Page 125 of Dragon Gods

His father was outnumbered. With a growl, he swung his blade one more time, nearly taking Sofia out at the knees as Fox pulled her back. And then his father ran. Like the rat he was, scurrying away down the hall and leaving them to their small victory.

A few Dragonborn cheered, but Fox ignored them. This was only the beginning of the fight.

“Are you okay?” he asked Sofia, hands searching her body for wounds. Blood was smeared across her face, but he couldn’t find any cuts.

“It’s not mine,” she said, grin feral.

“We need to go after him,” Ian said, coming up behind Fox and looking at where his father had disappeared around the corner. “If he gets back up or tells the chief commander…”

“Got it,” Fox said. All too ready to finish this, he grabbed the sword and turned back to Sofia, mouth going dry as he looked at her. “Get the hell out of here. Get them all out of here.”

He didn’t move for a second, his body fighting with his brain. His hand was held in midair, halfway to reaching for her, fingers twitching. He wanted to grab her. He wanted to kiss her. He needed to go.

Body finally coming under his command, he turned and ran, following the sound of his father’s footsteps. He forced himself to not look back.

CHAPTERFORTY-SEVEN

SOFIA

Sofia watched Fox go, her chest tight and her throat dry. When she finally turned, she saw Vato staring at her, a small smirk dancing on his lips. She ignored it.

“We need to get everyone out of here. Do we have any allies coming?”

The man’s smirk fell, face growing serious. “I sent out a message before I came here, but I have no idea who’s in town to receive it. We were hoping for backup from beyond the wall, but I doubt we can rely on that now.”

“Is there a way out of here that doesn’t require us waltzing out the front doors?”

“The only other passage out leads directly to the chief commander’s house. I don’t think we want to go there either.”

“So we’re out of our cells and trapped in the prison,” she said, trying to keep her voice low. It wasn’t a secret, but no one needed a reminder of how screwed they still were.

Sofia turned, surveying the crowd. There were over two dozen of them, but half were actively injured and the other half were civilians picked up under false pretenses. There were even a few young children no older than ten clinging to their parents’ legs. Ian and his friends had brought weapons, but they had a shortage of people well enough to fight.

Then again—they didn’t have a choice. She automatically sought out Micael, assuming he’d want to take control. But he leaned heavily against Luis. He was looking at her though and he gave a small nod of his head.

“Sofia’s right; we either die on our knees or we die fighting.”

She hadn’t been sure she’d heard his words the other day correctly.

Something between pride and horror shuddered through her. But she shut those emotions down. She’d face them tomorrow. She turned back to the group.

“Everyone well enough to fight,” she said, “move to the left, everyone else over here. But take a weapon, whether or not you can use it. It’s best to appear like a threat even if you can’t be one. Vato—you lead the group. We can at least throw off the guards and catch them on their back feet if they aren’t expecting an ambush from within.”

“No one should be expecting us,” Vato said. “As long as Fox catches up with the general and?—”

He hesitated and perhaps for the first time, they both realized the implications of what they were depending on. Fox catching up with his father. Fox willing to kill his father or at least incapacitate him. Fox able to win the fight.

She looked back at the way they had run, farther into the prison. “And what’s that way?”

“I think there is a tunnel that connects the prison to the chief commander’s house,” Vato said. “I can only assume the general headed that way.”

Before she could respond or even think of what she wanted—needed—to do, the ground shuddered and a crack sounded from somewhere not too distant.

“Shit,” Flor said as she stumbled. “Is that the king’s men?”

Vato didn’t answer for a moment, face looking through one of the high windows at the dark night beyond. And then the sky lit up with red and the earth shuddered again.

“I don’t think that’s the king’s men,” he said, smiling. “I think that’s our backup.”

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