The Serpent's Chains

Chapter 24: Words Aren't Enough

Sabine

Blood roared in my ears. My eyelids were so heavy I could barely keep them open. I kept trying to see what was going on.

It felt like the world was being ripped apart.

Walls crumbled around me. Rubble piled around the chair I was tied to. I was on my side seeing the world from an angle. Warriors clad in black clothing darted back and forth like rats in a maze.

One blink and Cara was casting crackling spells at someone else. I could only see his back but he looked familiar. His hair flopped to the side, and I got a clear view of his boots. His fire pushed Cara back and she disappeared into the smoke.

I blinked and there were bodies piled in front of me. Their vacant, dim eyes stared back, lifeless. Tears in their clothes revealed blood oozing from fresh lacerations. Flames lapped at the rubble and flickered at the edges of my vision.

Another blink and Prince Cole's face loomed over me. His eyes were stern and unyielding, his face expressionless. My arms and legs were cut free.

Someone cried out in agony. Was it me? I couldn't stay awake anymore. Exhaustion took me.

I blinked again and I was floating. My head pounded with a rhythmic whump, whump, whump. It felt like the earth was moving beneath me. Like it had a pulse and was breathing. A distant rumble of thunder reverberated through my bones. No, not thunder, a roar. Red scales flashed in my peripheral.

Above me, the sky was nothing but stars blinking and gazing down at me like watchful eyes. There was no barrier between me and the sky.

I was flying.

Riding dragonback was an honor for royals only. This was wrong. I tried to sit up but a firm hand pressed against my shoulder. Prince Cole's face flashed in my mind again, serious and unrelenting.

My eyelids drooped and I gave into the surrounding darkness.

***

I was free-falling through open air, spinning and twisting as air rushed around me. The ground got closer until...

I jolted awake in my own bed. The familiar sights of my room surrounded me, and the soft scent of clean sheets washed over me. I grabbed the blankets and pulled them tight around my body.

"Uhh..." every muscle in my body screamed and I bit my tongue to keep my pain from bursting out.

"Don't try and move." A woman I'd never seen stood over me, a bowl in hand. "Let me see your wounds."

My arms shook as I pushed the blankets back. The healer frowned. She grabbed my arm and forced my sleeve up, the lines around her mouth deepening.

There was a thick herbal poultice wrapped around my wrists. Underneath the blankets, I could tell my ankles were wrapped in the poultice, too. I remembered my binding ropes cut into my skin when I was being tortured.

"What's wrong?" Prince Cole demanded.

My eyes shot to where he stood in the corner. I hadn't noticed he was there.

"No wounds. There's nothing for me to heal." The healer set her bowl aside.

"She's obviously in pain," the prince said.

"Then she is very fragile because there is barely a mark on her." The healer replaced my sleeve and pulled the covers around me. "Perhaps she is more traumatized by the experience than anything."

She patted my shoulder and I winced, her touch like a hammer to an anvil.

"She should be fine to return to work. Unless she's trying to deceive you."