“Okay, what next?” I asked, looking at Hansa and Jax. My friends were out there in Azure Heights, surrounded by monsters. “We need to tell Caia and the others. Like, now.”

“I think you should stay here, and not risk capture,” Vesta said. “I will send two of my best scouts to Azure Heights. They know every secret passage, every trail in the woods, every single access point into the city. Where will your friends be?”

“In the infirmary, most likely, on the second level,” I replied.

“I’ll have them go there right now, to warn your friends and get them out of the city.” Vesta nodded, then snapped her fingers at two young Imen boys who had settled by the campfire. Their heads turned, their eyes wide as they stood and joined us. They couldn’t be older than sixteen, but seemed spry and quick enough to do the job.

“Are you sure? Maybe one of us should go with them.” Jax frowned.

“No need.” Vesta gave him a confident wink. “My boys are fast and light on their feet. The Maras won’t even know they’re there. This isn’t even their first time in Azure Heights. Besides, we only just got you here; I can’t risk you getting captured while trying to get your friends out, when you don’t even know that mountain as well as these two.”

She put her hands on the boys’ shoulders, and spoke in a somber, bossy voice.

“You two go to Azure Heights. You’ve seen the dragon, right?” she asked them, and they nodded. “Get him and his friends out of the infirmary on the second level. Take the eastern route in, the one with the red walls. You’ll have to push some stones out of the way, but it will take you straight to that level, just fifty yards from the place. Be quiet, be fast, be smart. We’ll wait for you here.”

The Imen boys didn’t wait a second longer. They immediately packed some water in leathery flasks, and dried bread for the road. They geared up with knives and covered themselves with dark green cloaks, and ran off into the dark night settling over the woods.

My heart thumped, but Vesta was right. The team was relatively better off with Blaze, and they’d already been warned to be wary of the Exiled Maras. All we could do was keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

We’d just escaped one daemon city—there was no way we were going to let some ghoulish Maras capture us instead. I stole a glance at Caspian, then shifted my focus back to Vesta.

“Have you been to that daemon city up north before?” I asked.

“A couple of times,” she replied with a brief nod. “We have friends there. It might come as a shock, but they’re daemons. They’re pacifists, to be precise. Not on the king’s good side.”

“Hah, I knew it,” I muttered, mostly to myself. “We were wondering if we could consider them potential allies.”

“They are, though they’re not easy to come across. They keep a low profile,” Ledda said. “They’re the ones who taught us about the ashes.”

“The ashes,” I mumbled, then remembered Mose’s nifty little trick. “That’s right, to stop daemons from picking up your scent.”

“This whole village is surrounded by twenty feet of ashes, sprinkled into the grass.” Ledda smiled. “We’re safe here, and we’ve gone to great lengths to conceal our presence. We have scouts keeping watch on a two-mile radius, and traps set throughout the woods. You can all stay here while we wait for your friends.”

“What about the daemon city up north? When can we go there?” I replied.

“As soon as your dragon gets here,” Vesta sighed. “If I am to leave my village, I want to make sure there’s a dragon protecting my people. The last time I left, they wound up in cages, and you helped me save them. Granted, we’ve moved camp here now, and we’ve taken additional measures to keep daemons at bay, but, still, I’m not comfortable with leaving them just yet.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not feeling too comfortable with us just staying here, while the kids are back there, with those monsters!” Hansa snapped, chewing the inside of her cheek.

“Trust me, my boys will get the job done, and fast,” Vesta tried to assure her. “They keep indigo horses on the edge of the forest, and know the best and fastest routes through the Valley of Screams. We’ve stocked up on tricks over the past few centuries. We can handle a simple extraction.”

“Besides, I doubt the Maras will get too aggressive. They only have the Imen in the city to feed on; they won’t risk any more of their lives with a dragon on the loose,” Jax added.

“The Lords don’t like loose ends, but they’ve already stumbled across an unexpected hurdle with Blaze,” Vesta said. “If anything, all my boys need to do is find the dragon and warn him. He’ll get everyone on his back and fly out.”

A minute passed as Hansa tried to accept the idea that she wasn’t out there with the scouts. I understood her frustration well enough, but even she had to admit that we were better off here, hashing out the next stages of our plan.

“We can focus on finding the swamp witch and ending everything,” I offered. “Once we get her to help us disrupt whatever spells these bastards are using, we can reach out to Calliope and bring in all our dragons.”

“You’re right.” She exhaled sharply, then gave me a weak smile.

I looked at Caspian again, and noticed his satisfied expression, a faint smirk stretching his lips. His burns were almost fully healed, and my heart started to break a little, as I tried to imagine how tormented he must’ve been about all of this.

He’d been playing a dual role, trying to keep the Lords from suspecting him of treason, while helping us stay free and alive. He was one of the good guys, and the relief I felt upon thinking that took me by surprise. I wasn’t just pleased that he wasn’t a traitor; I was happy that I hadn’t fallen for an evil creature.

“Will you let him out?” I looked at Amund. “He’s already proven himself to you, to us.”

“We’re not comfortable with doing that just yet.” Amund shook his head slowly.

“Why the hell not? He’s just bound by a blood oath! He won’t hurt anyone!”

“We will discuss it among ourselves soon, and we will decide in the morning.” Amund raised his voice enough to remind me that he and his female companions were still in charge. “Vesta will see to your dinner and accommodation, and Lord Kifo will stay here, for the time being.”

“Can you at least untie him? Take the blindfold off?” I wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

“What if he tries to mind-bend the guards?” Ledda frowned.

“He won’t,” I said. “I’ll stand guard. Jax will take turns with me, if needed.”

“Agreed.” Jax nodded firmly. “Please. I’m sure Lord Kifo won’t put his life at risk like this. He knows how fast I can separate his head from his body. And so can Harper.”

The Imen glanced at each other for a brief moment. Amund then looked at one of the guards. “Remove his restraints.”

The guard came closer to the cage and asked Caspian to turn around and take a couple of steps back. Once he was within reach, the guard untied his hands and removed his blindfold. As soon as he could see again, Caspian looked at me, his jade eyes soft and… sad.

“Thank you,” he murmured, rubbing his wrists.

“Just don’t do anything stupid,” Amund shot back, then motioned for Eristhena and Ledda to follow him back into the main tent, while we were left there with Vesta and two guards by Caspian’s cage.

The scouts were out there, on their way to the city. My stomach churned, as I kept thinking about Caia and the others, trying to do some good for creatures who only deserved to get their heads chopped off.

With each minute that went by, my objective became clearer. I had to find the swamp witch. All our troubles would end once we got hold of her—the last of her kind, and the key to not only our freedom, but also to ending this war and saving whatever was left of the Imen species.

I had a bone to pick with both the daemons and the Maras, and I knew my turn would come to cut them down, one by one, and deprive them of the privilege of living.

My palms were starting to itch, the rage dull and permanent in the pit of my stomach.

Stay there. I’ll need you for later.