The gurdra and the boardra flew above their carriage. The driver spurred the alpacas forward, the crowds of people dispersed and quieted as they moved on. Ana kept to herself for a little while, thoughts whirling about in her head.
How many dragons were like the sparkdra, wandering the streets of Tekor now that she'd freed them?
She cringed as she thought of the people that those loose, wild dragons might hurt. She should have thought further ahead, before setting them free. She'd known some of them could be wild, but she'd been focused on the fact that they were wrongfully being kept in the distorted realm.
She peered out of the dark window. Even in the low light, she could see the Obelisk up ahead. It was as if it sucked the light from everything in its vicinity.
Leti and Taea were equally quiet. Her friend had this look on her face, it spelled fear. Ana tried not to look in her direction, or else she feared she'd become scared too. Their mission was clear enough. The gurdra and the boardra could only help. Still, it was daunting to think of breaking into her father's workplace.
Before they'd loaded into the carriage, they'd learned the new dragons' names. The gurdra was Cole, the boardra was Bak. Cole had been going through a midlife crisis when he'd come to the Obelisk the first time. Bak had been setting out on his own, after an argument with his parents. They had both been fooled by the Obelisk's promise of giving them a partner. They'd spent a couple days sleeping there, and then they'd been seized by her father's dragonbounds in the night.
Both seemed to have been minimally affected by the distorted realm. They must not have spent much time in it.
As they closed the last of the distance to the Obelisk, Ana fretted about their plan. Was it really feasible to cut through the elevator, climb or fly up the shaft, and then cut through the door to the appropriate floor? At any point, something could go wrong. If things didn't work, they would have to call it off and regroup. Ana wanted for them to have a backup plan, but for the life of her she couldn't think of one. As far as she knew, the elevator was the only way to get all the way up to her father's facilities, at the very top.
"You don't think we're being too hasty, do you?" Ana said as the carriage rattled up the last little bit of the way to the Obelisk.
She already knew what Cee and Leti would say, but she wanted to hear what the others thought.
"What do you mean?" Luka's mother asked.
"I mean maybe we should try this during the day," Ana said. "Take some time to plan it out better, and get a good night of sleep."
Luka's mother shook her head. "No. Luka's in there."
Leti also looked determined. Whatever fear had been on her face a moment ago, it was gone now.
"Agreed. We need to get him out as soon as possible," Leti said.
Ana glanced over at Sil.
"And you, Sil?" she asked.
The white girl looked up, eyes going wide.
"Me...what?" she said.
"Do you think we're being too hasty?"
Sil frowned. She stayed quiet for a long time.
"Sil?" Ana said, repeating herself.
"Excuse me, Ms. Perez, but I have no opinion."
Ana frowned. "Surely you have to have an opinion?"
"No. I have no opinion."
Those words stuck in her head for a little bit. The carriage doors slid open, and Ana decided that they had to go for it. Now that they were here, they had to try to rescue Luka and Jack. Whatever they did, though, she determined that they would try to keep it low key as long as they could.
Her nerves kicked into high gear. They walked, shoes clacking as they climbed the stone steps to the dark Obelisk. As they reached the base of the building, she slowed. She turned around, noticing that the others were stopping too. She was at the front of the pack. All of the others...Luka's mother, Leti, the dragons, even Cole and Bak, seemed to look to her for direction.
Leti and Taea were among them. Leti had walked with her for years, she was her closest friend. Luka's mother was there, she had the most reason of any of them to be doing this. Sil and Pero were on the other side of Leti, reunited finally after being kept apart. Ana blamed herself for that. She saw the error of her ways now, though. At least she thought she did. She couldn't help but wonder, however, if Sil followed her because she knew nothing else, or because she genuinely believed in what they were about to do.
Then there were Cole and Bak. Two dragons who had experienced the horrors of the distorted realm firsthand.
"Here's the plan. We'll keep it simple. Cole and Bak, you two are planning to stay in the Obelisk," Ana said. "Cee, Taea, Pero, you're all close friends to Cole and Bak. We're going to see them off. Once we're in the elevator, we'll ride up to the highest floor, and then we'll go from there."
Ana looked around at all of her friends, waiting to see if they had questions. Her heart was racing.
"Is that it then?" Cee said, breaking the silence.
They all stared at her. She realized that they had no questions. They were just looking for her to give the order to go on. Ana nodded.
"That's it," she said. "We can do this."
***
For a while, everything went according to plan. They stepped inside the Obelisk. They talked to the guards. They were given entrance to the elevator, and the guards told them which floor to go to. There were two guards. Both were dragonbounds, and their dragons were quilldras. One was white and brown, the other jet black.
Once in the elevator, they sailed up to the appropriate floor, and then Cole and Bak held the door open. Cee equipped to Ana as a sword. She lifted him up, pressing to the roof of the elevator.
She couldn't cut through.
Try again! Cee said, sounding determined.
He erupted with water, and she swung the sword again. She swung it at the sides of the elevator. She swung backhanded, up, down. Nothing worked. No matter what she tried, she couldn't cut through any part of the elevator. Every time she tried, it clanged against the metal, not even making a dent. Ana wore herself out to the point where she was panting, trying to get this to work.
"What now?" Leti said.
"We should go back down and ask the guards if there's a staircase," Luka's mother suggested.
Ana nodded. A staircase. She should've thought of that before. They all shuffled back into the elevator.
It whisked them back down, and Ana's thoughts turned to what sort of reason or explanation she might give them for why they needed a staircase. Surely, if they mentioned they were going up to her father's floors, their suspicions would be raised. Already, she remember how the guards had given her a look. They'd recognized she was Mr. Perez' daughter, and they were clearly looking out for his interests.
It hadn't seemed to Ana that the guards had recognized Cole and Bak. So many dragons came into and out of the Obelisk, she reasoned, it was unlikely they would recognize those two. They were largely nobodies, weren't they?
The doors opened and they came face to face with her father's dragonbound, Eli. Something caught in her throat, and she froze. Cee bared his teeth, growling. The rest of the dragons stepped up to the hadra dragonbound, launching intimidating looks his way. He shot his own intimidating glare right back at them.
"Seize them," the dragonbound with the rapier said.
The guards with the quilldras advanced. Standing on either side of the hadra dragonbound, they marched past him. Their dragons were equipped as long staves which they pointed at Ana like skewers aimed at meat. Their eyes washed over Bak and Cole, and with that one look, Ana realized that they had recognized the two dragons. They had known that she would be coming back down the elevator, and they had prepared.
Cole and Bak launched themselves at the guards. The guards swung their staves, fending off the two.
"Go!' Cole shouted.
One of the guards knocked Bak into a wall, and the little boardra slumped. Luka's mother took his place, equipping her small quilldra as a staff of her own. Ana kicked herself into gear.
"Leti! Sil! Let's go!"
Cee hovered alongside her as she ducked out of the elevator, past Cole and Luka's mother. She didn't bother looking to make sure her friends were following. She weaved around the hadra dragonbound, and she heard him curse loudly. She needed to find a staircase, that was the most important thing, after avoiding capture. She looked around, racing across the room with desperation. The sounds of battle intensified behind her.
"Here!" Cee said, and she saw that he was right outside a metal door, hidden in a corner of the room, behind a pillar. She turned back to her friends.
"We found—"
She stopped as she noticed they were getting beaten, badly. Leti and Taea were fending off Eli. Sil and Pero were on the ground, huddling with each other. Pero appeared to have taken a beating. Luka's mother was now fending off both dragonbound guards on her own—Cole was down too.
This had quickly descended into madness. Whatever stealth she had hoped for, it was long gone. Her mind focused intently on the task ahead. Only one thing mattered now. She had to bulldoze her way to Luka and Jack.
She thrust open the door to the staircase and ran.
"What floor is he on?" Cee asked, trailing her.
"The very top," Ana answered.
As she climbed, she counted the floors. She ran two stairs at a time, feeling it in her body as she rounded the bend at top of each set of stairs. She wiped at her forehead after they passed the second floor uninterrupted. They reached the third floor without incident too. The stairwell was almost completely dark. It was difficult to see very far ahead, so she relied on her ears to listen for sounds of danger, either coming from below or up ahead. Signs of dragons might include roars, or more subtly, wingbeats, footsteps, or rustling. The fight below sounded very loud, and she worried that other guards might race down the stairs, to find out what was going on.
"Who are you?"
The voice came from above, near the fifth floor of the Obelisk. Ana and Cee stopped in their tracks.
She wasn't sure what to say. Nervous silence filled the muggy air. The dragonbound, after her initial silence, came down the steps toward her. As she neared, her eyes widened with recognition.
"The boss' daughter?" she said. "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't realize."
She was an older woman, wearing armor with her hair tied up in a bun. As she apologized, Ana realized that as her father's daughter, she commanded some authority here. She could use that.
"Let me through," she said. "I'm in a hurry."
"Of course," the dragonbound opposite her said. She moved aside.
Ana sighed with relief. She walked past the dragonbound.
"STOP!"
That voice came from below, and Ana spun. She caught sight of the hadra dragonbound. His rapier shone dimly as he raced up the staircase.
"Hurry!" Ana whispered to Cee, and they raced on.
"Man!" Cee said. "I just want to give these dragons a piece of my mind! If they only knew what side they're fighting on..."
"No time for that," Ana said.
In the back of her mind, though, she couldn't help but think that they did know. What was her father paying them, that they could turn a blind eye to all of this?
They reached the top floor, and here the staircase stopped. Ana grabbed the doorknob, but when she tried to pull the door open, she found it locked. She tugged on it harder, but still it wouldn't budge. She equipped Cee, slashing with him against the metal. No dice.
Footsteps were coming behind her, pounding up the staircase, and Ana was forced to turn around. Her father's dragonbound, the hadra dragonbound, had finally caught up to her.
"Unequip your dragon," he said between clenched teeth.
She didn't do it. He paced towards her, lifting his sword. She lifted Cee in response. Their eyes met across the small area. His were cold and serious, like the eyes of a man without a soul.
"You think your father did not warn me you'd come here?" Eli said. "He knows. He will be here shortly. You can leave, or you can trade that essdra for your friend Luka. Either way...unequip."
"Where is he?" Ana demanded. "Open this door."
"No."
Ana tried to open it herself again. There had to be a way. This couldn't just be a dead end. She thrust her weight into it, but it just hurt her shoulder.
Suddenly, Eli was right next to her. His sword came up across her throat, and she went still as a statue.
"I said unequip," Eli said with a firm voice. "Or I'll slit your throat."