I woke up completely disoriented and twisted into an odd position, curled up on my side, but weirdly bent with one arm pinned and falling asleep. I blinked to clear my vision, my head aching.

What...?

My eyes focused on the desert passing by below me. Below me? Where was I? It took some time for my thoughts to clear a bit. If I was watching the ground pass below me, I must be in the air. I turned my head to look up and my eyes landed on the underside of an iridescent white dragon.

Everything came rushing back to me. Going out to use the bathroom. Someone calling my name. The blow to the head. Heavener. Heavener was taking me to Emberich.

I lay there, careful to stay still even though I wanted to claw at the net he'd put me in. The reason why I was twisted so oddly. I took a deep breath, trying to slow down my heart rate.

I needed to think this through. I was guessing Heavener thought that delivering me straight to Emberich would squash this war before it began so he wouldn't have to participate in it or feel the effects of it. Not only was he wrong, he was an idiot. Did he really think Emberich was just going to let him go after he delivered me? But that didn't matter at this point. I sincerely doubted Heavener was going to take any advice I would give him.

Okay, focus.

How was I going to get out of this?

Getting out of this net was going to be difficult. It was made of steel and looked like one of the ones that Sven had been carried to Cinira's territory in. It was made so you could only get out once the tension at the carrying point above was released.

I moved carefully to check if I still had my knives, not wanting Heavener to find out that I was awake. I still had them. He hadn't even bothered to disarm me. Stupid and sloppy. Made me feel even more embarrassed that I'd let him get the drop on me. In my defense, I was sleepy and I'd thought I was in a safe place. My mistake.

Okay, if I had my knives, I could knife him in the gut and that would likely get him to let the net go. But then I would have only a short time to untangle myself from the net and change into my dragon-phoenix form. And then catch air before I hit the ground. I didn't think I had the level of expertise needed to pull that off in the short amount of time I would have.

I'd probably just end up a Mia pancake on the desert ground. Too risky.

And even if I did manage to get free and fly before I hit the ground, Heavener would just chase me down. And he had many more years of experience in his dragon form than I did. He'd probably catch me.

No.

My best chance was to get free as we reached Emberich's city, so I'd have somewhere to escape to, not just empty desert all around.

If I waited until Heavener was close to landing and then stabbed him to let me go, maybe I could absorb the impact when I hit the ground. But that was also dependent on where he was planning to touch down. If he decided to land inside the city with Emberich's people around him, I was screwed. And I couldn't control that.

I guess I'd just have to wait and see. I couldn't come up with any other options and from where the sun was in the sky already, I knew we'd been traveling for quite some time. We were too far for me to try to make it back to Ashur and the rest of the Dragon Lords. My best bet was to move forward. So I waited. Not that I had a whole lot of choice in the matter.

I stayed limp in the net, not wanting to move around too much and alert my idiot of a kidnapper. The wait was nerve-racking. I really didn't like heights when I wasn't in control of them. Riding in a net piloted by someone who basically wanted me dead was definitely not in control. It didn't help that the metal net was uncomfortably hot and was digging into my body where I lay on it.

Luckily, we were apparently already near Emberich's city. I'd spent most of the journey asleep. Or unconscious, if I wanted to be completely accurate.

Soon enough, the mountainside came into view, the sandstone-colored buildings dotting the winding road that led up to Emberich's palace. The gondola system that was rigged to take people up and down the mountainside was very efficient and also added another bit of charm to the place. But that wasn't the route I was most likely going to be able to take.

When I could see the city and Heavener wasn't attacked immediately, I knew that he had struck a deal with Emberich before he took me. I also doubted that Emberich would honor whatever the terms of the deal were. Why would he? His supporters were vehemently anti-dragon. He would be an idiot to be seen openly colluding with one.

My eyes caught on phoenixes in the distance. They were coming closer. Emberich's security was tighter as well. I guess if you had decided to piss off a good portion of your own people and a whole race of others, you would probably be paranoid enough to increase security. Though it felt more prudent than paranoid. People were out to get Emberich.

As I was wondering if we were landing in the city and I was going to be trapped, I felt Heavener start to descend, the ground rising up closer. We were landing in the open area before the city. Good. Now I just needed to wait until we were at the right height...

Wait for it...

Wait...

Now.

I pulled my knife out of its scabbard and rose up, stabbing upwards with all of my might. Dragon scales were tough and I didn't have the steadiest footing in the net with how malleable it was. I only had one shot at this, otherwise he could do some evasive maneuvers or simply fly up higher and drop me.

I felt the knife sink into his hide and I jerked it back out, cutting a deep slice into his vulnerable underbelly. I might need the knife later.

Heavener screeched above me and immediately let go of the net.

Oh shit.

There was no way to really brace myself as I fell through the air.

I could only hope I wasn't too high.

I hit the ground with a heavy thud, the clinking of the net accompanying the deeper sound. The net didn’t cushion my fall, swinging around to whip me as I landed. But I didn't have time to lie there, even though I really wanted to take a moment to catch my breath and make sure everything was still intact and working.

Groaning, I quickly sat up and opened the top of the net where it was fastened. I climbed out stiffly, the landing hard enough to make me sore.

Heavener was circling above me with phoenixes sweeping closer, not a welcoming party.

I didn't have much time, but I knew there was a place nearby that I might be able to get through without being caught. Or at least I hoped so.

Here was where the rubber met the road, where I found out if Sven and the others were telling the truth. Turning away from the sight of all of the people who likely wanted me dead, I swore as I ran towards the base of the mountain.

There was a crack to the side that was supposed to be hidden among the bushes. I scanned the rock in front of me, my eyes looking for a possible crevice. It was supposed to be small, which would make it even harder to find. Perfect when I was in a high stress situation with no time.

I reached the base of the mountain and immediately ducked lower in the shadows, hoping they would help cover me. I felt along the face of the rock in front of me, my hands getting scratched and bruised as I reached beyond scraggly bushes, trying to find an opening. Come on. This was taking too long. They were going to catch me. I kept moving, my fingers searching.

My heart had started to sink right when I felt a bit of a breeze hit my forearm. I pushed forward with my hand. Nothing. There it was. I'd found it!

Not wasting any time, I shoved my way through the bushes and came out on the other side, directly into a tunnel.

But there was a dead end only about ten feet in front of me. If this was the entrance I thought it was, I needed to find the small indent to the left...

I felt along the rough stone with my fingers and pushed at several places where I thought I felt a dent of some kind.

Nothing.

I heard the sound of wings nearing. They were close to the shallow tunnel I was in.

Shit.

There was nowhere to hide in here if I didn't find a way out in time. I re-doubled my efforts. Pressing and sliding, pressing and sliding, pressing...

I pressed one more time.

The rock sank underneath my touch.

And a sliver of an opening, maybe two feet across, silently appeared in front of me as rock moved to the side.

Bingo.

And not a moment too soon.

I heard a rustling in the bushes outside and immediately slid through the opening, finding the button on the other side much more easily. I guess they didn't want it to be difficult when you already knew the tunnel was there. The opening disappeared just as quickly as it had opened for me. And I didn't hear anything anymore from the other side. I was breathing hard as I turned around to look at the dark tunnel in front of me.

Heavener shouldn't know anything about the tunnels. Ashur had briefed him on what he needed to know to fulfill his part of the plan during the attack, but that briefing hadn't included the tunnels. He'd only told him what he needed to know and left everything else out because there was no time to go over everything again. Hopefully I wasn't wrong about that or I would be caught immediately on the other side.

Taking a deep breath of that musty air, I moved forward, using my watch to light my way. The tunnel was small and narrow, and I didn't particularly feel good about being so deep down inside the earth. But I pushed past it and kept going. There was no other choice unless I wanted to backtrack and throw myself on the mercy of a man who wanted me dead.

Not the best idea.

I kept going.

It felt like I was in that dark, narrow tunnel for hours, but it couldn't have been more than twenty minutes before I felt the breeze coming from the other side and heard the sounds of a bustling city.

When I reached the other side, there were some cracks around what I was assuming was the door and a lever rather than a button.

Here we go. There was nowhere else to go at this point.

I pulled the lever and the door slid to the side a couple of feet. I slipped outside and it rolled closed automatically. It hadn't spit me directly out into the street, which was good. I was in a narrow alleyway, in a small alcove with another actual door. When I looked at the side of the alcove I'd come from, I couldn't make out the hidden door at all.

Secret passageway indeed.

I took a moment to get my bearings. Okay. I was in the city. Now what?

Just as I thought that, I heard shouts coming from the street that ran perpendicular to the alley.

"Someone has breached our defenses! We need to be on the lookout for an outsider female!"

Oh no. If that wasn't me, the coincidence was uncanny. I needed to hide. I turned to look at the door directly behind me. Couldn't hurt to try. It was right there.

I took the old-fashioned door knob in my hand and twisted it. The door opened easily. Well, okay then. I stepped inside, closing it behind me.

The place looked like the lobby of an apartment building. A middle-of-the-road one, with nice floors and a cute sitting area set over to the right. I looked around for something promising and found the doorway under the stairs to the left. Probably a utility closet. I made a beeline for it, opening it to find a small nook. Perfect.

I stepped inside, tucking myself in behind a cabinet. This was as good as it was going to get for now. I waited there for a while. I heard the door going out to the alleyway open and close and people walk through. I heard some more conversation about the intruder in the city. But nobody opened the small closet that I was in so I felt safe enough.

I was starting to wonder whether I could leave the closet or if I'd have to wait there up until the attack happened, when I overheard another conversation.

"When are we going to get the signal?" someone muttered in a low voice.

"Not for some time yet," another quiet voice answered, a slight tone of irritation edging it. "We'll get it when we get it. Just stay alert."

"What about the trespasser? Who do you think it is?"

Wonderful. I was the topic of conversation once again.

"I don't know, Max."

"I'm just saying," the man said defensively. "Maybe we need to find her ourselves."

"And how do you propose we do that? Everyone is looking for her and no one has found her yet. We need to just sit tight and wait for Sven's signal like we're supposed to."

Sven? I bit my lip as I had a quick internal debate with myself. It wasn't a hundred percent safe. But realistically, this was my only chance to get out of this closet right now, rather than having to wait even more.

I opened the door just as the footsteps started to walk away. It was a woman and a man, both of them tall and on the slender side, with straight black hair. The man's was cut short, the woman's just hitting her shoulders.

"Hey," I whispered.

They both turned around at once. Their faces told me that they must have been siblings, if not twins. Their eyes even widened in almost the same way as they took me in.

There was no way to take me for anything but an outsider. They were both dressed in white, in the loose tunic and pants combination that the phoenixes favored in the city. I was in my t-shirt and jeans with boots on my feet. This was why I hadn't run out into the street. There was no way to hide that I didn't belong here with the way I looked, which actually worked in my favor right now.

The two of them hurried over to me right away, glancing around quickly as they did so. They pushed me back into the utility closet and closed the door behind themselves.

"I'm Mia," I said, taking their measure.

They were young, maybe in their late teens.

"We know who you are," the young woman said in exasperation.

"There's no need to be rude, Serai," the boy admonished. "I'm Max and this is my sister Serai. What are you doing here? The army hasn't arrived yet...has it?"

"Not yet. It's a long story. Someone kidnapped me to hand me over to Emberich...actually I think that's it. Maybe not such a long story after all."

They stared at me.

"We have to hide her," Serai said urgently. "If they find her now..."

"Yes," Max agreed. "That would not be good."

They exchanged a look, having a short conversation with just their eyes.

"Why don't you come hide in our apartment," Serai finally said, turning to me after the silent communication. "We'll call someone for help and..."

"No," I interrupted instantly. "Don't call anybody. But it would be great if I could head to your place for now."

Trusting these two was enough. I was only doing it because I felt like I needed to. I didn't have to trust everybody else. They looked at each other again, but then nodded.

"Follow me," Serai said, opening the utility door and looking both ways before walking out and gesturing for me to follow.

I walked behind her up the stairs, with Max bringing up the rear. We skipped the elevator altogether, which I thought was a smart move. At least there was some mobility on stairs if we ran into someone we didn't want to run into. Our steps were quiet on the carpeted hallway as we hurried over to their apartment. Serai used her hand print and retinal scanner and waved me into the small, but neat apartment.

"Nice place," I commented politely as I moved to sit down on the couch.

"Thank you," Serai said, with Max murmuring his thanks as well.

They hovered around me awkwardly, obviously not knowing how to act or what to do. I sympathized. I kind of felt the same way. I took a moment to look around and think.

I couldn't just hide out in their apartment until Ashur and everyone got here. I was already in the city, which meant that I'd actually be able to get to Emberich easier than I would have if I'd come in with the initial attack. I knew as soon as our forces showed up, Emberich would be on complete lock down. And Emberich was my ultimate goal here.

Max opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to the punch.

"Is there any way you guys can get me to the palace without being seen?" I asked.

They looked at each other nervously.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Everyone's looking for you right now," Max said breaking the quiet.

Valid point.

"I need to get to Emberich and it's probably going to be easier for me to get there now than it will be when the attack happens," I explained. "Do you have any spare clothes that I could borrow? If I just keep my head down and blend in, I might be able to make it."

Another charged silent pause.

"Maybe she could," Serai murmured, looking me up and down.

"That's insane, Serai," Max blurted out. "Everyone's looking for an intruder and everyone has her picture now. They know what she looks like."

Everyone had my picture? Hmm. So this was what it felt like to be famous.

"Yes, but they're not going to be expecting to see her while they're walking down the street," Serai pointed out reasonably. "If I put her in my clothes and she doesn't meet anyone's eyes..."

"I'm willing to take the risk," I interrupted, standing up.

Serai and Max continued to bicker back and forth while she went into her bedroom and brought out another tunic and pants set.

The truth was, once the attack happened, I knew the streets were going to be in chaos and it was going to be a lot more difficult for me to get up to the palace. That, coupled with Emberich tightening his personal guard, meant getting to him would be way harder.

Now was my chance for me to position myself.

I grabbed the clothes and shut myself into the bathroom to change quickly. I tucked my knives into my pants and put my boots back on. The tunic and pants were kind of tight on me and the sandals didn't work at all. It would have to do.

I came back out. They were still having a quiet but intense argument. I cleared my throat. Serai and Max paused mid pointing and waving to look over at me.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Yes," Serai confirmed, stepping forward even as Max shook his head.

"This is a terrible idea," he muttered as he followed us out of the apartment. "She's going to get caught."

"Fine, but it's happening. You might as well accept it," Serai snapped back at him. "Stop being a baby about it."

Max rolled his eyes, but followed along.

We walked out of the building and down the street. It helped that I was with two other people and not on my own. I knew they were looking for a lone intruder. It probably helped as much as being dressed in the tunic and pants. Nobody gave us a second look as we hurried to one of the gondola platforms.

"Are you sure?" I asked as we waited for the doors to open, people chatting to each other casually around us as they waited as well.

"It's the fastest way," Serai murmured as we stepped on with a group. "You want to minimize time around people."

I guess that made sense. So I sat down sandwiched between Max and Serai and tried not to look at anybody. A couple of people gave me some odd looks, but I simply turned away from them and looked out the window. Nothing to see here.

I was a little surprised that we got off on the platform before the one that reached the palace.

"You won't be able to get there from the other platform," Max explained as we walked down another winding street.

"But there is another way to get there," Serai added.

We hurried through winding narrow alleys, all at an incline.

"Here," Max said, coming to a stop. "This is the end of the line for us."

"Go in there and you will come out next to the entrance that goes up onto the main roof," Serai told me.

She stepped forward, opened up a hidden hand print screen, and set her hand against it. I heard the faint ding of a lock being opened. A grate slid to the side in the ground, revealing the black maw of another tunnel.

"How many tunnels does this place have?" I wondered out loud, looking down at that dark entryway without much enthusiasm.

"The king who built this place was really paranoid," Max said as he looked down at the entrance as well. "There's a lot of hidden passageways and tunnels running through the city." He met my eyes with a smile. "Kind of ironic that they're being used to help overthrow the current king."

True. And paranoia was the only way that all of this made sense.

"Thank you guys," I said as I got down on the ground in preparation of going down there.

"Be careful," Serai ordered. "We should have called someone," she murmured, shaking her head.

"Yes," Max agreed. "We should have."

"I'll be fine," I reassured them as I hung onto the lip of the entrance and let myself drop with soft knees. "No problem." Maybe if I said it confidently enough, I might start believing it too.

We all heard footsteps nearing at the same time.

"Quickly! Go!" Max said in a low, urgent tone as they hit the lock again and the entrance closed above me, leaving me in another dark tunnel.

I was getting really tired of tunnels by this point. Why couldn't people build wide, well-lit hallways, maybe with skylights? Sighing, I used the light on my watch again to navigate through it. Thankfully, this one was a lot shorter than the one that had brought me into the city. When I came out on the other side, it was right next to the palace, as promised.

But there were also two guards directly in front of the tunnel entrance. I froze as I stepped out and saw them. There was no way to hide as I came out. They were directly in front of the entrance as if they were guarding it. Had I just been betrayed by a couple of teenagers?

One of the men was in his late thirties with burnished brown skin and the other one was in his mid-twenties, his pale skin freckled across his nose. They looked as startled to see me as I was to see them.

Okay, not the kids then. I didn't know why that made me feel better, but it did.

Before I could say anything or try to explain myself—I didn't know how, but maybe something brilliant would have come to mind—they both stepped forward in front of me.

"The army has not arrived yet," the older man said frowning. "We were supposed to get a signal. Did we miss it?"

I blinked at them. Wait.

"Are you with Sven?" I asked to be sure.

They looked at each other and frowned.

"Yes," the younger one said. "We were waiting for the signal."

I didn't want to get into the whole thing again right now.

"I ended up coming early and I need to get into the palace. How can I do that?" I asked directly. I didn't want to waste time beating around the bush.

They looked at each other uneasily but then I saw the younger one give the other one a shrug.

"We can get you onto the roof. The roof then has access to the rest of the palace." They both looked at me dubiously. "There are many guards inside the palace."

"That sounds perfect," I said, ignoring the comment about the guards.

I'd find out soon enough.

Somehow, I literally found myself with an escort to the external stairwell that led up to the roof on this side of the palace, well towards the back. We passed by another couple of guards who gave me strange looks, but I kept my face mostly turned away from them.

"Just checking the roof," the older guard explained lightly as he kept us moving.

The other guards didn't say anything, but I saw one look over his shoulder at us as we passed. But they kept walking. I let out a relieved breath.

"Are you sure you need to go in alone?" the younger guard asked, looking worried.

"I'm just waiting on the roof until the attack. Then I'll have help to go in," I lied.

I knew they'd insist on coming with me if I said anything different and they needed to keep that tunnel guarded. We couldn't have anybody else there if our people used it to come in. Reassured, the guards left me at the staircase and went back to the tunnel entrance as I made my way up.

When I got to the top, I was relieved that at least this part of the roof was flat. Most of the palace roof was made up of spires and other pointed areas that were not conducive to standing or walking. But I didn't have much time to be relieved about that.

In the next instant, a deep echoing bell started to ring. I could feel that sound in my bones. Disconcerting to say the least. Then I heard the shouts of alarm. I looked across the city with a frown.

What was going on?

Movement caught my eye making me tilt my head up.

There, on the horizon. The sky was filled with glinting scales. Wings arranged tip to tip, it looked like the whole rainbow of colors was barreling towards the city in an overwhelming wave, so dense, they blocked the sun in places.

I watched as the front line swept down to the city, dragons opening their mouths to spit flame over the structures, and phoenixes directly behind them, using their flaming feathers.

It looked like the end of times.

Maybe it was for this city.