They all stared at Anders, waiting for him to break his silence. If what he said was correct, then his father was the one who told them to attack dragons. It wasn’t hard to understand the plight of normal people while they stood in a castle, dripping with gold tinted everything.

Kaden only knew what life was like in his region. So far, how the mages lived was still somewhat foreign to him. He hadn’t spent enough time with them, outside of the brief stays at their towers.

“Your father taught them the dangerous runes?” Asked Kaden.

“Yes.” He looked away from them. “He told them that the only way they could make change was by taking it.”

Reese waved his hands. “So you’re telling us that the entire reason the house of servants has been able to cause such destruction is because your father told them to do so?”

“Yes.”

Vixenta let out a few curse words before slamming her fist on the table in front of them. “We searched your lands, though. We found no evidence of the serpents.”

“Of course you didn’t.” He looked back at me specifically. “When you met us on the road, we weren’t going to a party. We were getting away from a cover-up.”

“So when we discovered the rune traps and accused your father, we were right, but we’re too late?” Iratoi said with irritation.

“Exactly.” He let out a drawn-out sigh. “I didn’t know anything about the rune traps. I had found out that he was arming the serpents and confronted him over it. It seemed as if he listened to reason. Afterward, he had his men round up the serpents. I didn’t know what he was going to do with them. I learned later that he had them all killed.”

Vixenta closed her eyes and lean back in her chair. “So while you were at the temple, his men were already destroying any connection you had with them.”

“The timing worked out.” He shook his head. “Had you discovered them only a week prior, they would have found all the evidence they needed.”

“So you don’t think that you got them all?”

“I thought he killed them and hid the evidence, but now I think he just moved them.”

“He moved them to someone else’s land,” said Vixenta. “Somewhere they wouldn’t be seen. Like, I don’t know, a thick forest.” Sayori’s voice was irritated. Of course, it would be after what they did to her dragon.

Reese said, “do you think it was him who ordered this attack?”

All eyes fell on Anders again, waiting for him to speak.

“I don’t know.” He was looking at his hands again. “I want to believe that he no longer had contact with them after they left our region.”

”But part of you knows better, doesn’t it?” Sayori said. “It’s awfully convenient that all those he deemed a threat were in one place and if he helped them, he would have a perfect alibi if things went wrong.”

Anders’ head fell into his hands and they heard a light sob. “I had a feeling he was being suspicious. On our way here. I wanted to tell you, warn you, Kaden, before anything happened.”

“But things happened before we were able to talk…” said Kaden as it all connected for him.

Iratoi let out a dramatic sigh. “Tell me you have some evidence.”

He slowly shook his head. “Nothing. I just have a feeling.”

“Well, that, and you do know that he was working with him prior,” said Reese.

Kaden let out a deep breath. Sure, they could tell someone about what Anders said, but it was just as easy to deny, considering what had happened that day. They didn’t have any direct evidence to the Lord. Without it, they couldn’t prove that he had any involvement with the servants.

Evonne sighed. “What do we do?”

“Try to get him to admit it,” Sayori suggested.

“Not a chance,” said Vixenta. “I know you all barely know the lord but I’ve had to deal with him often in my life.”

Anders and she made eye contact, and he nodded. “He won’t admit to anything. He’ll put the blame on others. We would have to get a serpent to point to him directly.”

“How’d the ambassador get involved?” Asked Reese.

Kaden’s eyes widened. They weren’t supposed to mention the ambassador. “Well, he must have been convinced by Loratyk. There’s so much we don’t know about the serpents and how they worked after they left his lands.”

“When you brought up the dragon traps, I knew my father had been doing a lot more than even I knew about. This goes much further than I had thought. After the incident at the temple, father insisted he had nothing to do with it, that he got rid of the serpents.”

“Yet they only grew in power since then.”

Evonne shook her head. “I have a feeling it was worse than just the water realm. Those weapons aren’t from here.”

Reese’s eyes rolled back to Anders. “When you met the serpents, how did they convince you to work with them?”

“Well,” he looked around sheepishly before saying, “there was a cute girl.”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

They all let out a groan in response.

“She was really cute and she actually listened to me! My father has never treated me well since the dragons never blessed me. It was nice to have someone understand me.”

“Oh he got tricked,” Sayori laughed.

Reese snickered. “They totally lured him in to get to his dad.”

“No! No. She cared about me. It was because of her that I realized how different our lives with the normal people were. I would have never realized how much more I had than others.”

“So she showed you the kindness you hadn’t received from your family.” Evonne tried to ease over their teasing.

“I was just trying to help people. I didn’t think they’d be so extreme. They hadn’t been until my father got involved!”

“You do know there are house of the serpent factions all over the realms? They have been radical the entire time. They just lulled you into something different to use you.” Sayori had introduced him to the serpents all the way back when they first met. She had known them before then. Kaden knew she was telling the truth.

“Well.” He looked as if he was on the edge of tears. “I haven’t seen her since I had confronted father over the increased harmful acts. I don’t even know if she’s alive still. You’re probably right, they probably were just using me. I want to believe it was real, but knowing my luck in life so far, it probably wasn’t.”

“Okay, well…” said Iratoi before trailing off in thought. “Maybe we can get him to admit it to Anders at least, since he was aware of the initial involvement.”

“He’ll only say it in private. How will others hear it?”

Kaden pointed to the spots Iratoi touched. “Why don’t we put our own listening runes up?”

“He’s not going to talk here. There’s too much chance that he’ll get caught. He’s smarter than that,” said Anders.

Iratoi slammed the table. “Alright, we need to get him out of the castle. He desperately wants to be seen like he’s against these people. Let’s feed off that.”

Vixenta laughed and said, “He also wants to look better than dad to the king. We should lean into that.”

“He likes you, you know?” Anders said to Kaden. “I think he believes you to be extremely naïve, so he can influence you in his favor.”

Kaden could believe that. The entire he had known the lord he was trying to get Kaden in his corner. It turned out well for him that Kaden had gone on to do such great feats. He probably hadn’t even known that Kaden had been the one to thwart the Serpent’s attack at the citadel. No one had known the ambassador had been captured. Even if they had been waiting for something from him, they may just think there was a delay due to the event. It wasn’t until they began telling people about him that anyone in the water realm would have known.

He probably assumed that the party was only to reward them for being at the battle, not that they were the direct cause of it. To his luck, he had been nice to Kaden all this time. Now that they had the title of champion and just now saved the king and everyone else, he could play off that he had always been supportive of Kaden.

Underestimating Kaden had been his mistake. They saw nativity, but the matriarchs saw a voice to uplift. It was likely that he had hoped the corrupted dragons would take out Lord Cronley as well, leaving him with even less resistance. Had they not been there, the king would have died and the corrupted dragons probably would have succeeded in taking down the battle weary Xada.

“That will be his undoing,” he said, as he felt a swell of defiance fill him. “I will lead him away. As you said, he trusts me.”

It had been a full day since the attack. He didn’t get much rest as he tossed and turned that evening. His family had managed to pull themselves together. They had heard all about what had happened. He had given them so many long embraces, thankful for their safety. His father took him aside and made him promise to take care of himself. That they were proud of him, but also terrified. He tried to assuage his father’s fears until his mother interrupted.

“Our son saved the king today! The king! We are blessed to have raised such a hero. We can ask him to stay safe all we want, Laemon, but the world needs him more than we do.”

He couldn’t help but tear up at that. They had stayed with him through the night and left at first light. This time by wagon. They didn’t want to be in such a populated area anymore, and he understood why. The farm needed them far more, and he was thankful it was so far away from everything else. If there was a war to end all wars, he hoped they would be safe out there.

The wind was blowing his hair as he stood on the landing pad, Zuma nearby. The stone had been upturned and damaged. Sayori had tried her best to make it flat again for them, but it was going to need more repairs than that if it was going to look as impressive as it had before.

The skies were clear, not a cloud left in the sky. It was still fairly early in the morning, but he could see the increased dragon patrols in the skies. They were going to be on alert for quite some time after this incident. He wouldn’t be surprised if they got a bit more militaristic like the fire nation after this. The attack will change their future.

He heard a cough, and he turned to find Lord Loratyk standing there alone. Fighting to conceal his anger, he pretended to be delighted at the man's presence, cognizant of his direct association with the people who had committed such horrid offenses. He reached his hand out to shake Loratyk’s. The lord hesitated for a moment, but leaned forward and gripped it tightly.

“I want to thank you for seeing me, my lord.” He shook his hand firmly.

He looked around, expecting to see someone else there. “I’m confused on why you summoned me?”

Kaden needed to do his best acting for the Lord. He had run through the scenario several times now in his head, but he didn’t know how well the Lord would play into it all.

Running his hands through his hair, he tried to look exasperated. “I’m worried.”

“Worried?” The Lord stepped closer and put his hand on Kaden’s shoulder. “Don’t. We Lords will handle this and find out who leads these people.”

“I interrogated one of them. Did you know that?”

The look of shock and surprise on his face gave away a hint of fear before he controlled himself. “No! I hadn’t heard. Was it one of the ones from yesterday?”

“No, it was at the citadel. They had told me that the water was tainted. I didn’t know what it meant. When the white mages ordered us to deliver the news of the attack here, it was on my mind immediately with our nation. I thought maybe it meant that someone within the king’s court was corrupted.”

He watched as Loratyk shifted his weight. “Corrupted? You mean a serpent agent? It would make sense with how they got in, I suppose.”

“I have some thoughts about it. Can I trust you, my lord?”

His face echoed relief as Kaden asked that. “Of course! I have always tried to be honest with you, son. What’s on your mind?”

“Thank you.” He said fondly as he looked back toward the castle. “You have always been helpful that I feel you’re the only one of the higher class I can trust with these thoughts.”

“That warms my heart that you think that.”

“This castle, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. You saw my family. We are a poor farming family. The king prances around her with literal gold woven into his clothing. Meanwhile, people like us, we have to balance starving over paying for our taxes.”

“It is quite ostentation. I don’t agree with how much they take from the common people.”

Kaden tried to pull himself in, to look venerable. “I don’t want to empathize with these Serpents, they killed a lot of people! They corrupted dragons! You saw!”

“I did.” He pulled Kaden into the crook of his shoulder, his arm hugging around him as they both looked to the castle. “I understand completely. Their actions, while horrible, came from a place of anger that festered due to the actions of the rich. It’s one that we can relate to.”

“I.” He tried to stutter.“I heard something, sir.”

Pulling himself back, he faced Kaden head on. “What is it?”

“I think Lord Cronley might be involved with the Serpents.”

Lord Loratyk’s eyes shimmered with delight at those words. There was a fire lit inside the man and he was going to try to manipulate the situation to his advantage.