When the dragon roared again in his face, Lux didn’t back down. He was so close that the beast’s breath blew back his hair. He could hear Wick shouting behind him, telling him to run or fight or do something. But Lux didn’t move. Not until the dragon opened his mouth to breathe fire on him.

Lux crouched down, so the branch was safely below the water, and the let the flames go over his flesh. He couldn’t burn, not from fire, but the dragon would lose sight of him in his breath. Once the fire covered him, Lux ducked down, submerging himself below the water, and using all his might, he churned through the thick swamp.

He came up right in front of the dragon’s chest, and the beast didn’t know what hit it, even as Lux rammed the branch right into its heart. It let out a confused roar, then thrashed around, letting out a few last puffs of smoke before collapsing to the ground. Its body lay spread out in the water but the head crashed onto the shore, a few feet from where Wick stood.

It would only be a matter of moments before the fish caught on that the dragon had become a free meal, so Lux hurried toward the shore as fast as the water would allow. Wick was waiting for him, and she held out her hand, helping pull him up.

“I really hate dragons,” he said once he was safely out of swamp.

“But you’re impervious to flames,” Wick said, handing him a cloth so he could wipe the putrid water from his face.

“Just because I can’t be burned doesn’t mean that I enjoy it.”  He cleaned off his face and smiled gratefully at her. “Thank you.”

He turned to start walking away, to continue on their trek, when Gula stepped out from a patch of trees. His face forever stained by goblin wings, his glowered down at Lux and crossed his arms firmly over his chest.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” Gula growled. 

16

Lily couldn’t remember where she was. Her whole body ached in a terrible way, even worse than when she’d been bucked off a horse as a child. She lay on a dirt floor, and she was staring up at the ceiling. It appeared to be made of jagged stone with a bird cage hanging from the center.

For a brief, wonderful moment, she thought she was back at home. Her mother had always had a bright yellow canary in cage because she loved the way it sang.

“Easy now, you don’t want to hurt yourself,” a small voice said as Lily tried to sit up.

She glanced around, looking for the owner of the voice. Her room was much like the cage above her. The walls were carved out of stone, but the gate in the front was made of heavy iron. The light came from a single torch on the other side of the gate, and in the dim glow, she could see the dungeon was littered with bones, skeletons from former occupants.

But at least she wasn’t alone.

A black unicorn stood on the far side of the room, almost pressed against the wall. It moved back and forth, its heavy hooves clattering against the bones. Lily stared at it with wide eyes, and the unicorn neighed nervously. It shook its head, the black mane swaying, and it pointed its horn at Lily.

“He’s skittish,” a man said, but it wasn’t the small voice she’d heard before. “Don’t look directly at him.”

Lily turned around and saw an irin propped against the wall. His dark hair hung into his face, nearly covering the blood from the cut on his eye. He was shirtless, so all the bruises and cuts were visible on the smooth skin of his torso.

His bright white wings were folded behind him, or at least one of them was. The right one hung at a disjointed angle, splayed out against the wall. The white feathers were stained crimson from his blood, and Lily could see the muscle exposed where it had been partially torn from his shoulder.

“Oh my gosh.” Lily rushed over to his side, kneeling down next to him. Her own dress was in tatters, but she tore at the fabric near the hem, ripping off a large section. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll survive.” The irin smiled tightly at her, but he couldn’t hide the pain his voice.

“Let me help.” Doing the only thing she could think to do, Lily pressed her dress to the wing, trying to stop the bleeding. He winced, and Lily more was more gentle with her touch.

Lily had never been that close to an irin before, and she was surprised by how utterly beautiful he was. That was the only way to describe him. Even in the dim light, he seemed to glow. There was something luminous about him, and as she wiped away the blood, she couldn’t help but stare.

“What happened?” Lily asked to keep from simply gaping at him.

“The same thing that always happens around here.” That was the small voice again, the one she’d heard when she first woke up, but Lily couldn’t see anybody else in the dungeon. “Up here. In the cage.”

A thin, greenish arm reached out between the bars of the bird cage and waved at her. Lily stood up so she could get a better look, and she saw a little man, no more than three feet tall. His green hair stuck up all over, with vines and leaves growing out from it.

“What always happens?” Lily asked.

“Valefor.” The green man sighed and rested his forehead against the bars of the cage. “He tortures and kills until he gets what he wants.”

“What does he want from you?”

“I’m a sprite,” the green man explained. “He wants me to tell him where my village is so he can capture us all and turn us into stew.” His brown eyes were wide and earnest. “But I won’t tell him. No matter what he does to me.”

“Why are you in the cage up there?” Lily asked. “And not down on the floor like us.”

“I can slip through the bars.” The sprite motioned to the gate. “He has to keep me where I can’t escape.”

“Oh.” Lily turned her attention back to the irin. She knelt back down next to him and tried to tend to his wounds. “What does he want with you?”

“To drink my blood.” The irin gave her a lopsided smile when he saw the disgusted look on her face. “It makes him more powerful. And that –” he pointed to the unicorn pacing on the far side of the room “ – that is what he means to kill me with.”

“A unicorn?” Lily was aghast.

“A black unicorn horn piercing the heart is the only thing that can kill an irin,” he sighed. “He’s had me trapped down here for two days, holding me captive until he could find a black unicorn. He happened to bring that one last night.”