When Arthur arrived back at the pavilion, he barely recognized it. Not because it had been weeks, possibly months, since he had last seen this room, but because it had changed drastically.

It was deeper, with the ceiling now at least two stories high. The kitchen had been expanded to include grilling stations and long countertops, while the area that had been filled with multiple bunk beds had been reduced to five. Most noticeably, the stairway that had led down from the trapdoor was now widened to a ludicrous degree and featured huge shallow steps that he imagined someone would place at the foot of a palace. That was matched by an equally giant door at the top—one big enough for a dragon Sams’s size.

When the trapdoor had been the size to let in a person, it had taken him using all of his Strength attributes and Marion’s help to open it. Now it would need a pulley system to slide the cover over.

Fresh from the challenge, he knew how to rig one up.

Arthur took in all the changes in a flash. Then he heard a booming voice, “Arthur! You made it!”

In the next moment, he was enveloped by black wings and the not-unpleasant scent of dragon. Brixaby did not hug him exactly, but he leaned his head, hard, on Arthur’s shoulder.

“Of course I did,” Arthur replied, leaning against his dragon. “Did I make you wait for long?”

In the next moment, Brixaby seemed to have recovered himself. He dropped his wings, backing away. “We just arrived.” He looked Arthur up and down. “You are in one piece. Excellent. As you can see, I have brought my retinue back alive and victorious.”

Arthur glanced around, swiftly counting heads. Everybody else was busy gazing around at the changed pavilion with wonder.

“How long have we been gone?” Soledad wondered. Her forehead and nose were sunburned. “They couldn’t have done this in just a few days.”

“A few days?” Arthur said, but then he spotted Cressida.

She, too, was sporting a sunburn, and it made the freckles on her face stand out. Her red hair was awry, escaping from its usual tight rider’s bun in a halo, and she looked absolutely beautiful.

He stepped forward and caught her in a hug. “I missed you.”

She squeezed him. “You’re all right?”

He nodded, but inside, his mind flashed to all the people he had gotten to know—and who he had been—over the last few weeks in the bunker.

It was too easy to tell himself that those people had never been real . . . and on the off chance they had been, that they’d been dead for centuries. Maybe thousands of years. But they had been his reality, and he suspected it would be a while before he felt fully recentered in this world.

“I’ll be all right,” he said, squeezing her tight again.

“You should check on Brixaby,” she murmured, too quietly for the proud dragon to hear.

Releasing her, he took a closer look at his dragon and startled. He hadn’t caught it when he’d been enveloped in Brixaby’s wings, but now he easily spotted raw patches along his belly and the underside of his wings.

“Brixaby, what happened to you?”

“I fought a lava-based mega-scourgling,” Brixaby said proudly, though for some reason, he threw an annoyed glance at Soledad.

“The burns are minor,” Marion put in. “I’ve treated them with a salve. He’ll be uncomfortable for about a week, but it hasn’t stopped him from flying.”

Arthur went to check for that himself. He bent to examine the welts closer and noted the burn salve. Though he would have rather seen a bandage, they were not yet done with these challenges, and any visible bandage would be a target for any enemy to hit.

“You might lose a few scales,” Arthur allowed. When dragon scales became too damaged, they dropped off and grew back. The important thing was, the hide underneath the scales still looked undamaged. “You’ll look a little patchworked for a while. It looks like your stomach got the worst of it—that’s a good thing, as your wings don’t have scales to protect them.”

Brixaby puffed up proudly. “It was worth it. Come, you may now ooh and ah over my magnificent reward—”

Joy pointedly coughed.

To Arthur’s utter shock, Brixaby caught himself and said quickly, “Of course, my retinue helped as well.”

Arthur’s eyebrows rose. What exactly had happened in the challenge? In the next second, his attention was diverted as Brixaby pulled out two Rare cards from his Personal Space. They were impressive and scary in equal amounts.

Mind Trap

Rare

Illusion

The wielder of this card will be able to target an enemy and trap them in an illusion where they are about to gain the object of their desires. While in this state, the target will be immune to all additional magical attacks by the wielder but will be susceptible to suggestions. The target’s ability to resist or even break free is dependent on the rank of the card within their own heart and any resistance skills. Mana is required for the creation and running of the mind trap. The trap has no time limit, only a limit of mana.