The rush of soldiers swarmed in like buzzards on fresh carrion. The blade was inches away from his face as someone pulled the assailant away. Thunder pounded away in his chest as he had been mere moments away from death.

The attacker was flailing their arms as they were being pulled away. Even here in the king’s castle, they were a threat. Nowhere in this country were they safe. He didn’t know how they got in, but it wouldn’t have surprised that they had not been even checking.

Lord Loratyk was the first to rush in. Pushing away from the gathered audience, he made a performative grab for Kaden’s hand. He turned it over several times to look for any wounds. Pinching and pulling out of clothing, examined the boy to see if he was okay.

“Did he hurt you?”

The surprise had not worn off on Kaden yet. “I—don’t know. Who was that?”

His fellow riders quickly joined him. Sayori pushed the Lord out of the way as she checked over Kaden herself. Reese was already on the prowl to find the serpent agent. They knew if they didn’t bind the agent’s hands, there wouldn’t be an agent much longer.

“How did one get inside the castle?” Reese asked with anger in his voice.

Lord Cronley and both of his daughters managed the crowd away from Kaden. Vixenta had a knife on her already. She must’ve hit it in her dress. Of course, one of those girls would’ve had a knife hidden away in her fashionable clothing.

Reese was gone looking for the agent who had been pulled away by soldiers. Kaden completely understood. They had to catch him to find out who gave him the orders to even be there. The audacity of the serpents to make an attack on the person who sabotaged their efforts in the capital city.

The king was nowhere to be found. They had whisked him away at the moment danger entered the ballroom. A dark pit wormed inside Kaden’s stomach. It was foolish to even attack a mage in the middle of a crowd, much less a Dragon Rider. He got the feeling that he was a distraction.

“Where is the king?”

Jumping up, he pushed all the people out of the way, following where the soldiers had gone. His fellow riderss immediately knew what he was thinking, following behind him in step. Reese was already missing. He hoped the man had shared the same thoughts.

They weren’t familiar at all with this castle. He had no idea where to go. Lord Cronley was quickly behind them, asking them what was happening. Evonne filled in the blanks and he could feel the tension rise.

“You think this was a distraction to go after the king?”

A screech echoed down the hallway, piercing their ears. Sayori scoffed and said, “we don’t think. We know.”

Reese was already leading them to a doorway. He had been closer to the sound. The crowd of mages and riders barreled down a hallway, hunting for the location of the sound. The closer they got, the more bodies they found. Soldier after soldier laid bloodied on the ground. They had escaped for safety, and may have walked into their own doom.

Kaden was having a hard time moving in the restrictive clothing they had them in. Whoever was assaulting the castle was here for one person and one person only. Everyone else was just fodder. They couldn’t take out the central city, so now they’re trying to take out the realms themselves.

It was a little too convenient. Kaden was always in the right place at the right time to thwart the house of serpents. He didn’t know if it was fate, or if this was some work of the dragon matriarch’s magic. Everyone was luckier he was involved at all.

They turned the corner, and that’s when they saw it: the queen and her illustrious dress had been the one to scream. It had been her last. There, cowering in the corner, was the king himself. Several armed men stood over top of him, about to end his life.

Reaching out with his power, Kaden try to mimic what the Ambassador had done to him and control their bodies. He had to stop them, stop them from assassinating the king of the water realm.

Their bodies moved with crooked, stiff lurches. He used his will to push them into the ground, to force them down. His companions stopped in their tracks when they saw what he had done. The assassins’ bodies fell to the ground, forced to hug the floor.

Evonne and Reese were quick to jump on them and bind their hands. Hands still visibly trembling, the king peered out behind his fingers as the riders subdued the serpents. Taking a deep breath, Kayden released as well and their bodies slacked. Like the ambassador, he was now a blood mage.

Standing over top the king, Sayori offered her hand for him to take. Kaden watched the shaking hand wrap around his partners once again. They saved very important people with a very untimely demise. He wondered what they would call this day. At this rate, he would be adding so many titles to his name when announced at such events. Even he would get bored after a while of recanting them.

Reese had torn his fancy outfit, and was using the straps of fabric to bind the hands of the assailants. Both Lord Cronley and lord Loratyk came running down the hall to join them. Kaden’s eyes fell upon Iratoi. She was smirking while shaking her head at what they had seen. Only his fellow riders and the king had seen his use of blood magic. He hoped they wouldn’t say anything.

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“Is this all of them?” Vixenta asked as she joined them out of breath.

“As far as we know,” said Reese, as he finished tying the last person’s hands.

“How did they get in here?” Lord Loratyk asked as he looked around the hall.

Reese stood up. “This is far too many men to be a small operation. Don’t let anyone leave tonight. There may be more.”

A horrid sob pulled their attention. The king was now on his hands and feet, crawling toward his dead wife. The wails of mourning. His hands were covered in blood, soaking the silk that had been so prized only hours before. That thundering of footfalls echoed down the hall as more soldiers arrived.

A general moved in to try to pick up the King, but Lord Cronley merely held his hand out, forcing the man to stop. The small crowd stared at their king, rocking his dead wife on the hallway floor. Reese motioned the general over with a nod of his head. Side stepping around the scene, the general and a few of his men moved in to grab the serpents.

In a quiet voice, Kaden leaned to the general and said, “Bind their hands or you will not have prisoners for very long.”

He nodded and instructed his men to do as told. The four dragon riders helped them lift the few serpents agents they had captured and lead them away from the scene. Kaden knew he needed space from the scene. He didn’t know the king well but, losing someone you were so close with could be nothing but horrible.

Reese pulled him to the side as a flurry of people and soldiers passed by. “You used blood magic.”

His head hung. “I did.”

“Are you okay?”

Swallowing hard, he said, “The king is alive.”

“But are you” — his hand touched Kaden’s shoulder — “going to be okay?”

He didn’t know. The power he had just wielded was unnatural, it was grotesque. Looking down at his own hands, he saw them slightly trembling. When the ambassador attempted to force him down, he had stood back up. He had fought back the blood magic. Today he had used it himself. The power to stop a person in their tracks and force them to do whatever he pleased was terrifying… and enticing.

A hand grabbed his elbow and pulled him down the hall. Lord Loratyk was pulling him away from the group. “You happen to find yourself saving everyone of importance, young rider.”

“Right place at the right time, I suppose.” Kaden pulled his arm out of the lord’s grasp and stopped in his tracks. He didn’t know where he wanted to lead him but, it wasn’t the time to be running off.

“These events, these serpents, these rune traps. It all seems to follow you. I’m beginning to think you’re not who you say you are.”

Kaden crossed his arms and gave him a blank stare as his companions came up behind him.

“You think I am strong enough to convince not one, but multiple matriarchs that I’m something I’m not?”

Loratyk furrowed his eyebrows. “Why did they attack you in the ballroom?”

Reese put his elbow on Kaden’s shoulder and leaned. “A distraction, clearly.”

“How did you stop them so quickly? We weren’t that far behind yet, you had them all subdued before we got there.”

Sayori leaned her weight on one hip as she crossed her own arms. “Skill.”

Evonne crossed her hands and leaned forward before saying, “We’re not the champions of the Night of Fallen Wings for no reason, my lord.”

Kaden couldn’t help but smirk from his companions’ behavior. Before, when he had met Lord Loratyk, he had no advantage, no position to challenge him from. Iratoi had only just shown him what it was like to have water magic. They had only just found the second rune trap. All he was trying to do before was keep his head down.

Now, though, now the man had far less over him. He couldn’t sway anyone as just a water nation peasant. Things had changed, though. He was not only a water mage; he was a dragon rider, a champion of the white citadel, and, what Lord Loratyk didn’t know, the voice of the dragons. He had only been granted the power of magic for a few weeks and he had done more than most would ever accomplish in their lifetime. The Lord wasn’t handling this well.

“Rychus,” Lord Cronley said behind them. “We are needed with the king.”

Loratyk squinted at them all and pushed his way through them, rejoining Lord Cronley. The four of them watched them walk away, silent. Sayori let out a laugh and said, “I can’t take you three anywhere.”

They all snickered before stifling their laughs as more people came running down the hall. Iratoi was walking up to them and the others got more rigid at her entrance. He reassured them as she neared.

“We are to advise the soldiers to keep everyone in the ballroom. They don’t want anyone to leave in case there are more hiding within. This includes the servants. Do not say anything about the queen. We don’t want that out just yet.”

“So, what do you want us to do?” Asked Reese.

She hummed. “I don’t know. We just…”

“Gotta keep the peace.”

They didn’t have a moment to breathe as the building shook. A roar echoed out. And then another. Dragons.

The four of them looked at each other. Iratoi squinched up her face, groaned, and said, “Zuma? You have got to be kidding me.”

He gave a sheepish grin. He could feel their presence and that presence was not happy. It was full of rage, anger, and pain. He shrugged and, with a jolt, he sprinted off in another direction, his companions behind him.

Shouting behind him, he heard her say, “Try not to destroy the castle!”

Reese was ripping off the layers as he ran. They were constricting and tight. Kaden took a page out of his book and did the same. Sayori was tying her dress through her legs to give her legs more room to move.

“Do you feel yours?” Kaden shouted.

“Howling and in pain.” Yelled Sayori as they sprinted down halls and through doors.

“Beelin is panicked. I don’t know what is happening. They were just so happy at the stables.”

Pushing through people as they ran, Evonne said, “Jerri has been sending me mixed feelings all evening. I thought it may have felt my anxiety about everything. I hadn’t been paying attention when they attacked.”

Sliding into two large double doors, they slammed all their weight into the door, busting it open. The large landing pad was shaking as the dragons were falling into it. Several blue dragons were there as well, howling out in anger.

“Why are they here and not at the stables?” Kaden yelled as they ran toward their dragons.

A rush of wind and rain hit them with force, throwing them all off their feet. The wind was forced out of him as his chest hit the ground hard. Gasping for breath, he could feel his companions rolling around him, trying to gain their own footing.

Zuma landed in front of them as another wave of mist and fog came barreling toward them. They let out a roar as Kaden could feel the heat hitting them. Their wings, their power, kept the main brunt of it from scalding them alive.

They weren’t being attacked by serpents. They were being attacked by other dragons.