Chapter 6 - Fire in the Dark
Maro lunged forward, his blade flashing in the purple light of the chamber. Winn threw her oil lantern at his feet, smashing the glass and igniting a burst of flame across the stone floor.
Maro cursed, stumbling back as the fire caught his trousers. Winn didn't waste a second. She turned and sprinted back toward the spiral staircase, her heart hammering in her chest.
"Catch her! Don't let her reach the yard!" Reev screamed behind her.
Winn took the stone stairs three at a time, the heavy boots of the enforcers echoing right behind her. She hit the iron door at the top, threw her weight against it, slammed it shut, and drove the heavy bolt into place just as the guards slammed against the other side.
Breathless and bruised, she burst out of the forge and ran straight into the midnight quiet of the main yard. She sprinted directly toward Kestrel’s enclosure.
The dragon was already awake, standing at the full length of his chains, roaring into the night sky as if he had felt her terror through the bond.
"Kestrel!" Winn cried out, sliding under the wooden fence.
She grabbed the heavy release lever on his binding harness. The iron lock was thick, but Winn had worked the stable mechanisms for years. She grabbed a heavy steel hammer from the tack rack and smashed the locking pin with all her strength.
CLANG!
The pin shattered. The triple chains sloughed off Kestrel’s massive shoulders like water.
The main stable doors slammed open. Guards flooded the yard with crossbows raised, led by Colonel Maro, who had extinguished his pants and was red-faced with fury.
"Shoot the girl!" Maro roared. "Kill them both!"
A volley of crossbow bolts whistled through the night air. Kestrel whipped his vast, thick wing forward, creating an impenetrable wall of crimson scales that deflected the iron bolts like rain.
He lowered his shoulder to the ground, opening his wing like a ramp.
"Winn! Mount up!" a voice barked.
It was Deputy Commandant Kalen, standing near the gate with his sword drawn, blocking three guards from advancing. "Get him into the air! Prove the bond before Reev can execute you both!"
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Winn didn't hesitate. She scrambled up Kestrel's scales, gripping the heavy ridge at the base of his neck.
"Fly, Kestrel!" she screamed. "Show them!"
