Book 3: Chapter 2: To Save People... Or Cards.
Arthur was unsurprised when a messenger dragon immediately dropped out of the sky to take him to Valentina.
Usually, the purples and some of the smaller blues acted as couriers. This time, however, it was a young red dragon big enough to carry several people but lacking a rider.
“Valentina wishes to see the Legendary pair at once,” he said with an absent nod to instructor Athena’s dragon, Brooks.
With a start, Arthur realized the newcomer red was a Rare-strength dragon, just like Brooks. It wasn’t something he could put his finger on – no markings or badges to designate a Rare vs a lower-tiered Uncommon. It was just a feeling he had been coming to identify ever since bonding with Brixaby.
Odd. Arthur thought that he recognized all the Rares in the hive by sight now, if not by name. He'd never seen this red before.
“Of course,” Arthur said and turned to Athena for the last-minute instructions.
It shouldn’t have surprised him much to find her staring at him expectantly, instead.
There was a blank moment.
“What are your orders for the class?” Athena said, pointedly.
It was a tacit reminder that he was technically in charge even though he was as green as everyone else.
Arthur paused and swept his gaze over the rest of the class. The expressions ran the entire rainbow of emotions between anticipation, anxiety, and dread for the upcoming scourge-eruptions. Then there were the two most downcast faces of all that belonged to the purple riders.
Lilac would be out for the rest of the day even if she wasn’t dealing with the aftermath of being hit by Morrice’s card power. The other purple was too small yet to be able to carry his own rider. Everyone else was now old and big enough to fly.
Arthur didn’t intend to sit this eruption out, so he wasn’t about to tell his classmates to do the same.
And there was a saying that the best part of leadership was delegation.
“Instructor Athena,” Arthur pitched his voice to carry to all surrounding him. “Please prepare the class to best help with the eruption. I’ll be meeting with Leader Valentina and will return shortly.”
“Very good, sir.” Athena saluted him, and most of the others did too.
The marked holdouts were the few he suspected were friends with Willard and Morrice.
Paying them no mind – because he was certain Athena had noticed and would be chewing them out momentarily – Arthur quickly alighted up to the red’s neck. The red dragon had a saddle already fitted, though it was an impersonal one without any markings to show that someone owned and took care of it.
Did this Rare dragon not have a rider?
That was unusual for a hive as small as Wolf Moon. Rare dragons were thin on the ground and somewhat precious.
Well, no harm in being friendly. Arthur waited until the dragon had taken off into the sky – usually the most labor-intensive moment of flight – before he spoke. “I’m Arthur and this is Brixaby. Can I have your name?”
“Shadow,” the dragon grunted, which was an unusual name for a red whose natural magic usually involved high energy of different forms. Shadow had a deep ruby red hide with no hint of orange, which usually tended to energy manipulation.
Arthur was trying to find a polite way to inquire about his card’s power and his rider – if any – when Shadow curtly spoke again.
“Brixaby, sir. You’d better hold on.”
Brixaby grumbled something under his breath – he didn’t like Arthur riding on any other dragons but couldn’t exactly carry him himself. He settled down on Arthur’s shoulder which was a tight squeeze.
Then, without warning, Arthur was wrapped in velvet darkness. But it wasn’t as if he were looking at a moonless night at midnight. There was a quality to this darkness like there were shapes just out of reach—
And in the next moment, they stood on a wide balcony Arthur recognized as Valentina’s. Due to the angle of the sun against the stony tip of the hive’s peak, this part of the balcony was in shadow.
New Counterfeit Siphon Spell
Shadow Transport
Time Remaining:
59 minutes, 59 seconds.
“Ohh, a teleport power.” Brixaby recovered before Arthur and eyed the other dragon with a bit more respect and a lot more greed. “That is quite useful. Tell me, are you in any other Legendary’s retinue?”
Arthur wanted to scold Brixaby, but he wondered the same thing.
Shadow just shrugged. “I’m not allowed.”
“Not allowed?” Brixaby asked. “Why not--?”
He was interrupted by a call from within the room beyond. “Brixaby! Arthur! Stop wasting time and attend to my rider this moment!”
That voice came from Elissa, Valentina’s dragon. Arthur’s eyebrows rose and he wondered how the giant of a dragon had fit herself in that room.
He turned back to Shadow. “Thank you for the transport.” And he flipped a purple token to a dragon. Shadow caught it out of the air and, by the puff of purple-black smoke, used his card’s power to transfer it to one of the saddle bags. Tokens like these worked as payments for the usual purple and blue couriers and their riders.
Basic food and shelter were guaranteed for all rider pairs, but those tokens and any card shards collected during scourge-eruptions could be traded for additional luxuries like better rooms and tastier food over and above the usual rations.
Though Shadow took the payment, he made no move to leave the balcony. Clearly, his orders were to stay put. Arthur exchanged a confused look with Brixaby as they walked into Valentina’s rooms.
One look inside told him that Valentina was having one of her bad days. Her blue-steel colored dragon had squeezed in, it seemed, by force of personality and the destruction of much furniture. Though Elissa was squished and puffing out unhappy clouds of fog, she was curled around Valentina who sat in a chair, her knuckles white around the top of her cane. Valentina’s wrinkled face was unusually lined – Arthur suspected it was from pain.
There were potions and card anchor spells to help with that sort of thing, but the only time he mentioned it Valentina had sharply refused. She was afraid it would slow her in battle.
Because no matter what, if Legendary support was called in, she would be required to attend.
Despite her obvious discomfort, the old woman stared up at Arthur with a challenge in her eyes.
“So, I understand your class is officially available to attend the eruption. Feeling your oats? Think you are ready?”
“We are,” Arthur said, though in reality he had no idea. “Most of the class could have technically attended the eruption the day before last, but now all of the riders except Brix and the two purples are able to ride their dragons.”
“And you think that that is enough to protect you from the scourgelings? Oh, to be young and foolish.” She snorted. “You are to be there for no more than two hours. Your dragons may be enthusiastic, but you have no stamina yet. In fact, I’d send orders to hold you back… but this is going to be a bad one.”
“Why is that?” Arthur asked. Valentina complained a lot, but unlike Whitaker, she often dropped words of wisdom.
“Because this eruption is right on the edge of Guardian City. Nowhere physically near our hive, thank my dragon’s card.” She reached with her cane to poke at Arthur’s chest. “You know why an eruption in the city is bad?”
“Other than the economic consequences and the staggering cost of life?” he asked dryly.
“Yes, if I were looking for obvious answers, boy, I’d ask an Uncommon yellow!” she snapped testily.
Arthur resisted the urge to sigh. The reminder of the loss of life was enough to remind him that every moment counted. Wanting her to get to her point, he cut to the chase, “Because scourgelings grow fastest when they feed on complex life, and especially magical life. An eruption in the middle of a field ready for harvest is much less dangerous than one in the middle of a town. The scourgeling's corruption would destroy the harvest and sterilize the land, but there won’t be many people. More people are carded within a city, too. They might consume enough pure magical power in the form of cards to raise a demi-scourgeling.”
Elissa spoke. “If that happens, you and your little dragon of yours must be prepared to fight.”
“I can fight,” Brixaby declared. “I can’t wait.”
“Then you’re a fool,” Elissa said.
Brixaby hissed – though it was under his breath. He would never say as much, but he was intimidated by the older Legendary.
Ignoring the byplay, Valentina nodded. “I’m glad you understand. Your main objective is to secure any large sources of cards and keep them away from the scourgelings. This is important, over and above rescuing civilians.”
Arthur’s breath caught.
Valentina must have noticed because she glared at him. “You understand why this is important.”
“I do,” he said.
But privately, he thought he could do both.
“Hmm.” She didn’t look like she fully believed him, but that was not his problem. Every moment of delay was a moment too many. “You are to take Shadow for this run. He’s already been told what I’ve told you.”
“What about his rider?” Arthur asked.
“Dead. So, rest assured that the dragon knows the consequences of faffing around in a scourge eruption.” The direct look she gave him said she guessed his motivations.
Arthur just looked calmly back.
“Brix and I know our duty. We’ll act with integrity and honor.” Which to him meant putting people first, cards be damned.
A deep rumbly voice spoke up from behind them. It was Shadow, who had, like his namesake, crept up in the shadows. “Pretty words from someone who hasn’t flown a scourge-eruption before.”
Brixaby bristled. “What do you mean?”
“It means to watch your tail, new Legendary. Everyone knows you two are newer than springtime lambs out in the field. Anyone who’s hoping to gain a Legendary card – or if the rumor is to be believed, two cards – will be coming for you.”
Brixaby clenched his claws. “Then they’ll get a surprise.” He sounded like he was looking forward to it. “Meet us back down at the class, Rare.” Then he rested his claws on Arthur’s shoulder.
In the next moment, Arthur was enveloped by velvet darkness only to emerge a moment in orange Brook’s long shadow. The class was still on the ground nearby, standing in formation and waiting for his return.
“Was that necessary?” Arthur asked his dragon.
“Only necessary until I copy the green portal dragon’s spell in a few minutes,” Brixaby said.
His booming voice carried, and the rest of their classmates came to attention as they noticed them.
Joyberry bounded up, her hide painfully pink in the bright sunlight. “Brix! Brix! I just got a quest to help you save a noble's card library." She wrinkled her nose. "But… I don’t understand. Are we saving cards or are we fighting scourgelings?”
Arthur answered for his dragon. “Both.”
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