Austin was welcomed by the eastern gate with suspicion and malice. There was a guard there who took one look at him and Gabriella, thrust his chin into the sky and told his commander. “We don’t let in scum.”

The commander, Sergeant Tick, knew Austin since childhood and worked under his father’s and brother’s command. He was loyal to the family and to Aldrion. Austin knew this and didn’t sweat the paltry introduction he’d received from the other guard.

“Taveck, what are you doing here?” Sergeant Tick asked.

“I’ve returned home. I need to speak to the governor. Me and my companion have some important news we need to speak to him about.” Austin nodded at Gabriella, who stood beside him in the purple cloak Melissa had borrowed once.

The sergeant shook his head and put his hands on his hips. “I’m afraid the governor won't take audiences anymore. No one else than Derek and your father are allowed to see him. I’m sure you can take up whatever news you have with your family instead.”

“Why is the governor refusing to see people?” Austin asked.

“Things have changed since you left, boy,” the sergeant said. “The war has taken a turn for the worse since the dragon was slain. I don’t think it’s my place to speak on the matter, but may I just say; I would watch my back if I were you, Sir.”

The guard beside him spit on the ground close to Austin’s feet and for a moment Austin just stared at him in disbelief. Then his eyes turned hard and wandered over to Sergeant Tick. “Have obedience also taken a turn for the worse then?”

The sergeant released his hands to his sides and let out a low chuckle. “Like I said, I’d watch my back if I were you. Not even me or your brother can keep soldiers down who believe they’ve been wronged. These are hard times and I think you will see for yourself what I mean. If you mean to stay, that is.”

Austin glanced over at Gabriella. Her jaw was set in a hard line, but she gave him a simple nod in agreement. Austin turned back to the guards. “Yes, we’re staying, and I think we might have something that can turn a tide in the war.”

Sergeant Tick let Gabriella and Austin through the gates, but before they walked off, he yelled after them. “Please don’t kill any more dragons, though. Whatever it is you’re planning. Don’t make things worse for the people who have to suffer the consequences.”

Austin felt a prickle at the back of his neck and an uneasy feeling shot through him. What had he missed? Sure, Aldrion had it hard, but at least nothing could be worse than a fire breathing beast harassing the city every night. What had happened since he’d left?

Gabriella grabbed his arm and pulled him further into the city. “I think we should listen to the sergeant. People here don’t seem too pleased to see us. Perhaps it’s better if we lay low for a while and talk to your family first.”

Austin was just about to argue with this course of action when the street around the old statue of Terri Taveck came into view. The statue was still cut in half and somehow the top half was nowhere to be found. But that wasn’t what alarmed Austin. No, it was the people lining the streets in tattered clothing and the makeshift soup kitchen placed along one of the houses that used to sell books.

Now it seemed to have been turned into a kitchen for the homeless, which were overfilling the streets. Austin grabbed Gabriella’s arm and together they drew their hoods down over their faces, shrouding their features in darkness. Perhaps Gabriella was right.

Austin pulled them into the street leading away from the eastern gates and up toward Falden and his family mansion.

#

Once inside the safety of his father’s house, Austin dropped his hand from Gabriella’s arm. He didn’t like being here with her, not when his father and his brother were the kind of people who easily made the wrong assumptions. But right now, worrying about who they thought Austin was in a relationship with wasn’t on his list of priorities. He stuffed his feelings away neatly, like he’d learnt to do when he was younger, and showed Gabriella into the mansion.

It was quiet around the house, but Austin saw that the door to his father’s study stood closed, which usually meant someone was inside. He showed Gabriella to the guest room on the second floor.

“Don’t you think it’s better if I just stay at Falden?” Gabriella asked.

Austin took a step out of the room and glanced over the threshold at Gabriella. He didn’t want to be too close to her. Why he cared so much about their proximity now but didn’t in the wasteland, he didn’t know. But the thought of his father or brother getting the wrong impression seemed to linger with him. Or perhaps it was how he’d left things with Melissa before she’d gone to Krazaa.

“It’s just for one night,” he said. “I don’t want us to go to Falden tonight. We don’t know how the war has affected the school and perhaps there won’t be a room for you there anymore.” Her eyes widened, and he hastened to add, “Or perhaps it will. I just don’t want you to go there alone. Okay?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Maybe you can try to speak to your family tonight, then?”

Austin scraped his foot against the wooden floor. He didn’t like the feelings that came up when she mentioned his family. “Yes, I’ll speak to them. I think my father is in his study. I’ll go there now. Just let me know if you need anything. My room is down the hall.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow and thanks for today.”

A small smile spread over Gabriella’s face. But Austin could see she was tired. Perhaps as tired as himself. His knees felt like they wanted to buckle, and his head throbbed with the rhythm of his heart. He wanted to lie down. He wanted to see Melissa. But he wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

Austin’s feet dragged against the floor as he made his way over toward the solid wood slab of a door that marked the entrance into his father’s study. He took in a deep breath, feeling like his feet must have made sufficient noise to tell him someone was here. He didn’t want to startle his father. That never ended well.

He brought his hand up and knocked two times at the door. Three times were for door salesmen and one for cowards, as his father used to say.

His breath exited through clenched teeth before a voice sounded through the door. “Come in.”

It wasn’t his father’s voice, and Austin hesitated. He wasn’t sure meeting Derek tonight was the right thing to do. He had been so sure it was his father who was in here today, but now that he knew he wasn’t, it made perfect sense. Perhaps he wasn’t even in the city anymore.

He heard the scraping of a chair and then steps on the other side of the door. Austin opened and came face to face with his brother. For a moment, time stood still, and Derek seemed frozen in place. His one hand reached for the doorknob that wasn’t there any longer, and the long line of his leg stretched behind him. Then his hand fell to his side and his legs caught up with each other. His expression shifted to hard, then to soft and eventually landed on happy?

Austin didn’t know the last time he’d seen Derek happy, and he immediately backed away into the hallway. His eyes widened and his hands closed into fists at his sides.

“What are you doing here?” Derek said.

“I’m…” Derek had a huge smile on his face, and Austin didn’t know if he should run or speak. “I’m back.”

“Just in time,” Derek said. “Come in. We have much to talk about.”

Derek turned and walked to the large wooden desk by the window. Bookcases adorned both sides of the room and led narrowly toward the plush chairs in front of the desk. Derek took his seat behind it and watched Austin slowly walk inside. He sat down opposite his brother and felt anything else than at ease here.

“Where is father?” Austin asked.

“He’s in the valley. Had business to attend to in Stoneheart.”

Austin knew what that meant. He’d fled the city when the war had worsened. Annoyance crept up Austin’s neck, but it was soon quashed by the guilt that circled up like a snake over his chest. Was he really any different? Hadn’t he fled into the wasteland?

“Right,” Austin said. “So, how are things here in Aldrion?”

Derek studied him for a beat, then his eyes turned unfocused and his gaze shifted to somewhere above Austin’s shoulder. “It’s not good. We’re barely hanging in here. I’ve planned our defenses and they’re holding. I think we can hold the city, but it’s costing us. The main problem is that we’re running out of magical imbues. Without those damned dragon stones, the mage smiths up in Falden can’t do anything. Useless beings, really. We need more magic to fight the shadows.”

Austin ignored his jab at the mage smiths and continued to focus on the task at hand. “Have you sent for more weapons and elemental warriors?”

His brother’s gaze snapped back to Austin’s and his eyes narrowed. “Of course not. Aldrion will hold. We’ve always held the city without those pompous idiots in the valley. Are you sure you’re a Taveck?”

Austin felt the knife sink into his heart, but refused to respond. He wasn’t too proud like his brother, and he could see there was more to life than honor. “What does that have to do with anything? We need help.”

Derek waved away his comment. “All we need is to get these dragon stones glowing again. The governor has sent his best scholars on it and clearly they are not the best. So far, they have been able to do nothing about the stones. But you’re here now and…” he lifted his eyes to the ceiling like he was trying to remember something. “...your friend. She can fix them.”

“Melissa is not here. I arrived with Gabriella Vedere from Stoneheart. She can help you contact the nobles in the valley and get them to send more soldiers and elemental warriors. We can still hold Aldrion a while longer and I think we’ll need every single person we’ve got if we’re going to survive what’s coming.”

“What do you know?” Derek asked.

“When we were in the wasteland,” Austin said. “I met with some of the people there. These were trustworthy, and they told me the void is amassing an army of shadows. More than we’ve ever seen. They mean to destroy Aldrion and enter the valley.”

“You spoke to the void worshipers? The ones who never speak to us?”

“Yes.”

“Somehow I believe that. I always knew you’d become a traitor.”

“I’m not a traitor,” Austin said. “Listen to me. The void is going to attack with an army entirely made out of shadows. We need to send a request for help to the valley.”

“She changed you, didn’t she?” Derek said, his voice cold.

“What?”

“That ‘friend’ of yours. She made you into a void worshiper. Just like her precious boyfriend from the cult.”

“You mean Marcus?” Austin asked, feeling the blood drain from his face.

“Yeah. Him. He broke out of the dungeon and killed two guards just days ago. And now you come back to the city without this ‘Melissa’. You know what I think. I think this is all part of her schemes. You’re going to join up with Marcus and you’re going to destroy Aldrion together.”

Austin shook his head. “No. Derek, you know I wouldn’t do that. I’m loyal to Aldrion. I’ve always been loyal to my home.”

“Sure. That’s why you helped her destroy the dragon stones and then ran away into the wasteland. You know that no one survives there except for void worshipers. Everyone knows that. Did you really think I was that stupid? That I wouldn’t see through your bullshit?”

Austin stood from the chair. His brother folded his hands on top of his desk and peered up at him with a smile covering his lips. Behind him, the door opened and Austin didn’t have to look at the guards to know they were coming for him. He’d played right into his hands.