by Sarah Noffke
The woman who stood too close to the Nest where all thousand dragon eggs were resting was a cyborg.
Sophia thought the evil grin she flashed was the precursor to her attack, and she took off, sprinting in the direction of the Nest, Wilder on her heels and Hiker screaming.
It all happened so fast. The woman didn’t attack. She didn’t even move. Instead, she extended her pale arm, and her hand detached and sped into the cave on a long coil.
Sophia got to the hill, climbing while also firing spells at the intruder. For all her efforts, Wilder’s, and everything Hiker threw at the woman, it all fell flat against an impenetrable shield.
When the woman’s hand retracted back to her body, it was holding a single dragon egg.
She winked before taking off, jumping off the side of the hill to where the cliff ended on the beach around the Pond.
Sophia was certain they’d get her. Lunis would find her. She’d be trapped. There was no way for her to get out before they caught her.
Just after the woman disappeared, she rose back up into the air, holding onto a long chain. Sophia brought her gaze up, following the metal rope to a blimp that appeared just below where she suspected the Barrier was located.
The craft rose fast into the air, taking the woman suspended from the chain up and away, along with one of the prized dragon eggs.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Even the morning light streaming through the windows of the Castle did little to make the Dragon Elite feel any better as they dragged themselves off the Expanse and into the crumbling building.
Wilder took charge of the prisoners, leading them down into the dungeon while Sophia helped Evan to the dining room table.
“Get Ainsley for me, would you?” he asked through sips of breath, the stab wound obviously growing more uncomfortable, even though he had been putting on a tough act.
Sophia had done everything she could to knock down the blimp, as had Hiker and Wilder. Lunis was too far away to help, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway because as soon as the blimp rose up through the Barrier, it portaled away with the pirate woman and the dragon egg.
Sophia set Evan in a chair before looking up at Hiker. “I recognize her from the press conference,” she said simply, knowing Hiker knew who she was referring to. Evan and Mahkah didn’t know what had happened since they’d been on the other side of the Expanse .
Mahkah hobbled into the dining room, with his hand wrapped up in a large bandage. Debris was strewn everywhere. If anything, the Castle looked way worse than a couple of hours ago when she went up to visit Quiet. She had a lot more questions for the gnome now, but they would have to wait. For one, there were prisoners to interrogate. There were two badly injured dragonriders sitting at the makeshift dining table, and then there was the fact she couldn’t remember when she had slept last. At some point, she was going to require answers, and Quiet was going to give them to her, or she was going to toss him out of the Castle—pulling a real Hiker Wallace.
The leader of the Dragon Elite nodded. “I recognized her, too,” he said to Sophia.
“Who?” Evan questioned, sucking in a breath as he pressed his hands to his ribs. Usually, the Castle would have started repairing the injured, but seeing as the place was destroyed, Sophia didn’t think that was likely to happen. And yet, the Barrier had come back up, so maybe there was still hope.
“The woman who stole one of the dragon eggs,” Sophia answered Evan.
“What?” Mahkah asked, leaning forward.
She nodded solemnly. “Yeah, she appeared out of nowhere.” Briefly, she explained what had transpired all the way to when the blimp disappeared.
“She was the one in the audience at the press conference who asked about our location,” Mahkah stated definitively.
“Yeah, and hindsight tells me I shouldn’t have even hinted,” Hiker remarked bitterly.
“This has been planned for a long time, I believe,” Sophia consoled.
“I agree.” Hiker gazed at the floor. “But how, I don’t know.”
“Someone poisoned Quiet,” Sophia said and divulged what she’d learned when getting the antidote for the groundskeeper and learning about the ship. The men stayed quiet and listened to her. Wilder gave her a stoic expression when she finished, having come up from the dungeon.
No one said anything for a long time, all of them too exhausted to do anything more than breathe.
“So, Ainsley…” Evan finally began, pressing his hand to his ribs where blood seeped through his armor.
“I put her to bed,” Mama Jamba informed them, walking casually into the dining hall.
“Cool,” Evan replied condescendingly. “Well, when she wakes from her beauty sleep, can you tell her I’m bleeding to death?”
“Will do, hun,” Mama Jamba answered.
“Without the Castle,” Sophia explained, giving Hiker a meaningful look, “Ainsley has fallen ill.”
He sucked in a breath. The other men seemed to understand, though none of them knew the full details of what had happened to Ainsley or that the Castle kept her alive.
“If the Castle isn’t doing its normal job, how did the Barrier come back up?” Mahkah asked, giving no indication he was in pain even though he’d lost a finger.
“I did it,” Mama Jamba stated. “I figured you all could use a break, and it was the least I could do.”
“It’s about damn time,” Hiker muttered bitterly.
She whipped around and stuck her hands on her hips. “I will remind you, Hiker, my job is not to save you. Your job is to save my planet.”
“Normally I would be all about doing that, but my home base was attacked, putting all of us on the defensive, and now one of our eggs has been stolen, and most of us are injured,” he complained.
“I’m sorry about that,” Mama Jamba said matter-of-factly. “Although I don’t like my children to suffer, I can’t always save you. Considering the seriousness of this situation, I’ve put up the Barrier, but it won’t last. It’s only in place long enough for you all to rest and figure out what to do when it comes back down.”
“Which will be when?” Evan asked. “One, maybe two decades?”
Sophia was impressed Evan was joking even though he was pale and obviously in a lot of pain as he clutched his side.
“Try more like one to two days,” Mama Jamba corrected.
“That gives us time to rest, but what happens to the Gullington is what I want to know,” Hiker mused.
Everyone fell silent, no one having any answers.
“Even if we rest up, we have to be ready if those pirates return,” Wilder declared.
“When they return,” Hiker said. “They were here for a reason. As mentioned, this was planned and probably for quite some time. Whoever is behind this knew what they were doing. What we need are answers.”
He turned his attention to Mama Jamba. “Can you help us?”
She shook her head. “I did already. It really isn’t my place.”
“Mama,” he begged.
“Hiker, you know damn well you have everything you need to rise above this,” she said gravely. “I refuse to save my children when they are unwilling to save themselves. You wield power that can wipe out an army. You have riders who will die for you. There are so many resources, but you’re going to have put yourself out there and ask for help from those you think you don’t owe anything to. If you want answers, start looking around.”
Mother Nature put Hiker Wallace in his place.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Things were far from over, Sophia thought as she hiked out to the Nest.
They were just beginning.
There were more questions than there were answers. Quiet. The McAfee. The cyborg steampunk pirates and how they knew so much about the Gullington.
The most heartbreaking part was her lost egg.
She settled down on the grass overlooking the Pond. For some reason, Sophia couldn’t bring herself to enter the Nest. She felt like the dra
gons inside their eggs would all cast judgment on her for losing one of them.
Instead, she glanced out at the Pond, where the McAfee floated on the open waters. It was the property of the Gullington for now. The pirates had left it because it had only been a means into the Gullington. Hopefully, it offered some answers. Like where it had come from and why. She’d take time to investigate it. She’d do a lot over the next forty-eight hours before the Barrier came down again, and more attacks ensued.
Sophia wanted to believe the pirates wouldn’t be back, but there was no point in disillusioning herself. They knew where the Dragon Elite was, and they’d be watching. When the Barrier came down, the Gullington would be visible and the borders crossable.
The pirates had come with strong numbers. Not only that, but their strategy had been brilliant. Sophia had to give it to them. They had fought, knowing the Dragon Elite would take a position by the Nest. According to Wilder, they never tried hard to get into the cave. Instead, they let themselves be picked off until the Dragon Elite thought they’d won. At the last moment, the strange woman with wiry hair from the press conference swooped in and stole a dragon egg and then was lifted off by a blimp.
It all made Sophia so angry she couldn’t even sleep even though she was exhausted. She couldn’t eat, and she couldn’t talk to anyone, even Lunis, although her heart sorely wanted comfort.
She turned away from the Pond, tired of looking at the strange ship that seemed to be mocking her.
She caught sight of the Castle. How lonely it looked, broken and dreary in the morning sunlight. She didn’t think her heart could break more, and then it did.
Losing the dragon egg had been horrible, but if anything happened to the Castle, to the Gullington or the Dragon Elite, Sophia didn’t know how she’d recover.
It all felt so wrong. She’d just regained hope. Hiker had too. The Nest full of a thousand eggs had been the Dragon Elite’s saving grace. It had given them so much.
Then a new enemy had reared its head and taken so much away.
“I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news.” Mama Jamba’s southern drawl cut through the wind howling around Sophia’s ears. She’d learned to tune it out, still frustrated by the unrelenting winds on the Gullington and all around.
Sophia hadn’t noticed the old woman standing on the other side of her, next to the Nest. There was a lot that could have escaped her right then after days of adventures and no sleep or real nourishment. She blinked at Mother Nature. “What is it?”
“Well, you happen to be sitting in my spot,” Mama Jamba said cordially.
Sophia glanced around at the ample green space all around her. She pointed to a patch of earth. “Why don’t you take that area?”
Mama Jamba shook her head. “Oh, no. I like where you’re sitting, which is why I’m guessing you’re sitting there.”
Sophia sighed, totally feeling defeated. “Is this a joke because I’m really not in the mood.”
Mama Jamba smiled and settled down next to her. “I get that, dear. And yes, you’ll have to excuse me. I’m awful at jokes. They really are the strong suit of other gods and goddesses, but not me. I keep trying. Maybe I need to go to clown college.”
Sophia couldn’t even force a smile, though she sensed Mama Jamba really was trying to cheer her up. The old woman had saved them that day. If she hadn’t closed the Barrier, who knows what would have happened. Sophia knew Mama Jamba could always save them, but she respected what the woman had said about her children saving themselves. She guessed it was a sign of being a good parent, raising children who knew how to save themselves.
“That’s what I want you to understand most here, sweet Sophia,” Mama Jamba said out of the middle of nowhere when they had been silent for a long while.
She hadn’t realized she had laid her head on Mama Jamba’s shoulder, seeking comfort. “What are you talking about?” Sophia asked, yanking her head up.
Mama Jamba smiled knowingly. “What you said about respecting that my children have to save themselves.”
“Mama Jamba, I thought that in my head. I didn’t say it.”
Mother Nature waved her hand through the air. “Same thing. Anyway, I know it hurts your heart that you’ve lost a dragon egg.” She clicked her tongue and shook her head of silver hair. “I just put you in charge of them, and there you go losing one.”
Grief ached in Sophia’s throat. “This isn’t making me feel any better.”
Mama Jamba patted Sophia on the knee. “The thing is, and no mother ever wants to hear this, but sometimes we have to lose our children to understand how much they mean to us.”
“That’s my lesson?” Sophia couldn’t keep the frustration out of her voice.
“No,” Mama Jamba stated simply. “Not in its entirety.”
“Is it that I’m supposed to allow the dragon egg to miraculously save itself?” Sophia questioned with real attitude in her voice now, exhaustion getting the better of her.
Mama Jamba smiled, not at all offended. “Maybe. More than anything, the lesson is you can do everything to save your children. You can do everything to help them. But at the end of the day, your job is to do the best you can in a world where you control only so much.”
“I’m a Dragon Elite,” Sophia argued, conviction in her voice. “I am one of the most powerful people on your green Earth. How can I even accept that? How can I let these people get away?”
Mama Jamba winked at her, seemingly satisfied. Then she stood, pushing up like her lower back was bothering her. She groaned slightly. “I think my job is done here.”
“Wait, what do you mean?” Sophia asked, looking at the old woman as she hiked down the hill.
“Oh, I should have said, sometimes losing your children is a part of the process,” Mother Nature said. “It makes you stronger because you realize how much they mean to you. And what lengths you’ll go to get them back.”
Sophia sucked in a breath, bowled over by the lesson Mama Jamba had just imparted. No, Sophia didn’t want to lose an egg. She didn’t want to see the Gullington destroyed and her friends hurting. She understood then how much all of them meant to her, and it was leagues more than she could have ever discovered without this experience.
She went to thank Mother Nature, but it was too late.
Mama Jamba had disappeared. She hadn’t faded into the distance as she retreated to the Castle. She did what all mysterious goddesses do and disappeared into the ether to resurface when she saw fit.
Sophia turned her attention back to the Pond, not feeling as sad as she had before.
She was tired. No, she was beyond exhausted.
She was frustrated. No, she was livid.
A fire had been lit in her belly.
If the pirates had come and gone then, the Dragon Elite would have rebuilt. Instead, the pirates had come in and stolen something that belonged to the Dragon Elite and to Sophia Beaufont. She was going to do everything to get back their dragon egg.
She stared out at the ship floating in the open waters of the sea monster-infested Pond and found herself smiling as its sails flapped rebelliously in the wind.
Sophia wanted to know more about that ship, more about these pirates, about Quiet, and the winds on the Gullington that were tangling her hair.
She was going to get answers.
And then she was going to take back her dragon egg and punish a lot of bad people.
Chapter Fifty-Six
The ragged breathing of the prisoners was the only sound Sophia could hear. She and Evan were trying to figure out how to make them talk. They had been at it for hours and were no closer to getting any answers.
She cut her eyes at Evan and he nodded, knowing he had been tapped into the interrogation.
The dungeon in the Castle of the Gullington would be beautiful if not for the smell of mold and sweat, and if one could forget what happened in such places. It had been ages since this dungeon had held any prisoners, although Evan admitted Hiker had once locked him i
n the cell where they presently stood for sassing him.
Sophia stepped out, pulling the gate shut as she watched through the bars. The dripping sound at her back reminded her of the techniques Hiker had used on one of the three prisoners.
Sophia had never seen the Viking so angry. The steampunk cyborg pirates weren’t intimidated. Evan had wanted to take things further, but Hiker had refused, saying they wouldn’t be forced to stoop to immoral levels. Sophia was impressed. It was easy for people to do the right thing when they weren’t facing a real challenge. Sticking to ethics when your enemy looked you in the eye and spat in your face was a lot more difficult.
Hiker had simply wiped his face of emotion and left the room, giving the job of interrogation to Evan and Sophia. She had tried to be crafty and trick the prisoners into telling her something about the person or people they worked for.
She’d had seconds to shield herself before the cyborg fired at her through its mechanical eye. After that, Sophia had put a spell on all three of the prisoners, disarming any other defenses they may have. It was a taxing spell but necessary. The Castle would have done it for her if it hadn’t been in disrepair and not operating at peak level. The dungeon, according to Hiker, used to automatically disable prisoner’s magical powers, keeping them restrained and from attacking.
Whatever Mama Jamba had done to reinforce the Barrier, the Castle seemed to be holding and not crumbling as rapidly as it had been. The protection would only hold for about another day or so, though, and the Dragon Elite would be forced to defend their borders and watch the Castle degrade once more.
Evan picked up the leather belt they had taken off the pirate whose hands were restrained in the rusted chains on the brick wall. All the cyborgs had been smart enough not to carry any identification, but the one they were currently interrogating had a personalized belt, his first and last name engraved into the leather.