Fraser stood a little taller and flashed a grin. "That's Gregor. Come on."
She kept up with Fraser's pace. "Who?"
"Dr. Gregor Innes. He was Lochguard's head doctor until he mated a female dragon-shifter on Stonefire. But that code is something Clan Lochguard developed for emergencies. It's brilliant because it's nonsense to anyone else, but it spells out words to me."
"Tell me it's good news."
He nodded. "It's basically a call out for any Lochguard participants to go to the third meeting room, the one we haven't seen yet. We should find at least one doctor there."
A small sliver of hope filled her heart. "We need to hurry then, so Dr. Innes can help Asher. And while I'm not grateful, what about the others not from Scotland? Will they just be left to fend on their own?"
Honoria was thinking of the teenage girl who had tested her earlier. Her accent had marked her as Welsh.
Fraser started to run. She kept pace as he answered, "Of course not, that's ridiculous. Each clan in the UK has their own code. Well, it seems except for Skyhunter. I'm sure everyone takes a turn from the respective clans, letting people know where to go."
"Having a universal one would be easier."
"Aye, maybe now. But keep in mind, we all were enemies not that long ago."
She didn't think Fraser was intentionally taking a stab at Skyhunter, but it still stung.
Her dragon spoke up. But no longer. The others will come along soon enough.
I wish I could say yes, but given the chaos of this test, the DDA could still decide Skyhunter isn't stable enough and disband us.
Then we'll fight it. Skyhunter is worth saving. It's home again.
Fraser rounded a corner and then skidded to a halt in front of a large metal door with signs of rust. He tapped out something on the door, someone tapped back, and he did it again, too. While the exchange couldn't have taken more than thirty seconds, each tap made Honoria more impatient. Asher could be dying, and the doctor who could help him was busy doing some complicated code.
Honoria's temper didn't flare often, but it threatened to do so.
However, the door finally opened to reveal a tall man about forty, with blond hair. He spoke with a Scottish accent, "Fraser." He looked over. "And Honoria. I'm Dr. Innes. Where's your partner?"
She didn't waste a second. "Asher was injured and fell unconscious. Please, you need to come back with us and help him. He might be dying."
A younger female with short, dark hair stepped next to Dr. Innes. She spoke with a Northern English accent. "No one is going without me. I'm Brenna. We can do longer introductions later, but I'm a Protector."
Her dragon perked up at that. A female Protector. They do exist.
Of course they do. Hush.
"Fine, the whole bloody room can come, if that's what it takes." She threaded dominance into her voice. "But let's go. Now. I won't have Asher die because a few people decided that chitchat was more important."
Brenna smiled and moved into the tunnel, in front of them all. "I
like you already. Come on, I know where all the rooms are along this tunnel and will make sure it's still safe."
Honoria started running, hoping the doctor would keep up. She couldn't help but spit out to Brenna, "Why are you all bloody hiding in that room? Surely you know part of the tunnel collapsed and we needed your help."
Brenna didn't miss a beat. "The cameras were disabled and we had to manually go through the rooms. Most of the Protectors are busy keeping one of the rule-breaking males under their watch. I couldn't leave the others unless there was a known emergency. We didn't think so many Protectors were necessary."
"I think there were a lot of screw-ups regarding this whole thing." She told Brenna about Shane, the fight, and shifting inside the tunnel before asking, "Who thought using abandoned tunnels would be a good idea?"
Brenna shook her head. "There was no way to know some stupid bloody dragonman would be idiotic enough to shift inside a tunnel. If someone made it this far in the trials and was that insane, then that's on the others testing you lot."
"But aren't you from Stonefire, too?"
"Sort of. I belong to Stonefire, but my mate is the brother of Clan Glenlough's leader. I sometimes work for both of them, depending on need."