Chapter V3: Crawl in a Dragon's Mouth and Die
The bells chased them down the stairs.
Two, two, wings in the blue.
Except the dragons weren’t in the blue, now were they? They were in the city. The castle. The king’s own chair, soon as the one wearing Orin’s face saw fit to take a break from killing.
Aaron, Rose, and Lochlann were behind the rest of those fleeing. The stone stairs below them were incongruously empty, like this was any lazy spring day—just a lull in the market traffic, nothing to be running over. Then they reached the first landing, rounded the first bend, and they’d caught up to them: to the families who’d had to decide who would carry the children, and who the weapons, and the neighbors lending extra arms; to the people who’d taken charge of the choke point ahead, to make sure none were trampled in squeezing through; to the rear guard, who moved heavy rectangular shields aside to Aaron’s little trio pass, never taking their eyes off the descent behind them. The first row had shields braced; the second, swords in hand. They should have had pikes: the good steel ones that were stored in alcoves along all the shelter stairs, the ones that fit into divots in the landings to brace against heavier opponents bearing down. Those pikes had been going missing an awful lot, this spring, and it seemed today was the day it mattered.
Aaron’s foot slid as they came to a stop, just behind the under-equipped rear guard. He didn’t need to look down to see what it was that he’d slipped in. Blood, Rose’s blood, still dripping from her hand, because she’d slit her palm wide escaping her brother’s doppel through a door she’d opened in stone.
Orin’s doppel had not tried to follow. None of the castle dragons had.
“Let me wrap that,” Aaron said, now that they were behind defenses, slim as they were.
The princess gave him her hand. Aaron took a few linen strips from his pocket pharmacy and did it up as best as he could, which was decent. It had still bled through near before he was done. She’d need stitches, next they had time for them.
Behind them, the choke point was clearing as more of the townsfolk made it down the next flight. Aaron didn’t bother with more than a glance to it; he knew Rose wouldn’t be joining that queue. Not until all the rest were through. Blood nobles, and their inbreed insanity.