Despite the eerie early morning mist that settled over Demornt Village, the market square was still rife with bustle. People rushed between the stalls that had been created outside of sellers' homes, desperate to get the fresh food before it sold out. They bartered for lower prices, but most of their attempts failed.

I didn't know exactly what I needed for the mission of getting my sister back or what the market was selling, so I could only try to prepare myself the best I could. We were fine on weapons and we still had the metal waterskins from our journey through the forest, but food to take with us and clothes were what we lacked.

My mother was still asleep in the room we had been offered as I had managed to sneak out without waking her. She hadn't been sleeping lately, so I wanted her to get as much rest as she could.

With my fingers drifting to my coin pouch, I made sure it was still firmly tied to my belt. I didn't have much to haggle with. We had collected every coin we could find in our home before we left Silverwood and this was all we had found. If the tavern wasn't offering free mashed potatoes every evening to the newcomers of Demornt, we would have run out already from simply trying to feed ourselves.

The next few stalls I passed were selling fresh loaves of bread and other pastries that looked like they had been delicately decorated with hours of the baker's time. Even the sight of them had my mouth watering, let alone the smell of the bread as I wandered closer.

I couldn't buy anything yet. I needed to think about how long the food would last as I didn't know when Stelni was coming back. If she was going to come back at all. The Lyre shard that still sat in my pocket warmed as if to assure me she would return. She had looked desperate for the pieces of the broken artefact.

"Excuse me," I began, catching the attention of a woman setting out some loaves on her stall. "How much is one loaf?"

"Five silver, dear," she replied with a warm smile, as if the price she had mentioned wasn't extortionate for some bread. At my widened eyes, the woman continued, "Sorry dear, business is high at the moment and these loaves still sell out fast every morning. You can't blame me for trying to get as much coin out of it as I can."

I couldn't. It was the smart thing to do. After all, a bunch of new people had taken shelter in Demornt and were looking for food to eat. While the shadow creatures roamed around outside the wall that protected the village, there was nowhere else for them to buy food except the stalls in the market square.

"Is there any chance you could lower it to three silver?" Even then, three silver was still overpriced.

"These are all guaranteed to sell out at five, dear. Sorry, but I'm not going to lower them." She flashed me a sympathetic smile before heading back into her home to collect more baked goods to put on display.

I sighed, leaving the mouth-watering bread behind. There had to be someone else offering just as tasty-looking bread for a lower price somewhere.

As I walked further into the market, I spotted a group of Goddess-blessed healers making their way around the wall. They held out their hands towards the bricks with their eyes squeezed shut. Their palms glowed a faint blue, the way Zofia's did when she was preparing to use her power. That had to be how they were keeping out the creatures. The shadow beasts had to be traumatised after being bound to the Lyre for so long that now they avoided everything linked to it.

While I was distracted by the healers, a sickly-looking child hobbled towards me and tugged on my trousers, a strange look hiding in his grey eyes. "The clouds part to let the heavens through," he began with a croak. "With haste, they awaken the demons that follow Stelni." The boy's hand fell from my clothes and he stared at me as I processed the words that had just left his mouth.

"So Stelni is on her way now?" I asked. The Dragon-born had said that a messenger would give me a bunch of nonsense before saying her name, so that had to be it. Why had she chosen a child to be her messenger, though?

The boy nodded and hobbled away into the crowd much faster than it seemed he could walk.

If Stelni was on her way now, I really needed to think about getting food. However, I didn't know how long it would take to get to Nusal and back or how long we would be up there for. I patted the pocket that held the Lyre shard to make sure it was still there. It would be smart to get a few more pieces to bring along with me too.

It was time to wake up my mother and see what she thought about the situation. Hopefully, there would be some food left by the time we returned to the market square together.

I weaved through the people crowding into the market and headed back down the narrow path that led to the home we had been staying at. If I had to be honest, the small cottage was in the most perfect place in all of Demornt. Not only was there easy access to the market square, but the village entrance was in view too, making escapes quick if we needed to leave.

My eyes scanned the gate and landed on several people running through it with panicked expressions on their faces.

"The Dragon-borns!" they yelled, attempting to warn others. "There are several Dragon-borns headed this way with their weapons drawn." The group ran and took cover in a nearby building, leaving my curiosity to grow tenfold.

Was it Stelni? Though, the people yelling made it sound like it was several Dragon-borns. I needed to find out to be sure. If Stelni was going against the deal we had made and had brought several guards here to find the Lyre pieces and leave, I needed to find out so my mother and I could run as soon as we could.

Throwing the hood of my cloak over my head, I made my way towards the front gate, keeping low and ducking behind every building I could. As I reached the main entrance, two Dragon-born soldiers thudded to the ground in front of me, one pinning down the other. I hid behind a stack of crates, praying to the now-dead Goddess that they hadn't seen me.

Two more Dragon-borns landed behind them, weapons drawn and ready to tear blood from their victim's veins. The one that had been pinned to the gravelled ground kicked upwards at her captor and swiped her sword to set herself free.

Stelni. The guard being attacked was Stelni.

As soon as she was up on her feet again, three swords raced towards her and she dodged them with ease, taking precise steps backwards and using her boot to kick another weapon into the air. She caught it while ducking under a blade headed for her neck, sheathing it smoothly into her belt.

The people who had been standing beside the Dragon-borns when they had landed ran deeper into the village, warning everyone they rushed past of the danger lurking behind them. Some even ran outside of Demornt, willing to brave the fate outside of the walls and the shadowed creatures that lay beyond. I, however, stayed behind the crates, watching Stelni fight with wonder.

Her form was excellent — her stance was perfectly balanced with her weight evenly spread, making it difficult for anyone to swipe her off her feet. She danced with her sword as if she had rehearsed the steps to the battle a thousand times over, like the battle lived within her.

Stelni shouted something in Kaeuni, the anger reverberating from her tone could be felt even from where I hid, and parried the attacks of two swords. She used the momentum from their swings to push two guards back, giving her extra space to work with. How she was going to win this fight was a mystery to me. While she certainly had prowess in the art of fighting, so did her opponents.

Her eyes scanned her surroundings, hoping to find something to use to her advantage, until they landed on me. I ducked behind the crates again, hoping she would think it was her imagination that had seen a cloaked figure watching her, that the adrenaline of her fight was making her see things, but an arm wrapped around my waist and a hand tugged my hood down.

"You couldn't have been at a more perfect place at a more perfect time," she said before launching us into the air. "Hold on tight."

"What the fuck?" I yelled, the sudden movement stealing the breath from my lungs. My attempts to squirm and set myself free were met with an even tighter grip than the one that already held me.

"Quit that before we both fall. I need to lose them." Stelni gritted her teeth as she adjusted my position, lifting me up so our faces were next to each other and it was easier for her to fly. Just as she had gotten more comfortable holding me, she suddenly dropped to dodge a dagger that had been thrown at her.

I screamed, the sensation causing my stomach to roll and threaten to spill the meagre contents it held. My face instinctively buried itself into Stelni's shoulder to hide away from the fight that followed us. If I couldn't see the drop, I wouldn't fall, right? If I held on tight enough to the Dragon-born that carried me, there was no way I would fall — not like last time. This time there was no mountain to hold onto to attempt to stop my fall. This time, there was nothing but open air beneath us and trees that stretched for miles.

"Why are you being chased?" I questioned, gripping Stelni's tunic. "What do these guards want with you?" My hair whipped my face so much as it turned it to speak that I reckoned it would leave red marks for weeks.

"The Queen ordered them to take me to the dungeons because I returned the sword to her son." One of her hands held the back of my head, pushing my face back into her shoulder, and the other tightened against my waist as we dropped again, dodging far more blades than there had been before.

If I hadn't been snatched from my hiding spot, taken into the sky, and dragged into the battle raging behind us, I would have to admit that the scent of lavender and ginger that I inhaled from Stelni was nice.

"So, you're not a favourite of the Queen either?"

"Something like that." Her voice trailed off, her thoughts far away from the conversation we were having.

I looked up into the sky behind us, squinting against the rising sun, to get a glance at the guards following us. The three Dragon-borns felt familiar in some way and I couldn't place my finger on why. It wasn't until I caught the smile of the tallest one that the realisation hit me like a sword through the chest.

"Those are the assholes that took my sister."

"Those three guards are the Queen's favourites. They get all the important jobs, so I'm not surprised they had a hand in taking her," Stelni explained as best as she could while diving to the side to stop her wing from being pierced.

My hand reached down towards Stelni's belt and wrapped around the hilt of a dagger. Those guards were going to get what they deserved whether it was the last thing I did or not. With a sharp swing, the blade whistled through the air and landed in one of the Dragon-borns' thighs, causing him to fall behind the others with a cry of pain.

"What are you doing?" Stelni yelled as the flap of her wings picked up in pace.

"I'm helping you lose them and getting some of my lingering anger out of my system at the same time. You better think of a plan before I run out of your daggers." Because after that, not only would we be outnumbered, but we would be weaponless too.

"I've got an idea, so please don't throw any more." When my arm returned to her shirt, she continued. "While those three might be the Queen's favourites, they aren't the best fliers she has in her command."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means hold on tightly." A grin broke across her lips as we plummeted down into the trees below us.