Page 86 of Beneath Scales and Shadows
“Now,” she commanded quietly to the dragons.
They moved as one, silent shadows passing the abandoned guard station. Sora’s heightened senses picked up the mingled scents of fear, pain, and something sickly sweet—corruption spreading through the very stones.
The isolation chamber stood at the corridor’s end, its door reinforced with metal bands etched with unfamiliar symbols. Two guards remained, but Blaze and another dragon—Enixa, her emerald eyes gleaming beneath her mask—dispatched them with terrifying efficiency, clawed hands around their throats before either could sound an alarm.
“Coal,” Sora called softly through the barred window. “Are you there?”
A weak cough answered her. “Who comes for a dead man?”
His voice—once rich with cynical humor—had withered to a raspy whisper. Blaze growled, low and dangerous, as he examined the door’s locking mechanism.
“Enchanted,” he muttered. “I can’t break it without alerting the entire castle.”
Sora studied the symbols, recognition dawning. They matched patterns she’d seen in Zalaya’s ritual chest—wards against draconic magic. But she wasn’t fully dragon, not yet.
“I can open it,” she said, reaching for the central design. “The blood bond might shield me from its effects.”
Before anyone could stop her, she pressed her palm against the ward. Pain lanced up her arm, but instead of triggering an alarm, the symbols flickered and faded. The door swung open with a low groan.
Coal lay curled on the cell’s far side, his bronze scales dulled almost to black. Patches had been stripped from his body, leaving raw flesh exposed to the damp air. His eyes—once sharp with intelligence—were sunken and glazed with pain.
“You shouldn’t have come,” he whispered as Blaze rushed to his side. “It’s what they want.”
“We’re all getting out,” Sora assured him, scanning the small chamber for anything they might use. Her gaze landed on a table covered with vials of shimmering liquid—essence harvested from Coal’s body. She grabbed them all, storing them in the pouch at her belt. Asher might use them to create antidotes or counter-enchantments.
Blaze lifted Coal with careful hands, supporting his ravaged body as they moved back into the corridor. “We need to hurry,” he urged. “The prince’s distraction won’t last much longer.”
They retraced their steps through the servant passage, Coal’s ragged breathing the only sound beyond their footfalls. Halfway to the exit, Prince Markth rejoined them, his face grim.
“The royal alchemist approaches,” he warned. “We have minutes at most.”
Panic rippled through her, not her own, but his—a sudden spike that tightened her chest, sharp and impossible to ignore. The aerial attack was beginning—earlier than planned. Something had gone wrong.
A scream echoed through the stone corridors, followed by shouted orders. Alarm bells began to toll, their sonorous clanging reverberating through the castle walls.
“They know,” Enixa hissed, eyes flashing to their true crimson beneath her mask. “Someone discovered our presence.”
Sora’s gaze snapped to Markth, but the prince’s shock seemed genuine. “Not me,” he insisted. “I wasn’t questioned, but my sister has eyes everywhere.”
No time for accusations. “New plan,” Sora decided. “We split up. Coal needs immediate medical attention. The rest of you, get him back to the tunnel.”
Blaze’s eyes narrowed. “And you?”
“I’m going to the royal laboratory,” she replied, her hand falling to the ruby scale at her side. “If they’re creating corrupted essence weapons, we need to destroy them.”
“The king ordered us to protect you,” Enixa reminded her, shifting Coal’s weight in her arms.
“And I’m ordering you to save Coal.” Sora’s voice hardened with authority she hadn’t known she possessed. “I’ll follow once I’ve destroyed their research.”
A quiet pressure built beneath her ribs—not her own, but his—an unmistakable concern mounting like a gathering storm. Dragons were engaging Celestorian forces at the castle perimeter, drawing attention away from the eastern wing. It might be enough.
Arrows flew, striking the air dragon forces.
“Which way to the laboratory?” she asked Markth.
The prince hesitated. “Upper level, north tower. But you’ll never reach it alone.”
“I won’t be alone.” She pressed her hand to the scale at her side, feeling Ignis’s presence like a steady flame. “Go. Get Coal to safety.”
