With every minute that ticked by, Kildare could feel his mind getting clearer as the dragonsbane left his system. Unfortunately, they didn’t have to wait long. An inner door opened, and two Knocken stepped inside, shoving a stumbling Fir into the room. Fir froze at the sight of Kildare and Serene, shock crossing his face.
Then he grinned. “You came back!”
“Where’s Snitch?” Kildare asked.
Fir’s eyes widened slightly. “Snitch? He’s—”
Eras jerked her head, using her chin to point behind Kildare and Serene. Kildare turned.
Snitch hunkered in a corner of the room, arms crossed over his chest, his sullen stare fixed on them. Kildare’s skin chilled. He’d been there the whole time, and they hadn’t noticed him.
He’d…never been imprisoned.
“Snitch?” His voice came out strangled, as if he didn’t really want to speak the words.
Snitch dropped his gaze to his boots.
Eras gave a nasty laugh. “As you can see, your friends are perfectly fine.”
“Now, if you please, the stone,” Basalt said.
“I’m not giving it to you until we walk out of this city unharmed,” Serene said.
Eras sneered at her. “Obviously, drake. But we want to see if it’s the real thing or not.”
Kildare swallowed. Here was the test. If Eras or Basalt could tell that the stone Serene’s stone was the fake one, they were going to have a fight on their hands. A fight that they probably wouldn’t win. He glanced over at Fir, moved his hands slowly. Be ready.
Fir nodded.
Serene opened the pouch and tipped the stone into her hand. She held it up so Basalt, Eras, and Taoh could see the stylized wyvern engraving on the front. Then, still holding it tightly, she lowered it to the table to rest beside the stone Basalt had been playing with.
Basalt frowned and looked between the two stones. “They’re identical.”
Eras ground her teeth. “She’s lying.”
Kildare braced his feet. This was the tricky part. They needed a diversion, something to draw Eras and Basalt’s attention for a split second so Serene could switch the stones. He clenched his fist and glanced out of the side of his vision to the Knocken guard standing on his left. One swift punch should do it.
Basalt looked back and forth again. Then he looked up at Eras. “I don’t suppose you can tell.”
Eras’s face was slowly reddening. “You’re the manipulator, not me,” she snapped.
Basalt’s face hardened, and he drummed his fingers on the table, calling attention to the joints he’d lost. “Who can no longer touch ley, Eras.”
“They’ve got to be lying,” Snitch said suddenly. “I don’t know how they did it, but—”
All right, maybe I’ll punch him instead. Kildare started to turn.
Then, so quickly he could barely see it, Eras drew her knife and buried it in the side of Basalt’s neck. The Alfaren cried out and twitched, collapsing forward across the table. His hands hit the felsic stones, knocking the fake one from Serene’s grasp and sending them skittering to the floor. Serene dove after them.
With shouts, three of the guards sprang at Eras. Taoh spun away from the table and met them head-on, his axe slicing through the arm of one of the assailants.
Kildare looked at Fir and pointed for the door. “Run! We’re right behind you!”
Fir took off.
Kildare ran toward Serene. She scrambled out from under the table, clutching one of the stones. Her face contorted in pain, but she looked up at him and nodded. She had the real one. She turned and ran for the door.
Kildare saw Eras scramble over the table and dash at Serene, knife raised. He darted forward, slamming his shoulder into Eras’s side and knocking her out of the way. He looked over his shoulder, looking for Serene. She was at the door, knife in one hand as she dodged the two Knocken guarding the door. Fir wrestled with another Knocken, both struggling to control the guard’s axe.
He ducked as Eras’s knife whistled past his ear and spun. She snatched out, grabbing his sleeve. Kildare raised his arms and felt a sting as her knife sliced across the back of his left arm. He struck out, hit her arm, knocking her away.
Eras stumbled and stepped back, her eyes wide with rage.
“Kil!” Serene yelled. “Kil, come on!”
“You run now, I’ll hunt you down, drake,” Eras snarled.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Kildare said quietly. “But I will if you come after my family.”
“I’ve spent too long with that babbling fool, hunting down this stone, to let it all go to waste now.” Eras raised her eyes. Looked past him. “This is your fault, Serene.”
She lunged at him, knife flickering out.
Kildare darted back and shifted.
As his feral side roared to life in his mind, the sounds of the battle on the other side of the table shrilled in his ears. Eras’s knife scraped his side, and he batted her off of him. Eras tumbled, then rolled forward between his front claws. Kildare scrambled back, but not before he felt her blade slice against his belly. Eras dashed out to the side, grinning maniacally. Kildare swiveled to keep her in his sights.
A familiar wooden creaking made his ears twitch.
“Kil, wyvern bolts!” Serene yelled.
Kildare shifted back and dropped to the ground. The huge iron bolt whipped over his head, inches from his face, and skewered Eras in the chest. The bolt flung her against the wall.
Kildare scrambled backward, stomach lurching. Eras’s head lolled to the side, her neck broken by the impact. Blood oozed down the front of her shirt.
Serene’s hand landed on his arm, pulling him up. “Come on!”
He struggled up and followed her, stumbling past the three bleeding Knocken. Serene slammed the door against the raging battle, the sound cutting off abruptly.
Kildare’s legs wobbled, and he nearly tipped over. He leaned against the wall, breathing hard.
“Kil,” Fir said in a strained voice.
He looked up.
Fir was already at the front door, he noticed, but with his back to it, like he was guarding it. He sagged against the doorframe, as if the brief fight had exhausted him. Snitch stood in the middle of the room, glancing between them and Fir, the look of a cornered rat on his face.
He turned to Kildare, and his face crumpled.
Kildare cringed. “No, Snitch,” he whispered. “Again?”
“Again,” Fir snapped angrily. “As soon as he got onto the road, Eras jumped me, and he helped her.”
Kildare heard a snarl of rage behind him, but before he could turn, Serene hurled herself past him, slamming into Snitch. He yelped as he staggered, the small of his back hitting a table. Serene jammed a forearm across his throat and pinned him down, holding the edge of a knife into his jaw.
“You slimy little bastard,” she snarled.
Kildare glanced back at Fir. “We saw blood.”
Fir revealed a stained bandage wrapped around his forearm. “Eras cut my arm when I tried to fight them off.”
Serene made a disgusted noise.
“Kil, please, let me explain,” Snitch whined. “You don’t understand.”
“I understand that I’ve gotten burned twice,” Kildare said coldly. He turned toward the front door. “C’mon, Serene.”
Serene leaned forward and hissed something in a low voice to Snitch, so low that Kildare couldn’t catch it from where he stood. The thief’s face went pale. Serene straightened and sheathed her dagger, then stomped away from Snitch and out the door.
Kildare glanced again at Snitch and opened his mouth, but paused. What could he say? Was there anything to say? He decided there wasn’t. It hurt, but he turned his back on his former friend and walked out after Fir and Serene.
As he closed the door behind them, he heard Fir ask, “What did you tell him?”
Serene’s smile was grim. “What I’d do to him if he tried to lay a hand on any of us again.”
Kildare walked up to Serene. She cringed as if expecting harsh words, but he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss. “You are a brilliant woman,” he said. “Absolutely brilliant.”
Serene wrinkled her nose and squirmed free, smiling a real smile this time. “I don’t know about that.”
Fir looked between the two of them, confusion written on his face. “What’s going on? I missed something.”
“Let’s get you someplace where you can rest.” Kildare tried to fling his arm around Fir’s shoulder, but it twinged, and he let his arm drop to his side. “And me. We’ll get patched up, and Serene can regale us with exactly how brilliant and cunning she is.”
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H.A., Thanks for sharing this piece. A great story. For some reason, the name Kildare really stood out to me. I don't think I've ever heard of it. I'll be thinking about this name for the rest of the week. And paying attention to whether anyone alive I know has this name :)