Page 80 of Fire in Stone

Poison glistened in the wounds. With a gurgling sound from his torn throat, the man collapsed to the stone floor of the courtyard.

Mother gripped her neck with both hands. The expression on her face was hopeless. She knew at that point there was nothing anyone could do for Isar. She had killed. In front of everyone. What was worse, so much worse, she let everyone see what made her different—her poison.

Isar was no ordinarysalamandra. And now everyone knew what she was.

Two men jumped on the back of the woman-lizard. One managed to wedge the chain between her teeth, yanking her head back. His arm muscles bulged inside his sleeves as he pulled on the chain, tightening it around her head.

With a groan, the lizard shifted back into a woman. The man yanked the chain tighter. The other promptly snapped a padlock between the chain links, locking the chain gag around Isar’s head.

Naked, she growled and fought, but she had no weapons. With the chain in her mouth and around her head, she could no longer shift. If she did, the larger head of the lizard would be crushed by the chain, killing her.

Tossing her head back, she released a long, sorrowful wail. The sound cut through my chest like a knife. Tears burned my eyes. My hands shook. The urge to do something vibrated inside me. Something. Anything. But what could I do where someone like Isar had failed?

Helplessness weighed down on me with despair as I watched one of the men shift into a dragon. His massive wings spread wall-to-wall across the courtyard. His clawed feet wrapped around the sleek, naked body of the defeated woman.

He moved his wings, taking off into the air and carrying Isar away. The other men sprouted wings from their backs, too. Two of them took whatever was left of the one Isar killed. Then all of them flew away.

The courtyard was empty again. Only the rusty stains of blood remained as the reminder of what had just happened.

Mother gripped the pendant around her neck, watching the dragons carry away one of hersalamandras.

A loud wail pierced the air. It came from inside the Sanctuary.

“Isaaaar!” Ertee ran through the main hall, screaming.

“Ertee, no!” Zenada dashed after her, followed by other women.

Zenada caught up with the crying woman in the courtyard. Throwing herself onto Ertee’s back, she knocked her to the ground. If she didn’t, I feared, Ertee would’ve kept running after the dragon who had taken Isar. Screaming, her eyes wild, Ertee looked like she would run until the mountain ended and she plummeted off the cliff to her death.

“Isaaar!” she screamed for her lover, friend, and protector, fighting Zenada’s grip with power unexpected from her slender frame.

Other women fell on top of her, coming to Zenada’s help.

“Hush, Ertee,” Zenada begged, her dark eyes shining with tears. “Hush, darling. We can’t help her now. No one can.”

Her words only made Ertee bawl louder.

“Why did they come here?” she screamed, thrashing under the women who tried to hold her down. “How did they know? Who told them?”

Her eyes roamed wildly, her gaze fell on me standing nearby, my hands pressed to my chest.

“You!” she snarled. “Didyoutell them, outlander?”

I choked on a gasp, shaking my head.

Zenada took Ertee’s head in her hands, smoothing down the blonde hair that Ertee had brushed and braided with such care just that morning. Now, the braid had come apart, the long strands sticking out wildly.

“She didn’t,” Zenada said, soothingly. “She couldn’t. She never even left the Sanctuary, remember? No one did. No one spoke to the dragons. None of us. But there are enough treacherous eyes outside of the Sanctuary, along with babbling mouths. Someone from the village must have seen Isar shift that day. Any one of those people would report her for a coin or two.”

Tossing her head back, Ertee covered her face with her hands. “Oh Isar, Isar, Isar…” she cried. “It’s all my fault. She killed to protect me. She always looked after me…”

Fight turned to despair in Ertee. The women got off her, leaving her lying spread-eagle on the rocks of the courtyard.

Mother stood over her. With a cautious glance to the sky, as if expecting to find spying eyes up there, she ordered, “Take her inside.”

I stood back, afraid to approach Ertee after her outburst against me and her accusations.

Zenada threw Ertee’s arm over her neck, helping her get up from the ground.

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