The Dragon Liberator: Escapee

POV: Thea

The mage opened one of the withering curtains in her house just a sliver and peered out. Her eyes narrowed.

Oliver, who volunteered to help her bring the last few spells in her inventory back to the Hazy Woods, ran up to the window. He lifted the bottom of the curtain. “What are you looking for?”

Thea’s eyes searched the streets and run-down houses of Sharpdagger. “I’m playing a game called ‘spot the stalker.’”

“Oh. How do you play?” Oliver smiled up at Thea.

“You look for that pink-eyed weirdo from Wing’s Caress, and then you play ‘keep away’ with him.” Thea sighed after seeing nothing.

Oliver backed away from the window. “…You sound…angry.”

Dang it!

Thea calmed herself with a deep breath. “No, Oliver, it’s okay. I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t here, and he isn’t. So, that’s a very, very good thing.”

“Are you scared of him?” Oliver’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“I—” Thea clenched her teeth.

Oliver seemed to cower from the window, toward the center of the room. “Should I be scared of him?”

“I…I just want you to be safe. Some mages choose to create spells that are dangerous, and they can get hurt. Raaldin is one of them, and even though he knows his magic hurts other people, he still uses it.” Thea crouched in front of Oliver and gripped his shoulders. “I don’t know if you’re a mage yet, but if you are, I want you to stay safe.”

The boy’s face was troubled. “But what if my magic hurts other people like his does?”

Thea shook her head. “As long as you follow the rules, everything will be okay.”

“There’s rules?” Oliver’s shoulders slumped.

Laughing, Thea stood. “Everything has rules, Oliver. And don’t worry. For now we only have one rule.” She held up an index finger. “Until you’re experienced enough to do magic on your own, you will never ever create a spell without my help.”

Oliver nodded with exuberance. “But, that’s only if I’m a mage.”

Thea sighed. She gave him a curious look. “I’m positive you are one, we just don’t know what kind of magic you can do yet. That’s just a mystery we’ll have to solve after we set up the shop in the Hazy Woods.”

The boy’s eyes brightened. “We?”

“Well, do you want to live with me? Because if you don’t want to my feelings won’t be hurt.” Thea smiled.

Liar.

“I want to be your appletence!”

Thea blinked. “My apprentice, you mean?”

“Mhm!” Oliver nodded again.

“Great.” The mage moved to the shelf set up in the room where only a few vials were left housing it. She stuffed them into her dress pockets and took a look around at her now empty house.

Now I can move out of this dump and still get business.

“You know what? I bet with a few years of practice you’ll be a better mage than me.” Thea grabbed Oliver’s hand and walked to the door, hanging on by one hinge.

“Really?” Oliver had a skip in his step.

Thea opened the door and let it shut by itself, the wood creaking as it swung. “Oh yeah. I didn’t start learning as early as you, so you’ll have a lot of time to improve.”

Tied to a post was a draft horse latched to a tarp-covered cart. Thea moved all the vials to the cart, where several of her belongings and other spells were already stored.

“Thea! What a surprise!”

With a shudder, Thea stopped dead in her tracks. A headache assaulted her. She glanced down to see Oliver’s face contorting in discomfort as well. “Raaldin.”

“You must travel a lot nowadays, hm?” Raaldin stepped out from a shadow in Thea’s peripheral vision. He tilted his head a bit. “Would you like to enlighten an old friend?”

Thea gave an unconvincing laugh. “You know how I like my private life to be secret. We should be going now.” She squeezed Oliver’s hand and helped him into the seat at the head of the cart. Then she seated herself next to him.

Raaldin matched the horse’s pace. His eyes surveyed the two. Suddenly, he looked behind at the wide cobblestone street that ran through the whole city. “Oh my. Something must have happened at the palace.”

What?

Horse hooves clopped on the stones where Raaldin had been looking.

Thea turned around in her seat.

Cassius and a girl who looked like him were riding on a horse toward them. The prince’s eyes lit up. “Thea!”

“Uh…” Thea studied the approaching riders.

“Are you leaving the city?” Cassius looked about as if he expected someone to be listening.

“Yeah, why?” Thea sat normally once the prince’s horse was alongside her.

With a blush, Cassius lowered his head. “Can we hide in your cart? Zoricus—” he eyed Oliver “—did something…bad.”

Thea sucked air in between her teeth. “Get in. We were just on our way to the Hazy Woods.”

Cassius dismounted his horse and helped the frightened girl down. “Is Fendrel there?”

“Everyone else is.” Thea nodded.

“Thank you.” Cassius’ voice was barely audible. “Oh, sorry. I’m being rude. This is my sister, Sadie.”

Thea waved at the girl, who offered a noncommittal greeting as she climbed, wide-eyed under the tarp in the cart.

Once Cassius had boarded, Thea urged the draft horse to move faster.

Looking over her shoulder every now and then, Thea realized she hadn’t seen nor heard Raaldin’s departure after the prince’s arrival.

<~><~><~>

POV: Fendrel

It was starting to get dark.

Fendrel sat with his back against a tree trunk. He leaned his head against it. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

“Of course.” Venom was smiling wide. “You did a lot better than I expected you to.”

Nodding, Fendrel noted the small creek in front of them and walked to it. He took the scarf from his fight in the Sharpdagger palace and did his best to scrub the blood out of it. “Do you think Fragrance meant what he said?”

Venom laid next to Fendrel. “I do not know. He has never been put in his place before. That may have just been an overreaction but judging by how many dragons saw what happened I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to claim the floral tribe as his own rather than belonging to the kingdom.”

Fendrel wrung the scarf out and stuck it under his shirt, directly on one of his punctured shoulders. “I thought the tribe did belong to him?”

The dusk dragon shook his head. “The tribes used to belong to their individual nobles before the first monarch united us all under one rule, but now the citizens serve the royal family first and their tribal nobility second. At least, they’re supposed to.”

“I see.” Fendrel cleaned his other shoulder with the scarf, then washed it in the creek.

After a few moments, the clomping of horse hooves and the rumble of a glass-filled cart came through the forest.

Fendrel stiffened and peered through the trees, standing up.

Is that a merchant? Why are they moving so fast?

Venom rose as well, sniffing the air.

Is that…?

“Thea?” Fendrel ran to try and catch the mage’s attention, waving the wet scarf.

Oliver, next to Thea, waved back while the mage herself pulled on the horse’s reins to halt it.

“You two were in a hurry.” Fendrel grinned.

The tarp over the cart rustled and Cassius stumbled out. Behind him, the princess peered over.

“What are you doing here?” Fendrel took note of the twins’ states.

Cassius limped toward Fendrel. Dried blood caked his ankle. “Zoricus just tried to kill me!”

Thea clapped her hands over Oliver’s ears.

Fendrel caught Cassius by the arm just as the prince was about to fall. “Wait, I thought your father disowned him. How did he get to you?”

“Zoricus must have had friends sneak him back in. I think the guards posted outside my room were in on it, because they didn’t try to stop him.” Cassius held his injured foot off the ground. “And he was trying to take Sadie.”

The princess stayed in the cart. Her eyes never left Venom.

“Cassius, calm down.” Fendrel grabbed the prince’s shoulders. “Start over.”

Cassius took a deep breath. “My father just passed, and I think Zoricus was trying to get rid of me so he could take the crown for himself, and I don’t know who’s on his side or if I even have people on my side so we came here looking for you, and I don’t know if you can help, but I just really, really need someone right now.” He took another gasping breath. “He kept trying to convince Sadie to leave with him, like it wasn’t safe at the palace.”

…Oh no…

Fendrel felt cold all over.

Zoricus was working for Sadon, and they were planning something that involved killing Cassius. Was Sadon trying to get Zoricus to be the king?

“I just don’t know what to think anymore.” Cassius was shaking.

Venom growled. His spines bristled and he bared his teeth. He was looking somewhere off in the forest.

“What is it?” Fendrel turned to the dusk dragon.

“There’s…” Venom sniffed the air. His ears flicked back. “I smell smoke.”

“It doesn’t smell very big, but we should still go, just in case.” Venom crouched.

Fendrel stuffed the scarf, still a little damp, into his bag and cautiously pulled himself onto Venom’s shoulders. He looked at Thea. “Can you take them to the others?”

Thea nodded. She took her hands away from Oliver and waited for the royals to board before moving the horse into a trot.

Venom flew low until he found a break in the tree canopy large enough to fly through.

There wasn’t any visible smoke, just the undersides of sunset-painted clouds.

Fendrel looked down as Venom neared the tree line.

A group of horsemen with torches rode away from the Hazy Woods.

Venom growled. He swooped a bit lower.

Fendrel squinted. He noticed each horseman had dragon teeth sown to their shoulder guards, swaying with each gallop of the horses.

“Dragon hunters.” Fendrel gripped the spines on Venom’s neck tighter.

The dusk dragon backed away. “We should send someone to watch them.” He turned and flew back to the center of the forest where the cliffs stood.

As they neared, Fendrel saw Charles and the nobles who had kept away from Fragrance were by the palace’s opening.

Venom landed on the platform and waited for the humans to dismount before approaching the other nobles. With a slight nod to his side, Venom eyed the spark and air nobles, who approached with attentiveness. He kept his voice low. “I will compensate you with whatever you wish if the two of you follow the horsemen riding away from the Hazy Woods and observe them for a while.”

The air noble bowed his head. “I do not need compensation. Your faith in my abilities is enough payment.”

Following the air dragon’s lead, the spark noble nodded. “We will do our best, sir.”

Venom grinned. “Thank you both. Please report to me when you’re finished, I don’t want to worry His Majesty if something is amiss.” With a wave of his wing, the other two nobles took off.

Fendrel watched them leave. “What do we do about Cassius and his sister?”

The dusk dragon peered over the Meeting Cliff’s edge. “We need to learn what happened to them after he has calmed down.”

Nodding, Fendrel climbed onto Venom’s shoulders. “We’ll bring them to my room.”

“What’s going on?” Charles came up beside the two.

“Cassius is here.” Fendrel tried to keep his face calm.

Charles raised his eyebrows. “Can I join you?”

“Yes, let’s hurry.” Venom took off once Charles was seated.

<~><~><~>

Cassius sat wrapped in one of the bear furs in the cave Fendrel and Charles shared. Beside him was the princess. A blank look was in her eyes as she stared at the ground.

Venom, Fendrel, and Charles were crowded on the other side of the front room.

Fendrel cleared his throat. “You said Zoricus tried to kill you…”

Cassius nodded and took a shaky breath. “He tried to get me while I was sleeping, but we managed to escape.”

“And he was trying to get Sadie to leave?”

“I don’t know why.” Cassius pulled the fur tighter around himself. “It was like he didn’t want her to be in the palace, but he wanted to stay with her…Do you think you know Zoricus’ plan?”

Fendrel tapped his fingers on his bag. “As far as I know, Zoricus’ plan is the same as Sadon’s. Back at the Stronghold, Sadon promised he wouldn’t hurt Sadie as long as Zoricus followed his orders. Maybe Zoricus didn’t trust him, or maybe getting her out of the palace was part of keeping her safe.”

Cassius became pale.

“I still don’t really understand Sadon’s plot, though. I don’t know why he’s abandoning bases, but I can guess he has Zoricus under his thumb so he can keep hunting dragons without hiding from the law.” Fendrel glanced at Charles, who made a thoughtful noise.

“Sadon was probably afraid you would reinforce your father’s laws, so he wanted someone in power who agreed with him.” Charles leaned forward a bit. “Right?”

“Maybe.” Cassius sighed. “This is bad.”

“Oh, was that why they needed Mist?” Charles nudged Fendrel’s shoulder. “Sadon probably wanted to cause a distraction, Cassius’ wedding, so he could take over while the king’s loyal guards were busy guarding the ceremony. That’s why he’s working with Zoricus! So he could infiltrate from the inside while everyone was distracted.”

Venom cocked his head to the side. “But why would they take Mist?”

Charles shrugged. “The Hazy Woods is close to Sharpdagger and capturing vapor dragons tends not to be much of a challenge.”

The dusk dragon snorted. “Well, Mist didn’t make it easy for them.”

Cassius seemed to be calming down. “What do you mean?”

“She managed to evade them until they caught her in Stone Edge, at least that’s where her blood trail stopped when Fog and I searched for her.” Fendrel leaned toward Cassius. “But besides that, do you have a plan?”

“Do I—” Cassius stared at Fendrel for a few moments. “Do I look like I have a plan? I can’t fight. I doubt many of my subjects are loyal to me. Zoricus has the public wrapped around his finger. How could this work out for me in any way?”

“You’re right…I’m sorry.” Fendrel nodded. “But, remember all those servants who witnessed the trial? Won’t they stand up to Zoricus?”

Cassius scoffed. “Not if they want to stay out of the dungeons and keep their reputations.”

So they’ll just be living in fear of losing their livelihoods as long as they have to serve Zoricus.

Venom stood, though he was hunched over to avoid hitting his head. He made his way out the vine-door. “I need to check in with a few dragons.”

Fendrel squinted at the dragon. He followed him out and kept his voice low. “Do you think those horsemen have something to do with what happened tonight?”

The dusk dragon sighed. “I do. Do not be reckless, no matter what happens.” He spread his wings and took off.