Gnewt's Arc

Chapter 1 of 14

Gnewt slid between the crowd's legs, her tongue flicking at the air. The taste told her everything — anger, fear, and Croaker's sweat-soaked certainty as he stood before the gathering. She had arrived too late to stop his speech. The elders sat in a half-circle behind him, silent as stones, while Croaker spun his lies about Stryker's betrayal. Croaker held up a mud-caked banner, its fabric torn and stained. "Found this at the western dock," he said. "Right where Stryker abandoned the gem after she killed the beast." The crowd pressed closer. Gnewt's muscles coiled tight. She knew that banner had never been near the dock. Croaker had planted it there himself. But the villagers believed him, their scales bristling with rage. Behind the bamboo jail's thick stalks, Stryker sat bound and silent, her eyes scanning the crowd until they found Gnewt's. Gnewt pushed forward through the forest of legs and tails. She had to reach the elders before they gave the order. Before Croaker's lies became Stryker's death sentence. But the crowd shifted, blocking her path, and one of the elders stood. His voice cut through the noise like a blade. "The judgment is made. Stryker will remain here until she tells us where the gem is hidden." Gnewt's pouch tightened against her body. The elders didn't want the truth. They wanted Stryker gone, just like the others who had asked too many questions. Time had just run out.