When Harmoni awoke, her eyes only opened enough to let in a thin slit of light. No. Wait. Her eyes were completely open, it was just that only thin slits of light were getting into this room.

She moved her head around, trying to get a better look. The room she was in was small . . . maybe a closet? It was dark. The small amount of light wasn’t coming from under the door or the walls. It was coming from the ceiling. The wooden panels above weren’t put together perfectly, leaving a small gap or two to let the sun in.

Where was she? What had . . . happened?

Harmoni tried to get up. She couldn’t move her hands out from behind her back. She tried again, tugging, but there were ropes around her wrists. She shoved her feet at the closet door, but it didn’t open. It rattled a few times, wiggling as she kicked it with both legs, but she was pretty sure it was locked.

No.

She was locked in a closet. Suddenly, the space felt very small, the air stale. Suddenly, she wondered when she’d last ate, or drank, or gone to the bathroom. The stone floor and walls were rough against her skin, and there wasn’t enough space to move.

No, no, no.

This wasn’t supposed to happen again.

She thrashed, trying to get the door open, trying to free her hands, trying to just stand up. Then the door flung open, and someone stepped in.

“Would you shut up? Honestly, I should put you back to sleep.”

Harmoni froze and looked up at the man in front of her. He was an elf. He had the pointy ears, the long sharp fingers, the angular face. He was tall. His black hair must’ve been long, but it was pulled up to the top of his head, none of it dropping off. His brown eyes narrowed down at her.

“Who-who are you?” she managed. She didn’t recognize him.

“Let’s not act like you don’t know. Playing the dumb game won’t help.”

“No. I really don’t know who you are.”

And she was trying not to panic about that, because she didn’t know how to prove it.

The man pressed his lips together. One hand looked like he was trying to tightly grip a pencil, but there was nothing in his grasp. “The dragon lab? Ring any bells?”

Harmoni gasped. “You ran that horrible lab?”

“You . . . seriously never saw me before?”

Harmoni shook her head. He was presumably who she'd seen, but she certainly wouldn't have been able to pick him out of a crowd. She’d gotten close, but she hadn’t been able to make out any details. He hadn’t known that? He might’ve kidnapped her either way, but he presumably wouldn’t have given himself away if he knew.

She was angry, and hurt, on behalf of Fleck. What he’d done to the dragons was horrible. But she was also scared. What was he planning to do to her?

“Oh.” The man straightened up, no longer looming over her. “Well, that is unfortunate. But I suppose it’s not a total waste.”

“Hey Hatanier!”

The man dropped his ears halfway and pursed his lips. “Hathanier,” He corrected.

An imp slid into sight. She had bright red skin, green eyes, and duller red hair. Her tall black horns curved as they went up.

She spoke again. “Can we kill her now? Eben ip she hadn’t seen ush bepore, she sure hash now.”

“We’re not killing her. Yet.”

Oh.

Somewhere outside, in the desert, Fleck picked up on that, and froze.

Hathanier looked back down at her. His eyes focused on her. His head didn’t move at all.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“You’re a dragon rider? Aren’t you? I’ve heard terrible things happen, if you sever the bond between dragon and rider. Now, there’s been some proof of that, but it’s not something most people are willing to purposefully experiment with. I’d love to see what happens if we kill just one of you.”

He leaned down over her again.

“And make no mistake. That’s what you’re still awake, and alive, for. I need your dragon.”

‘You heard that. Fleck, you can’t come here,’ Harmoni thought.

She didn’t know if Hathanier was planning to kill her or Fleck, but he wouldn’t do either if Fleck wasn’t there.

If Hathanier didn’t get what he wanted, he’d kill her anyway. He couldn’t keep her imprisoned forever. Fleck wasn’t sitting back while everyone else did a rescue. He was going to help.

He was going to-wait what?

“And den I’m going to eat you!” the imp cheerfully declared. She jumped in front of Hathanier. (He leaned back a bit like he’d narrowly dodged stepping in shit.) “Hearts are considered a delicashy on my home planet. Did you know? But hearts prom a sentient species are always prowned on. I look poward to trying it out.”

She . . . she wanted to eat Harmoni. It wasn’t technically cannibalism but . . . she wanted Harmoni to die, and then she wanted to eat her. And she'd just, announced it to her. Harmoni felt a little queasy.

As she spoke, the imp moved closer to Harmoni, her head tilting and her smile getting wider. It looked like she might bite Harmoni’s neck. She could feel her breath on her when Hathanier spoke up.

“Cyep. I’m pretty sure, I just said, we’re not killing her yet.”

Cyep pulled back, eyes narrowed and lips pressed together. “I wasn’t going to do anyting. What? You tink I just bite anyting my teet can tear?”

Hathanier didn’t directly respond. “Her dragon isn’t here. We shouldn’t be in here.” His gaze moved to Harmoni. “We have someone to watch for.”

Cyep smiled and shrugged, acting far less threatening. “Pine wit me.”

She walked out of the room.

Hathanier followed her, closing the door behind him. Harmoni supposed she should be glad she was awake. But now she was just locked in a dark closet, alone again. Her breath seemed very loud in her own ears.

‘Deep breaths Harmoni. Just hold on. You’ll be alright.’

Fleck was trying to reassure her, but she could sense fear in him as well. Not as bad as hers, but at least he could move across the desert. Do something.

‘Udo and Aqua know you’re gone. And we found a colbber who can track you through your Link.’

Cooper?

‘Err . . . no. His eyepiece is a little defective.’ They’d gotten the help of a colbber from the magic symposium, the one who made potions. ‘And we’re coming now. Hang on.’

They just had to figure out how to get in. Fleck paced in the sand a bit, occasionally shooting his head up and looking ahead of him, like a dog that had heard a noise.

If Hathanier noticed them too early, he could kill Harmoni before they had the chance to stop him. And the area Hathanier was in was supposedly a flat expanse of desert, where it was easy to see things coming.

Not helping.

. . .But they could work around that.

The group had Udo, Aqua, the colbber who made potions, Fleck, and Ferren in it.

That last one was a surprise for Harmoni.

Well, Ferren might not like them, but she’d have to be pretty heartless to know what was going on and not help.

‘You were going somewhere with this?’

Right. The group had been trying to come up with a plan. They were working a little too slowly for Fleck’s liking, but after finding out Hathanier’s plan, he was more inclined to listen.

The colbber’s idea was finding a way to turn invisible. But none of them had the ability, it could take a while to find someone who did, and they probably wouldn’t be able to hide everyone. Aqua especially, would be a little tricky.

Udo tentatively suggested teleporting inside, but it was the same problem.

Ferren had wanted to go forward without them. People cut through this stretch of the desert all the time, and unlike Udo or Aqua, they weren’t likely to recognize her as part of the rescue. She just needed to get between Harmoni and the other two inside, and the others wouldn’t need to sneak any more.

A noble idea, according to Aqua.

And one that, again, surprised Harmoni.

But that had risks as well. Hathanier and Cyep probably wouldn’t be suspicious of someone passing by. But someone coming inside the meat processing house? They might go ahead and kill Harmoni, or kill Ferren herself.

Harmoni was in a meat processing house?

‘Yeah. I think. Might be a slaughter house, based on the smell,” Fleck admitted. “Are those two different buildings?’

He didn’t really know what he was saying.

He quickly turned and looked at the building, as close as he could dare get.

For a moment, Harmoni got a head-splitting case of double vision. She was obviously still in the closet. She could feel the stone floor and wall. And she could still sort of see it, if she focused on it. But she could also see a vast stretch of flat desert, with few plants, animals, or rocks. In the distance, she could see the building she must be trapped in. It was smaller than the labs, but like them, it looked like there were very few openings for windows and doors.

It was Fleck’s vision, overlayed on top of hers. Which was neat, and handy, but it was also giving her a headache, her mind desperately flipping between the two perspectives, trying to hold too much information at once.

Fleck looked away, breaking the weird double vision.

‘You’re sure they can’t see you?’ Harmoni asked.

‘I’m small and gold. I blend into the sand,’ Fleck pointed out.

And if Hathanier or Cyep had seen him by now, they would’ve reacted.

Fleck looked behind him, where the rest of the group was. He couldn’t understand what they were saying without Harmoni there. Aqua had to translate.

But based on tone and expressions, they were still debating. Fleck growled. Harmoni was in danger. They had to do something. They couldn’t just sit in the desert, spit balling ideas forever.