Page 55 of The Omega Thief

Markell stared at Attiker, then bent to pick up a pod. “Stop,” Attiker yelled. “You’ll burn yourself. Use my gloves.” Markell’s eyes widened, but he did as Attiker said, tucked the prism back in amongst the pods, and turned to leave.

“Break your promise, and I’ll make sure that the next fire that burns Cadmeera levels it.” After fastening the bag so it was tight, he shifted to a wolf. The strap was a little tight, but it wouldn’t hit the floor. The wolf turned and ran. Attiker shouldn’t have been surprised he’d something to do with the fire at the stables. It all made sense.

Attiker dropped to the box and looked in. His heart ached at what he saw. The hatchling that Markell had mistaken for a fire lizard lay on its side, eyes closed. Attiker touched its side gently, still warm but not warm enough, and he felt its small body rise and fall with a shallow breath.

Attiker lifted the little bundle and tucked him inside his shirt. He looked the way Markell had run and knew he should go after him. He wasn’t helpless. He was pretty sure between him and Ash, they might have a slim chance of getting the prism back. There was only one way through the pass and shortcuts he bet Markell didn’t know about. It wasn’t over until it was over.

He looked down and watched the hatchling as a tiny curl of smoke drifted up from its nostrils. All babies needed to feed, and he had no idea how long this little one had gone without. It was a stroke of luck that Markell didn’t know what he had and hadn’t seen the mother. If he didn’t get the dragonet back to her soon, though, it would be dead.

Attiker turned back to Fire Mountain, fixed the picture Eldara had sent him of her and her baby in his mind, and made his way back the way he came. He was a good two hours the wrong way. He concentrated fiercely on the picture in his mind. Kept looking down at the little one and hoping with everything in him she would get the message. The heat began to make it hard to breathe again, and Attiker stumbled, putting his hands out to stop him from squashing the baby.

He wasn’t sure how much longer he could do this. Then a blast of heat washed over him, and he sat back on his heels, raising his arm protectively across his face, but then the image of her came into his mind. Along with a fierce sense of hope, desperation, and love centered on the baby he held. He lowered his arm just as Eldara landed, her eyes focused on him.

Carefully, because his hands were trembling, he pulled out the baby from his shirt. “Look, Ma,” he whispered, barely able to breathe through the heat. He laid the baby on the ground and quickly backed away. The dragon screeched, then pounced, one small front leg scooping up the baby, her snout nuzzling and smelling him. She sent one look to Attiker, but too fast for him to interpret it, and with another whoosh of dry scalding air, she was gone.

Attiker stood on shaky legs, hands shaking as he strove to uncork his water pouch. He’d just lost the challenge. He would be lucky to get back to Ash before the time ran out, and he had no chance of making the palace. He’d let Raz down really badly, and he shot one final look over his shoulder before starting to walk back.

And hoped that at least the dragonet would live.

Chapter twenty-four

Attikerwaswellandtruly screwed, as Ash would say. Well, Ash would say a lot of other things, but—

Attiker didn’t get another chance to bemoan his lot because instead of looking where he was bloody well going, his foot caught in a tree root, and he went flying arse over tit and hit the ground, hard.Shite. He blinked up at the canopy of trees above him and took a quick stock—all his body parts were still functioning while he concentrated on making sure his lungs were and pulling in as many breaths as possible. His ankle twinged, but he’d had worse, and he sat up. His ankle twinged a little more, but Attiker gritted his teeth and pushed himself up.

Or tried to.

The moment his ankle realized it was supposed to support at least one leg and half of Attiker’s body, it screamed in protest, and Attiker went down again.

Attiker’s groan this time was a little pathetic, even to his own ears. Some of his less-than-charitable drinking buddies at the Salamander might have even called it a whimper. He blinked to try and order his thoughts to not panic. No, any thought of panicking wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all.

Unfortunately, neither was: one, not being able to run back to Ash, maybe hobble if he was lucky. Two, not having a prism, and three…he peered at the sun, guessing he had maybe seven hours left to get to Ash and ride back to the city.

He didn’t regret it, though, and he really hoped Mama dragon, Eldara, and the little fireball were both doing okay. Then he gasped as an image came into his head. She was in her cave, and the little one was awake and suckling. Such an intense feeling of happiness and pure love washed over him that Attiker had to blink furiously.I need to conserve water.Attiker thought in a pathetic attempt at humor and looked around for some sort of stick to lean on. There was no way he had time to get another prism and if he could, he had nothing now to keep it warm. Markell would definitely beat him back. He had a slim chance of getting back in the time limit and then telling the judiciaries Markell had stolen his pack.

But then that was just his word against another’s, and the only witness was currently busier doing important things. He closed his eyes and sent a thought out to the dragon. He tried to say thank you for helping him with the prism and told her to stay safe. Then, very carefully, holding on to the tree for balance, he managed to get to his feet. He couldn’t put any weight on it, though, but dragged a branch over and made a very rough crutch. Wrapping his ankle with a splint would make it a little better, but all he had was a tiny knife, no shirt left, and ripped pants. Markell had relieved him of all his other weapons.

Attiker set off. He didn’t get far before the throbbing agony in his leg made him stop. This was useless. He was worried about Ash, as well. Would Markell attack him? Make doubly sure Attiker didn’t have any help? Ash was quick and strong, but human, and Markell was a Fenrir.

Attiker gasped again as his foot wobbled on a stone, and fresh agony streaked up his leg. He gritted his teeth and pushed on, but after an hour, the pain was making his head swim, and he’d only just cleared the heavier trees. He still had miles to go to reach the cliff face and then somehow get down it to where Ash was. He closed his eyes and breathed. If he passed out, it would be all over.

Then he heard it.

A sound somewhere between a screech and a rumble, then a blast of dry, hot air hit him in the face. He opened his eyes just as Eldara landed in front of him. He let out a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob, but then he gaped in astonishment at the rock about the size of a melon she clutched in one talon she released at his feet. He gazed at the chunk of shimmering red rock and up at Eldara.

The image in his mind, which he knew was from her, showed a prism glowing in the center. Safe and warm, or at least for now. But he couldn’t get it to Ash. He doubted he could get himself to Ash, but carrying the rock? Not a chance.

The annoyed-sounding huff and the blast of hot air brought him out of his mental wanderings to see Edara extending her leg. The meaning was obvious, and for a dazzling moment, he was so tempted that he really did want to cry.

But they were at the forest’s edge. There was a chance of traders making their way to the Market of Lost Souls, slim, but still a chance, and more the closer he got to Ash. Whatever else he did, absolutely no one could see Eldara. If anyone knew she existed outside of fairy tales and myths, both her and her dragonet would be pursued relentlessly by avaricious humans. Those who bought and sold human omegas would think nothing of enslaving an animal. They would simply count their gold.

“I can’t.” But gods, he so wanted to. It seemed like every bit of him hurt.

She sent him an image of him sitting on her foot and huffed impatiently. Attiker tried to swallow down his tight throat and sent her an image of her in chains, surrounded by soldiers with lances all threatening her.

She was silent at that, and he opened his eyes and then blinked. She’d gone. How in the seven hells had she done that? He’d never heard her. He put a shaky hand to his mouth, desperation overwhelming him for a second, then he took a determined breath, and clasped the branch he was using for his crutch. He would get back to Raz if he had to crawl on his knees. He would miss her, but the thought of her trapped, chained, made him sick to his stomach.

Then another blast of hot air just about had him back on his arse when Eldara just appeared in front of him like some sort of vision. He didn’t have time to so much as gasp when she disappeared again.

---