“Roan is never going to let me live this down,” Corvus observed.

"Good," Charm told him. "It is good know that you can study endlessly in your books and still be wrong."

Corvus rolled his eyes at his dragon’s snark, but it didn’t dim the broad grin on his face.

He and Charm flew high overhead. Behind them stood the vast perimeter wall and the towers of Meadow City… all radically changed from what it had been weeks before. Once a desert city marked by gleaming noble towers, now it was a living oasis. A jungle sitting within the walls like a yolk sits within the shell of an egg. One week to the day since the ratkin siege and the inhabitants were still reclaiming their homes… and plundering riches from the fertile jungle.

Despite the disruption of the siege, no one was going to starve anytime soon… though there was adjustment now that food consisted mostly of jungle fruits.

He and Charm had been so busy they hadn’t had time for themselves, much less for leisure activities such as a lovely flight.

Only when Roan flat out guilted Corvus about showing off CloudStrike’s newest capabilities did he give in.

Ahead and hundreds of feet down below, the semi-arid terrain stretched out into a flat plain.

A single horse and her rider traveled so fast that they left a trail of intermittent dust behind.

Intermittent because CloudStrike’s four hooves — including the partially lamed one — only hit the ground every once in awhile. In reality, the mare was at a comfortable but slow trot. Not only did she have her bad foot to slow her, but her advanced pregnancy.

That was where her essence spells came in.

Of the three Roan had picked, one was called the Essence of Light. Roan being Roan thought it would lighten CloudStrike’s weight and let her fly even better than Gwen’s NightShade.

Corvus had said it was more likely to make light beams shoot out of the horse’s nose.

They were both wrong, but Corvus was more wrong.

CloudStrike had been gifted with a Speed of Light spell. Neither Corvus or Roan knew what that meant exactly, except that it seemingly enabled CloudStrike to transfer from one point to another. Instantly.

The issue was to go any great length required a large amount of mana. But reason and limits had never kept Roan down.

It took him about three days to figure out a method where CloudStrike stepped into light with one footfall and out of light with the other. This happened faster than the blink of an eye, and moving only a few feet at a time took a fraction of a point of mana.

So in reality, CloudStrike moved at a trot with every other step skipped forward a few paces. It added up fast until a trot became the speed of a road-eating gallop.

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Perched upon Charm’s neck, she and Corvus watched the pair of them shoot across the plain just as fast as Charm could fly.

“I don’t suppose there were any more of the Light Essences in the dungeon’s store…” Charm said after a long moment.

Linked as they were, Corvus could feel her slight envy of the mare’s speed.

He reached down and patted her pearlescent scales.

“There’s no guarantee you would get the same spell options as CloudStrike. The Path System usually specifies the spells are for different species of animal.”

Charm huffed her displeasure at that. She didn’t want to be shown up by a horse.

“Besides,” Corvus added with a twinge of frustration. “When will I have time to go dungeon diving?”

It seemed every waking hour was taken up with management of the city. On one hand, Corvus was glad that people were looking to him and that none of the city’s nobles had tried challenging him for power. Or Starella for that matter.

On the other hand… Corvus felt completely, lethally out of his depth.

Who was he to tell people how to run their lives?

Yes, he had ideas on how things should be done… but who was to say they were the correct ideas? Corvus had grown up sheltered in the palace, completely ignorant of the world. The last two years were spent with the Horse Clan, which hadn’t prepared him to deal with rebuilding a city, either.

The only reason people looked to him was because of his bloodline and even that was in doubt.

No, he amended. The only reason they put up with me is because of Charm.

"It's true," Charm said, following his thoughts as easily as if they were her own. "The people hold me in reverence, as they ought. I am a Royal Dragon."

"You're not the only Royal Dragon," he grumbled.

"Yes, well one Royal Dragon is insane and attacked the city and the other is too young to be housebroken. I am the clear favorite," she said and somehow managed to puff up even though they were in mid-flight. "But that isn't what is truly disturbing you."

Trust Charm to cut to the heart of the matter.

For what felt like the hundredth time, Corvus pulled up the notification that had been plaguing him for the past week.

Hatrice "Hattie" Patterson has invited you to join her party.

Corvus wasn't stupid. He wasn't going to join a party with a demon. The last thing he wanted to do was bind himself, however remotely, to a being of evil.

The fact that she had access to the Paths was... disturbing.

"You don't think the Paths are... corrupted, do you?" Corvus would never have voiced this fear to anyone else. But Charm sometimes knew his mind better than he did.

Corruption within the Paths would make sense. Something caused the Blight. Something stopped people from having access to the system, outside of rare occasions. Why not the demons?

Charm was quiet for a few moments, her normally brash demeanor dimmed.

"I don't know," she said softly... for her.

Then she perked up.

"Oh. I see Kale."

"Kale?" He squinted out but it wasn't until he borrowed sight from Charm's eyes that he was able to spot the Horseman riding along the road of the far distant mountains. "He shouldn't be back for at least a few weeks. Why has he returned?"

He had been sent to retrieve the rest of his clan from where they'd fled just before the ratkin siege. They were a nomadic people, but Corvus had assured them that they would have free rein of the pastureland up to the walls of the city. It was good grazing for their horses at this time of the year.

The nobles had bulked but the decision had been easy. It had even earned him a kiss from Gwen.

But the Horseman had returned early and, thanks to Charm's remarkable vision, Corvus clearly saw the grim look on his face.

"I don't know," Charm answered. She pumped her wings, picking up speed. "Let's find out."