by Sarah Noffke
Ever watched as wereanimals exited their homes. Most looked around disoriented, and some had been bruised by the tremors. They stumbled through the streets in bewilderment, but to his relief they headed for the northern border.
The two dragons and the carriage landed on the top of the building, and Ever shuffled the wereturtles toward it. “Get in!” he urged them. The three wereturtles looked confused, but Monet already had the carriage door open and he ushered them inside.
The first hesitated when he stumbled into the carriage. “Yes, yes, it’s bigger on the inside. Gawk later. Mountain imploding, remember?” Monet said, pulling him to the side to make room for the rest.
When they were all in the carriage, Ever leaned out the door. “We’re ready. Let’s go pick up some more wereanimals, Oak.”
“Hold on tight,” Oak said, flicking the reins.
Using the carriage to pick up the wereturtles had been genius on Oak’s part, since the slow-ass wereanimals would never have made it out otherwise. The carriage could easily hold fifty or so wereanimals, ensuring that more got to safety in time. The mountain was rumbling louder than before—they really couldn’t get out of Lancothy one moment too soon.
~~~
Laurel ushered a group of weresnakes to a corner and showed them the best path to the northern border. Finswick joined her, having directed other wereanimals who were lost where to go.
“We can’t leave. This is our home,” a wererabbit said, holding on to the doorframe of his house. His wife and kids yanked at his arms and legs.
“Come on, Papa. We have to get out of here,” one of the smaller wererabbits cried, pulling one of his ears as her siblings continued to try and drag their father away.
“N-n-no. I refuse,” he stammered.
Laurel cast one last glance at the weresnakes, who seemed to be on the right path now, and hurried over to the wererabbit family. “Peter, I know that leaving Lancothy is scary, but you must.”
The wererabbit stiffened as he looked at Laurel. “You! You’re the traitor who left our land!”
“I’m most certainly not a traitor. I’m a free werecat, able to make my own choices, and I decided to venture outside this land. No one loves the wereanimals of Lancothy more than I do,” Laurel said—and suddenly something unlatched inside of her. The guilt she’d been riddled with since leaving Lancothy fell out of the box inside her where she’d buried it. She released it with a breath and continued, “Leaving Lancothy will be scary, I’ll admit, but the world outside this mountain is beautiful and rich, and full of so much diversity.”
“Diversity! Is that what you’re calling the prejudice that we’ll suffer outside our land?” the wererabbit shouted as another tremor ripped through the town, making them all jostle into one another.
“Yes, I’ll admit that when we leave here that witches, wizards, humans, Light Elves, and all sorts of others will stare at you, but that’s mostly our ancestors’ fault. Wereanimals have rarely been seen on Oriceran for hundreds of years. They’ll stare at us because we’re different to them, and our appearance is new to their eyes. But you know what?”
Laurel paused, waiting for his reply to her baited question.
“What?” the wererabbit obligingly grumbled, still clutching the doorframe although his family had stopped pulling on him and were facing Laurel.
“You’re going to stare right back at them, because I’m here to tell you that they look funny.” Laurel stooped to look at the youngest wererabbit. “Do you know that gnomes don’t have a single bit of fur on them?”
The little wererabbit’s eyes widened. “Why not?”
Laurel shrugged. “That’s just how they were made. They’re unique, and very different from us.” She straightened and looked at the whole family. “And you know what else? Gnomes are lovely. They’re intelligent, ornery, and have a subtle humor that you’ll miss if you’re not careful. But if you stay inside Lancothy, you’ll never meet a gnome. You’ll never meet anyone, because this mountain is on its way down.”
“Come on, Peter,” the mother wererabbit urged. “We will make a fine home outside Lancothy.”
“I daresay you’ll make one that’s better than your old one, but you need to hurry,” Laurel said as the ground rumbled like the stomach of a hungry giant.
“Okay, fine, I’ll leave,” Peter said, releasing the doorframe and scrambling away from the house.
Laurel let out a huge breath as the dragon-powered carriage landed in the middle of the lane, the wide girth of the burgundy carriage shrinking to fit the narrow road. Ever flung open the door and waved them in. “Come on! We’re almost full, and we have to go.”
The wererabbits scurried for the carriage and the children let out gasps of surprise after entering. “It’s bigger on—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Monet could be heard saying inside. “Stand against the back wall, and stay away from my vodka.”
When the family had disappeared into the carriage, Ever gestured to Laurel and Finswick. “Come on!”
The cat sprinted up the stairs and disappeared into the carriage, but Laurel stayed in place and shook her head. “No, I’m going to check more of the homes. I have to ensure everyone gets out.”
“Be fast,” Ever said, looking up at the top of the mountain. “We don’t have long.”
Laurel nodded and raced down the road.
~~~
A crowd of wereanimals wer already heading for the northern border. Azure flattened herself against Micky’s neck to help her optimize her speed. Beside her Hoarfrost and Lightning flew, and the other weredragons followed them.
Micky angled down toward a grassy green field. Azure had no idea what the weredragons could do collectively to create an exit, but if they were the ones who had hollowed out the giant mountain then she had no reservations about their ability to make a hole in the side of it. The mountain continued to thunder and large boulders rained from the walls, exploding when they hit the ground to send debris everywhere. The wereanimals scattered to avoid the wreckage.
Micky landed as the carriage pulled by Timber and Ronalds left the exploding city, where fires had engulfed the ruins of the buildings. Azure swung her leg over Micky’s side before the dragon had even landed.
When she heard wereanimals screaming, Azure spun. The situation she’d been dreading played out in front of her eyes. A pack of werewolves raced toward them, their teeth bared and yellow eyes glowing. They were fifty yards from the closest group of wereanimals.
“No!” Azure yelled. The carriage was still too far away, and wouldn’t be there in time. Azure turned to Micky, but knew that the dragon couldn’t help. She was with the weredragons, who were standing in a circle collecting energy.
Azure pulled out her wand, trying to remember which spell she could use from that distance. The werewolves were bounding forward so fast that they’d be on the first set of wereanimals at any moment.
The group screamed and tripped over their own feet trying to flee. Fear could be a motivator, or as in this case, it could cause mistakes.
Azure ran toward the wereanimals and werewolves. She had to do something. Just then a lone dragon darted from the sky, fire scorching from his mouth. He blazed a wall between the wereanimals and the wolves, and shrieks told Azure that some of the werewolves had been burned.
She wasn’t granted a moment to breathe, however…the mountain shook more brutally than ever before.
Most of the wereanimals fell, and more sharp rocks showered down. A large chunk of the mountain broke off from overhead and plummeted to the grass, digging a jagged hole and nearly obliterating a group of weresheep.
The carriage landed and Ever swung the door open, his eyes scanning the crowd until they found Azure. His relief immediately wrote itself across his face and he hopped down from the carriage, pushing back the wereanimals who were trying to exit. He hurried to her, ducking to avoid the dust and dirt that sprinkled from above.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Az
ure pointed to the weredragons and Micky. A glow had started to burn between them, and it was slowly spreading to the center of the group. “We’re waiting for them to open a hole.”
“How long will it take?” Ever asked, but then he shook his head. He realized she didn’t know the answer. How could she?
The third of Oak’s dragons continued to fly back and forth, keeping the werewolves at bay, but the standoff wouldn’t last long. One had already found a way around the wall of fire and was pacing up the side of a hill with a hungry look in its yellow eyes.
“Is everyone out of the city?” Azure asked, almost vibrating. She couldn’t take the wait any longer. There had to be something she could do.
“I think so. Laurel stayed behind to check, though,” Ever told her.
“She what?”
“Finswick is safe in the carriage, but I didn’t have time to argue with her about staying behind,” Ever explained. “And you know this is important to her. Just as you had to save Virgo, Laurel needs to save Lancothy.”
Azure nodded. Ever couldn’t have put that better.
And things couldn’t be any worse, Azure noted, as bats swarmed toward them. Manx’s tactics were apparently not working anymore. The dragon left the line of fire he’d been maintaining to go after the bats, and Manx dropped out of formation and flew under the dragon just as it let out a blast of fire. The bats dispersed, racing in different directions.
A small bit of relief swam into Azure’s stomach when Manx hit the ground in stallion form and raced over to her. His beam-like eyes shone, creating a hopeful light in the darkness of Lancothy. And then Azure noticed even more light—the weredragons’ glow, now a huge orb, had been directed at the northern wall. Rocks fell from the wall and stacked up in giant piles as the entire mountain vibrated. More boulders crashed down, and Ever covered Azure’s head against the flying debris. Trees groaned and keeled over throughout the field. It was coming. The end was here.
For a moment Azure believed she’d failed. All her bad decisions had led to this moment, where she destroyed the kingdom of Lancothy as well as ending her friends’ lives. She held onto the arm around her head for a second, and then wrapped hers around Ever’s waist. If she was going to die, at least it would be in his arms.
A loud crack, deafening thunder, and something as bright as lightning shot across her vision. She pulled her head away from Ever’s chest, but was unable to see anything. Dust and smoke filled the immediate area. Coughing, Azure waved her hands in front of her face, and then she saw it—the light of the rising sun spilling through a giant hole in the side of Lancothy Mountain. It flowed through the cavity and bathed the hills and the wereanimals who stood gasping for breath.
“Go now!” Azure commanded, as the mountain lurched under their feet. It was wide enough that several could exit at a time. The wereanimals spilled through one after another, many times stumbling when the ground under them trembled.
“Go! Go! Go!” Ever chanted as the dragons lifted the carriage off the ground. It soared out of the mountain.
The lone dragon made another fiery pass between the werewolves and the wereanimals. The one who had gotten around the barrier now looked down on them from the top of a cliff, and the morning light would be their only protection from him.
“Come on,” Ever said, pulling on Azure’s hand. The final wereanimals exited through the hole and the weredragons and Micky lifted into the air, the last to leave besides Azure and Ever.
“But Laurel?” Azure stared back at the city, which was now completely ablaze.
“Maybe she was with the others,” Ever stated, but he didn’t sound confident.
“I can’t leave her. What if she’s still in the city?” Azure asked.
“Then there’s nothing we can do. I’m sorry,” Ever said, his eyes filled with remorse.
The top of the mountain began to crumble, and pieces of it fell into the middle of Lancothy. The greatest tremor yet sent Azure to the ground, and Ever with her. This was the end. She gave the city one last look, and crawled to the exit. Dust filled her lungs and a barrage of rocks assaulted her but she kept moving, Ever at her side. The fresh air and morning light kissed her nose and the top of her head as she watched the people of Lancothy speeding away from the mountain. Everyone was trying to get as far from it as possible, since it was just about to blow.
Azure scrambled to her feet and Ever grabbed her hand and they ran—ran as far as they could from the land that had trapped its people and was soon to be no more.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Lux and Devo were almost to the northern border, where the weredragons had opened a hole in the mountain. Sunlight spilled through the opening, but Lux didn’t care. He’d risk the burn if they could just get past the line of fire.
Lux halted. “Fuck!”
“Are those—” Devo began, stumbling backwards.
“Werewolves,” Lux hissed, his fangs now prominent.
The werewolves spun to face the two vampires and crouched, growling madly.
“What do we do?” Devo asked, his voice vibrating with fear.
“Just stay still. We have to find a way around them,” Lux said.
“Around them? Fuck that, I’m running,” Devo cried, and sprinted in the opposite direction.
The werewolves raced after him, and as they passed Lux jumped as high as he could and landed on the other side of the pack. He knew the flames would be lethal to him, but he had no choice so he sprinted through the wall of fire. It wasn’t as thick as he had thought it was. The dumb mutts had been deterred by something so thin? Fuck, it burnt, but only for a moment. Lux stopped and slapped at his arm, which extinguished the flames immediately.
He turned back to the wall of flames. The dumbass dogs could have gotten through, but thankfully they hadn’t. Poor idiot Devo was probably being devoured by the pack at this very moment. Lux turned back to the exit and let out a laugh. He was going to make it. He hitched the bag of bats over his shoulder as he was knocked off-balance by the great shuddering of the mountain. He’d made it to the exit just in time.
Lux strode cautiously forward, unable to run now due to the tremors under his feet, when a howl behind him made him freeze. He dared to turn and look over his shoulder. At the top of a short cliff was one of the werewolves, its yellow eyes on him.
As Lux sucked in a breath and whipped around to sprint for the exit, the sound of the werewolf launching off the cliff and tearing after him registered in his mind. He ran as fast as the terrain would allow, tripping many times over the buckled ground.
Teeth sank into Lux’s calf, and a howl of pain ripped from his mouth. The venom of the bite burned more than anything he had ever felt. Lux spun around and punched the werewolf, then swung the bag of bats at the monster to make it let go of him. He pushed up to his good leg and leapt for the exit with the werewolf on his tail. Lux barreled through the hole, expecting the werewolf to follow him, but the beast didn’t. It stayed inside the quaking mountain.
The sun wasn’t all the way up yet but the light still burned, making the fire he’d leapt through feel like nothing. Lux spotted the wereanimals and the queen straight ahead, so he darted to the right to take the less traveled route away from Lancothy, and in the direction of a small cave. He needed to escape the sun and tend to his werewolf bite.
~~~
Laurel was running through the library when the ceiling caved in. She’d confirmed that the town had been evacuated, but had thought she had time for one last thing…the books. If she could just save a few of them, it would be worth the risk. There were volumes in the library of Lancothy that were one of a kind. That was what had brought the queen of Virgo here in the beginning—to retrieve the Book of Branches.
Laurel ran toward the exit with six books pressed to her chest. She knew what she’d find, but she still had to try. The door was blocked by the beams that had fallen, so her last remaining hope was to take the basement tunnels to the middle of the field. That was how she’d gotte
n Azure and Ever out of Lancothy the first time. The tunnels might have collapsed in the meantime, though.
The building rumbled as it fell apart, and smoke wafted through the air. Something was on fire—probably most of Lancothy. Laurel sucked in a breath and ran for the stairs that descended into the basement. The werewolves might get her or the mountain might crush her, but she had to try to get out.
~~~
Azure bent over, trying to will more oxygen into her lungs. She managed to take a giant breath, and straightened. She had too many things to do to spend time trying to catch her breath right now.
The weredragons stood in a group, wings extended and eyes on the mountain. Azure strode over to them, grateful to see Micky’s kind eyes watching her.
“Thank you for what you did,” Azure said to Hoarfrost. “It’s because of you that the wereanimals are safe.” She motioned to the horde of wereanimals who were trudging down the mountain toward…well, who knew where they were headed or what they’d find. Oak had landed the carriage, and more wereanimals were filing out. Finswick wove his way through the crowd barking orders.
Monet’s voice could be heard over the commotion. “No pushing. And no, you can’t take that vase. Come on, people…I mean, ‘animals.’”
Hoarfrost bowed his head, and Azure saw a tiny man with a red nose and stocking hat hidden in the folds of his wing. Pedgit winked at her.
The weredragon looked at Azure. “I’m afraid we didn’t save everyone, but we’re grateful that you asked for our intervention. We would have departed too soon, and been left with many regrets.”
“Not everyone?” Azure asked, spinning around. Laurel should have come through by now, but she hadn’t left with the rest of the wereanimals and she wasn’t in the carriage. There were other groups spread out across the area, but she didn’t see a werecat among them.