Page 12 of Tamhas

The man—tall, hulking, but no bigger than some of the men I’d fought—lunged for me, I ducked, twisted, and threw a series of jabs into his ribs.

He fell to his knees, gasping for air, while the two women stood on either side of me. The first came forward to attack. I swung my right leg up and connected the toe of my boot with her jaw, sending her sprawling and cursing.

The second came at me from behind, throwing her arms around my waist in an attempt to take me down.

I reached behind me, locked my hands around her neck and threw her over my shoulder like a sack of flour. She landed flat on her back.

The man got to his feet, swinging one massive fist in a slow roundhouse. I ducked, but not fast enough. He made contact with my ear, and the whole inside of my head rang like a gong. I shook it off and delivered a kick to his already sore ribs. He grimaced in pain, doubling slightly, and got an uppercut to his chin.

I was a little dizzy from the blow he landed, but still spun in time to see the woman with the fresh cut on her jaw come at me with bloodlust in her eyes. She threw herself into me, knocking me on my back.

I raised my legs in time to wrap them around her waist and twisted my body, throwing her to the ground.

I sprang to my feet, ears ringing, back aching, wondering what the hell was happening even as adrenaline rushed through me and pushed me forward. The three of them exchanged looks, panting and groaning, circling me. My eyes darted back and forth, fists raised, bouncing my weight back and forth from one foot to the other in preparation for the next move.

I could handle one at a time. I could’ve handled them all day. What I couldn’t handle was all three at once.

They closed in on me, the women lunging in unison and the man taking advantage by grabbing hold of my arms from behind. He pinned them against my back, and I thrashed, cursing and panting. It was no use.

The women stared at me. One of them held her jaw, where blood still trickled through her fingers, while the other held a hand to her side. Both of them were roughly as tall as me, and both built roughly the same as me.

But their eyes…

“What are you people?” I asked, looking from one to the other. They both had the same gold rings around their irises. So did the man holding me when I looked up at him.

He spoke first. “What do you mean, what are we?” He was gruff, probably pissed that I kicked his ass a little, but his words were slightly softened by a Scottish brogue.

“I saw you. What you did. You were… dragons. I saw you flying.”

His body went stiff while he looked from me to the other two. Their mouths fell open.

“You saw us?” the one with the cut jaw asked.

“In the air?” the other added.

I nodded.

“Hold her,” the second one ordered, coming to me and untying the bandana around my neck before lifting away my ponytail.

She muttered something in a language I didn’t understand.

The other swore a blue streak, and that I most definitely understood, even if I didn’t understand why.

“There it is,” the man murmured. He sounded amazed.

“There what is?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Inside,” the man grunted—and before I knew it, he was dragging me toward the mountain, where what looked like a cave had been carved out of the rock.

“What? What are you doing? You can’t do this!” But I might as well have been talking to myself.

“Wait. Stop.” For a second, I thought one of the women saw reason—instead, the bandana found its way over my eyes. I couldn’t see a thing. I had no idea where they were taking me, or why.

“You can’t do this!” I repeated, not like it mattered. They didn’t listen as they dragged me into the cave and deep inside the mountain.

Not until we came to a stop—it felt like forever had passed—did one of them rip the bandana from my eyes. I barely had time to make out the bars of the cell before he threw me inside and slammed a door behind me.

“Where are we?” I asked, gripping the bars with all my might. “Why are you doing this? Who are you?”

They exchanged a silent look before walking away.

Leaving me alone, in the dark, in a cell.

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