Harmoni could tell the debate was still happening, thanks to her connection to Fleck. Apparently, aside from Hathanier and Cyep, there was a wyvern they were worried about as well.

So that was the "dragon" who'd helped them kidnap so many others?

Probably.

Aqua had won the fight against him in that she was stronger, but she lost in that she let him get away. He made a run for it when it was clear he’d lose.

It wasn’t that Harmoni didn’t have faith in any of these people. Of course she had a good opinion of them. And they’d already done more than she expected of them. Aqua taking on a wyvern and Ferren willingly helping out especially.

But she was afraid, and they were struggling, and she was just sitting here helplessly if Hathanier came in. Or maybe Cyep would decide not to listen to Hathanier, and would come in to eat her.

Her stomach turned and she swallowed something down, staring at the ceiling for a moment.

Deep breath. Enough of that. She had to see if she could do anything to help.

It looked like it would be tricky to break the ropes with anything in here. Nothing sharp enough, or sticking out far enough from the walls.

With a bit of struggling, she managed to get to her feet. She turned around and tried the knob. Locked.

There was a way to bust a locked door open by like, kicking the knob? He'd heard?

Harmoni raised her leg, and immediately toppled over. She wasn’t used to lifting her leg that high, and her hands were tied behind her back. Terrible for balance.

She remembered when Evin had done similar, and her dismal attempt to stop him. People might imagine scenarios like this happening to them, but having it happen in reality was different. It was scary. It was hard to think clearly, and anything someone could imagine doing turned out to be harder in practice.

Well yes, and Fleck wasn’t an expert on busting open doors. Most of the doors he'd seen didn't even have knobs. Even in homes, like Udo's, the push handles were more common. Easier for a dragon to manage. So all he could give her was a statement he’d heard.

“But don’t give up!”

She wouldn’t.

Harmoni rolled over, and slowly got to her feet again, struggling to get up without her hands.

Listening near the door, she didn’t hear any signs of her kidnappers moving out there. If they’d heard her moving around, they weren’t doing anything about it. Still, she’d have to be careful. Hathanier would have good ears.

The closet was small. Harmoni used the wall for support, and kicked. Nothing happened. She kicked again. The knob rattled, but still nothing. She dropped her leg, and stumbled a bit. She stared at the knob, and her vision went blurry. She sniffed, and blinked a few times, clearing her vision.

Fleck had told the others what she was doing. He wished he could do more.

Harmoni tried slamming her whole body against the door this time, but it worked even worse, just hurting her shoulder.

That’s when she heard footsteps. Not good. It seemed she’d made too much noise after all.

She backed up to the far end of the closet. She was trembling, eyes wide. She had to do something. If she didn’t, there was a good chance Hathanier would put her back to sleep, or just kill her.

The door opened. Harmoni dropped her head and charged at Hathanier’s stomach. She couldn’t see his expression, but the way he went slack, he hadn’t been expecting that.

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Harmoni slammed him as hard as she could, and he fell backwards onto the wooden floor outside.

She stood up straight and tried to keep running. And almost slammed into a collection of meat hooks hanging from the ceiling. She yelped, turning slightly, since she couldn’t outright stop in time.

Hathanier got his wand out. No doubt he’d use that sleep spell again.

Harmoni had to get moving. But there were sharp objects hanging from the ceiling, and the floor below seemed questionable. She heard some of it give beneath Hathanier when he hit the floor.

Outside there was a roar. Versith erupted from behind the building, wings cupped. Aqua charged him again, but he was prepared this time, biting on her neck. Without her scales, that would’ve been bad.

Fleck still darted past them, into the front door.

Harmoni turned off the main path, into a hall that was darker, but emptier. She didn’t see any holes in the floor either. The path led to a table, and a back wall. To the right more meat hooks hung on the ceiling. On the table was a board of knives, and a fluid that was almost certainly blood. There was no second exit.

She couldn’t get out this way.

She dropped under the table, covering her mouth and holding her breath as she heard the soft thudding of footsteps. It might be dark under the table, but it was also an exposed space. It wasn’t a good hiding spot, and she knew it.

Based on his sense of smell, Ferren had also some in. The colbber and Udo were outside to help Aqua. He didn’t know if Udo could be much help, but he couldn’t blame him for the choice. Fleck was doing the same.

‘So Ferren or I are going to find you. Just hang on.’

Hathanier’s lower body came into sight. He was still in the hallway, but all of a sudden, Harmoni was getting sleepy again. She knew what was happening. She tried to fight it. But fighting magic, especially without being able to use it yourself, seemed to be a losing battle. Was there something she could do? She wasn’t sure. She was so tired it was hard to concentrate.

A bright stream of light burst past Hathanier, illuminating the room and getting brighter still, hurting Harmoni’s eyes.

It distracted Hathanier too. She heard him grunt, and the spell on her was broken. It didn’t instantly end all the side effects. Harmoni’s body still felt sluggish, her eyes a bit heavy. But it wasn’t getting any worse. She rubbed her eyes to wake them, and her mind was active enough to know she had to get moving.

“How did you find us so quickly?” Hathanier asked.

“The dragon helps with that,” Ferren answered. “Get going Fleck. I’ve got this guy.”

“An arrogant assumption.”

Fleck sort of agreed with Hathanier on that one, but the distraction would help.

Harmoni had already gotten out from under the table. Fleck grabbed her pant leg and tugged, urging her to move.

But where would they go? The only exit from this room was where Ferren and Hathanier were fighting. Ferren might be keeping Hathanier busy, but he could probably reach out and stop her if she tried to run past.

Hathanier pointed his wand at Ferren, but was forced to move out of the way as she physically charged him. Harmoni saw his eyes dart to the table, where the knives were, but they were too far for him to reach. So far.

Harmoni said the flooring was weak. “Want to break it on purpose?”

She’d take it.

Harmoni was better at spotting the loose boards than Fleck. (It relied on sight, not smell.) She spotted one nearby, that wouldn’t send them crawling through hooks to get to. She and Fleck jumped on it, hitting it with all their might. It buckled beneath them, sending them to the floor below.

It was dark in here as well. And smelled bad. Seriously bad. He was pretty sure the wood here was moldy. And he could smell something fermenting. And he could smell blood, but that was sort of all over this building.

Harmoni couldn’t smell the blood like Fleck could, but her nose was picking up something when she breathed in. And it made her feel icky, like there was some gross film on her skin.

And her eyesight might be better. She squinted into the dark here. As her eyes adjusted, she saw another table. Something sharp glinted on top of it. There were shelves behind it as well. She stepped closer, to get a better look.

And then she took a step back. Those were, yeah, those were hearts, sitting in jars. Not all of them, some had different “foods”. And she supposed the hearts could be from animals, but she wasn’t optimistic. Especially since she knew the wildlife on Xentron. These hearts seemed a little small for the large creatures here.

Fleck could confirm, based on smell. Also, there were lumpy black bags in the corner. Fleck didn’t want to look in them. His sense of smell was already telling him they were discarded body parts. He hadn’t wanted to tell Harmoni that, but he noticed it, so she knew.

Harmoni stumbled back. It felt like the room was tilting. Each inhale just made everything worse.

And yet, she still heard movement, her ear flicking. She dropped to the side just in time. Cyep leapt out of the darkness behind her, knife swinging. It still sliced through Harmoni’s upper arm, easier than many knives could, scraping at her muscles and causing a lot of blood to come out. But if she hadn't moved, that would've been in her shoulder, or worse.

“Well, well. The two ob you are alone,” Cyep said.

Fleck was tense, in an attack stance, but he was also trembling slightly.

Harmoni covered her arm. Was she dizzy from fear, or blood loss?

“Hatanier was a pool por just waiting to get caught. We should habe killed you right away. But, I still can.” She smiled and shrugged. “Guess I can tell him what happens when one ob you dies.”

Then she lunged again.