All The Skills

Brixaby curled his neck around to stare at Arthur. There was shock in his gaze, but also a challenge.

When Griff and Squish were far enough so they couldn’t hear him, he spoke. “These are supposedly the best Purples in the hive?”

Arthur shook his head. “I think you missed the point, buddy.”

Griff’s words disturbed him, but he knew better than to take it at face value. Even though it fit disturbingly well into what he had seen of the Commons. Something was rotten at Blood Moon hive. But his ‘warning’ could also be a ploy to shake up the new ranker.

Though in his heart of hearts… he doubted it.

“Let’s fly,” Arthur said grimly.

Eager to prove himself, Brixaby buzzed upward so fast that Arthur was pressed backward into one of his sharp ridges. Thankfully, his dragon riding skill and pure experience riding his dragon helped him keep his seat.

And a good thing, too. He could tell Brixaby was using his fast sprint skill because they were soon almost caught up with Squish.

Moments later, Brixaby was nearly tossed in the backwash of the other dragon’s wind stream and had to twist to get out of the way. Like every other purple, Squish had four wings, but the air that spilled from them was unusually turbulent. He didn’t just buzz through the air — he barreled through it like a dragon several time his size.

Arthur yelled out in surprise as Brixaby was flung up and to the side. His dragon righted himself before he tumbled over, and, with another burst of speed, came even with the other purple. It wasn’t just the backwash.

Arthur’s immediate outrage died as he looked closer at the other flying pair. They had not even glanced backward at Arthur and Brixaby — hadn’t realized they’d been that close behind them. The droning sound of his wings was several times louder than Brixaby’s, too. And…

“There’s something wrong with the way he’s flying, isn’t there?” Arthur frowned, studying Squish, whose mouth was already agape as he took in air even though they were only halfway to the portal.

He works too hard, Brixaby said into his mind. He doesn’t fly through the air. He fights with it.

To Arthur’s eye, Squish’s wings were a blur, just like every other purple. But he would take Brixaby’s word for it.

Then he was forced to tighten his grip as Brixaby moved ahead to catch up with a few Commons. He blasted past them, Arthur thought, just to show he could. The Commons called out cheerfully as Brixaby showed them his tail.

A moment later, they entered the wide portal. This was a high quality one, and not simply a rip in the sky like Wolf Moon usually managed. It was akin to entering a picture frame that led to another place. An instant transition from one landscape to another without the least turbulence.

They broke into the morning sun.

Looking around, Arthur saw with relief that this eruption was rural. They were above a temperate forest without a city in sight, though the small farms dotting the landscape here and there were about to have a very bad day.

All around, more portals from the kingdom’s eleven other hives were opening to spill out dragons. Even with the wait to gather everyone up, Blood Moon had been one of the first on the scene.

The eruption cone lay ahead, visible rising just above the trees and spilling out scourglings by the second.

The Blood Moon purples arrowed straight for the farms. These were marked by chimneys spilling a bit of smoke in the air or by breaks in the forest land where people had carved out some pasture.

The purples descended and scooped up, not just people, but everything in sight. One Uncommon Purple swooped to grab up the sheep so fast they had barely time to bleat in surprise. Another rider dismounted his dragon to unhook plow horses from the hastily abandoned machinery. The farmer was nowhere in sight — probably ran for his life when the eruption shakes started.

The horses, who were beyond panicked, screamed and ran off the moment they were free. The rider and dragon took the plow.

Arthur saw one small Purple frantically chasing chickens that eluded every grasp. It was utter madness.

Arthur would have liked to swoop in and ensure the farm was properly evacuated. It seemed they were more focused on the goods than the people. But, as he didn’t see anyone running for their lives, he had to let it go for a moment.

The scramble to collect from the doomed farms had drawn the attention of all the purples – including the Commons who had been hovering wistfully around Brixaby to get his attention.

Now no one was looking their way.

“It’s time, Brix,” Arthur said.

Immediately, Brixaby folded his wings and dove as if he had spotted something. The moment they were under the canopy, Brixaby halted in place and twisted entirely around in a way only a Purple could manage. They watched above for a few moments to make sure no one was following.

They weren’t.

Though… Arthur couldn’t discount any card power that could see through a thick roof of leaves or track them. But there was nothing they could do about that.

“Make this quick,” he said.

Brixaby snarled. “Don’t treat me like one of those dumb Commons. I am better than them in every way. I already knew what to do.”

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Arthur patted his neck in apology. Brixaby’s ego might need a little extra soothing during all of this.

His dragon relaxed a twinge and swiftly cast the ferryman portal. Almost before the space was open, he dove through it. The portal snapped shut behind them.

As usual, the ferryman waited at the rowboat. Once Brixaby and Arthur were aboard, the ferryman pushed off the dock with his pole. Then he turned to Arthur and, in a rattling voice, asked, “You seem troubled.”

“I am,” he said and left it at that.

But as the nightmarish figures twined through the sky above, his mind turned over what was bothering him: The naked fear of the Common rider, the fact that had been less of an evacuation of the farm and more of a pillaging… and of course what Griff had implied of the purples.

When I get back, I can make sure everyone got out of the farms, he told himself. But there’s nothing I can do about the rest. Not until I know more.

He already knew this was going to be a difficult, even dangerous, problem. Everyone in his retinue did, and they still wanted to come along.

Now, with the eruption happening, it was the perfect moment to slip in.

Ready or not, it was time to bring his retinue to Blood Moon hive.

****

Arthur and Brixaby erupted from the ferryman portal to the yard behind the barn in New Houston.

It was just coming onto evening in that land, and the humidity was so stifling it felt like being slapped in the face with a warm rag.

Arthur would not miss that.

The back door flew open, and Soledad ran out. She looked haggard and so openly relieved to see him it took him momentarily aback.

His shock turned into alarm as she continued to run to him, and he feared she was about to throw her arms around him in a hug. Thankfully, she stopped just short.

The words spilled from her in a rush. “Arthur, I was so worried! I did what you said—you can ask the others if you don’t believe me. Me and that dragon of yours didn’t get ambushed or approached or anything, but we heard the eruption alarms. Brixaby followed me through the portal at first. I didn’t think he would. But then he went straight back, and no one could stop him!” She paused for a moment to scowl at Brixaby, who stared back evenly. “It wasn’t my fault he took off again!”

Internally, Arthur winced. It probably hadn’t been fair to give her a lecture on being a team player and taking her role in the retinue seriously, followed by ordering her to corral Brixaby: An almost impossible task.

“Soledad, it’s all right.” He gestured to Brixaby, who now looked smug. “He came and got me.”

“It’s a good thing he did. We were going to wait until morning to come and rescue you, ourselves,” Cressida called. She had followed Soledad out the door. So had Horatio and Marion. All had relief on their faces.

Arthur felt a little bad for leaving them hanging, but if Cressida had been truly that concerned, she could have sent one of her shadow snakes with a message for him.

He was half tempted to ask how Cressida would manage to find a portal and ‘rescue’ him from all the way around the world. But she had her arms crossed and gave every indication she wasn’t impressed with him right now. She he wisely decided not to push it.

There was a squeak of hinges from the other side of the barn as the double-doors opened. Sam and Joy came around to the backyard as well, joining them.

“What’s going on, oh great leader?” Horatio asked.

Arthur straightened. “Like Soledad said: There’s an eruption right now and the entire hive is attending. I’ve already integrated myself as one of the leaders of the… purple wing. Anyway, it’s now or never. It’s our time to sneak in.”

“Well,” Cressida said, dropping her arms. “It sounds like we have no time to lose.”

Arthur went inside the barn and was pleasantly surprised to see everyone had been hard at work. All of their belongings, including Brixaby’s furnace he used for smithing, were packed away in two piles. One for him, and one for Brixaby.

They immediately started storing everything into their Personal Spaces.

As Arthur already had quite a lot in there, it was a tight fit. He managed, though, and as he went around to touch the objects one by one to store them, he began telling everyone what he had discovered in the hive.

He half expected to be twitted at for going in alone—from the exasperated looked Cressida sent him, she wasn’t pleased—but everyone was properly horrified about what he’d seen of the Commons.

Marion stepped forward. “Go over their symptoms once again. Did the man you saw seem to be running a fever?”

“No, nothing like that. Everyone in the lower levels was drunk, and I half wondered if he was hungover too, but it was more than that. And he was so afraid…” Arthur shook his head. “I don’t think the Common riders have a very easy time there.” “Glad we’re going in as Uncommons,” Horatio muttered. Sams nodded.

Brixaby, however, had other concerns. “I do not understand how you could misread the map. It appears inside of your head. How can you misunderstand what level the card was on?”

“I didn’t misread it,” Arthur said, turning to him. “The card moved.”

“That card is not in anyone’s heart deck,” Brixaby shot back.

“Do you know that for sure?” little Equinox asked, his head cocked to the side.

“Of course I know. It is a card that belongs to my set,” Brixaby snapped at the little dragon.

“Don’t talk to him like that,” Soledad said.

Arthur held up his hand to forestall an argument. “We don’t have time for this.” His pile of needed items—not junk, thank you very much, Cressida—had grown small. Brixaby had managed to stuff the last of his objects into his Personal Space even faster.

Arthur turned to Marion. “You’re going to find a lot of patients to examine, and I’m sure you’ll find out what’s wrong with them. Brix, you’ll see what I’m talking about, too. Hopefully, that card doesn’t jump around again.”

“Cards cannot jump. They do not have legs,” he grumbled, but Arthur ignored him.

Cressida jumped in. “He’s right. We can’t stay here a moment longer than we need to—you all know that.”

Everyone else nodded with grim expressions.

Arthur straightened, looking at them all. He got the sense there was something more at play. “What happened?”

Cressida gusted a sigh. “Someone blew up a section of the south walls, and it took out a lot of homes along with it. The group that’s claiming responsibility says that unless their candidate is put in charge of city administration, they’re going to target within the city. They mentioned the hospital.”

“Things are falling apart here,” Horatio added flatly. “I guess the whole ‘reshuffling’ has finally started. And sooner or later, someone is going to remember that having dragons on your side will make a powerful statement.” He cut his eyes to the double doors, which Arthur now saw had been reinforced with steel bars.

Arthur closed his eyes, pained. A large part of him wished that they could stay.

But helping would mean not only fighting the increasingly violent groups who wanted power over this small city, but putting himself right at the top. He would have to rule here. That meant he and Brixaby would not have time to complete their sets.

And it wasn’t like the scourglings were going away. They had to get to the bottom of why the eruptions were happening with increasing frequency.

Their progress would stop moving forward, and Arthur could not allow that.

The last of the items disappeared within his Personal Space, and he turned to the others. “Time to go. Say goodbye to New Houston.”

“Not soon enough,” Horatio muttered to himself.

Arthur smiled at his grumpy friend, then noticed how Horatio extended his arm to Soledad, who took it with a smile.

“Off to a new land,” she said. As they walked out, Arthur heard her added. “I’m not certain I like what I’ve seen of it so far, but I’m willing to give it a few shakes.”

“I’m sure there are things we can find for you to like,” Horatio replied in a weird, soothing tone Arthur had never heard from him before.

He blinked and turned to Cressida, who watched the two of them with a smile.

Then, daring, he extended his own arm. She took it, beaming.

Marion rolled his eyes at them all.

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