Dragon Blood

Chapter 52

The straps around her jaws snapped open and she shrieked. Acid shot from her mouth and splattered against the glass material. A loud hissing filled the container and smoke began to rise from the liquid. Before anyone around her could react to it, she rushed into the side again, this time hard enough for pain to radiate through her shoulder and back. Her stomach flipped as the box tilted all the way over and slammed against the floor.

The whole room or lab, or whatever it was, went deadly silent as every living creature turned to look at her. She was shaking slightly as she got to her feet. With the previous acid spot now under her, she aimed at the wall that was closest to the hatchling. She opened her jaws as wide as they would go and repeated exactly what she just did. She screamed and sprayed acid against the wall again.

A high-pitched alarm rang out across the lab. Someone shouted from far away, something about an anomaly and how it got out. Rhia ignored them and rushed to hit the wall again. The glass bowed under her strength and suddenly every scientist around her scattered like ants. One more hit and she was able to rip open a hole in the melting material and shoved her head through. She roared and felt that familiar pulse of magic ripple around the room.

The tinnitus-like sound drilling against her skull suddenly stopped and she was answered by a chorus of other dragonkin. Even the hatchling on the table before her shouted in response to her call. She pulled back into the cube and rushed the wall again. She was so. fucking. close!

The wall shattered under her and she skidded across the slippery floor to the metal table. She grabbed the strap holding one arm with her teeth and ripped it from the table. The boy quickly pulled the strap off his other arm and sat up to free his feet.

"Rhia!"

She felt a familiar presence make a link, and she looked around. Dáithí came running through the room in his serpent skin, ignoring the other shifting dragonkin, scattering humans, and the weapons being fired. He seemed even bigger now that she was so much lower to the ground.

"Dáithí," she gasped. "Thank god. Are you-"

"Talk later. We need to run."

Dáithí lowered his head, allowing the boy to clamber onto his back with two other children, and closed his jaws gently around Rhia's body. He picked her up like a petulant puppy and took off at a run across the massive room.

"Wait!" she screamed at him. "We can't leave them! We have to help!"

The serpent slid to a halt in front of an elevator and practically threw her inside before shifting quickly and ushering the two humanoid children and the tiny drake inside as well. The doors slid closed, and he punched the top button until they were moving. He knelt and took the cuffs around her feet and ripped them open. "Rhia," he snapped, gripping her muzzle and dragging her eyes to look at him. "These people only want two things. You and the hatchlings. You need to get them out of here. I'll cover your escape. Run. Do not stop until you find one of the dragons."

"I can help!" she insisted.

"No!" he shouted the command instead of communicating through the link. There was fear behind his voice, and she went still. His eyes were dancing with worry. His grip on her softened and his fingers stroked her face gently. "We can't be worrying about you and the hatchlings down there." There was a tremble to his voice as well, and something cold began to grow inside her. If he was afraid... "As soon as you've escaped, I'll go back and help. But you have to get away."

He reached over her back and snapped the bonds around her wings letting her flex out the stiff muscles. "I can't leave you behind." She whimpered. "Please don't make me go alone."