by Meg LaTorre
Mounting her board and kicking the engine on, she left the safety of the column to face the dragon, her feet sliding on the blood oozing from her shoulder. Flame erupted from the beast, and she flew around the room, dodging between pillars.
The generator towered before her, a beacon. That was the answer.
Her heart pounded as she waited in front of the machine, the dragon flapping massive wings and turning to face her. In those agonizing moments, she wondered if she would see Bastian, Rora, or her friends again. The roaring of the forcefield became a distant humming in her ears over the roaring of her pulse.
Wait… Wait…
The dragon faced her and arched its back, breathing in deeply. Then it loosed flames.
Now!
She kicked the skimmer, willing the board to move faster than it ever had before. But she wasn’t nearly fast enough. As she flew upward, the flames chased her, dancing up her board. As her leather jacket caught fire, she could feel the skin on her arms instantly bubble with blisters. But she couldn’t risk taking the jacket off or even letting go of her board. Biting her cheek, she held back a scream, clutching her board with all her remaining strength. Below her, the fire melted the generator, and the machine sputtered.
As she zipped out of the room and into the open sky, the forcefield shimmered before descending back toward the ground.
The entire peninsula shook as the shield collapsed. An explosion like a wave of air boomed across the city.
In the room below, the dragon roared, the sound like metal scraping metal, as a part of the castle exploded. Fire and electricity and a searing heat blasted up from the generator. It was all she could do to keep out of the range of the sparking flames. Debris flew in every direction, peppering her with shards of stone, glass, and metal.
Tears filled the corners of her eyes. Damn it, she didn’t have time to be injured.
As she flew back over the city and toward the docks, she noted where cobblestone streets and house foundations had cracked from the impact of the explosion. The city fell silent for several long moments before the screaming started. Soldiers rallied, and arrows zipped up toward her board, slamming into the base. One managed to poke through, splintering the wood.
As the ships came into sight, the dragon bellowed once more. It was the sound of fury taking flight.
Looking back, she saw the unmistakable shape of the scarlet dragon rising out of the castle’s depths. Smoke fizzled up from holes in the beast’s wings, and it was covered in ash. But it flew straight for her.
That was one resilient fucker.
Squatting lower, she zipped toward the water. She breathed a sigh of relief as Obedient rose into the sky. With any luck, that meant Bastian was awake and guiding the ship toward space.
Rather than setting a course for Obedient, she flew toward the docks where soldiers yelled. As she feared, some were in the midst of preparing ships in pursuit. Seeing her and the pursuing dragon, the soldiers aimed guns and crossbows. More arrows stuck to the bottom of her board, but she didn’t turn back. Instead, she flew closer to them. Another bullet connected with her wounded shoulder, and she cried out, blinking back more tears. Somehow, she managed to stay on her board, but her vision grew fuzzy, and she became lightheaded.
I’m losing too much blood.
She clutched her board with her injured arm before she sliced off the first ship’s docking lines with her free hand. She nearly lost her footing as the pain in her leg throbbed nearly unbearably.
Soon, the dragon’s flames descended over the docks, and the soldiers turned toward it. She made quick work of the remaining docking lines.
Turning, she looked back at Obedient, which was growing smaller as it neared space.
Arrows zipped past her as she soared straight upward. Behind her, the dragon bellowed. Wings flapped furiously as it closed in.
As the ship grew larger, getting closer, Gwen struggled to remain conscious. The air grew thin and cold, and her head swam as blood streamed down her arm from the bullet wounds and countless cuts, making her board slick. Behind her, the dragon no longer belched flames, but it didn’t stop either. Too close, she heard the gnashing of teeth and a clicking as its talons appeared and retracted.
The ship was close enough now that she could see the faces of her friends, waving and calling to her. Some grabbed lines and moved frantically about the ship. Bastian stood at the helm with his eyes fixed on her. Eyes filled with fear.
Suddenly, Gwen’s skimmer sputtered. The engine coughed, and the board shook. Her feet slipped on blood, and she clutched the skimmer with both hands. She was so close. She could see Rora, Marzanna, Akio, and the others crying out.
I’m not going to make it.
She tried to capture the image of Bastian’s face in her mind—his disheveled hair, angular chin, and his brown eyes alight with life—but her vision blurred. She couldn’t even muster the energy to wave in farewell. Suddenly, the effort to keep her eyes open was too much.
The board sputtered for a final time as the engine died. Slowly, she started to descend toward the ground.
Back toward the scarlet dragon.
Chapter 39
A booming rumble of sheer energy shook the city as the forcefield dropped.
Rora clutched the railing while the ship rocked, nearly capsizing. Splashes of bodies tumbling into the water surrounded her, and she prayed they were passengers aboard another vessel and not one of the cyborgs.
Leaning on the ship’s railing, she held her breath as flames erupted from the building across the city Gwen had disappeared into.
Get out of there.
She studied the horizon, waiting for any sign of a skimmer.
“Get us up!” Emmeline barked somewhere nearby.
“Not yet!” Bastian called from the helm, though he guided the ship out onto open water and turned the vessel so their course was set directly for space. “We have to wait for Gwendolyn.”
“She’ll make it,” Rora said. “She can do this.”
“None of us will make it if we wait until that angry lizard is upon us,” Emmeline said.
She was right.
The moment Gwen got to the ship, so would the dragon. Obedient was fast, but not fast enough to outpace a dragon during takeoff from the water. Even if they were airborne and preparing to enter space, engaging the oxygen and gravity fields took time. They might not be able to lower it for Gwen and put the fields back up if the dragon was mere moments behind her.
Suddenly, a form appeared above the city, and Rora gasped in relief.
“Yes!” Marzanna screamed beside her. “Go, Gwen!”
As Gwen flew over the waters, Bastian slowly raised the ship toward space, instructing Marzanna on how to turn on the artificial gravity and oxygen generators. Countless watchmen and performers scurried about the deck, wordlessly doing tasks to ready the ship for space. Soon, the ship hovered at the edge of Covenant’s natural gravity.
Below them, both Gwen and the dragon drew nearer.
The beast arched its back. Instead of spewing fire, it shook its head, wings flapping.
It can’t breathe. Let alone breathe fire.
When Gwen neared the ship, Rora’s heart hammered as she made out more details. By the looks of Gwen’s shoulder, she’d been shot at least once. Her body, cast, and tinkerer’s clothes were tattered and covered in blood. She clung weakly to her skimmer. Like the dragon, she swayed as she neared them.
“Come on, Gwen!” Rora called. “You’re almost there!”
Bastian shouted to Marzanna, “Get ready to bring down the oxygen and gravity field.”
Marzanna nodded and rushed back to the main control panel in the room beneath the quarterdeck.
“Everyone, grab a line and secure it to your waist!” Bastian called from where he stood at the helm, holding the ship steady.
The crew did as instructed, including the emotionless watchmen and performers.
When everyone had a line secured to their waist, Bast
ian shouted at Marzanna, “Lower it now!”
Rora took a deep breath before the shimmering fields went down, and the air grew thinner. Immediately, her thoughts blurred. Through the haze, she could see Gwen’s board start to sputter out. Still, the dragon pressed forward, beating its wings. But it, too, moved far slower.
Gwen’s eyes found Bastian’s for the briefest moment, and Rora looked back and forth between them. Beyond the jealousy swelling in her chest was another feeling entirely—acceptance. They were good for one another.
A strange look flickered across Gwen’s face before her eyelids fluttered. At that moment, Rora realized Gwen was saying goodbye to Bastian.
Oh no, you don’t.
As fast as she could, Rora dashed up the stairs to the quarterdeck. But as she ran, her feet started to lift off the deck, and she stumbled, clinging with her human hand to the railing.
Bastian held up a sword, about to jam it into the helm.
Chest heaving, Rora struggled to breathe. “I can keep the ship steady.”
Nodding, Bastian pulled on his mooring line. “Throttle the engines in reverse. When I have Gwendolyn, shift the thrusters. Get us into space. Make sure the others pull us in as fast as they can.”
Grabbing the helm in her human hand, her cyborg hand hanging uselessly, Rora nodded. “Aye, aye, Captain. Go save our girl.”
Bastian looked at her for a long moment before he nodded and ran toward the railing, shouting, “Put us in reverse, now!”
Slowly, the ship flew backward—toward Gwen and the scarlet dragon.
As Gwen’s eyes closed, her board completely dead, the dragon closed the distance between them.
Pulling on his mooring line once more, Bastian dived off the side of the ship with his sword in hand. He half fell, half floated toward Gwen, arms outstretched.
Holding her breath, Rora watched him draw nearer.
Gwen was fifty paces away, thirty paces, then twenty.
Then he had her. Wrapping an arm around Gwen’s waist, he brought the sword up, daring the approaching dragon to come closer. The beast was nearly on them. From where Rora stood, she could make out the colors of its scales. They weren’t entirely scarlet, but a mixture of red, black, gold, and violet.
“Pull them, now!” Rora shouted. “And get us moving forward!”
The watchmen hauled Bastian’s mooring line in as the ship jerked before moving steadily toward space.
When the dragon snapped its jaws, Rora held her breath, sweaty palm clutching the helm. It missed narrowly. The watchmen continued to pull them back toward the ship, and the dragon beat its wings furiously. It reached toward them, swiping its talons, and Bastian sliced up with the sword. The sword clanged off the beast’s scales and redirected its strike.
They were ten paces from the ship. Rora could see the blood floating from Gwen’s shoulder into the frosty air.
Hurry, she wanted to call out. But her head swam, and her chest ached.
The moment the watchmen grabbed a fistful of Bastian’s shirt, dragging him onto the deck, Rora shouted with the last of the oxygen in her chest, “Get those fields back up!”
There was a pause before the gravity and oxygen fields slammed into place.
The dragon collided with the shimmering field mere moments later, and its roaring pierced the air. As it did, the creature’s jaw drew wide as it tried to suck in oxygen. Twisting its head back and forth, it fought to breathe. After struggling a few moments longer, it gave up the fight. The talons and massive scaled body stopped moving, its head slumping to the side as it lost consciousness and started to fall back toward the ground.
Good riddance.
“Bring the gravity and oxygen fields back down.” Bastian rose to his feet, placing an unconscious Gwen onto the deck.
“Why?” Marzanna demanded.
“Because if we don’t, the dragon will die.”
Akio crossed his arms. “That’s a bad thing because…?”
“Because it’s a cyborg, just like us,” Bastian replied.
“A cyborg who tried to eat us,” Akio said. “And might still if given a chance.”
Bastian shook his head. “It wasn’t given a proper chance, nor was it shown any kindness. It was provoked out of necessity, but we shouldn’t leave it here to die.”
“That’s a terrible idea.” Marzanna reached again for the switch to the gravity field. “Hang on to your tits, ladies.”
It didn’t take long to tie a rope around the dragon and bring it onto the ship. It did, however, take far longer to chain its mouth closed as they dragged the unconscious dragon below deck to another fireproof cage.
A new challenge for another day.
Once in space, Rora had one of the watchmen take her place at the helm, eager to find Gwen. Several of the performers had brought the tinkerer into what had once been the Mistress’s quarters, leaving a small pool of blood from where she’d lain on the main deck.
As Rora hurried down the stairs, she caught sight of the healer leaving Gwen’s room. Before she reached the door, Bastian appeared beside her.
They stared at each other for several long moments.
Slowly, Rora exhaled. “I think we should talk.”
Chapter 40
Pain ignited Gwen’s senses. For a moment, she couldn’t decide if she was dead.
Her leg throbbed as though it had been chopped off and sewn back on by a child, and her shoulder wasn’t in much better shape. Death shouldn’t be this painful.
But as her thoughts cleared, she was surprised by the feel of sheets beneath her fingertips.
Voices sounded somewhere beyond her comprehension.
Why aren’t I dead?
Before she could open her eyes, she heard the voice of someone she thought she’d never hear again.
“Ms. Lockwood,” Bastian began, which was followed by the click of a door closing. “I don’t think now is the best time. I’d like to see to Ms. Grimm. Can we talk later…?”
Rora exhaled heavily. “This is about Gwen.”
The floorboards creaked, but Bastian didn’t reply. Gwen was careful to keep her eyes shut, content to listen for now.
“I really messed up with the competition, and I want to apologize,” Rora said. “I need to apologize to her and to you. When I was freeing the dragon from the stables… everything became so clear. I’ve been so stupid. And I couldn’t see it until now, but… I love her.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen, didn’t expect it, but she has my heart. Whatever is left of it. I should have never tried to use her. That was wrong, but I did not betray you on purpose. Abrecan tortured the information out of me. You have to believe me.”
There was a long silence.
“When I recruited you, I knew what you had done,” Bastian said. “It was in the angle of the blade. Only someone cutting off their own hand would do it in the way you did. I learned how ruthless you could be in the pursuit of what you want.” A long pause. “Far be it from me to take Gwendolyn’s choice from her, but… you don’t deserve her. Neither of us does.”
Slowly, painfully, Gwen leaned up in bed. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
Standing in the doorway, Bastian and Rora turned to her.
Were they in the Mistress’s cabin?
Bastian’s eyes lit up like a shooting star while a slow, tentative smile slid across Rora’s face.
“Hello, Ms. Grimm,” Bastian said.
A smile touched Gwen’s lips. “That’s Ms. Fucking Grimm to you.”
Gwen took in Rora’s disheveled hair and the ash on her cheeks. Her gaze settled on Rora’s limp cyborg hand. The hand she’d given up to free the dragon and save them all. Without that distraction, they would have never made it out of the city alive.
“I was falling for you, Rora,” Gwen said. “I faced a dragon for you in the second competition. When I saw you after Abrecan had hurt you, I thought it was my fault. I thought the reason you were near dead was because I had installed your implant wrong. More
than that, I thought you’d betrayed us, and I suppose part of me still thinks that you’re just here to use me for another new hand. But I nearly threw myself on a flesh trader vessel when I thought you were dying. If it wasn’t for him”—she pointed at Bastian—“the flesh traders would have taken me.”
“I’m sorry for everything,” Rora began. “I know what I did to you, using you, was… unspeakable. But I did not willingly betray you to Abrecan. And I wish I had been stronger, that I had realized how important you were to me. Or I would have given my hand up in an instant. I’m ashamed of myself.”
Gwen opened her mouth to speak, but Rora kept on.
“From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry. I should never have made that stupid plan to use you to get a new hand.” Tears slipped down Rora’s cheeks. “But you should know… what was happening between us wasn’t a lie. I’d set out to win your favor, but you stole my heart instead. I love you, Gwen. I’m just sorry it took me this long to realize it.”
Part of Gwen didn’t believe the apology, unable to wrap her mind around the fact that someone who had so blatantly used her could want her now after everything. Another part of her—the part that dared to hope—knew people were capable of change. Bastian had proven as much. And if Rora could learn to choose Gwen first, to love and care for her and not use her, well… maybe there was hope for them yet.
Slowly, Gwen said, “I forgive you. But trust needs to be earned.”
“Of course.”
Turning, Gwen studied Bastian, eyes roaming across his hollowed cheeks and worried eyes.
“It’s my turn to apologize,” she said. “I should have listened to you during the third competition. But I was stubborn and thought I could help. Because of me, Emmeline sank her claws into you, took your chip, and tried to make you kill the emperor. I hope you can forgive me.”