Now, We Burn

Chapter 24 | Eliza

Chapter 24
| Eliza |

It felt like all the breath had been knocked out of Eliza, along with every ounce of fight within her. She felt numb even as her wild heart raced and all she could think was They're gonna hurt her. They might even kill her, and it was all her fault, she should've been more careful, she should've-

"Hey," a sharp voice came and Eliza flinched, but it was Pierce. Oh no, she thought before looking up. It's him, too, he lied, just like Hugo. She panicked momentarily as she picked her head up and met Pierce's gaze fearfully, but his expression wasn't angry or delighted, it was soft, reassuring. Eliza saw the silent promise in his brown eyes before he turned and his stony mask was returned to his features. She bit her bottom lip anxiously. Maybe he had a plan. She hoped he did.

The sisters walked -- more like stumbled, as they were being roughly pushed by Thane's men -- further away from Eliza and Ember's tent, out into the main hall of the building. Eliza's mind was still reeling with what just happened as the scene replayed over and over in her head. Pierce had found her, tried to tell her about Echo, and then Thane appeared with his men. Eliza had thought it was just because of something stupid that they did, but then Hugo came out carrying her dragon in a cage and she saw the hurt in her sister's eyes. She wanted to punch the stupid smirk off of Hugo's disgusting face.

But when Eliza looked at Ember now, she didn't look sad or even angry, just empty, and that hurt so much more. That lying son of a-

Eliza's thoughts were derailed when she noticed the crowd assembled around them. It looked like every single member of the gang was congregated in the hall, all standing in a wide circle with curious expressions on their faces. Suddenly, Eliza's knees felt weak and wobbly. She nearly fell over as she was lead to the center and felt almost relieved when she was pushed to her knees with a gun held to her head.

That was short lived, however, because soon Thane, with Hugo at his side, came to stand about 20 feet in front of Eliza and Ember.

"What do you want from us?" Eliza cried, not daring to move in spite of her fear. Thane had them right where he wanted them.

"I want you to tell me," Thane started, pointing in Eliza's direction with his knife, "Where the dragons are."

Eliza bristled, but kept her gaze hard and straight. "I don't know what you're talking about." Her voice was surprisingly even, but her heart threatened to jump out of her chest.

"Yes, you do!" Thane bellowed and Eliza flinched. He stalked the short distance over to where Hugo stood and Eliza could just barely see him roughly extract Echo from the beaten cage. He held her by the scruff of her neck. Echo growled and fought, but Thane held her at arm's length in one hand and pointed his knife at her with his other.

"Tell me," he growled through clenched teeth. "Tell me where they are and how you know how to control them or I will kill her. You don't want that, do you?"

"We don't harking know, Thane," Ember said suddenly, matching his tone. When Eliza looked over, Ember was standing and the guard behind her had a fearful, shocked look on his face. Whether he was afraid of Ember or Thane, Eliza didn't know.

The room buzzed with an uneasy silence as Ember and Thane stared each other down, willing the other to give in. Thane broke their gaze first. His expression was murderous.

Thane brought the tip of his knife to the dragon, right at the junction between her shoulder and neck, and pressed. Echo cried, her yowls high-pitched and anguished as a trickle of blood seeped from under the blade.

"Stop!" Eliza shrieked. "St-stop it, please!"

Thane removed the blade, but only by an inch or two.

"I'll give you one more chance," Thane said cooly. "Where are the dragons and how do you know how to control them?"

"I-I don't-I don't know," Eliza stuttered, her jaw quivering. She glanced around, then, and her eyes fell on Pierce. His dark eyes were on Eliza, a desolate expression on his face, as he stood behind Thane with his hands held behind his back. He shook his head ever so slightly and Eliza looked away, not wanting Thane to do anything that could get Pierce hurt as well. She drew in a shaky breath before she whispered, resigned, "I swear."

Thane pursed his lips and moved the knife again. Eliza shut her eyes tight as a tear, hot and wet, fell and streaked down her face. She couldn't watch. She couldn't do anything.

"We don't know anything, you harking dragon scarf!" Ember shouted. "This is pointless, so just cut it out or you'll be harking sorry!"

"Will we?" Hugo cut in with an incredulous, obnoxious, giant smirk on his face. "What'll you do, bite us?"

Pierce's head whipped in Hugo's direction, alarmed, but stayed quiet. Ember growled, "No. You don't want to know, so drop the knife. Or else."

"Or else what?"

"Or else," Ember started, looking smug, "My huge harking dragon is gonna come and murder you all."

Eliza opened her eyes, looked at her sister, and closed them again. Fires above, Ember, she thought. You're making it worse.

Hugo barked out a laugh but Thane silenced him with a gesture and turned back to Ember. "I thought you didn't know how to control the dragons," he said, his expression darkening considerably. "Were you lying to me?"

Eliza saw Ember swallow, a small gesture noticed only by her after many years of studying her sister's mannerisms and gesticulations in an effort to empathize with her better. She was nervous. Thane had thrown her.

Behind Thane, Hugo grinned devilishly, knowingly. It made Eliza's blood boil as she hoped upon hope that he wouldn't say anything.

"Nobody can control dragons, Thane," Pierce told him, finally speaking up. "It's impossible."

"What do you know about controlling dragons, Pierce?" Thane turned on him, throwing as much malice in his tone as possible.

"Nothing," Pierce answered, surprisingly apathetic considering the nature of the situation. His dragons were at stake. "But I do know that anybody who has tried to control them hasn't lived to tell the tale. It's impossible," he repeated.

"This is useless," Pierce continued gruffly. "We're not getting anywhere with them. I say we cut our losses and lock them up for now."

Thane narrowed his eyes at him, but Pierce stood his ground. "Fine," Thane agreed with a scowl on his face. He shoved a still wailing Echo roughly back into the cage and took it from Hugo, thrusting it into Pierce's arms. "Go put this somewhere safe," he commanded. Pierce nodded and turned, walking in the opposite direction. Eliza let out a small sigh of relief, but it was short lived.