Jessica pressed her back against the stone, reaching her hands under the mask to clasp around her mouth and silence her breathing. She looked back up the slope the way she had come, but knew there was no way she could sneak away without being noticed.

  All she could do was hide and hope she wouldn’t be seen. But then what about the pups?

  Either way, the Bloody Peaks Tribe didn’t seem like the best place for them. Granted, her father’s dragon seemed content with its life, as did the Direwings, but who's to say those two people would be any better or worse? Perhaps with these people, there’s at least a chance the pups would be kept together.

  For Jessica, this was none of her business. For Elva, it would be. But she wasn’t Elva.

  She’d gladly free all four if she were able to, but the question of who took the pups she had no idea if she should involve herself or not.

  She slipped off her mask and carefully set it down. It was too cumbersome, and the red paint would stand out in the dark. Once it was free from her face, she carefully peeked past the boulder again.

  The dark skinned men placed the same four small cages Jessica had first seen the pups in outside of the cave. Some whimpered and whined. The white-eyed one, Iris, remained dignified as she stared back at her new abductors.

  “This one has a spark in its eyes. Do you think she’s the one?” the taller of the two men asked.

  “Well, let’s find out. These barbarians are all drunk and have no idea what’s slipping away from under their noses. So we have time.” He took out his knife, moving it towards Iris.

  On second thought, Jessica realized for sure that going with these people would be bad for the pups.

  Then, he did something that surprised her. He started talking to her, almost like he thought she was a person.

  “You,” the man said to Iris, tapping the bars of her cage with his knife. “You understand my words, don’t you? Don’t you?” He paused, then placed his hand atop the cage and rattled it. “Do not try to hide it from me, I can see into you. Show me you understand.”

  Iris growled at him the way any puppy would when being threatened.

  He let out a humph, then the taller of the duo kneeled. “Fool, be more direct. Let me try.” He snapped his fingers, drawing Iris’s attention. “Do you understand us, and do you know of other worlds? If you can show us you do, your immediate future will be much better. You will be valuable to us, and we to you, and we will teach you of this world in a way these barbarians never would.”

  Jessica’s mouth fell open.

  Other worlds?

  Could they be talking about her world? Earth? In her time amongst the Bloody Peaks Tribe, she had gotten no indication that they even knew other worlds existed. The most they had were loose creationist mythology about The Almighty Above and the Scaly Bastard Below, which were just their version of god and the devil. Not even in Elva’s memories did Jessica get the impression that anything about other worlds was known.

  “She clearly doesn’t understand us,” the tall one sighed, looking to the other three cages. “How about the rest of you? If you wish to be more than merchandise, show me you understand. If you do, we will show you a new life, and you’ll never know existence in a cage again.”

  There were a few soft whimpers from the poor pups. They were probably exhausted from what they’ve been through the last days, but none gave any clear signs of understanding the two men.

  “Maybe they do not speak this language?” the shorter one offered. “The other world has many languages.”

  “No. According to the Oracle, all transmigrators speak the common tongue. It is believed the System grants it as they come here. Either way, it is clear in the eyes of these pups. All four are ordinary monsters.”

  “But the Oracle said there would be a transmigrator reborn as a female Hell Hound… Perhaps… Perhaps it is the mother? Should we seek her out after all?”

  “Reborn, fool. Born. The mother would be too old.” He let out a frustrated sigh. “More likely the damn barbarians accidentally killed the one the Oracle spoke of.”

  “Still… P-Perhaps hope is not lost. Perhaps it was a different litter of Hell Hounds altogether?”

  “Keep saying foolish things, and I shall hit you. Think of how rarely Hell Hounds venture from the depths. For there to be another, and for them to also have had a litter within this timeframe, would be like asking for lightning to strike twice.” He let out another frustrated sigh. “No… It is unfortunate our lead will bear no fruit, but even ordinary Hell Hound pups will have value. Let’s take them and go.”

  As they turned, Jessica ducked down again. With her nerves, she accidentally bumped her mask, causing it to slip off the rock it was leaning against with a soft wooden clatter.

  Oh no!

  She didn’t breathe, didn’t move. Did they hear her? She was too afraid to peek. But they were no longer talking.

  Then she heard their footsteps rushing across the wooden bridge, and the pups' whining became more anxious.

  She realized she had to run. She bolted up from behind the boulder and sprinted up the slope. The rustle of their footsteps was right behind her.

  She opened her mouth to scream, “Heeeel—” but a hand clasped around her mouth as she was tackled to the ground. It was the taller one that had her, and as she tried to squirm away, she realized he was far stronger than her. She stared into his deep purple eyes, whimpering through his hand, her expression begging him to let her go.

  “Damn! It’s a child. And a girl,” he muttered.

  “Doesn’t matter. She’s one of them, and who knows what she heard,” the shorter one said, his dagger humming a short song as he pulled it free from its scabbard. “Besides, their women fight, and she has a mask. She may raise a blade against one of our own one day. Best to put her down.”

  Jessica wailed in terror. Up close, they were even more terrifying. The people of the Bloody Peaks Tribe at least looked human under their masks. These two, however, had such unnaturally dark skin, without the white lines on their cheeks or those otherworldly purple eyes, they would disappear into the darkness. Then the nubs of horns on their foreheads gave them a demonic appearance.

  “My apologies. You have found yourself in the wrong time and place, little girl,” the short one said as he raised his dagger and began to plunge it down towards her.

  She thrashed, trying to break away.

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  In a last desperate moment, she did the one thing that she could think might save her.

  She grabbed the hand around her mouth, forcing it away just enough to get out: “I know of other worlds!”

  He clamped his hand back on her mouth, and the dagger stopped barely an inch from her chest. Her plan worked.

  The two men were frozen for a moment as they looked at each other.

  “Did she just…” the tall one muttered.

  “She could be trying to deceive us,” the short one answered. “She heard us speaking a moment ago.”

  Jessica looked back and forth between the two of them, her eyes wide and terrified. The knife was still a short plunge away from ending her life. She whimpered behind his hand, trying to plead with them.

  “But if she’s not lying…” the tall one muttered. He then looked up, along the surrounding plateaus and torchlight as if checking for anyone who might interrupt them. He then seemed to come to a decision as he put his eyes back on Jessica. “You’ll get one chance to prove it. Do not waste your words, and if you scream, we will end you. Do you understand?”

  Jessica’s eyes remained wide and fearful as she quickly nodded her agreement. Then, he removed his hand.

  “I-I come from Earth!” she blurted out. “We had television, uh— I would eat fried chicken from a bucket, and there were plastic lunch trays at school, and no System or monsters! W-We travel in metal cars with combustion a-and oil a-and—”

  He clamped his hand around her mouth again to silence her. The two looked at each other again, each with a raised eyebrow.

  “Do you understand any of that?” the shorter one asked of the other.

  “Other than oil, no, but the Oracle might. If this girl is deceiving us, she is being quite clever.”

  “Hm. Yes, far too clever for a barbarian.”

  The shorter one stood straighter, taking the knife away from her chest, which was at least one improvement to her situation. “We should take her,” he concluded, looking around before setting his eyes on one of the poles they’d harness Direwings to, which still had a rope tied around it. “We’ll bind her and take her with us. If it turns out she’s just being clever, the Oracle will know, and we will kill her then.”

  The binding part didn’t sound good, but at least they were not planning to kill her on the spot. That gave her at least some chance of getting out of this alive. Besides, if these people knew of other worlds, maybe getting kidnapped by them would turn out to be a blessing in disguise? Or maybe she was being way too optimistic.

  Her life in the Bloody Peaks was far from an ideal one, but she at least was beginning to understand her place here. Her tribe believed her to be one of them, but with these people, she would at best still be a prisoner.

  “Now understand, we can not risk getting caught here,” the one who still held her mouth shut said. “If you scream or try to escape, I don’t care if you are from another world or not; we will kill you. Do not test us. Do you understand?”

  Jessica quickly nodded her agreement.

  “No tricks,” he warned again. “You are only valuable to us if you are cooperative. Otherwise, you won't be worth the risk.”

  Finally, he let go of her mouth.

  She didn’t say a word, just swallowed nervously as the other one brought the rope over.

  “Hold still,” he said, grabbing her wrists and forcing them behind her back. The taller one continued to search the sky. There were still distant voices echoing from other peaks. Her clan was currently separated from her by bridges over a thousand-foot drop, most asleep and with no idea what was happening.

  He cinched the rope tight, the coarse fibers biting into her wrists. Then they hauled her to her feet and began leading her back across the rope bridge toward the cages holding the pups.

  “We’ll make our leave from below,” the tall one behind her explained. “You’ll have to jump and trust us. We have spells that will prevent any damage from the fall.”

  Jessica’s knees nearly buckled at his words.

  Jump? From this height?

  The wind rushed across the bridge. She glanced over the railing into the black abyss below.

  They reached the cages. The pups whimpered again, claws scraping uselessly against iron bars. Iris, silent and unflinching, locked eyes with Jessica. It was not as hateful as the last time Jessica had seen her.

  Does she remember when I tried to protect her?

  The shorter man pulled a coil of rope from his pack, looping it through the handles of two cages and slinging them across his back. The taller man began to do the same.

  Jessica shifted, her wrists testing their bindings. She was scared, having no idea what would happen to her now. At least among the Bloody Peeks Tribe, she was not a prisoner, and her life wasn’t disposable.

  As her eyes drifted across the distant peaks where she could see flickering torchlight, a shadow caught the corner of her eye. When she turned her gaze to look, it glided behind the rock face of the stable's mountain in a smooth motion.

  A Direwing?

  They were not exactly locked inside their caves at night, but despite their bat-like appearance, they were not nocturnal. They typically would sleep at night, so it was odd to see one—

  Suddenly, it revealed itself again. This time, Jessica saw a red masked warrior atop it, spear raised, silently heading down towards them.

  She crouched down, lowering her head so she wouldn’t be in the way, and as the tall man turned to see what she was doing, a spear landed right through his chest.

  “Gyaaaah!” he screamed out, stumbling backwards and tripping over Iris’s cage.

  Iris began barking in alarm as her cage was tilted to its side, which stirred up the other pups as they began barking as well.

  “Corath!” the shorter one shouted in alarm as he dropped the cages and drew his dagger. He only spared a moment to glance towards his companion, who grabbed the spear embedded in his chest with a shaky hand.

  “They got me, Themiel,” Corath said weakly. “Y-You must go!”

  “Damn barbarians!” Themiel shouted as the Direwing rider looped upwards, screaming a battle cry that echoed across the mountain peaks.

  Themiel looked back and forth between the edge of the plateau, his dying companion, and the cages. He opted for grabbing a cage first, and moved for it, but the Direwing swooped back down, this time the rider jumping free and landing between them, drawing a sword from a scabbard strapped low on his back.

  “Umarii scum. You will die for trying to steal from us,” the warrior growled from behind his mask.

  A horn began to blow from another mountain peak; it was the warning signal reacting to his battle cry that told all the warriors to get up, as there was a threat.

  Corath shouted, “GO!” snapping his companion out of his hesitation. It was the last of his strength. His grip turned limp around the spear that impaled him, and he fell still.

  Themiel turned to run, but the warrior was on him, curved blade slicing the air. Themiel turned and parried it, sparks exploding as steel met steel. The sword spun in the warrior's grip, then slashed again, parried again by the dagger. The warrior kept advancing, left, right, high, continuously swinging, but met every time by the dagger with a clash of steel. The dagger looked far too small, but the Umarii man wielded it with incredible skill, deflecting every single strike. He seemed untouchable. Yet, at the same time, the warrior gave him no time to do anything but defend, and with the horn blowing, more would soon be on their way.

  Jessica heard whistles from the other peaks, and soon a wave of Direwings were flying free from their caves to answer the call.

  She struggled, shifting her shoulders to try to pull her hands free from their bindings. She did not want to be seen like this, but the Umarii had tied her quite tightly, and she couldn’t slip it off.

  “You barbarians!” The Umarii continued deflecting strikes. “You should all die!” he shouted, thrusting his other hand forward. A shockwave exploded from his palm, sending the warrior falling back, and causing Jessica to lose her footing as well. She caught herself on her side, ears ringing. The pups began howling in alarm, as the wave must have hurt their sensitive ears as well.

  Before either Jessica or the warrior could get back up, Themiel snatched up one of the cages, then ran for the cliff’s edge. He jumped off without any hesitation, disappearing into the void below.

  The warrior scrambled back to his feet and ran for the ledge, looking down into the darkness below, but saw that other warriors were already mounting their Direwings and spilling off the sides of the other peaks.

  The warrior who had saved her shook his head in frustration, then went back over to Jessica, helping her up, and then turning her around so he could cut the rope. “Are you alright, Elva Wyrmscar?”

  She rubbed her wrists once they were free. “Yes, all they did was tie me up.”

  Now that she was free, he turned his attention back to the fleet of Direwing riders consuming the skies. “Umarii are tricksters and blend well in shadow. It is unlikely we will catch him at night. But I wonder why they would try to take you prisoner rather than simply killing you.”

  Jessica thought it would be best not to mention anything about other worlds. “I came to see Iris, and spoke with those guards before the assassins killed them,” she lied. “The Umarii scum must have overheard whose daughter I am and decided to take me for ransom.”

  He pounded his chest and gave a slight bow of his head. “I will not speak of the bindings to anyone. Valrok once saved my life, and I do not wish to see his blood dishonored.”

  She nodded her thanks once again, then went over to Iris's cage and turned it upright, the white eyed pup whimpering a thanks. She then looked at the two males that remained, seeing they were the twins with matching ember eyes and could supposedly breathe fire. The other one, however, was now in the hands of the Umarii.

  [Thanks for reading! We're back to Lisha's POV next chapter!]

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