Page 75 of The Omega Thief

This time, he had to find a way to save his prince.

Chapter thirty-one

“Icangetthecell doors open,” Attiker repeated almost absently, and two of the guards swore. “But I can’t get that one undone.” He nodded to the huge oak.

“I could easily create a diversion the next time they appear,” Grandmother said. “But escaping won’t be any good without a plan.”

“And they’re likely to retaliate,” Thakeray bit out. “I heard fighting in the city.”

Attiker sat on the musty floor and tried to ignore all the suggestions being shouted out around him. They had to be ready. But ready to do what? He couldn’t fight an army. And the thought of Raz…

And you don’t have a wolf.

He closed his eyes. He was a failure. He might find potions, precious stones, but none of those would save Raz’s life.

For a moment, the picture of the smallest dragon came into his mind, and the love Eldara had for her baby. And he remembered another time. He was small, hungry. His dad was dead, and they were sleeping in a stable. His mom had been out, and he’d been terrified alone, but she’d come back smelling of beer. Not her breath, just her clothes. She’d walked stiffly, and while he hadn’t known it then, he knew now what she’d done to bring him the three crusts and the pastry he’d eagerly devoured.

And she’d held him after, rocked him back to sleep.

He’d desperately wanted to stop that from ever happening to another Ma. That to feed their kids, the only thing left they had to sell was their bodies. That was what being a peoples’ champion really meant.

He felt the warmth as Eldara wrapped herself around her dragonet and wondered what he or she was called. He’d love to know.

She is named Zaphyra.

The name floated into his mind at the same time the dragonet opened two gorgeous deep blue, almost purple eyes. Attiker smiled. At least they were both safe.

He tried to concentrate on escape, but his mind kept bringing him back to the thought of Raz being strung up in the traitor’s gate. Surely his wolf would stop anything bad happening to him, but no animal could survive without water for seven days. He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. The hewn stone walls, the iron bars that had been rammed in them so far, he doubted even a wolf could escape, which was probably the point. At least his eyes were adjusting, even though the sconce burned in the corner.

Burned, which meant air.

Attiker frowned and sat up, scanning the walls.There. A small grate high up in the corner of the wall. He glanced around and counted one every ten paces or so. Made sense or the prisoners would suffocate before they could be executed, which, he imagined, would be very inconvenient.

“Thakeray, who’s the smallest here?”

Thakeray followed his gaze, but he shook his head. “Probably you. Soldiers aren’t exactly chosen for their small stature.”

“I don’t think even you could get in there,” Grandmother said. “And my wolf is as big as I am.” Because she was still a Fenrir, no matter her age.

Attiker glanced behind him at the grate high up on the wall of his own cell, then gasped. What? He rushed forward, staring at the pair of eyes that stared back.

“Attiker,” a small voice whispered.

“Fetch?” Goddess, he hated that name.

“Ash broke us out. He’s waiting, but you gotta come.”

“How?” Attiker said in exasperation. “I can’t—” But Fetch pushed a leather pouch through the bars, and it fell at his feet. He picked it up, and drew open the cord that was tightening it, and recognized the smell instantly. “Goose fat.”

“Goose fat?” Thakeray repeated. “What in the seven hells are you expected to do with that?”

But he knew.

“I’m supposed to cover myself in it to make it easier to crawl through there.” He said it like it was nothing. Seekers weren’t claustrophobic, or they couldn’t do their jobs, but if he was honest, the thought of trying to get through that hole scared him witless.

“I don’t even know how I’m going to get up there,” he said half to himself as he started undoing his tunic.

“Wait,” Thakeray said. “You’re gonna strip and crawl through a space only a child can get through?”

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