“No,” was all Koltar said. “I will be taking her now.”

“Where?” All three of us said the word at the same time.

Apparently Koltar was finished answering questions. He stepped down to the ground, pulling me with him.

But Jolakaia planted herself in front of him.

There really wasn’t any discernable difference in strength or size between Bohnebregg males and females. In all honesty, I’d kind of forgotten how big Jolakaia was. She was so calm, so kind, that it made her less imposing. Plus, she was smaller than my Skalla with his stone sky blood, so my perception of her scale had been warped. But now, standing tall in front of Koltar, she cut an impressive figure, especially flanked by Zev.

He'll never get through both of them, I thought, giddy with light-headedness. And then Skalla will be back and we’ll take the other women and get the hell out of here.

But Koltar didn’t admit defeat. He didn’t seem worried at all. He just had that same disappointed parent vibe going on.

“You defy the Mother’s Eye?” Koltar said quietly. Jolakaia flinched a little, but otherwise held firm before him.

“In this matter, yes, I do,” she said evenly. “I cannot see why you must take our guest from our home in the middle of the night like this.”

“And that is why I am the Honoured Eye and you are not,” Koltar said, not necessarily unkindly, but with a condescension that made my skin crawl. “The way of metal is still strong within you and unworthiness clings to you like weeds from the river. The Mother shows me a path you cannot see. I merely follow it.”

Oh, boy. Koltar sounded positively human the way he was using spirituality to justify whatever fucked-up plan he had for me. Thankfully, despite her faithfulness, Jolakaia didn’t seem to be falling for it. Maybe it was because she’d spent so much time outside of Callabarra, or maybe it was because the instinct telling her that something was very wrong here overpowered her devoutness. Or maybe it was just because she cared about me.

Whatever it was, she didn’t budge.

Koltar stepped forward, no doubt expecting her to step back in response. She didn’t. Their chests collided.

And then Jolakaia shoved him back with a snarl.

Koltar looked briefly startled, his claws flexing against my arm. Then, as Zev reached a hand for a heavy tool on her workbench, hoisting it like a club behind Jolakaia, he gave another one of those I’m-so-disappointed-in-you sighs. He slipped his free hand into his robe and pulled out a small metal tube.

With a click of his claw against an unseen button, its end began to glow, and I realized with horror it was a weapon – the same kind I’d seen various Mother’s Claws toting around.

“No!” I gasped, stretching to try to knock it from his hand. But he simply held onto me while pushing me away at the same time, keeping me arm’s length from his body.

Jolakaia’s claws swiped through the air, but Koltar was faster, his small tube aimed, then activated, sending a burst of bright energy at her. She crumpled instantly without a sound,

Zev did the same not even a moment later.

At the sight of their limp bodies on the ground, I retched, then vomited. Koltar didn’t let go of my arm, but he did lean slightly away from me in disgust. When I was finished, he hauled me upright once more. But all the strength had gone out of me. I sagged, sobbing, reaching for Zev and Jolakaia’s motionless bodies.

“Stand up and walk properly or I will carry you,” Koltar said flatly.

“I won’t leave them!”

I’d seen too many people I cared about die. My parents. Elvi. Torrance. Now Zev and Jolakaia, the kindest friends I could have asked for in this world. Killed simply because they’d been protecting me.

I should have never called them for help. I should have just gone with him quietly!

Guilt and grief turned to rage, and suddenly I was filled with strength I didn’t know I had. I yanked against his grip so hard his claws made my upper arm bleed, and used my other hand to punch, smack, and scratch at Koltar’s face and chest. But my human fist did nothing to his scales. He grew tired of my onslaught quickly and shoved the glowing end of his weapon against my stomach.

I stilled instantly, heart turning to ice, because it wasn’t just my stomach anymore, was it? It was no longer just a tightly-coiled collection of human guts and organs taking up that space. There was a whole little life taking root in there, the beginnings of a baby that belonged to Skalla and me, and the sensation of the weapon so close to it made me nearly senseless with fear.

“Please,” I whispered.

I would beg for my child even if I’d never considered begging for myself.

Koltar didn’t withdraw the weapon, but he did turn me, his claws now wet with my blood. He bumped the weapon against my lower back, and, as if he’d cranked a lever there, twisting it like a wind-up toy, I snapped into wobbly forward motion.

Koltar frog-marched me through the quiet darkness. Out here, away from the centre of the city, there were few lights at night. Everyone was sleeping and all was still. Peaceful.

We didn’t encounter anyone except the odd animal in a yard gazing dopily at us. I wondered if it would do any good if someone saw us, anyway. No one but Zev and Jolakaia would think twice about stopping Koltar. Any other neighbour would probably just buy his “temple business” line. That, or they’d get shot down just like my two friends were.

Bitterness, or maybe literal bile, rose in my throat. I swallowed the acid of it, stumbling along as Koltar pushed me from behind.

We were very close to the outer edge of the city, heading for the wall instead of going deeper into Callabarra towards the temple. We clomped through fields of food stuffs and Shara plants, the metal-lined cotton puffs swaying in the cool night breeze. It was too perfect a scene. Too serene. I’d always been shocked and disturbed by that. The way things kept on being beautiful when it felt like everything was falling apart. The morning Elvi died had been one of the most gorgeous sun-drenched days imaginable. Reeling with grief, I remembered that loveliness feeling like a betrayal.

We passed through a door and reached the ring of the city’s main outer wall. There was a small gate back here, but no one seemed to be manning it. Of course not. Koltar commands the Mother’s Claws and if he didn’t want anyone at this post tonight, he’d make it so.

Koltar opened the small gate, shoved me through, then closed it again like we’d never been there at all.

I hadn’t been out of the city for months and I was disoriented by the wide, rolling landscape ahead. Needing to ground myself, I turned my head back to catch a glimpse of the city, to soak in the sight of the last place I’d been with Skalla, the place where our friends had died.

But, as if wanting to drive the knife of this night a little deeper between my ribs, the city was gone.

My knees buckled, and I would have fallen if Koltar hadn’t been holding me. Rationally, I’d heard about Aeshyr’s protection of this place. The way it became somehow cloaked to outsiders. But I’d never actually witnessed the phenomenon since I’d been unconscious when we’d first arrived here.

“No,” I choked out, desperation thick in my voice. The city was gone. Vanished. Not even a dot on a foreign, unknowable horizon. I would never be able to find my way back here even if I had the chance. It was as if the city had never even stood at all. In its place was grass and Shara and then the gleaming river beyond.

The river was where Koltar led me, taking a wide berth around the invisible bulk of Callabarra. A small boat waited for us.

Do not get in that fucking boat.

I reeled backwards, knowing that this was my last chance, because if I got in that boat and went wherever he wanted me to go I knew I’d never find my way back. I also knew I wouldn’t even be alive to try.