Page 30 of Guardian's Dilemma

Leonard whirled round to face me, surprised to hear me speak.

He sneered. It was such a familiar expression that I was almost glad to see it, considering the day I’d had. I didn’t think I could take many more surprises without screaming.

“Of course we are. How else are we meant to kill them?”

“We- we don’t do that, Leonard.”

“Wedo.”

He gestured at the three others there and I tried to take it in. Glimmer slid around the edges of the room again and it was harder than ever not to watch him, not to keep my eyes on him and will him to heal.

“Get me out,” I said.

I was looking at Leonard. I was talking to Leonard, because any chance I’d had of the dragon freeing me was long gone. He’d learned that freeing me meant I’d become aridireagain. It was baked into me.

I wasn’t aridirelike these ones, though.

“Did you know that the armour was dragon skin?”

Leonard snorted. “Seriously? How did you not know that?”

“Doesn’t that bother you?”

He snorted again. “Shut up, will you? I’m listening.”

I was not going to shut up. Maybe if I kept Leonard talking long enough, Glimmer could slide all the way around the room to the door. I had no idea what kind of magic he was working to stop the others from seeing him, but itwasworking, whatever it was.

“Let me out. I know where my sword is.”

“We’re not here for your sword.” Leonard wasn’t even looking at me any more. He started to pace around the room, alert, and I felt the swell of magic. He was using it to search.

“What are you here for then?”

I spoke a bit too loudly but Leonard was walking alarmingly near to Glimmer, who drew himself closer to the wall and watched, looking wary and fragile. I blinked, finding it difficult to take in. A dragon was standing not three feet from aridire, but he wasn’t attacking; he was holding himself still, holding his breath. Something in my gut clenched and I twitched, wanting to get between the dragon and theridire.

“We’re here for your armour.”

“What?”

“We’ll take your armour back. I suppose we can take your sword, too, if we find it. Where is Sam, anyway? He should have found it by now.”

He looked at the door and I assumed that Sam was part of the team. If he’d gone to find my armour alone, my bet was that he’d encountered Glimmer out there.

“What about the dragons?”

“We’ll get to them. Once we’ve killed this one, we’ll have the power to kill them all. The guard they leave in the vault is always the strongest.”

That was common knowledge, of course, at least to aridire. I didn’t appreciate being told stuff I’d learned when I was twelve, certainly not by the likes of Leonard. What bothered me more, though, was the casual way he spoke of killing Glimmer. Glimmer, who I couldn’t see without turning my head and giving away his position. Glimmer who was limping.

I felt a presence behind me and the soft magic.

His voice was barely a whisper. “Quiet.”

I swallowed, feeling incredibly vulnerable and not sure whether to help the dragon or help the team. It should have been a no-brainer. I should be doing everything in my power to help the team kill the dragon.

But I sat there silently and felt the pressure of a hand against my own and then the release of the cable ties being cut. I had the sense to keep my arms tightly behind my back so that Leonard wouldn’t realise I was free. Then I felt the same release of my right ankle and then my left.

I could get up. I could run. But that would leave Glimmer and the team in the same room.

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