"Something isn't right about this," Arthur muttered to Brixaby.

The little dragon sank fast, without any of the grace that the older dragons with larger wings possessed. Brixaby didn't glide; he simply buzzed downward, leveling off only when he felt like it – but not before jinking right and left to avoid other dragons passing by.

"What's wrong? We won and sent the enemy back with their tails between their legs." Brixaby blithely ignored the fact that there were several final ongoing skirmishes on the ground by Mind Singer thralls that had been forced to land. But they were being subdued by the hive dragons, and a few of the humans who had come in to help.

That was one area where the crafters excelled, especially those who had cards that dealt with textiles. More than one dragon was snarling and struggling, bound up in cloth ropes that shouldn't have been as strong as they were. Another was draped so thickly in chains that Arthur couldn’t tell if it was male or female. A third had her head sticking up out of a giant, dragon-sized roll of carpet.

It was a goofy solution. Arthur imagined the Kingdom hives would have called it undignified, but if little tricks like that kept the enemy dragons contained, Arthur couldn't fault them.

He pointed to the dragon rolled up in the giant carpet. "Let's start there."

Brixaby buzzed over in a moment and came to such an abrupt stop that Arthur was nearly thrown over his neck. At the last moment, he locked his knees and held on.

New skill level: Dragon Riding (Animal Husbandry/ Dragon Rider Class)

New level: 15