Page 82 of The Divide that Binds Us

Turn a sharp left at the street corner, the white bearded dragon from before descends in front of her.Fae’s mind tingles.

“Friend, what’s wrong?”she huffs, quickly scanning her surroundings.

“I need to help my friends.”

Fae nods.“Do your friends happen to be trapped in a warehouse?”

The wingless dragon groans and bows its head.

“Yes.Please hop on.I can take you there.”

She wastes no time climbing up the large snout and holding onto one of the horns as the dragon soars upward and takes off.

The caffeine finally hits when the jitters take over Fae’s legs as she shifts on the dragon’s head frequently.Her flying friend growls a few times but doesn’t say anything in displeasure while soaring through the gray sky.

Her heart beats too close to the walls of her chest as the warehouse comes into view, but Fae instructs the dragon to land sooner so they aren’t spotted by Guards on guard.She hasn’t thought through how to get in or what the plan will be.

The dragon parks itself two blocks away from the expansive field that houses the giant warehouse, tucking itself between buildings because it doesn’t have wings.Fae slides off without thinking and sprints for the building.Whatever is happening in there, she needs to stop it.

She weaves through the last few blocks with a straight shot to the warehouse.There’s a large entrance where cargo trucks are exiting from, so that’ll be her entry point.

With no plan, Fae ceases the pattern of patrolling Guards, disregarding cameras and runs when there’s an opening.Her dragon friend flies by the warehouse, catching everyone’s attention, letting Fae slip through the giant double doors, heart racing and anticipating the worst.

She immediately rolls to the side to hide herself behind an unknown machine when she hears voices from the other side of the room.Cages are everywhere.

All full of captured dragons of different sizes.

Maybe it’s the tea, or the determination but she isn’t sure how she managed to propel herself this far.Maybe she can do this by herself after all.

No time for stealth.She takes a moment to catch her breath but follows where the voices are coming from.In his glory, bulging veins and all, Fae spots the cheddar cheese man of fake tans with his blue dress suit.

Roon.

Fae maintains her crouched position and waits for Roon to storm out the room while he screams at Guards on the operations.She stares at the dozens of caged dragons whining and begging for help.Her mind is so overloaded that her vision tilts red briefly.

Her head pulsates from the building throb on the side of her head.Too many trapped dragons and each has their own latch to free them.Fae looks up and sees the steel panels of the ceiling that look capable of opening.If she can find the switch to that, then she can free the dragons.

“Are you here for us, human?”one dragon asks.Fae looks at the cage she’s next to.The big eyes of the violet scaled dragon squeezes her heart as tears the size of her head leaks from the stunning creature.Another wingless one.

“Y-Yes,” Fae whispers.

“You understand me.”The relief is apparent in their silky, shaky voice.“We’ve been trapped for so long, but we don’t understand why or what’s happening.I feel the world dying.Is someone intentionally killing us?”

“Yeah, and I’m trying to get you all out before that happens.Can you breathe any magic?”

“One dragon did and scorched a Guard badly.They were taken away shortly after that and never seen again.I can’t believe it’s for a good reason either.”

Yikes.

“Okay, well uh, I just have to find the switch and—”

“FAAEE!”Roon’s singsong voice burst back into the room from the exit.“What a lovely surprise.I wondered if you’d show up here eventually to talk to your buddies.”

Fae wastes no time and runs for the grated stairs above the exit, keeping her eyes open for any switches or levers she can pull but none is within her reach.Roon and two Guards are hot on her heels that she shivers every time she feels a trace of someone touching her back to grab her.The grates bother her feet, but it’s either pain or torture.

It’s like a fire escape that Fae keeps climbing up and running across, and eventually there’ll be an end and hopefully a door to slip through.

Someone grabs her ankle and yanks her abruptly that she drops to her knees.

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