the fourteen in front of her could hear, not caring if the others did.
“Do you know why you are here, Amber Klose?”
She noted how he made no attempt to introduce himself. Well, Tobias had implied that she would not necessarily be the most liked person in the room today. But Amber could handle that; she had done nothing wrong.
“I work for Imperial Petroleum Products. My company, unbeknownst to me, started building a pipeline through Cadia, without any permission from you. I discovered this two days ago, and at the same time, the work site I was at was attacked. I was knocked out, and the next thing I knew I was awake somewhere in the middle of Cadia. You obviously have a lot of questions, which I fear I will likely be unable to answer, as I am just as surprised as you.”
She still hadn’t risen from her seat, nor had she relaxed her calm, in-charge manner. A flicker of contempt crossed the face of one of the gryphon shifters, but she ignored it in her constant scan of the fourteen faces. As she did, one thing stood out to her.
There were mor
e males than females, but barely. It was almost an even split, which surprised her. She had thought shifter society to be male-dominated. But this being their highest ruling council—to her knowledge, nobody really knew how the shifters governed themselves—the near equality was interesting to see.
Just another thing about shifters I’m going to have to reevaluate.
“You say you work for IPP. What exactly do you do?” This came from one of the wolves.
The question itself wasn’t hostile, nor was her tone of voice. But Amber sensed that if she did not answer it precisely, it could turn on her.
“I am one of a group of engineers who are overseeing the project in all its aspects.”
“I see,” the woman said. “And yet, as one of the leaders of the group, you had no idea about the course deviation? According to reports, it’s a good mile into Cadia already. The only reason we did not spot it was because we don’t frequent that area.”
Amber wanted to smile as she mentally thanked the woman for giving her the out. She wasn’t sure whether it was intentional or not, but it was there, and she seized it.
“Well, as you pointed out, I am but one of the group of over half a dozen. Primary construction is not my main focus either. I’m in design and structural safety. As you say, visiting the frontline of construction is not an area I frequent. In fact, I was filling in for someone who had come down ill. I suspect—though I cannot prove—that if they had gone out instead, or if anyone had known I was filling in, nothing would have ever come up.”
The shifter council muttered between themselves while Amber sat there, trying not to appear as terrified as she felt on the inside. She knew half the game in situations like this was a charade. It was no different than boardroom meetings with CEOs. She doubted all of the shifters here were that bad, but it was close enough that she could handle the pressure.
After half a decade of working as an engineer in the oil industry, Amber had developed a bit of a tough skin. It would take more than these fourteen to make her react.
“And why should we believe your claims of innocence?” The second gryphon shifter spoke at last, her voice ornery and shrill.
Like a bird call. Oh the stereotypes. Unbelievable!