her smoke.
Days passed, the scenery changed, and the mountain landscape melted into the forests surrounding Mist Lake. Except this was a part of the lake Jaya had never seen before.
They traveled to the edge of the water, heading southwest judging by the stars at night, toward the southernmost part of the forest. The woods grew eerie here, the grass the darkest green she’d witnessed, and the dirt under the wagon wheels nearly black.
As the sun sank, the fog rolled over the water, the insects and night creatures chirping and howling. Hurk stirred in his cage, shifting with unease.
Jaya tried not to stare out into the lake’s fog. Unnatural things roused and green eyes glowed where no land lay. Whatever being stared at them, it tread on the surface of the lake and was not a creature she wished to meet.
“Banning,” she whispered, checking on him. He faded in and out of consciousness, the ash visibly weakening him. He’d had no food, hardly any water. She didn’t know how long a dragon could last this way.
“Mmm,” he hummed, groggy, low, thin, so unlike the robust male she’d first met.
“I’m going to get us out of this,” she said so lowly that she wasn’t sure he could hear her. “Just hold on.”
The wagon slowed, a small village coming into view. So small she wondered if this war party was the whole vog tribe. Mudbrick huts cropped up, and a large firepit sat in the communal center, lit and illuminating the vicinity.
Someone blew a horn and individuals exited the huts or came out of the surrounding forest. Jaya did her best to count.
Ten? Twelve? Not many more, but still a sizable amount. No men, no children, just women. A version of the nighttime story tickled at the edge of her mind, but she was too focused on counting to concentrate on that.
The women floated around the wagons and sleds, examining the loot, and admiring her, Banning, and Hurk as they chattered amongst themselves.
Their eyes…
In the firelight, they reflected, like night creatures. Unnatural and more proof the vogs flirted with darkness that went beyond this world.
They opened Banning’s side of the wagon first, unlatching the door and grabbing his ropes to tug him to the ground.
“Don’t you kuseking hurt him!” she threatened, grasping the bars when he growled.
They laughed.
One of them, her nose broken by Jaya’s own elbow—the one who’d unfortunately survived her furs catching fire—glared and kicked Banning in the ribs.
Jaya nearly foamed at the mouth, but the dragon-man wasn’t fazed. She tracked every step they made as they dragged him through the dirt and into a hut.
Her breaths were shallow, heated and full of rage, but she had to think clearly.
She was next.
“Welcome to our home, chib,” Two-Face said from beside the wagon, her tone sinister. Understandable, since this freak was planning to eat her man.
Broken-Nose opened Jaya’s side of the cage, and she hopped down, boots hitting the earth. Immediately, her arm was grabbed, and she was guided toward the hut.
Stupid, stupid, Jaya chided.
She yanked her arm and, pulling her elbow from their grasp, cracked Broken-Nose in the middle of her face for the second time.
“AHHH!” Broken-Nose yowled, fury in her eyes as blood gushed anew. Jaya was tackled, toppling over a piled-high sled.
Loot went flying. Pottery shattered, beads spilled from a basket, and a large chest with stabbed holes toppled over but didn’t open.
Something inside that chest whimpered.
The breath was knocked out of Jaya as two vogs flipped her onto her stomach and restrained her wrists with a tight length of rope before hauling her up.
“Dumb girl!” Two-Face hollered at Broken-Nose before backhanding Jaya. “I can’t wait to hear your screams as the flames burn your flesh.”
Jaya seethed, fighting her restraints, and kicking up dust as she screamed her frustration. They tossed her into the hut, laughing when she faceplanted on the dirt floor. Then they tethered her hands to a stake in the ground.
“What a waste of chib,” one muttered to the other on the way out.
16
Jaya caught her breath, ears straining in the dark hut, listening for those nearby. She could barely see Banning’s form across the small space.
“Can you hear me?”
“I hear you.”
She sighed, relieved. “If I can get those ropes off, can you fight?”
A menacing growl resonated and, even though Jaya knew it wasn’t meant for her, it still rose the fine hair on her arms.
“Do it, and I’ll shred these kuseks with my teeth.”
Those words, hardly said, mostly growled, were terrifying—but they were exactly what