Chapter 9

First Flight to Freedom

In a blind state of fear and confusion, Charla fled through the winding passageways back to Silverback's cavern. Had she not known these tunnels by heart, and had her paws not been able to lead her through muscle-memory alone, she could have easily found herself lost. Instead, she stumbled through the end of the tunnel minutes later and landed sprawled on the floor of Silverback's cavern. A gasping whimper left her mouth and she curled into a ball.

Minutes dragged by around her, with her eyes shut tight and her head tucked under her paws. Her mind writhed with chaotic thoughts and images, of cold dark dragons with cruel yellow eyes, and rendered her momentarily helpless. Eventually, she found the strength to drag herself over to Silverback's desk and slumped beneath it to stare hollowly at the green fire illuminating the entranceway.

She wasn't sure how long she sat like that, her thoughts a tangled web of confusion, but eventually the sound of footsteps approached the cavern. Charla shrank under the desk, but it was Silverback who stepped into the firelight. She slunk out of the shadows and sat up.

He noticed her immediately and a deep frown creased his wizened face. "I told you not to come out until I called."

He seemed like he was about to say more, but Charla didn't want to hear any of it. There was only one thing she wanted to know.

"Why didn't you ever tell me there was another dragon here?"

Brief surprise flickered across Silverback's face, but it lasted a mere second before it was replaced by resigned acceptance. "You spied on the meeting."

It wasn't a question, and something about his voice made Charla wonder if he had expected it. She shifted with guilt.

"I'm sorry, okay? I just wanted to know what was happening. I hate secrets." The tiniest of pouts puckered her face. "How many secrets are you keeping from me? That dragon?"

"It was better Cynder did not know of your existence and you did not know of hers," Silverback said, lumbering over to sit down on his throne-like chair.

Charla turned to keep him in her sights. "Why? How long has she been here?"

Silverback considered her grimly. "Her egg hatched two days after yours. Gaul has been raising her himself—though I have been his consultant ever since her hatching. And why, you ask? Why should you never cross paths with this dragon?"

He leaned across the desk, his withered fingers digging into the wood. His sunken eyes glimmered alarmingly. "Because she is a servant of darkness and evil, tainted by twisted, forbidden magic; a puppet to a cold, dark master. You, a child of innocent light and full of the fire of life, should never have to cross destinies with her. It was to protect you."

"But…why is she like that? What happened to her?"

Silverback sighed and sat back again. "Pray you never find out. And pray she never finds you."

Charla bit her lip. "What…what would you say if I said she saw me?"

There wasn't much colour in Silverback's greying face to begin with, but at Charla's words, the very last shred of pigment drained away and left him as ashen-faced as a corpse. His fingers gripped the wood of his desk once more. "She saw you?"

"I…I think so." Charla shrank back slightly, eying Silverback's expression with a twinge of fear. "I mean, it was just a glance. We sort of…locked eyes for a second. And I ran away."

"You must go." Silverback stood up abruptly and Charla shrank back further. He raised his hand and pointed towards the tunnels in the walls. "You must leave immediately!"

"But…but I…"

"Go, Charla! Get out of here!"

"Wh… No! No, I don't want to!" she exclaimed, backing up with a defiant glare. "Why? Why should I go?"

"Because if you do not, Cynder will find you! If she knows of your presence, Gaul must also know! We may have only seconds before they come here seeking answers! Find Jayce and get out of this forsaken mountain!"

"I won't go!" Charla shrieked, flaring her wings out. "I won't go unless you go with me!"

Her voice caught and she sat down with a bump, a scared and frightened hatchling surrounded by stone. Silverback moved around the desk and knelt in front of her, his old bones creaking with effort. She refused to meet his eyes.

"Charla, listen to me. Your life is not the only one that is in danger today. Gaul has always been thorough. If he finds you, he will seek out all those who knew of you—and destroy them too. Jayce cannot hide. One way or another, he will be found out. He will be executed for these crimes."

Charla shook her head, her jaws clamped shut. Tears prickled at the back of her eyes. Silverback placed his hand on her shoulder. "But if you leave now, both of you, there is a chance you can survive out there. Please, Charla. There isn't much time left. Find him and leave while you still have the chance."

"And…and you?" The words caught in Charla's throat, but she forced them out anyway.

Silverback smiled sadly. "My presence would only condemn you both. You and Jayce are young and fit. You have a chance out there. I have already done all I can for you. Please…"

He would have continued; Charla sensed there were many more heartfelt things he wished to say before he sent her away for good. He wasn't given that chance. The sound of two sets of footsteps—one heavy and lumbering, the other light and graceful—approached the entrance to his cavern. Silverback's nostrils flared and he lurched to his feet as fast as his old body would allow.

"Go, go," he hissed to Charla. "We are out of time."

Charla hesitated, glancing back at the entranceway. A huge, lithe, dragon-shaped shadow loomed from around the corner and, with a strangled gasp, Charla ran. She bolted past Silverback, skidded to a halt, and spun on her heel. Throwing herself at the old ape, she hugged his leg for all she was worth.

"Thank you," she whispered. Then her claws slipped from his matted fur and she fled into the nearest tunnel.

Charla paused when she was about three tail-lengths in, and listened intently for what was happening back in the cavern. She only stayed long enough to hear the first disconcerting threads of conversation.

"King Gaul, Mistress Cynder, may I help you?"

"I will not beat around the bush, Silverback. There is another dragon in our midst. I'm sure you of all apes will know of what I speak…"

"Tell us," came Cynder's silky-smooth voice, "where do we find this little whelp?"


Jayce cursed his luck for the fifth time as he stumbled along with the crowd. Gaul had dismissed them all rather suddenly at the end of the meeting, demanding they all return to their regular duties. As the head of the Death Hound Division, Jayce had no choice but to lead the rest of the apes on hound duty down to the dungeons. He saw no opportunities to slip away to Silverback's cavern, pressed in as he was with the throng of apes packing the corridors. It was all he could do to grit his teeth and wait.

It was already feeding time when they made it to the dungeons and the death hounds were howling in their pens, hungry for the taste of uncooked flesh. As the apes moved off to do their duties, Jayce considered making a break for it. He'd hardly made a move before another ape struck up conversation with him.

"So whatcha think of it all?" the ape said, raising his voice over the cacophony of voices and howling hounds. "A dragon as a commander? Seems like a crazy scheme to me. Is we really that desperate that we need to be recruitin' the enemy?"

"It's Gaul's choice, ultimately," Jayce replied, resisting the urge to correct the ape's grammar. "If he thinks it's what we need to win this war, we'll just have to go along with it."

"That's just what a commander would say," said the other ape, elbowing Jayce in the ribs companionably. Raden used to do that, Jayce reflected. His old friend had moved on from hound duty years ago.

"Master Bladelizard!" someone called and Jayce turned to find a smaller ape standing nearby, facing him with a salute.

He suppressed a sigh. "What is it?"

"There's a situation in pen twelve, Master Bladelizard," the ape barked. "Two hounds are trying to tear each other apart. They told me to find you."

"Bloody ancestors," Jayce muttered under his breath, pushing past the saluting ape. He'd be lucky if he got to Silverback's cavern by sunset at this rate.

Once at the pen in question, it was a simple matter of disrupting the fighting death hounds with two well-placed blows. Jayce had discovered years ago that the weak point on a Death Hound was right between its shoulder blades, just at the base of its short stocky neck. They whimpered and dropped to the ground almost instantly, which gave Jayce a chance to assess the situation.

"Two full-grown males," he grumbled, more to himself than the ape in charge of watching pen twelve. "Should have known. One of these hounds needs to be relocated. Lowstar, find me a pen without an adult male!"

The ape in question raised a hand in acknowledgement and disappeared into the throng of apes. He reappeared minutes later. "Half of pen twenty-six was sent out to the front lines only the other day! There's only a few females in there now."

"Brilliant. Relocate this brute"—Jayce gestured to the smaller of the male Death Hounds—"to pen twenty-six. If we're lucky, we might get some pups out of them."

Relocating death hounds was a regular matter in the dungeons. Giant metal collars were kept for this very reason, hung on the walls by rusted old hooks. Jayce sent the ape in charge of pen twelve to fetch one and he returned with his knees shaking.

"C-can you do it, Master Bladelizard?" he stammered, holding the iron collar out to his superior.

"You're lucky I'm not as strict as the commanders," Jayce grumbled as he took the collar and the hefty chain leash attached to it. Leaping the shallow yet sturdy wall of the pen, he nudged the larger death hound out of the way, slapped its muzzle sharply when it tried to bite, and snapped the iron collar around the other's thick neck. It snarled and tried to pull away, but Jayce dragged it back towards him.

"Go on, then, let me out," Jayce snapped to the watching ape.

Wringing his hands, the nervous ape went to fetch another and together they pushed aside the heavy stone that barred the entrance to the pen. Jayce dragged the collared death hound out, ignoring its struggles to escape, and the apes quickly slid the stone back into place before the other hounds could get out. The apes kept a wide berth as Jayce pulled the hound through the dungeons, ignoring the way it kept digging its heels into the ground and snapping its jaws.

He was just coaxing it into pen twenty-six, watched by five wary female hounds, when a loud voice boomed over the dungeons.

"Attention!" yelled the strangely familiar voice. "Stand at attention for our revered leader Gaul!"

Jayce unclipped the collar and jumped out of the pen before the death hound could give him a farewell bite. Clambering onto the platform usually used during feeding time, he craned his head over the other apes to find the speaker. Standing at the entrance to the dungeons was a tall burly ape he knew too well.

"Commander Raden," he muttered under his breath. "We meet again."

The rest of the apes had fallen silent—and for good reason, too. Jayce clamped his mouth shut and stood at attention as the hulking figure of Gaul appeared behind Raden. He quickly stepped out of the king's way and Jayce's eyes fixed on the massive ape. Gaul never made visits to the dungeons. An icy feeling of worry wormed its way into his chest.

"Loyal soldiers," Gaul began, "there has been an incident."

Jayce held his breath. So did everyone else in the room.

"At this time, I ask your utmost honesty and cooperation to deal with this matter." Gaul paused. "There is a rebel dragon in our midst."

Whispers rippled through the dungeon and Jayce felt his blood turn to ice. Gaul wasn't finished.

"Our newest general, Cynder, discovered this spy herself. Currently she is interrogating our resident dragon expert, but should he fail to deliver the information we need, I have come to you. I will search this entire mountain if I must to find this dragon. All I ask is for anyone…anyone…who has seen something suspicious to come forward. You will not be harmed."

Silence. Gaul gazed around the eerily still dungeon, gazing at the sea of faces staring back at him. His artificial emerald eye gleamed eerily in the low light and even the death hounds had gone quiet.

"No one?" he asked. His voice was like a rusty knife in the silence. "There is a dragon loose in our stronghold. Someone must have noticed something. No mysterious noises? No unexplainable shadows? No food going missing?"

He lumbered towards the nearest pen and stretched out a hand to a large, brutish death hound. It whimpered slightly, lowering its head as Gaul stroked it almost lovingly.

"After all, the dungeons seem an obvious place for a dragon to hide…"

Jayce didn't realise he was biting his lip until he tasted blood. Fighting to keep his expression impassive, he almost didn't notice Raden's eyes flicker towards him. But Gaul, who was watching every ape around him like a hawk, saw it too. Without a word, he pushed his way through the throng of apes, who hurried to get out of his path. Jayce clenched his paw in his pocket to keep it from trembling.

"Bladelizard," Gaul said, stopping in front of him. "Head of the Death Hound Division, if I recall correctly."

"Yes, my lord," Jayce answered automatically, fighting to keep his voice steady.

"These dungeons are your domain. Surely you of all apes would have noticed something amiss."

"No, my lord."

Gaul leaned closer, until Jayce could almost see himself reflected in that emerald eye. Even standing on the platform, he was still less than half as tall as the great ape. He swallowed nervously.

"You have seen nothing of this renegade dragon?"

"Nothing."

Gaul considered him and, for a moment, Jayce thought he would believe him. Then he straightened up and said in a clear voice that rang throughout the dungeons, "Let me tell you a secret, Bladelizard."

"I lost my eye on the night we raided the Dragon Temple to a dragon guarding the eggs. He was a large brute—red scales, searing flames. A single swipe from his claws saw an end to my eye. But I could almost call it a blessing." He gestured to the acid-green gem imbedded in the empty socket. "This gem is no mere trinket. Dragons are not the only ones who can harness the innate power of gems; not as long as you know how. And I know how. Ever since…"

Gaul reached over his shoulder and, ever-so-slowly, drew one of his massive dual swords from its sheath. Jayce wanted to step back, but his feet were rooted to the spot by fear. Gaul stared down at him, eyes both real and fake fixed on his trembling form.

"Ever since, I've never been fooled by a lie."

For a moment, it looked as though he was about to strike Jayce down then and there—he'd probably intended to. But then a strange look passed over his face and he whirled around. The hand that was not holding a sword lashed out and caught a blow to a small, bright red creature that had apparently launched itself out of the nearby wall with the intent of tackling him. A startled cry was the only sound it made as it crashed to the ground. Apes scattered to avoid it.

"Charla!" Jayce yelled. Countless apes stared at him in bewilderment. Charla struggled to her feet.

"Leave him alone!" she demanded, glowering at Gaul with all the ferocity she could muster.

Gaul stared at her and then a deep chuckle resonated from his throat.

"And the rat in the walls shows itself," he said darkly, drawing his other sword. "Who would have guessed there was a dragon under my nose this whole time?"

Charla bit her lip and backed away slightly, only to stop when she realised she was surrounded by apes. "I'm…I'm not afraid of you…"

Her words were not convincing by any means. Gaul smiled cruelly. His next words were addressed to the apes. "And what should I do with this brave little dragon?"

For a moment, no one seemed willing to talk. Then someone hissed something in the middle of the crowd, and the entire dungeon exploded with two words. "Kill it!"

Jayce moved faster than he could ever remember moving before. He didn't even think of the consequences. He ripped his scimitars from their sheathes, lurched forward, and lashed them both across Gaul's ribs. The blades ripped through matted fur and skin with ease, tearing a path in the gap between plates of armour. Gaul's bellow of pain filled the dungeons like thunder as Jayce rolled and landed next to Charla, his sword-blades now streaked with blood.

"Run!" he yelled, and made a break for the dungeon exit.

As Charla sprinted after him, he cast a terrified glance back at Gaul, who had fallen to one knee with blood streaming down his side. Apes leapt out of the way to avoid Jayce's swords as he powered through the throng, Charla hard on his tail. No one even tried to stop them, and they reached the exit in seconds. Jayce's eyes locked with Raden's. For a split second, time stood still. Then Jayce and Charla fled into the darkness of the corridor, unimpeded.

"Stop them!" Gaul roared. "I want their heads!"


Neither of them bothered to turn and check if they were being followed. The cacophony of noise chasing them from the dungeons was proof enough of that. Jayce was already panting by the time they ascended the first flight of stairs to the lowest level above the dungeons. He glanced to and fro, his eyes frantic, and Charla realised he had no idea where to go.

"S…Silverback sent me to you," she exclaimed breathlessly, skidding to a halt beside him. "He told us to go!"

"I know, I know!" Jayce's hands trembled on the hilts of his swords. "But I wasn't expecting this! What's the quickest way outside?"

Charla didn't think twice.

"This way!" she yelled, bolting down the left passage.

Jayce skidded after her, and the howling throng of apes followed close behind. She slipped into a small crevice in the wall without breaking stride. Jayce squeezed after her, wriggling his girth through the narrow gap and cursing under his breath. They found themselves in a cramped and jagged tunnel, but didn't stop there. Charla was already moving.

The tunnel sloped upwards and curved to the left, no doubt over the top of the passageway they had been in earlier. It was a squeeze for Jayce, and slow-going, but the apes wouldn't know about this tunnel. At least, Charla hoped so.

She led them out into a small corridor that was one of many that led to the mess hall—or to the barracks, in the opposite direction. They didn't stay in the corridor long, slipping into another hidden tunnel in the opposite wall and continuing on their way. This tunnel was longer than the last, and Charla was panting by the time they dropped into a larger cavern.

It was a reasonable drop to the ground, but she made it easily with a clumsy bit of gliding. Jayce lowered himself down until he was hanging only by his hands, and then dropped the rest of the way. He winced and staggered as he landed, then turned around and froze.

His eyes widened, and Charla followed his gaze. She knew this place—she'd been here before. It was a cave almost as large as the Master Cavern, but not nearly as empty. Instead, it was dominated by the largest statue Charla had ever seen. A dragon statue.

The stone beast bore huge curving horns that almost touched the roof, and its carved paws were at least twice as large as Gaul himself. Yellow stones were imbedded where the dragon's eyes should have been, and they shone in the light of a thousand candles dotted around the countless ledges in the cavern. It seemed to glower down at them, disapproving and cold, as though it knew they were enemies to the mountain it guarded. Charla shivered under its yellow-stone gaze.

"Come on," she hissed and Jayce jumped.

As he shook himself from whatever reverie he'd slipped into, Charla realised she could hear the clatter of apes approaching—no doubt the entire mountain was now on high alert. She tensed and hissed at Jayce again. Gritting his teeth, he tore his eyes away from the imposing statue.

"Let's go," he said. "We're not going to be alone here for much longer."

Charla glanced back at the statue. She'd seen it before, but still it gave her the creeps. Jayce apparently felt the same. Why there was a statue of a dragon there, in the middle of a fortress of apes, she didn't know. Who even was it?

Shaking her head, she turned away and galloped to the far side of the cavern. Jayce followed, casting a worried glance over his shoulder. The sounds of pursuing apes were growing louder by the second. Breathless with fear, Charla led them out to a balcony that overlooked the surroundings of the Well of Souls. It was near midday, but dark clouds choked the sky above the mountain as they almost always did, threatening rain or snow. A wintery chill rippled through the air.

Stepping to the edge of the balcony, Charla stared to the ground far below, where jagged rocks and dead trees waited to catch them. Stony plateaus surrounded the mountain, some littered with sparse vegetation. None were anywhere near as tall as the mountain itself, but she might have been able to glide to one with a bit of luck. That, however, didn't help Jayce.

"How do we get down from here?" he asked.

"I…don't know," she mumbled. "I never thought about that. I think I could glide, but I don't know how long I can hold it…"

"And I don't have wings," Jayce muttered. He glanced to the side, over the edge of the balcony. Jagged ledges, like giant steps, jutted from the side of the mountain down into darkness. "Maybe…"

A triumphant cry filled the cavern behind them and they spun around. A number of apes, bloodlust in their eyes and weaponry in their hands, were closing in. Jayce whirled back to the edge.

"No more time for planning!" he yelled. "Jump!"

He broke into a short run and leapt off the edge of the balcony. Charla stifled a cry of alarm as Jayce landed heavily on the ledge below. Shooting one last frightened glance at the charging throng of apes, she leapt after him. Her wings carried her across the gap and she landed lightly on the ledge, staggering.

"Where…?" she began, but Jayce cut her off.

"Keep going!"

He took another running leap and landed on a smaller ledge a meter below. His leg slipped over the edge and chips of stone crumbled into the darkness below. Gasping, he scrambled against the side of the mountain.

Again, Charla followed. Her paws left the ledge seconds before something exploded behind her and, with a shriek, she careened into the side of the mountain. Flapping her wings frantically, Charla turned terrified eyes back towards the apes. Their paws were filled with explosives and the ledge she had been standing on seconds ago was crumbling in the wake of the blast.

"Charla!"

"I'm coming!" she yelped, pushing away from the mountain and gliding unsteadily down to the nearest ledge. She turned around, looking for Jayce, and found him waving at her from a lower outcropping.

"Over there!" he yelled, pointing towards a jutting plateau close to the mountain. There was a lengthy gap between it and Jayce's outcropping, but it was considerably lower.

"Can you jump that far?"

"We're about to find out."

The wind whipped Jayce's fur as he backed up as far as he could go and broke into a run. Charla watched fearfully as his feet left the edge and he soared out over the empty expanse. Slowly, he began to fall. Charla tried to call out to him, but something struck the ledge near her feet and she leapt into the air on instinct. Another explosion turned the ledge to dust as Charla desperately looked for a new foothold.

The wall of the mountain beside her exploded in a cloud of dust and stone fragments, and Charla dropped with a shriek. The wind buffeted her wings in awkward directions and she tumbled out of control towards oblivion. A jutting ledge of stone rose up to meet her and Charla managed to flip herself around just in time. Her paws hit the stone heavily and she keeled over onto her side, gasping.

"Did ya hit it?" a voice yelled from somewhere above.

"Dunno. Looked like it. Anyone see where it landed?"

Holding her breath, Charla shuffled closer to the mountainside and hoped the shadows were enough to conceal her form. Her head was still ringing from the blasts and it was a moment before she remembered Jayce. Choking back a gasp, she raked the surrounding plateaus for any sign of him. Her heart leapt into her throat when she spotted him clinging for dear life at the edge of the plateau several meters above her. His hind legs scrambled desperately for traction but found none.

"Jayce," she whispered.

"Think I can throw that far?" a voice said above her. Charla felt her blood turn to ice.

The apes chuckled to each other and Charla's stomach churned sickeningly. Were they really so amused by the idea of sending one of their own tumbling to his death? She wanted to call out to Jayce, but she knew it would do no good—and it would only alert the apes to her presence again.

The first stick of dynamite fell short, to Charla's relief. It exploded in the darkness somewhere below. The second struck the cliff face next to Jayce and bounced off, tumbling uselessly into the void. It was the third that struck home, skidding to a stop on top of the plateau, just inches from Jayce's fingers. Charla's heart stopped.

"Jay—!"

She thought she heard him swear under his breath, and then he did the only thing he could do to avoid being blown to smithereens. He let go. Like a stone, he dropped into the dark expanse, and the dynamite exploded. Charla couldn't hear her own scream through the blast, but it reverberated through her chest all the same. Like an arrow from a bow, she leapt out and dived towards him.

Tears pricked at her eyes as she rocketed to her doom, chasing his falling form. She beat her wings desperately, willing them to drive her faster. The wind whipped at her scales, harsh and cold. With a defiant cry and a final beat of her wings, she crashed into Jayce. Her claws hooked into his tunic as her forelegs wrapped around his chest, and a great weight settled upon her wings.

Jayce's wordless cry of shock was all she heard over the roar of the wind as, with all her strength, Charla tried to pull up. Her wings burned like fire and her forelegs felt like they were about to be ripped from her body, but she clung to Jayce as though her life depended on it—his life depended on it.

"Come on," she whispered through gritted teeth. Tears ran freely from her eyes, but they were whipped away by the frigid winds. She forced her wings to continue beating through the pain, though all they wanted to do was fold. "I can… I can fly!"

The ground rushed up towards them. Through slitted eyes, Charla saw the thickets of dying trees coming into focus with every second. Jayce was yelling beneath her, but the wind tore at his words and turned them into distant noise. Charla screamed.

"I can fly!"

Her eyes snapped open and sought out a low plateau in the gloom. It was a small, ugly outcropping of stone, but to her it was salvation. Gritting her teeth against the pain, Charla pulled up with all her strength and forced herself and her passenger towards it. Their descent slowed but didn't stop. Lower, lower they fell, until Charla was sure they wouldn't make it. But with a final, defiant beat of her wings, they did.

Dragon and ape tumbled onto the plateau, skidding to a halt on the cold rock. Charla felt her claws begin to loosen on Jayce's tunic, but she clung to him like to a lifeline until they had both come to a stop. For several moments, she was still, her cheek pressed against stone and her wings splayed at uncomfortable angles. Her heart thundered in her chest.

"Are we still alive?" Jayce rasped. He rolled over and his eyes met Charla's.

She grinned. "Uh-huh."

Shaking, Jayce sat up, at last freeing himself from Charla's claws. There were great tears in his tunic where she had held him, and a few tufts of fur had been torn out. "You flew."

"Uh-huh."

"You carried me."

Charla giggled and rolled onto her belly, lifting her head with some effort. The Well of Souls towered over them and, for the first time, Charla was able to appreciate it in its entirety. It was huge—bigger than she'd ever thought—and seemed to touch the clouds themselves, dark with the threat of snow. The top gaped open, like the jaws of some long-dead petrified beast frozen in a final roar.

"We…we made it." Jayce flopped onto his back and stared at the sky, gasping for breath.

Charla stared at the mountain warily for several moments longer, but she caught no sign of the apes that had pursued them. From this distance, she couldn't even see the balcony they had fallen from. The only sound was the distant roar of the wind and the creaking of trees below. She grinned.

"Yeah. We did."