The Curse's Breath

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Are you insane?" Celni asked in utter amazement. "You know we can't!"

"What's stopping us?" Srenya asked defiantly.

"How about the fact that there's only six of us against all of those dragons out there?" Celni shouted. "We'll barely get ourselves out of here alive, much less two hundred others!"

"We can do it!" Srenya argued. "I can do it!"

"No." Celni shook her head, folding her arms against her chest. "It's suicide, and I won't let anybody die because of your need to prove yourself."

"I am the leader of this group too!" She stepped close to Celni, eyes burning with fury. "Or did you forget?"

Celni clenched her jaw. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Keran. "And what is your opinion on this?"

"We can do it," he said, after a moment of thought. "We're all excellent soldiers. I know we can save these people."

Celni looked around at the prisoners. She couldn't bear to break the light of hope in their eyes. "Fine," Celni muttered at last. She glared at Srenya out of the corner of her eye. "But you're taking the lead on this one."

Srenya's eyes were full of icy fire. "It would be my pleasure." She went over to one of the cells, opening a pocket on the armor of her wrist and pulling out a metal object. "These are custom dragon tail locks, so start unlocking."

Celni bit her cheek, trying to quell the strong sense of dread that was climbing up her throat. She knew that this wouldn't end well. Still, she copied Srenya, sliding her lock pick out of her wrist. She stepped up to one of the cells, inserted the lock pick, and began working. Within a few seconds, the lock clicked open. "Bless you, dear one," said the old lady who was inside the cell. She came out, reaching for Celni's hand and kissing it. Celni gave the woman a soft smile before moving on to the next cell.

This one had a teenager in it, a couple years younger than Celni, but he still looked fit and strong. "Watch over that woman for me, would you?" Celni asked him as she swung the door of his cell open. She tilted her head in the direction of the old woman, showing him which one she was talking about. He nodded and immediately went over to stand protectively by her side.

Celni, Srenya, and Keran worked quickly, and soon they had a mass of prisoners around them, waiting to be led to freedom.

"What now, Srenya?" Celni asked as she opened the last cell door.

"We can't exit the way we entered. There's no way they would all be able to climb the wall. So we have to go through a gate." Srenya's eyes were thoughtful but determined. "I say we go for the main gate."

"There's seven dragons there, how are we going to get past them?" Celni asked.

"They're looking for people coming in, not people coming out," Keran said. "We can get the jump on them. The three of us can easily down them, especially if Hyden and Rozanel can snipe a few."

Srenya flashed a small smile a Keran. "He's right. We go out the side entrance again, sneak to the west wall, then go forward until we get to the main gate. We'll take on the dragons while everyone else gets on the trucks. Dyfar!" she called.

Dyfar came down the stairs. "Everything is clea—oh my word." His eyes nearly doubled in size as he saw the crowd of prisoners surrounding them.

"We're rescuing the prisoners. Route is west wall toward the north gate, then we take on the dragons while they all get into trucks. Are we clear?"

He nodded, bewildered. "Clear."

"Wait, hold on." Celni frowned. "What trucks?"

"Oh, right." Srenya tapped her earpiece. "Lieutenant General, we're going to need around ten trucks."