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.

Some called these 'wild dragons' though Arthur never liked the description. There was nothing wild about them.

“Valentina wishes to see the Legendary pair at once,” the red 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 versus 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. This red was new.

“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, *sir*?” Athena said, pointedly.

It was a tacit reminder that he was in charge of the class even though he was as green as everyone else.

Arthur paused and swept his gaze over the rest of the waiting riders and dragons. 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, Tofu, 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 dragon not have a rider at all?

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. Fire. Heat. Occasionally plasma. 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 ask 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 and his tail squeezed possessively around his neck.

"Brix, let me breathe--"

Then, without warning, Arthur was wrapped in velvet darkness. But it wasn’t as if he were looking at a moonless night at midnight, or being dropped in a torchless cave. 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 the entrance to Valentina’s dwelling. 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:

hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds.