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“Get away from the door,” one of them orders.

“Come and make me,” the Zmaj snarls.

It’s reckless, but expected. He lunges as they open the door, taking two guards down before the others swarm in.

“Stop! Let him be!” I scream.

Someone chuckles and then I see him. A Maulavi stands at the edge of my line of sight. He is watching my door, staring at me with a malicious grin twisting his mouth.

Blood spatters the stones as the Zmaj roars. He continues fighting but he’s already wounded and weakened. It isn’t long before they pin him to the ground and bind his wrists and ankles with heavy shackles.

“Stop it!” I shout, rushing to the bars.

The Maulavi steps closer, face shadowed beneath his hood.

“Bring him. And her,” he adds, eyes boring into me.

“No—” I gasp, backing away.

Two guards roughly grab my arms and yank me from the cell. I resist, trying to dig my feet but the smooth stone gives no purchase. I slide out of the cell. The Zmaj looks over his shoulder and yells something but I’m screaming and can’t hear him over it.

The two guards shift their grips, sliding up my arms until they’re hooked under my armpits then they lift me off my feet. The corridors blur as I’m carried along, heart pounding, my kicks and struggles ineffective. They take us deeper, past areas I’ve never seen, until we enter a wide, dark chamber lit by twelve torches mounted along the walls.

My heart skips and my throat tightens when I see the thing in the center of the room. It’s a crude rack made of bone and iron. Sharp spikes cover its surface. The thing is massive. Clearly designed with the shape and frame of a Zmaj in mind. The Zmaj struggles as they strap him onto the rack. Blood trickles from his lip, but his eyes are fixed on me, wildly defiant.

“What is this?” I demand, my voice rising.

The Maulavi approaches, calm and menacing.

“He’s here because of you. Because you hold secrets.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

He smiles faintly, sighing. He shakes his head, shrugs, then looks back at the Zmaj before returning his cold, dead eyes to me.

“We both know that isn’t true, don’t we? Tell me, human, where is the Queen? Where are the others who escaped?”

My pulse stutters. He thinks I know. He thinks I’ve been part of something larger… I splutter. The truth of why I’m here lodges in my throat. The Maulavi gestures, and a guard drives a spike into the Zmaj’s side. He grunts but doesn’t scream.

“Stop!” I cry, pulling against the guards restraining me.

“Where is she?” the Maulavi asks again.

“I don’t know!”

More pain for the Zmaj and blood trickles from the corner of his mouth. He shakes his head once at me, a silent warning.

“You see? It is as I expected,” the Maulavi says, circling the rack, “he is willing to suffer. But are you willing to let him?”

The Zmaj glares at me, as if daring me to stay silent, but the weight of it crushes me. My mind races, what do they think I know? I don’t even know who the Queen is, let alone where she is. The first I knew of any humans escaping was from the interrupted conversation I was just having. He demands secrets I don’t even know.

“I told you, I don’t?—”

A whip cracks across the Zmaj’s chest. I flinch.

“That’s enough!” I scream.

The Maulavi stops stalking around the rack. For a moment, the room stills.