Before they could escape the city, the next daunting task rose ahead of Fia and Viliant: the wall.

She tipped her head back as far as it would go so that she could take in the shadowy structure. A big gulp slid down her throat. Do I have to make it all the way up there?

Yes, Viliant droned indifferently.

Fia reared onto her hind legs and reached her left claw out to the coarse, uneven bricks. Normally, the wall would pose no trouble for the dragons to scale, especially with their claws to dig into the footholds. But with her condition, Fia dreaded how the effort would put her broken shoulder in immense pain on top of slowing her progress.

Can you carry me? she asked. It would be so much easier to cling onto his back and let him do all the hard work.

Five years her senior, Viliant had a large enough stature to bear her weight. However, his back was lined with dozens of sharp spines, starting from six horns on his head. The texture was more like narrow quills along his neck but then spread out along his shoulders and got larger. The length of those spikes surpassed even his primary set of horns, before thinning back into quills on his tail.

Those spines lifted incredulously at her question. Does it look like you want to ride on me?

No, Fia said in a small voice.

He could have lowered his back spines as much as possible, and that still would have communicated the impracticality of a piggyback ride to a similar effect. Rather, Viliant also demonstrated that his bristly attitude matched those spines—something that Fia knew very well by now.

I'll help you climb, Viliant said quickly.

The two dragons ascended the outer wall of the city, making progress slowly but surely. Going at Fia's pace, Viliant remained wordlessly at her side only lagging slightly behind so that she could more readily lean on him. With every step, Fia chose her three footholds carefully. The vertical journey, painful and tiresome as it was, numbed Fia's senses to all else.

Almost there, Viliant said. Watch for lights near the top. I can see some guards occasionally, but you're kinda blocking my view….

Fia only listened to the first two words that he said. Thank goodness! A heavy sigh left Fia's snout, and she put more focus into climbing. The injured dragoness had no energy to waste, gawking at the top.

At last, her claws peeked over the rim of the wall; Fia and Viliant had reached their goal. Just as relief began to flood her weary scales, her heart dropped in terror. A single word was yelled aloud, one of the few that Fia had picked up in the local tongue.

"Dragons!" a guard shouted.

Human! Fia shrieked in Viliant's mind.

I told you to watch— he started to yell at her, but he clipped himself off. Viliant must have thought better of chastising her right this second.

The firelight was shining from the torch in the man's hand, cutting through their cloak of shadows. Fia and Viliant just so happened to poke their heads above the wall at the precise moment that a guard patrolled this section of the wall. Her eyes widened and reflected the light in terror, too exhausted to do anything but watch.

Viliant sprang to action. He leaped over the parapet to one side, drawing attention away from Fia. When the guard thrust his sword forth, VIliant contorted his neck to the side. The blade narrowly missed his face, but this was by design. Thanks to the narrow miss, he only needed to open his maw and snap down on the metal.

With a wrench of his neck, Viliant twisted the guard's wrist at an unfortunate angle and disarmed him. He swung his neck in a wide arc and tossed the weapon over the wall.

The man tried hollering for backup as he turned and ran. As the torchlight bounced away with their target, Viliant disappeared to the shadows and bounded along the parapets in pursuit. His talons clattered along the stones—the only indication of his movements.

Since the guard could hear the dragon drawing near, he turned with a sweep of the torch. The flames were brandished just in time to reveal the black dragon, claws extended and fangs barred savagely. Before the guard could complete his swing, Viliant's feet connected him. He kicked the human over the edge of the wall.

The man fell like his sword, tumbling through the air. The only difference was the noise. The human was a lot louder, screaming the entire time that he fell. His body gave an audible thunk against the ground, and the racket was no more.

Though Viliant said nothing, his mood could be felt through the telepathic link. Jubilant. Unlike his indifferent demeanor whenever he had been forced to kill in the arena, his mind lit up with joy at the death of this one guard. Perhaps it could be considered his first act of freedom—or a small step towards revenge.

A shudder ran up Fia's spines. She did not like Viliant deriving such twisted glee from killing sentient people, not too much unlike how she enjoyed ripping apart a rabbit. The young dragoness preferred to make that distinction and think of themselves as doing what they must to preserve their own lives. This was not the time to bring up her concern with Viliant.

The noisy demise of the guard brought more running along the wall towards their location.

Hurry, Viliant said to go. Time to go! At the same time, he recognized that she was having difficulty hauling herself over the wall.

Fia looked to him beggingly and graciously accepted the help up. Thanks.

Glide from here like you did at the coliseum, Viliant ordered her, but Fia objected at once.

No! Since he spent so long in captivity, Viliant must have forgotten the weapon that had decimated his people. Fia, however, had her father's warning fresh in her mind. Human cities have anti-dragon ballistae…. We'd be shot down!

It's too dark for them to aim, Viliant snapped, shoving her up to the highest ledge of the parapet. He hopped up alongside her and waited.

With a last, anxious glance to the oncoming humans, Fia clambered onto Viliant's back—legs long enough to clear his spikes—and let him jump. Her wings spread wide as they sailed off the wall.

Teetering dangerously from side to side, she struggled to stay aloft with the two small holes in her wings. In some respect, she had the Dragon Slayer to thank for evening them out. So long as nothing threw them off balance like he did before, Fia could keep gliding like this till they reached the ground.

The angry shouts of the humans were left behind them. Some arrows whizzed blindly at them in the darkness. Lightning from one of their mages illuminated the sky briefly—a momentary glimpse of the dragons' location. A clamorous snap resounded before the thunder. A spear from the ballista was fired.

Fia squeezed her eyes shut and prayed. The delayed thunder filled her ears. When her breath whoosed out of her nostrils, she knew that she had survived. See? she wailed in Viliant's mind. We almost died! This was so dangerous!

But we didn't. Viliant audibly scoffed beneath her. Then, he had the audacity to say, I told you so. It was nowhere near us.

Ah! Fia wanted to disagree with him somehow, but she was too exasperated to find any words. Flustered as she found herself, she needed to adjust her grip on Viliant's shoulders in her three good claws.

Hey! Sorry. Don't drop me.

Although she had no intention to do that, Viliant's brief fright made her chuckle weakly. Of course not. Why'd I do that? After all, the dragon duo had successfully escaped together. We did it!

Fia had to resist the urge to roar in celebration. Even as they flew away from the city—covering much more ground than they could on foot—she did not want to risk any unnecessary noise. Fia's fear held her fast.

While they had fled the capital, the dragons were still stuck within the borders of the human nation. Fia and Viliant had a long way to go till they were truly safe, and even longer to make it home. For now, she wanted to travel as far away as possible, so she angled her wings to let the breeze carry them.