Pyrite paced the length of her new prison. Somehow, she had to escape the palace, get all the way back to the caves, and tell Jade and Onyx what had happened. The only problem was that she was trapped in a high security palace swarming with dragons, and the fact that home was all the way across the continent.

Looking around the dingy room, Pyrite sighed. There was a bed in the corner, and that was pretty much it. No windows, no doors—only a trapdoor high above, on the ceiling. There was no possible way to reach that. Maybe…maybe it would be best to get some sleep and figure out how to escape in the morning, when she had the chance. Pyrite decided this was a good idea and lay down on the bed. She closed her eyes for one second…two seconds…

“Psst!” Pyrite sat bolt upright, causing a muscle in her neck to scream in pain. She looked wildly about the room, and spotted it: a dragon snout, poking in through a secret passageway. It must be secret, since Pyrite had not seen it before.

“Psst!” the dragon repeated.

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“Who are you?” Pyrite whispered back. The dragon then emerged into the room with a proud expression, and Pyrite realized it was the dragon she had seen in prison. But how had he got here?

“I snuck past the guards during lunch break,” He explained, as if reading Pyrite’s thoughts. He then grabbed Pyrite by the jacket, mumbled, “I’m busthin oo aata heeu,” and slipped back into the secret passageway.

At first, Pyrite was shocked. Then shock turned to suspicion. After all, this dragon was in jail for a reason…but he was also her only way out. She let him carry her. Maybe she could run away from him later.

It was dark and smelled of wet cement. Any slight noise was broadcast twice as loud in the corridor, which never seemed to end.

After some time, they emerged into the sunlight. Pyrite took a while to adjust, and by that time, two guards had spotted them.

“Hey!” one of them shouted. “What are you doing? That’s the Kingdom’s prisoner!” They started towards the pair.

“Great storms above!” the dragon exclaimed. He took to the air, which was hard as Pyrite was in his mouth. He swung her onto his back and flew away. Finally, Pyrite thought joyously, I’m going home.