“Whoa, now,” Tauran said, grabbing her by the left wing strap as she made to bounce another round. She turned her head and snarled at him, snapping in the air beside his arm. She looked truly terrifying, but Tauran had spent enough time around dragons, and especially around titans, to know she wasn’t serious. “You and I are getting out of here,” he whispered to her. His quiet tone made her still, and she turned toward him, cocking her head attentively. “You’re going to see Kalai again. And he’s bringing a friend, too. Now, he’s quite a bit older than you, so I can’t promise he’ll want to play, but you’ll like him, I’m sure. You met him once, when you were still in the egg.”
Leyra cocked her head in the other direction, then slipped her large pink tongue from between her teeth and slapped it against Tauran’s outstretched hand.
“I don’t reckon you could help me come up with a great plan for getting out of here, huh?” He moved to her left wing. When he nudged her, she raised it, letting him access the buckles that had shifted halfway back along the limb. He unbuckled the straps and slid them off, then brought them around to her head. She peeled her lips back and growled at them in a way that sounded nothing like play and very much like anger.
“Here,” Tauran said, and held taut a section of the strap. “You love using those big chompers.”
Leyra slammed her jaws around the leather and chewed. It only took two grinds of her serrated teeth to sever the strap in two. Tauran inspected the damage. It was a believable lie that she had managed to pull them off, herself. If someone came asking, he’d simply say he hadn’t had time to replace them, yet. In the meantime, she could enjoy her freedom. And at midnight, they’d never have to worry about wing straps again.
Midnight.
He discarded the broken straps and checked his pocket watch. He had thirteen hours.
Leyra picked up the broken straps and tossed them into the air. She leaped after them, flapping her wings in aid, and nearly knocked Tauran over the head with her right wing. Tauran retreated to the mattress, watching her toss and catch the straps in the air. For a moment, he allowed himself to focus on nothing else, and thought about one of the texts about dragons Kalai had read to him. Mother titans would bring prey back to the nest, and the fledgling would toss and catch it to strengthen their wings and hunting skills.
Leyra was truly beautiful. Her dark scales shone with iridescent blue and purple hues in the sunlight streaming through the window. Her legs were powerful and sturdy already at six weeks old. Hard, pointed scales lined her muscular neck below six budding horns, three on either side, the largest two at the top already showing the faintest signs of forking. As an adult, her horns would almost resemble the antlers of a stag, the largest equipped with four sharp points and a total length of over five feet. When she leaped again, she fanned out her wings, the sunlight filtering through the semi-transparent wing membranes, turning them a reddish hue. The deadly spike at the tip of her tail had not yet grown in, but when she reached her full adult height of nineteen feet at the shoulder, it would be a four feet scythe made for murder.
On her next throw and leap, she missed the straps, teeth closing around nothing. Flapping her wings frantically, she landed on her backside with her tail sticking out from between her legs. Tauran laughed. She already looked so magnificent that it was easy to forget she was still just a large baby.
Tauran raised the pocket watch once more and his smile faded.
Thirteen hours.
* * *
By the time the sun set, Tauran wasn’t any closer to a solid solution, and he was growing desperate. On his way to hide the bags, he spoke briefly with an assistant, who told him Roric and Valeron had returned without finding anything, and Tauran clung to the sliver of good news like a boat in rough seas.
Leyra sensed his agitation, too. Tauran had a bucket of silverhorn steaks delivered to the eighth floor, but she didn’t finish her portion, raising her head to watch him every time he got up to pace.
He could get Leyra out of the tower under the guise of late night training. If