Page 1 of Etched in Stone
P R O L O G U E
FR E L INR AY
LONDON, 1940
Felinray never thought he’d be glad of the Nazis. They were usually on his list of the worst of the worst. Slimy, racist bastards who would rather shoot something than actually solve the problems in their own lives.
But now, as they dropped bombs by the plane load, he was almost grateful. The men that held Frelinray and his closest friend Tas were either too cheap or too stupid to invest in proper bomb shelters. Perhaps they just thought their prizes were not worth the price of carting deep down into the ground. Either that, or too dangerous. But he was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, as the human expression went.
They’d been taken, nearly six months before when Tas had insisted on attending that grakking weekly concert. Even with their hats and overcoats, they had been easily distinguishable from the crowd for someone who had been trained in recognizing a Khargyl. There was only so much you could do to disguise horns and a tail.
“Come on, Tas,” he said, pulling at the chains that had secured him to the wall. That wall was no longer intact. In fact, it had fallen down and conveniently left a hole just big enough for him to squeeze through.
“You go,” Tas said through the dust. Both of them hunkered down as another shell whistled by and hit a nearby building.
“We’ve been through this before. I’m not leaving without you.”
“Yeah, and we’ve been through this before. You’ve got rocks for brains.” Tas coughed and some of the dust settled. Felinray got a better view of the damage. Yes, half the wall was down, but only his half. Tas’s chains were still firmly imbedded in the wall that was still standing. Felinray now cursed the Nazis and their shoddy aim. He scrambled over the debris to see what he could do. Grabbing a hold on the ancient iron chains that bound them, he yanked. His came away from the wall with ease, free except for the three foot length of chain. He gave a yank on Tas’s chain. It held steady in the wall.
“Leave me,” Tas said.
Felinray gave the chain another hard pull. Dust and gravel flew as it lifted off the ground.
“I’m sure another few of those bombs will let it loose. It’s almost coming now,” Felinray replied.
Felinray tugged again, bracing his feet and taking a deep breath, trying to center himself in all the chaos around him. He had to free Tas before the bombing stopped. Otherwise, The Rose Syndicate would come back and they’d both be caught. There’d probably never be another chance like this
again.
If Rose came out from their own shelter deep beneath the building to find their two prisoners had nearly escaped, they would never make the same mistake again. It was a rare window of opportunity and Frelinray was determined to use it. He pulled harder on the chain. The wall made an eerie moan and he was encouraged.
“Frelinray, cease. This is futile. Listen. The bombs are stopping. It’s too late for me.”
“No. I will not leave you!”
“Open your eyes, stupid.”
Tas unfolded his wing. It was clearly snapped along the joint. He grimaced in pain. “I’d hit the river and sink like a rock.”
Frelinray’s heart sank as he digested the truth. They were in some warehouse-type building close to the Thames, that much they had figured out by the sounds of water traffic and the smell of fish. It would take a leap off the building and a glide across the river to escape. With a broken wing, they’d have to go along the streets where they were vulnerable to the thousands of spooked Londoners who were emerging from the shelters.
“I can’t,” Felinray said defeated. “I won’t.”
“Look. You have someone. You have your pretty female waiting for you. I have nothing. Nothing at all but my broken self. Go. Besides, I know you well enough to know you’ll come rescue me.” He grinned a toothy smile and took a deep breath. “Go,” Tas repeated.
The noise of footsteps sounded below them. Their captors were coming out of the shelter and investigating. Soon, it would be too late.
“I’ll hold them back. Go,” Tas said.
Finally, Frelinrey nodded. He grasped the hand of his friend, his brother, and then scrambled over the rubble toward the open spot in the wall. He pulled himself up as he looked over the edge. Sure enough, they were in the third story of a building right on the waterfront. Frelinray grabbed the chains that trailed from the manacles on his wrist. He spread his wings wide and took a leap.
There was that thrill of being suspended in air, wings stretched and open, catching the wind. With the chains weighing him down, it was only a strong draft that kept him aloft. He knew that he could not have carried Tas with his own chains and still kept the two of them above water.
He noted the buildings, but it was dark, black out dark and there was little moonlight to assist him.
The only light came from the fires that raged from the newly gutted buildings. Frelinray could see better than his human counterparts in the dark, but he hardly recognized the London he'd known maybe six months earlier. He had to guess at the time that had passed, as he'd been kept in a box for a large portion of his capture.
So much of London lay in rubble that it was hard to get his bearing. He opened his wings and gave one last push up to the top of a short building on the other side of the river. He had made it that far, but he had to push further. He was still too exposed, too noticeable and Rose had eyes and ears everywhere. It was best to find some old church and hide among the gravestones, preferably far from London and its Nazi bombs. But only after he found Jessenia. Only once he knew that she was safe from harm could he rest in stony silence.
