Caprion's Wings by T. L. Shreffler Page B

balance. He fell…and kept
falling, the demon’s laughter ringing in his ears….
     
    * * *
     
    Caprion awoke to the sound of a door
slamming.
    He opened his eyes as the sunstones
flickered to life on the walls, illuminating the long hall of the
prison.
    A vibration passed over
his skin. Sumas.
    Then he heard his brother’s voice:
“Josephi, open the cell. Be quick about it before any other fools
come snooping around.”
    Caprion stirred. Early morning
sunlight fell through the open door at the end of the hall and a
few long, narrow windows toward the ceiling. The rest of the
building was illuminated by sunstones. In this light, he could
almost imagine the elegant, upper class jailhouse it had once been,
reserved for the rich aristocracy.
    Then Sumas’ blocky, armored figure
glided through the doorway, heading swiftly in his direction.
Behind him trailed Josephi, the soldier who had originally sealed
Caprion’s cell. Caprion glimpsed several more soldiers standing
outside the doors of the prison. A few wingless fledglings knelt in
the grass before them, looking scared out of their wits. As he
watched, the soldiers bound the fledglings’ hands and escorted them
away. Trespassers? Caprion felt mildly amused. Word of his venture
must have spread like wildfire. Apparently some had come to
investigate.
    Moss shifted at his side.
He gripped her hand tightly to keep her from moving, muffling her
chains. He didn’t want Sumas to know they were awake just yet. It
seemed his brother intended to open their cell door. I need to get out of here, he thought. He couldn’t remain imprisoned. A sense of urgency
pounded in his blood. The demon was on the move, he could feel it,
and he knew he couldn’t waste any more time. No, his body seemed
fueled by fire and light, his muscles twitching with unreleased
energy. He needed to find it. To hunt it down.
    “When I break the chains,” he said
very softly, no more than a murmur. “Run. Run for your life and
don’t look back.”
    Moss’s eyes flickered, looking up at
him. She didn’t question what he meant. “Where shall I go?” she
asked.
    “Hide and I will find you,” he
whispered. Then he closed his eyes again, pretending to be asleep.
He felt Moss relax against his shoulder, mimicking his position. He
could feel her pulse quickening beneath his thumb on her
wrist.
    The vibration of Sumas’ great wings
passed over his skin, closer, stronger. He heard rustling from the
door of their cell. Josephi’s voice spoke the password, releasing
the sunstone lock.
    “What’s wrong with him?” Josephi
asked, obviously indicating Caprion. “He just slouches there like a
dead thing.”
    “My brother is a coward,” Sumas
snapped. He said it loudly, intentionally trying to provoke Caprion
into a response. “If he won’t cooperate, then make him.”
    “Yes, sir,” Josephi agreed. Caprion
could hear the relish in his tone. He braced himself, eager for
action, for release.
    He sensed when Josephi knelt over
them. His bright wings cast a pink light against Caprion’s closed
eyes. “Wake up!” Josephi snapped. The man grabbed Caprion by the
hair and yanked his head up forcefully.
    Caprion grabbed Josephi’s saber from
his unprotected sheath, then stabbed down into his thigh,
purposefully avoiding the major artery.
    Josephi roared and fell back, his
wings lifting him upward and away. Blood splashed the ground in his
wake. Caprion yanked the saber free and leapt to his feet. He
turned, striking down on the chain that connected him to Moss.
Once, twice—snap! The chain sprang apart with a sharp, metallic
twang. Then he grabbed Moss’s hand and hauled her out of the
cell.
    Sumas watched all of this, a look of
shock on his face. Then his chest swelled in anger. “Stop!” he
commanded, his voice resonating around the room with powerful
magic. “Stop this, Caprion! Surrender your blade!”
    Caprion struggled against the
compulsion. A burst of pain split his forehead. He felt