Chapter 33: Flight and Farewell to Douglass
Ren snatches Hannah mid‑scream and flings her onto his broad back—hard, like a sack of potatoes slung over a workhorse's haunches.
Her hands scrabble for purchase on his rough, warm hide, nails digging in as she wails wild and unhinged, legs kicking at thin air.
Below them, pirates freeze mid‑swing, their cutlasses clattering to the ground; knights of the Bennington household stand rigid, eyes bulging and jaws slack, stunned silent by the sight of a dragon bearing their missing lady aloft.
"EVERYONE—GET OUT! ADVENTURERS AND KNIGHTS HAVE COME TO SAVE US!" Hannah bellows, her voice cracking over the chaos, and it's enough to break the spell.
A roar goes up from the hostages—kids scrambling from crates, women clutching one another, young men prying loose splintered cage bars—all of them stampeding toward the light of the cove's mouth, their cries of fear blending with hope.
