Page 79 of Fire in Stone

Isar was out there. Alone, with at least five men whom she clearly considered hostile. What did they want? What were they going to do to her? Are we all just going to sit here, cowering in fear while she dealt with them on her own?

Clenching and unclenching my fists, I lingered by the door. Going out there could very well equal suicide for me. I couldn’t even lift a damn sword and my chances of shooting an arrow with my hands shaking the way they did dwindled into single digits. How would getting myself killed help Isar?

Yet I couldn’t leave her. Stealing back to the door, I pressed my ear to the wood. It didn’t give me much. I heard noises but couldn’t place them.

“What’s going on?” A firm voice made me jump. The Mistress of the Sanctuary appeared next to me as if out of nowhere.

“Mother.”

“Who is there?” she asked.

“Dragons… Men, I mean. At least five of them. Isar is with them.”

“Isar?” Mother’s brow furrowed. “What has she done?”

“Nothing—” I cut myself short and bit my tongue.

Oh, Isar had done something, hadn’t she? She had killed a man, and I’d witnessed it. Did someone else find out about that?

“Isar has a real secret.”Ertee’s words echoed in my head.

My heart dropped. I rubbed my throat as my next breath had stuck in it.

Mother leveled me with a stare.

“Is Isar in trouble?” she asked sternly.

“I’m afraid she might be…” I croaked, feeling cold with dread.

Mother nodded. Straightening her spine, she smoothed down her robe and adjusted her salamander pendant. With firm determination on her face, she pushed the door to the courtyard open.

Plastering my back against the wall to make myself smaller and, hopefully, invisible, I peeked outside cautiously.

Out in the courtyard, Isar fought ferociously. Her two swords moved so fast, they merged into blurry wheels of steel and iron in her hands. One of the men attacking her staggered back, blood dripping from his side. Another had a blood-soaked sleeve already.

“Stop!” Mother raised her arms. The wind caught the wide sleeves of her robe, billowing them behind her like wings.

The men paid her no attention, lunging at Isar with swords and…chains. One was swinging a pair of manacles. The other held a piece of black chain stretched between his gloved hands. They appeared to have planned to capture Isar, but now that she had drawn blood, the look on their faces promised murder.

I held my breath, pressing my hand to my chest where my heart was beating so loud I feared everyone could hear it over the noise of the fight.

“Stop!” Mother demanded again, raising her voice higher. “This place is protected by the king!”

One of the men glared her way.

“We’re here on his orders,” he growled.

Another man managed to grab Isar’s arm, knocking the sword out of her hand.

She hissed, spinning around. He gripped her throat.

“Hush,salamandra.” He smirked. “You fought well. Now, it’s time to muzzle you.” He gestured for the one with the chain to approach.

The man snapped the chain, setting off blasts of red sparks between the metal links.

Isar’s eyes widened in horror. Baring her teeth, she twisted out of the man’s grip, then lunged at him in a leap. The strong, tall body of the woman morphed into the shape of a lizard. Her clothes slipped off the animal’s back.

With terror in his eyes, the man opened his mouth, but no scream ever came. The long sharp teeth of the striking salamander tore into the man’s neck. He never had a chance to shift into his invincible dragon form, either. Her teeth and claws ripped through his unprotected flesh like butter.

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