Chapter Eight

Time was not on their side.

"Faeria, the only way to do this is to sacrifice safety for speed. Durza won't keep her long in Gil'ead, it will be straight to Uru'Baen before long."

They were a short distance from the city gates, hidden among a group of cliffs. Kairin sat cross legged before a crude map of the city they had compiled earlier, drawn from an aerial view. They had spent the afternoon flying above the city, hidden among the clouds, trying to glean as much information as they could. They had guessed which building they kept Leaire in from the amount of Urgals they counted going in and out of it throughout the day; it was a large and sturdy-looking building. They had dipped below the clouds to get a closer look and saw it to be some kind of prison. They had also noticed that the roof had been recently torn apart and hurriedly repaired. This weakness was noted with great detail on the map.

"I don't see why I can't come with you," she puffed smoke from her jaws and snapped them closed with a pop. "I'm not like your deer animal pack horse, I am a fighter and half of your strength." Kairin pressed her face into Faeria's scales.

"You are all of my strength, but you'll slow me down once we get inside. Just be ready to fly us out once I find Leaire."

Faeria responded with more snaps of her jaw.

"Stay on your guard, will you, little elf?" Kairin pulled away from Faeria and glared up at her.

"Don't taunt me like that. Durza was lying. He was trying to confuse me."

"Lies or not, you're stronger and smarter than any human. Don't deny what you are, it will only dim your path. Just be quick, my hatchling, and be safe."

Kairin gathered her map, buckled her sword around her waist, and tied a long skirt over her it, covering her scabbard and britches underneath. She threw her arms around the dragon's neck, feeling the warmth of the fire within her. It took all of her bravery to pull away. Without another look or another word, Kairin began running with all her speed towards the gates of Gil'ead, afraid that if she lingered her strength would fail her.

The sun was nearly set when she reached the gate, and even though she had expected it her heart began to pound when the guard lowered his pike to bar her path.

"Business in the city?" the man drawled lazily. Kairin lifted a brace of fish she had caught in the river earlier.

"I live here. Caught up these'n fish today, goin' home now," Kairin stammered, trying her best at a peasant's accent.

"You don't look familiar," the guard said, lifting the visor on his helmet to see her better. His tone was far from accusatory, but still Kairin's knees grew slightly weak.

"She look familiar to you, Glenn?" the guard called over to his fellow, who sat lounging with his eyes closed against the wall, helmet beside him, pike set across his knees. Glenn gave a quick glance over.

"Yeah yeah, think I saw her leave the city this morning," he waves a gloved hand. "In you go, love," he added with a wink. Kairin bowed her head and hurried into the city, ignoring Glenn's call of "see you around, pretty girl!" behind her.

Once inside, Kairin was relieved to quickly get her bearings. The prison wasn't far. She glanced up into the sky; by some stroke of luck the evening was as cloudy as the afternoon had been. Kairin could see no trace of Faeria high above, but could feel her distant presence.

Up close, the prison was far more formidable. The guards posted at each entrance stood at attention, taking their jobs more seriously than Glenn and his companion at the gate, and far more heavily armed. Kairin quickly gave up hope of entering the building through any door. She circled the building, looking as inconspicuous as possible, before she noticed it: a tiny, barred window set right against the ground. A furtive glance around proved the street to be empty, and Kairin rushed over to it and peered inside.

The window led to a small, underground cell that was blessfully uninhabited. The bars on the window were just far apart enough for Kairin to slide inside, but the fall was further than she had anticipated. She crumpled to the ground inside and stuffed a fist into her mouth to keep from crying out in pain. Her left leg had folded awkwardly beneath her and her ankle and knee throbbed. She tried to stand and succeeded, but shakily.

Kairin took in her surroundings. The cell in which she stood was unremarkable, just a square box of walls with a cot pushed against one wall. Kairin took off her overskirt and left it on the cot, freeing her legs. The barred door was closed, and Kairin reached towards it, pulling at the magic at the edge of her consciousness and ready to use it, when the gedway ignasia on her palm began to glow.

She snatched her hand back, afraid someone would see the light, and felt that her palm had grown hot. It's like Yazuac, she thought to herself, when I saw the burned Urgal breastplate.

Pushing this small mystery to the back of her mind, she reached towards the door again and unlocked it with a few choice words from the ancient language.

In the dark hall, Kairin paused to collect her bravery. Which way was Leaire? Kairin closed her eyes and whispered "Thverr stenr un atra eka hórna!" Suddenly every noise in the prison sounded in her ears as if it was right beside her. She listened closely until she heard the gruff voice of a man.

"...Said we couldn't take no chances with this elf. Said we hadta keep torches blazin' all bloody night, said people were gonna come up in the dark, he said."

Kairin snapped her head towards the rightmost passage; the whisper had come from there.

"Dunno who's so bein' so keen ta save the likes of this creature," another voice replied to the first. "Elvish folk make me feel summat strange, unnatural-like."

Kairin began creeping towards the voices, letting go of the magic that allowed her to hear them once she was in earshot. She could see the glow of torches from around the corner; with a few more whispered words, she extinguished them.

The ensuing panic made the battle quite easy for Kairin, whose eyes had already attuned to the darkness. The first man rushed around the corner towards her and she swiftly knocked him out with a blow from her sword hilt, and rounded the corner herself to meet the second guard head-on.

He was flailing in the darkness, clearly unable to see, and Kairin disarmed him easily. As his sword clattered to the floor, the man fell to his knees after it but halted as Kairin pressed the tip of her sword into his neck.

"Give me the keys to the elf's cell."

"I-I don't-"

"Give them to me!"

She pressed the sword closer to his throat and raised her hand, gedway ignasia gleaming in the dark.

"Who are you?" he stammered.

"None of your concern," Kairin growled in response. A gleam of silver from the man's belt grabbed her attention – the keys.

"Slytha," Kairin breathed, and the man instantly crumpled in sleep.

Kairin retrieved the keys and picked a silver one. She tried to fit it into the lock on the door the guards had been flanking – no luck. She tried a second, then a third. She tried a fourth, knowing she was wasting precious time. The fifth key produced a satisfying click as she turned it in the lock, and threw open the door.

Leaire lay sprawled on the floor, no cot to speak of. Kairin rushed to her side and tried to wake her; the memory of their first meeting rushed into her head.

"Leaire!" she hissed. No response. Kairin seized the elf around her slender waist and threw her over her shoulder.

She moved through the halls as fast as she could, ignoring the whispers and jeers from other prisoners locked in their cells. Kairin reached out with her mind until she felt Faeria high above.

"We're coming. Now." She felt a faint recognition from Faeria and was dimly aware of the dragon beginning to descend onto the roof as Kairin desperately searched for a way to the top level.

Leaire's weight did nothing to help Kairin's injured leg, and she was infuriatingly aware that she was losing both speed and stamina. Once she had finally located a tall spiral staircase, it took everything she had left in her to climb it. It let out into some kind of weaponry; Kairin collapsed at the stop of the stairs and upset a rack of spears. The ensuing clatter made her cringe, but it was nothing compared to the sound of Faeria landing on the roof above her.

The ceiling was new – clearly it had suffered some kind of damage and repair recently – and it took little effort for Faeria's claws to rip through the unfinished wood. The dragon poked her long neck into the hole she had rent, stretching towards Kairin with desperation.

"Come, Kairin, come!" when she saw that the girl could not stand, Faeria forced herself into the room with an almighty shove and landed heavily on the ground, knocking shelves of unsheathed swords about and receiving several deep cuts to her hind legs.

"Faeria, lift me up!" Obediently, the dragon seized the fabric of Kairin's tunic in her mouth and lifted her onto her back, doing the same with Leaire before leaping once more through the wasted ceiling into the night sky.

"Fly, Faeria, now!" Kairin shrieked. For scores of prison guards had heard the clamor and now surged from the staircase into the weaponry and onto the roof.

Faeria threw herself from the roof, her wings strained from the extra weight, and lifted into the air just as the first group of men climbed out of the hole. Kairin head a twang of bowstrings and the whiz of flying arrows. Most of them clattered off Faeria's scales, and the rest pierced her wings, making her roar in pain. Kairin winced with sympathetic pain, and then let out a scream of her own when a shaft bit into her upper arm, just above the elbow.

Kairin turned behind her, her hair snapping in the wind.

"BRISINGR!" she screamed, putting her magic behind it. A huge burst of silver fire exploded on the roof, greeted with shrieks from the guards. Kairin turned around again, utterly spent. Making sure Leaire was tightly seated; she lay on Faeria's neck, avoiding her spikes. Even though the pain of her arm was harsh and the wind bit against her skin, Kairin fell into a feverish sleep.