All The Skills

That night, Arthur and Soledad sat on a large, flat rock that overlooked the outer reaches of Blood Moon Hive.

It was well-named. Positioned on the wheel of Hives that circled the middle of the kingdom, Blood Moon was about a third of the way clockwise. It was also one of the most evil-looking hives that Arthur had ever seen.

Nestled right in the middle of a mountain chain, the peaks around it were sharp enough to cut. They stood out even among the stars. There must have been smoke in the air because the full moon was positioned heavy and fat above the horizon, colored ominously yellow.

“How long do you think this will take?” Soledad asked.

Arthur glanced at Brixaby who lay off to the side, making sounds that an unwise person would call loud snores. They had all started their watch late this afternoon and now it was coming on to midnight. He depended on his dragon’s good hearing to know when the Hive was stirring to attend a scourgling eruption. So far, there had been nothing. But Arthur had the bad feeling it wouldn’t take long.

“I don’t know. Eruptions aren’t on a schedule, but they have been happening more and more.” He sighed and looked up at the stars in the sky. “And they can hit any time, night or day. We just have to wait.”

Soledad fell silent for a few long minutes, but Arthur could sense she was thinking hard about something. Finally, she spoke up. “I don’t think that your girlfriend likes me very much.”

He wasn’t sure whether to correct her on if Cressida was his girlfriend or not because he wasn’t even certain of it himself. It always seemed that they were jumping straight from one crisis to another. And between Arthur spending time leveling up his various skills, and Cressida getting used to the new cards in her deck, they had been too busy to even discuss it.

And, he admitted quietly to himself, frustrated, I don’t know how to ask.

She shrugged, uncaring. “Maybe. Girls rarely like me.”

That took him aback, and he started speaking before he could think better of it. “Well, if the common denominator is you...”

She didn’t seem to take offense and flashed him a grin. “Yeah. Might be some of that, too.”

Though she was currently speaking his native language, he still heard N’awlens twang in her words.

And he didn’t like how flippant she was being. “Are you two going to have trouble working with each other?” he asked sharply. “I don’t need everybody in the retinue to get along, but is there going to be a problem?”

“No,” she said, still too flippantly for his liking. “But you should ask her the same thing.”

Arthur scowled. “Soledad, this is serious. I don’t know what we’re going to find once we’re in that Hive.”

Now she looked at him more seriously, her eyes slightly narrowed. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Fighting scourglings is dangerous, and people get killed all the time—their dragons get killed. That’s why Sams was talking about discipline and training earlier. So you don’t send one of your card powers right into someone else’s face, instead of at a scourgling.”

“You’re worried I can’t control my powers? At least I have powers.” She swelled up. “You need my help. Equinox and I have volcanic cards, and we’re practically your only combat-based riders, other than that light dragon.” She lifted her hand to point accusingly at the moon. “And I don’t see no sun around, so we’re practically your only fighters during the night.”

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“Cressida—”

“Yeah, she has her animal friends, but she’s also mostly a shield user, and Joy needs to get up close to scratch anyone to take them down. We’re not only pure combat, we can scorch scourglings at a distance. You need us at your side.”

Arthur shook his head. “I need to make sure that personality conflicts will not get in the way.” Inside, he was glad to see that Soledad was more than on board. In fact, she was passionate about staying in his retinue. “There’s another reason I wanted you to come with me today,” he said, abruptly.

“Oh?”

She seemed both a little taken aback and suddenly wary, but he wasn’t sure why, so he plowed on. “Everything I’ve heard about Blood Moon Hive is that they’re ruthless. But also, I can imagine they’re going to take rank seriously. You do a lot of poking at the rest of the retinue, Soledad, and other than your thing with Cressida, that’s fine. We all tease each other. But this place,” he gestured with his chin at the hive, which was now bracketed ominously with the full yellow moon behind it, “will possibly be a cruel place to live. You’re going in as an Uncommon, and I don’t think you will be allowed any slack without being slapped down for it, maybe physically.”

That seemed to take her aback, and he let her sit with the realization for a moment before he continued. “I understand you were a noble back in N’awlens, and you might not have experienced people treating you like that before. Or having to bow down to someone you don’t like or don’t agree with just because they’re a higher rank than you. It’s difficult, it’s not fun, and it’s okay if you can’t do it.”

“I’m not worried about me,” she said instantly. “I’m worried about Equinox.”

He struggled not to roll his eyes. Equinox was a surprisingly level-headed little dragon. Yes, he had his moments of temper, but equal moments of cool logic. Like his name, his personality was well balanced.

“Please, think about what I said, because if you can’t do this, I’m not kicking you from the retinue. We’ll just put you in my Personal Space and you can ride this out. It won’t even be the first time you’ve been there. Time won’t pass for you."

“You can’t do that,” she shot back. “We’re too magically heavy—”

“Yeah, it will hurt. But I’ll handle it.”

Or Brixaby will, he thought, knowing that in order to fit them in, he’d have to dump out half his inventory. That pained him because he’d gathered quite the collection for a lot of just-in-case emergencies. He didn’t let any of that show on his face, however.

“Can you do it?”

She started to answer with an immediate yes, but then stopped, bit her lip, and really thought about his words. She even turned away to give a hard, assessing look at Blood Moon Hive.

“I guess... I don’t know,” she admitted painfully. “I’ve never been in this position before. I mean, I’m not so green to hard work like you guys seem to think. I worked at the New Houston Hospital and stuff, but... You’re right. People might have been a little short, but they were glad to have me there, and no one treated me badly. Even in that stupid cart where you rescued me, where I had to take care of all the little kids... They just treated me like one of the younger adults. I don’t know what it’s like to be treated like you said, and I know I have a temper, but,” she lifted her chin, and he saw pure stubbornness in her eyes, “I would like to try.”

He nodded. “All right. Then as your retinue leader, let me give you an order. Stay put and keep guard.”

“Keep guard of what?”

He didn’t answer, and instead hopped down off the rock to go check on Brixaby. Still fast asleep.

About twenty feet off in the distance, safely hidden in the forest was the dark portal to the land of the ferryman. The mana cost wasn’t large... unless someone was actively holding the entrance open, like Brixaby was now. It was exhausting. That’s why he had dropped off almost as soon as the sun had set. Arthur had monitored the levels and thought it should be fine, but the pain of mana depletion would jerk him awake if it somehow slipped that low.

Arthur looked at Soledad. “If anyone approaches you, don’t stand your ground. I want you to wake up Brixaby and try to get him through the portal and go home. If he won’t,” he added, knowing there was a two in three chance he wouldn’t listen, “then I need you to tell the ferryman to take you back, and get help.”

Her brows furrowed. “It sounds like you’re going somewhere. What are you going to do?”

“Well, all seems quiet out in Blood Moon Hive. I think it’s a good time to look around.”

She seemed alarmed. “Alone? You don’t want to wait until your dragon’s awake?”

“Have you ever met Brixaby?” Arthur asked. “Do you think he could sneak in?”

That pulled a reluctant smile from her.

He shook his head. “I have my Acting skills and my Stealth class. I’ll be fine. So, retinue rider, are you going to follow my orders?”

It was probably a little unfair of him to ask her that, but Arthur wasn’t always a fair man.

Cressida would flat out never allow him to go alone, and had Joy to watch Brixaby. Horatio would argue with him until dawn, and Marion wouldn’t be much better—he’d keep Arthur put with logical reasons to stay.

Soledad was still the odd one out, and now no doubt felt put on the spot after their conversation. Also, she wasn’t an idiot, and she knew that this was a test.

She gave him a sloppy salute. “Aye-aye, captain.”

Arthur turned, activated his Stealth skills, and slipped into the shadows.

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