After two weeks of intense combat training, our team met in front of the rehabilitation gymnasium for another twelve hours of strenuous training. Bragda gave me a playful punch when I saw her.

"Well, this is damned awkward," she growled. "I can't reach your shoulders anymore. Please tell me you're not going to grow anymore, or we'll never be able to build a home for you."

"I've finished growing. Father canceled my treatments early."

"Why?"

"I'm the leader." I furrowed my brow. "Can't have the leader be a mindless drone."

"He's such a bastard," she muttered. "Who forces his own flesh and blood to become a demon?"

We marched towards the changing rooms and began to change into our combat armor. Bragda uttered a string of Dwarvish curses as she laced up her braces.

"I swear I will break his neck," she said. "We can't get out of this creepy palace fast enough."

"At least no treatments means I won't barf on you during our training."

"You better not, wench!" Bragda said with a wry smile, giving my arm a playful jab.

I curled my lip in reply.

When we marched back out of the changing rooms, I was wearing standard issue full plate while Bragda had donned on thick studded leather. My heart swelled with pride when I saw her. Not even a month after her torture, she looked fierce and ready for training.

So strong. I want to be just like her.

"After a month of this practice, they won't recognize either of us," she said with a determined nod. "But it's gonna be one helluva month."

"You knew?" a loud, deep voice boomed across the gym.

Whipping my head towards the commotion, I saw Marcus holding back Alicia, her bluish-black skin and silver horns gleaming in the unnatural light. She strained against him, baring her fangs at me in a ferocious grimace.

I furrowed my brow. "What are you talking about?"

"Allie, don't!" Marcus said. "The Creator's lying to pull us apart!"

"Bullshit!" she roared as she strained against his grasp. "Weeks of training, Liselle. And you never once said we'd never be able to cast magic again, selfish wench!"

"Don't even think about it," Bragda said, wielding her ax to strike. "You come near my sister, and you'll leave here with an ax in your skull."

"You can't even reach my knee, you pathetic half-wit!" She directed her fiery gaze at me. "You ruined us! I was supposed to be a Risan Healer! I was supposed to cure people! The contract was a vile lie!"

My insides turned to slush.

"Father didn't tell me, Alicia. I found out by mistake, and I thought you already knew."

"Oh, I found out. Yesterday. When Marc came back with an ice whipping."

She ripped her arms from his grip, which shocked the Hades out of me. Clearly, Fireborn women had superior strength.

Good to know.

Before I could think, Alicia grabbed my throat, picked me up, and slammed me flat on my back onto the nearby mats. She sat on my torso and squeezed my throat. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't break her hold on me.

To my surprise, though, the intimidating gesture didn't feel like choking. It felt as innocuous as someone grabbing my arm.

"Listen to me carefully," she said. "Because you used to be my friend, I'll give you a week to make this right with your dear ol' Papa."

"What?"

"Change us back into Risa and let us go peacefully, Queen Liselle, or you'll regret it."

"Do you think I want to be like this?" I cried. "If I could change us back, I would."

"If we're not free in Minningen within a month, I'll cut out your heart and feast on it in front of your sister." She squeezed tighter. "I might be a demon forever, but I refuse to fight for him."

"If you kill me, you break your Healer Oath."

"Self-defense, wench."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Bragda stalking Alicia, her ax at the ready. "You don't want to kill me."

Alicia gave me a mirthless smile, her fangs glistening in the sunlight. "Oh, but I will."

Bragda lowered her ax to Alicia's neck. "Not if I kill you first."

"Do you know what your sister did?" she roared, not moving an inch. "Liselle traded her soul for a chance to rescue you. I was her best friend, and she didn't give a flying rat ass--"

"Hey!" Bragda growled. "Enough! She might have done a stupid, idiotic, dullard thing, but she did it because she loves me. What would you do for your family, huh?"

"I'd never--"

"If you're pissed, wield your sword at the man who deserves it, not at my sister!"

Alicia raised her hand, extending five-inch long talons. "One jab and you're gone."

Bragda pressed her blade more firmly against her skin. "One slice and you're gone."

Alicia scoffed.

"This blade has the essence of diamond," Bragda said, "which can cut through Dragonborn scales and metal, much less your puny flesh."

"Give me one good reason why I should spare Liselle's life."

"I have a plan," Bragda whispered. "You can either work with us, or I can kill you now."

"You want to escape," Alicia muttered in wonder. "You've found a way to leave this place?"

"Depends on whether you kill my sister or stop acting like a fool."

Alicia held up both hands and rose to her feet. "What do you suggest, Dwarf?"

"I suggest you stop attracting the wrong kind of attention and train with us as comrades," Bragda countered. "None of us can escape from this shit-heap alone, but we can do it together."

Alicia narrowed her eyes. "Why should I trust you?"

"Your only other choice is to rot in this dung-hole and be a live weapon for that moron's army."

Alicia clenched her jaw until a tiny muscle jumped in protest.

Bragda lowered her ax. "You don't want to kill Liselle. You're desperate to escape. So are we. So we should work together rather than fighting each other."

"Last time I put my faith in Liselle, she failed me," Alicia said to Bragda with a snarl. "Why should I trust her now?"

"Then don't put your faith in her," Bragda replied. "Put your faith in me."

Alicia furrowed her brow.

"Say what you like about my kind, but Dwarves are loyal and honest to a fault," Bragda said. "I survived weeks of torture at the hands of my enemy and never faltered."

Alicia hummed in thought.

"I will put an ax through that man's head one day," Bragda said, pointing at a painting of our father. "I swear."

Alicia's expression softened, and she pursed her lips. "I can't leave Marc. My other friends are mindless fools, but his mind survived intact. I couldn't do that to him."

Bragda gave Marcus a cursory glance. He looked like a man wandering for months in the desert who'd just caught sight of a distant oasis.

"Bring him then," Bragda replied. "Liselle has a man, too. With Kaylar, that makes six of us. Not too many, but enough to defend ourselves."

"So what's the plan?"

Bragda lowered her voice. "The Creator allows you to hike the volcanoes to train, right?"

"I don't like where this is going..."

"So one day we go for a team training run, only we don't go back."

"Are you crazy?" Alicia whispered in a muted shout. "We don't have a map. We're going to get lost. Or caught."

"Do you have a better idea?" Bragda retorted. "Liselle and I have done training runs up those mountains for the past two weeks."

"We just need to scale the cliffs to reach the far end of the range," I said.

"And then we're home," Marcus said, his voice betraying his wonder.

"You can't be serious, Marc!" Alicia said with a frustrated snarl.

"I'm in. I don't care if I die trying to escape. I'm not fighting for him."

With an ominous creak and a deafening slam, the door to the gymnasium closed.

None of us dared to breathe. Had someone heard us?

A deep snarl reverberated in the dark. The Fireborn's eyes glittered in anger as he approached, and his familiar voice echoed in the hall.

"You really shouldn't discuss secret plans out in the open."