Page 53 of Draekora

“Keep fighting, sweet,” his greasy voice whispered into her ear, sounding sickly satisfied by her miserable attempts to free herself.

“Let go of me!” Alex shrieked in his face again. Then, appealing to their riveted audience, she yelled, “Please! Someone help me!” Knowing her common words were useless, she managed to call up what Roka had taught her last night and cried, “Nalahi suros rae!” But still, no one moved to intervene, not even Tohro, who had slunk back behind the bar and was wiping glasses to avoid her pleading gaze.

What waswrongwith these people? Why were they just allowing this thug of a Meyarin to attack her in front of them?

She heard the door to the tavern blow open just as Skraegon grabbed both of her wrists in one hand, freeing his other to wander sleazily down her body.

Repulsed by his touch, Alex renewed her frantic struggle against him, but still to no effect. She sucked in a shuddering, horrified lungful of air and screamed one more time straight into his face, as loud and shrill as she possibly could, “LET ME GO!”

And then suddenly she wasn’t propped up against him anymore, because he was ripped away and tossed into a table across the room.

“It appears the girl wants to be released, Skraegon,” the rain-soaked newcomer said, his voice low and furious. But more than that, it wasfamiliar.

He had his back to her, but even dressed in sodden, tattered clothing, Alex would have recognised his dark-skinned, bulky physique anywhere.

“Zain?” Her voice was barely a whisper, but it was enough for his Meyarin ears to catch, and he turned back to look at her in puzzlement. Her eyes widened as Skraegon took advantage of his distraction and leapt forward. “Zain, look out!”

Her future friend turned back just in time to duck Skraegon’s attack. What proceeded next was the bar brawl to end all bar brawls, with suddenly everyone jumping in on the action. The Meyarins moved like flashes, so fast that Alex was unable to track them with her human sight, but she was still too freaked out to try and calm down enough to access her heightened senses. More than ever, she wished she’d had more training on how to act like a Meyarin, because instead of grabbing Zain and fighting their way out of there together, she was stuck cowering in the corner, waiting and hoping that they would both make it out in one piece.

A crackle of thunder roared so loudly from outside that Alex had to clap her hands over her ears, along with many of the fighting Meyarins who had to pause mid-attack to do so. A heartbeat later came a lightning strike so close and full of energy that her hair stood on end, but that wasn’t all that happened. Somehow the strike caused the low-litmyraesilluminating the tavern to splutter out as if blowing a fuse. Instant darkness surrounded them, with unending surges of lightning from outside keeping the well-seeing Meyarins nearly as blind as Alex with her mortal sight.

When someone grabbed her in the dark, she didn’t hesitate to throw her free hand out in a solid uppercut to what she presumed was her assailant’s jaw. A low curse came in response, and recognising the tone of Zain’s voice, Alex cried out, “Crap, I’m sorry!”

He uttered another terse oath and started dragging her after him in the pitch-black, lightning stunned tavern.

She followed without question, even when he led her outside onto the stormy street and started jogging down the alley. She kept up as best as she could despite the blinding flashes, deafening thunder and piercing rain, only managing to do so because he wasn’t using Meyarin speed.

When they were what Alex judged to be about three blocks away from The Scarlet Thief, Zain yanked her to the side of the road and kicked open a doorway, pushing her inside ahead of him.

Gasping for breath in the shadowy room, Alex bent at the waist, placing her hands on her knees to steady her raging heartbeat. A light bloomed into existence when Zain lit a sconce ofmyraesand shadows flickered around the dilapidated room they were in, bouncing across his uncharacteristically scruffy and rain-drenched features.

“Thanks so much for your help back there,” Alex told him wholeheartedly, wiping her scraggly wet hair off her face. Seeing his questioning look at her use of the common tongue, she repeated what she could in broken Meyarin, “Atari sae… suros… Narsae de Trigon.”

“How do you speak the tongue of mortals so well and yet you do not know your own language?”

Alex blinked at him, stunned. “You know the common tongue?”

Zain crossed his massive arms and water fell from the creases in his shabby clothes. “Much of my time is spent amongst mortals. It helps if we can understand each other.”

Confused and quite frankly feeling out of her right mind, Alex said, “But… how can you spend much time with them if you’re busy leading theZeltora? Don’t you have responsibilities with Roka?”

The look Zain levelled towards Alex made her feel as if she were a few too many seeds short of a strawberry.

“Roka? As in,PrinceRoka?” Zain let out a burst of laughter. “He’d call for my imprisonment before so much asthinkingof allowing me into his precious elite guard.” He snorted, still amused but why, Alex had no idea. “What is this nonsense of which you speak?”

“But… If you’re not with Roka or theZeltora… Then…” Alex looked around the empty room in helpless confusion. “Didn’t he send you to come find me tonight? Isn’t that why you saved me?”

Zain shrugged carelessly, more water sloshing with the movement. “Narsae de Trigonmight not be the most reputable establishment, but you learn to ignore the regulars after you’ve tasted theirglaeron. You won’t find a finer brew anywhere else in the city.”

“Wait… Are you saying…?”

“I was on my way there for a drink when I heard your screams from down the street,” Zain told her. “It’s suicide to call theValispathin a storm like this, otherwise I would have made it to you sooner. But you at least looked like you were holding your own when I arrived, I’ll give you that.”

It was Alex’s turn to snort. “I don’t think so. That Skraegon guy was about to—about to—” She couldn’t finish the sentence, not allowing her mind to go there.

“Skraegon is a bully,” Zain said, his voice harsh. “Tonight wasn’t the first time he and I have scrapped. And since he continues to ignore common decency, it likely won’t be the last.”

“Scrapped?” Alex repeated, incredulous at his choice of description. “That’s what you call what happened tonight?”

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