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and looked over the ridge just in time to see the soldier slide down on his back and drop over the edge head first. His scream was cut off moments later by a sickening splat that sounded like a watermelon splitting open when dropped on a stone floor.
    Caleb heard numerous shouts all around him. The noise drew everyone’s attention right to Caleb.
    Around him, soldiers pointed their rifles at him from nearby rooftops.
    Darkness engulfed the entire roof where he stood. The part of the sky above him blocked out the sun. Soldiers had already jumped over from the nearby rooftops and were approaching him from every direction. There was nowhere he could run. There was no way he could fight. He was outnumbered and outgunned.
    The only thing to do was surrender.
    Caleb held his arms high and complied with every order barked at him until he lay face down on the rooftop with his hands bound behind his back.
    Within moments, he felt the tug on the bindings around his hands that pulled him slowly up to a standing position and then kept going, lifting him off the roof. His shoulders strained to support his entire weight as he was pulled up into the waiting airship.

Chapter 5
     
    Caleb didn’t struggle when hands grabbed him and pulled him into the airship. He let the soldiers manhandle him as they untied the rope used to haul him up and then left him face down on the polished hardwood floor of the airship’s gondola.
    A deep baritone voice spoke. “What have we got here, Lieutenant?”
    “It appears a hybrid has broken out of the compound, Captain.”
    Caleb recognized the deeper voice, the one the lieutenant called Captain, as the same man who led the team that had captured him and Dorothy as soon as they came over the southern wall.
    He craned his neck to see the Captain’s face and made direct eye contact with him.
    He was right. This was the same man who had taken her. He had vowed to himself that, the next time he saw this man, he would make him suffer greatly for separating them. But he had not expected to be tied up and lying face down when that time came. Instead of doing everything he’d always dreamed of doing to this man, all he could do was stare at him.
    “Where is Dorothy?” he growled.
    The Captain looked down at his captive and frowned. “We didn’t just catch any hybrid. We caught the king of the beasts.”
    Caleb struggled against his bindings. It only resulted in a boot being placed on his back by another soldier to hold him down.
    “Where is Dorothy?” Caleb growled again.
    The Captain knelt down. “You’re like a phonograph cylinder with only one recording. Where’s Dorothy? Where’s Dorothy?”
    He tugged on Caleb’s whiskers, causing tears to well up in the corners of his eyes from the excruciating pain. “A couple of hours with me and I can teach you to say a few more human words.”
    A female voice behind the Captain interrupted him. “That’ll be enough, Captain Taylor.”
    Taylor immediately snapped to attention. “Yes ma’am.”
    The pain in his whiskers subsided and Caleb’s eyes focused on the Southern Marshal. She shook her head at him like a mother shaking her head at a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Lift him up.”
    Strong hands grabbed his bound arms from behind and brought him quickly to his feet.
    The Southern Marshal let out a sigh. “When my young wireless operator broke curfew, I followed him expecting to uncover a vast spy network operating within the confines of my territory. I did not expect to find you.”
    “I didn’t…” A soldier punched him in the stomach, cutting him off. He doubled over and coughed and sputtered, the wind knocked out of him. The other soldier yanked on his mane and brought his head back up. Caleb could smell the tang of onions on the soldier’s breath as he spoke. “The Marshal did not ask you a question. You will not speak until directed to do so.”
    The Southern Marshal’s eyes became slits while she most likely pondered