Warm thoughts flooded the arena grounds. The other dragons were calling to her. Yaltu still held her arms-out position, but her guards leveled their weapons and kept the audience at bay. They were armed with rifles and looked just as frightened as the dragons.
I followed Gold to the others as I kept Ebon ready, just in case she snapped and attacked anyone. But she made it all the way, lured and calmed by Yaltu’s chemical embrace. Then, Yaltu turned to one of the black dragons and whispered something. The dragon turned to her companions and began chewing on them—no—chewing on their tech. The black dragon made careful bites, and when each winced or tried to back away, she held on with her front claws, fearlessly holding them in place.
One by one, their true voices returned, except for Gold. Though their voices were all unique, Gold’s still maintained an artificial edge.
“Break the metal and the bonds,” a black dragon whispered.
“Kill… help… break…” Gold’s unspoken voice strained against an invisible force from within.
I wondered if her implants had been too deep or too extensive, but at least she wasn’t trying to kill me.
“Destroy the king,” one of the black dragons said.
“Kill and destroy them all,” the other added.
“Protect Yaltu,” the third said. “She has saved us. She must escape.”
They turned to Gold and waited for her thought to speak to them, but the only emotion Gold sent was sorrow. Her thoughts were full of pain.
“Gold,” I said, not knowing the creature’s real name. “Will you help us escape? I need to ride you to make it happen. Will you allow it?”
Though the dragon didn’t answer, she did flood me with the warmth of trust and thankfulness. Following that, she sent horrific images and pictures of what she wanted to do to the guards and spectators.
I chanced it and climbed onto the creature’s back. The golden dragon bucked a little but soon calmed as I stroked her back.
I turned to Beatrix and Reaver. “Climb on their backs of the others and follow me. Gold doesn’t want to escape. She wants to destroy as many guards as she can. She also wants to level the city if she can manage it. She’ll cover our escape, but you must stay close. The forcefield won’t be down for long.”
Both women nodded and carefully approached the black dragons. They allowed themselves to be mounted, though the one Beatrix was on seemed to feel a lot of pain as she did so. The dragon’s saddle had been permanently mounted to her body, and without the mind-numbing effects of the tech, she began to feel everything.
“Charge!” I yelled when they were ready.
Gold led the pack of dragons, and we passed cleanly through the hole in the forcefield before we crashed into the grandstands. I threw myself from Gold’s back as the creature plowed into the seating and sent the audience flying. Gold crushed a vrak guard with her massive maw, sent another flying with a savage swing of her tail, and barrelled through the crowd.
I spun and saw Reaver and Beatrix astride their dragons as they charged through the shattered shield. The dragons surged over the stands and turned the wood into sawdust under their massive claws.
“Heads up!” Reaver shouted as her dragon bounded toward me.
A second later, I caught Reaver’s offered arm and swung myself onto her mount’s back. I remembered Yaltu’s advice and clamped my knees against the black dragon’s flank behind Reaver.
Silver hesitated for a moment, looking between the black dragons and Gold as if she couldn’t decide what to do.
Skrew came out of the crowd like a hyperactive arrow and scrambled onto the dragon behind me. He clung onto my back, gripping me tightly with all four of his arms. The little guy probably looked like a horrified backpack.
“Jacob fight! Jacob win! Jacob flee!”
“Soon,” I said. “Where’s Yaltu?”
“There!”
A fight broke out among the crowd, and I saw a group of armed people shoving others away. I saw a woman needling her way through the masses and realized she was Yaltu. The scaled woman broke away from the terrified crowd and climbed onto the black dragon behind Beatrix. The screaming spectators crashed into one another, climbed over each other, and did whatever else they could to escape.
“Take back what was stolen from you!” Yaltu called to Silver, who gave her a quick bow and took off after Gold. They were targeting those who had brought them the most suffering, the gladiatorial guards. The audience fell over each other in an effort to avoid the brutal charge of the freed dragons.
“They are free,” Yaltu said. “For better or not, they are free.”
“Then let’s get the fuck out of this city!” Reaver yelled.
Now, we just had to fight our way out of Brazud.
Simple enough.
Chapter Thirty
Beatrix took the lead on her dragon since she knew the city better than any of us. After emerging from a covered breezeway between two buildings and clearing the arena complex, Beatrix’s dragon made a hard right turn and almost threw Yaltu from the first dragon. Beatrix caught hold of the dragon-tamer’s arm with her tentacles and pulled her back into place.
“Destroy!”
The word pinballed between the dragons. It was primal. Any intelligence they once possessed had been destroyed by their implants. The only thing keeping them from attacking us was Yaltu.
I scanned the complex for hostiles and heard a high-pitched whirr behind us. I couldn’t see them, but I figured the king’s skiffs had just showed up to the party.
Around a second corner, our dragon overshot her turn and tried to compensate, but with so much weight on her back, she wasn’t going to make it. Luckily, there was a metal light pole nearby. I grasped the dragon tightly with my legs and hooked the pole with my right arm as we passed.
The dragon’s feet left the ground and waggled helplessly in the air as
