Corrinus and his guard Zev both stared in silent awe at the twin dragons before them. The beasts were long and slender and stood as tall as a man. They were wiry creatures built for speed, with thin reptilian heads and long red claws. Both still held the same colour as the red stone walls and had the most evil-looking emerald eyes that glittered in the light.

Corrinus smiled to himself as the dragons swished their snake-like tails and snapped at each other in their eagerness to fight. He snatched the sceptre from Zev and held it up to the dragons.

The creatures turned their attentions from each other to the two Lamya men in their path and hissed dangerously. Their open mouths revealed two rows of needle sharp teeth. Their breath was hot and dry.

"Hear me!" Corrinus cried, holding the sceptre in front of him, "I gave you life. Power. Soulssss! I am your ruler, Corrinus. Leader of the Lamya. You will obey me!"

The dragons seemed to understand and both focused their emerald eyes on him, they both blinked at the same time, a film like oil on water passed across their eyes. A sense of power greater than any he had felt before burned through him. He laughed almost insanely and held the sceptre high above his head.

"You will go to Silence Gorge and rid it of Elani!" he roared. His pink eyes deepened and his closed fists began to shake as the sceptre's power coursed through him. "Yes? Ha, ha! Oh yessss!"

The two dragons hissed, launched themselves into the night sky and wheeled off into the distance. Corrinus watched after them and then turned to his guard. "It is good that you have returned to me, Zev," he said, lowering the sceptre. "Very good."

Zev simply stared after the dragons and then turned to follow him home.

#

A cool breeze flurried past Sorrel as she crouched low and gazed out across the field. On the other side sat Mariko, oblivious to her presence. Sorrel inched forward, wondering whether she should confront the Lamya or wait and see what she was up to.

She stopped and held her breath. Mariko was on the move again.

#

"Just go to the door and give whoever answers the amulet," Mariko muttered. "Go to the door and hand over the amulet." She stopped outside one of the slaver's houses and braced herself.

She knocked quietly at first and then, when no one answered, louder. The sound of someone unlocking the door from inside soon rewarded her and she took a deep breath.

A girl answered the door, younger but with similar looks. Eriko. She stared blankly at her and then hurried outside, closing the door gently behind her. She glared at Mariko and wrapped her red robe tighter to her chest. "What are you doin' here?"

Mariko couldn't answer. She just froze up, in her mind she was yelling at herself to hand over the dragon scale.

Eriko snorted, her expression one of utter contempt. "Nobody knows who I am, if they see you here they'll tell Corrinus and he'll kill me!"

Mariko held out the amulet. "I won't be here long," she said. "I promise. Just take this, there's a dragon coming, it will protect you from it."

Eriko raised her eyebrows, folded her arms and said, "You were never interested in protecting me before. Not when Corrinus took power from our brother and not when he came looking for the rest of our family. Get away from here, Mariko, go back to wherever it is you crawled out from."

Mariko was about to protest but Eriko turned back inside and locked the door behind her. She was dumbfounded. And then anger burned in her chest. She had only tried to help! Shoving the amulet back into her coat pocket, she stormed away. Fine! She'd keep the amulet for herself.

She headed back across the field, away from the slaver homes and the Kingdom of Malinas. She wondered where she'd go now. Not back to the Elani, that was for sure. She'd just have to find somewhere else.

#

Sorrel ran at full pelt and launched herself through the air. She landed right on top of Mariko Kint, knocking the Lamya to the ground.

Mariko thrust Sorrel off her and hurried to her feet. She laughed and wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth, before reaching for her long dagger.

Sorrel held her sword out ready and faced the Lamya. "What were you doing here, thief? I know you've taken the amulet. Give it back!"

Mariko shrugged. "If you want it, you'll 'ave to fight me for it!"

Sorrel nodded once and swung her blade. Mariko was fast and quickly deflected the shot before spinning to her right and facing her again. She smiled and stepped forwards – with a quick sweep of her dagger she cut short Sorrel's second attack and clipped her across the forearm.

Sorrel stopped to look down at her wounded arm, a thin line of blood on her skin. It was just a graze but that was all it took to rile her warrior spirit. Anger bubbled up inside her and everything sharpened.

With her sword raised, she pushed forward, her blade flashing left and right forcing Mariko to defend against a stronger attack each time.

Clank! Ching! Clank!

Metal clashed against metal, the force of each blow so great that sparks flew between them. Mariko tried to spin away, using her dagger to force Sorrel's sword almost from her grasp. But Sorrel was ready for any tricks and took a step back.

As Mariko came forwards, Sorrel dropped to the ground and kicked out, tripping her enemy and sending her flying onto her back. Quick as a flash, she jumped up and stood over her fallen enemy, sword held steady under Mariko's chin.

The Lamya breathed heavily and her eyes flashed. "Okay!" she said. "I thought I could sell it! Make a profit! Take it if you want it!"

Sorrel clenched her jaw. She pushed her sword ever so slightly forward and sighed. "Why must you always lie?"

Mariko gulped, the sword point close to her chin. "I'm not lying," she hissed.

"I heard you," Sorrel said with a laugh. "Saw you at that house, what were you doing? And Mariko, I'll know if you lie."

Mariko groaned. "She's my sister. I thought that... I thought—"

"You could protect her from Gaeshi?" Sorrel laughed again. She held her sword a moment longer and then withdrew it, allowing the Lamya to get up. "Why not say that? That doesn't sound half as bad as stealing it for profit!"

Mariko brushed down her leather coat and Sorrel grinned as the woman glared at her. "Didn't want you to think I'd gone soft," Mariko said, a smirk on her face. "She wasn't interested anyway. Here, have the stupid thing!"

Mariko shoved the dragon scale amulet into Sorrel's hand and pushed past. "Let the dragon get them, see if I care!"

Sorrel hurried to catch up and walked alongside her. "You ran out on your family all those years ago and show up now expecting her to be pleased to see you because you've suddenly discovered a conscience? What do you expect?"

Mariko didn't answer.

"Anyway," Sorrel continued, "I won't be taking Gaeshi anywhere near this part of the Kingdom. We're going straight to the castle."

Mariko stopped and looked at her. "Why are you still following me?"

Sorrel stopped too and smiled grimly. "Because we need you. Because, unlike your sister, I'm willing to give you a second chance. And because, despite hating all Lamya, Leif trusts you and so must I."

Mariko sighed and sat down on the grass with her legs crossed. Sorrel kicked aside a rotted piece of a leather saddle and joined her.

"When Corrinus killed my brother, he vowed to rid the Kingdom of Malinas of my entire family. I left. Wasn't going to let that happen to me, see! But my sister stayed, even after the rest of my family was slaughtered. She changed her name and married a slaver, which was fine by me. I didn't care what they did.

"But being with you Elani for these past few days and treated like a proper human being has made me realise how much I enjoyed your company. It's stupid! I'm a Lamya of Malinas, we're meant to hate the Elani, it's what we're taught from birth. And yet your people treated me better than my own people ever have. I respect you for that, Sorrel, and I'll help you tomorrow."

Sorrel touched Mariko's hand, and although she knew it made the Lamya uncomfortable, the woman didn't pull away.

She turned her eyes from the Lamya to stare back at the Kingdom. Lights flickered from windows and drifts of smoke rose into the night sky from chimneys. If she sat really quietly she fancied she could hear people moving about the streets, early morning tradesmen getting ready for business, she thought.

She breathed deep, ignoring the smells of the Lamya rubbish in the field, and imagined a trader standing over a cooking pot of bubbling stew, ready to serve his customers.

She wanted to go there suddenly, to stand in the towns her ancestors had built and see what they had seen. Instead, she sighed and said, "Shall I tell you of the only reason I have to hate the Lamya? A bigger reason than them enslaving my people? If I'm honest, I've already forgiven them for that. But this... this is something else, something I can never forgive them for."

Mariko nodded. And then, that night in a field not far from the Kingdom of Malinas, Sorrel opened her heart to a Lamya and told her the story of her father's death at Lamya hands by the River Pinn.