Chapter 132

"Dragon!" Riley proclaimed, dancing on her paws in a tight loop while Tobias and Caedmon waited with their hoods up, protecting themselves from the fierce, early morning sun.

"How can it be almost winter at home and an inferno here?" Tobias complained, looking up at the sky and squinting his eyes in deference to the sun.

"Axial tilt!" Riley cried in response, pausing only to loop the other way.

Free of her armor, with her thinner fur allowed to breathe, the morning was hot, but with her ears up, it wasn't exactly terrible.

"Axial what?" Caedmon asked.

"Science!" Riley cried, not slowing her dance.

After a long night of sleep and no less than three tenganuts that morning for breakfast, life felt all the more alive again. No death marches across the tea plantations, no attacks coming out of the shadows, at least not yet... and now, in a nod to nostalgia, Tobias was back in his black robes and golden torc.

Within the span of months, building from spring, summer, and into autumn, only to be tossed rudely back to near summer, there were years that had elapsed in time by feel. The looming uncertainties and challenges of the academy, the peril of the trials, and their training had grown to a type of fondness in her recollection.

In progress it was miserable, and looking back, she couldn't say it had been much fun, but things had been simpler. Without the benefit of hindsight, the knowledge she now possessed, sure, it was terrifying, but they had come through, they had survived it all, and now, as if in monument to the victories and foibles of the past, here they were, about to ride the dragon.

"DRAGON!" Riley proclaimed again, in line with her thoughts, pausing to loop the other way.

"Where does she get her energy?" Caedmon asked, staring down at the excitable hare as Tobias chuckled.

"She steals it from her kills." He commented with a wry smile.

"Hey!" Riley skidded to an abrupt halt, all as the world kept up its tumble.

Shaking her head to reestablish a non-rotational equilibrium, she drummed her hindpaw in annoyance.

"I had sleep and food. You watch your tone, ass!" Riley challenged.

"Or what? I'm next?" Tobias kept up his teasing like an older brother.

Kneeling down, he playfully shoved Riley. Skidding back, she hopped up on her hind paws and began to shadowbox.

Tobias laughed and slapped playfully back as a lumbering shadow fell over the both of them.

"Dragon!" Riley cried, cocking her head, only to be disappointed. "Oh, hello, Terrox."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"My love, I have come at the appointed time," The reptile intoned, speaking always as if near prayer, then without ceremony, bearhugged Caedmon, lifting him up off the ground.

He kicked his feet, gasping for enough air to make words. "Put me down! We're supposed to be undercover. We'll be seen."

"Oh, such a fussy mammal. Who is around to see?" Refusing to let go, she rubbed the bottom of her long muzzle through his hair before nuzzling at his cheek, stopping only to lick the spot with a long, forked tongue.

Riley and Tobias watched with rapt interest, each fighting back the giggles, while Terrox finally set Caedmon down.

He adjusted his robes in an attempt to combat the indignity he had suffered, blushing fiercely, which was visible in spite of the deep bronze color of his skin.

"That is beside the point," He complained before letting his hand rest against her scaley chest.

"They will not let me come," Terrox said, her voice near a whimper.

"You're a local asset; it would give us away." Caedmon agreed, mournful.

"But you will come home to me, yes? You. You are my only one. We are clanmates. You are what I have that makes me happy. You must not die. This would anger me," her eyes were pleading, in stark contrast to her bold proclamation.

"We'll keep each other safe and see him home to the limit of the will of the Thirteen," Tobias swore.

"Your heart is good and has been tested by combat and fire. May your words bear true, beyond their sentiment." In deference, she turned to bow before locking Caedmon again in her gaze.

"Remember, you carry the memory of my fallen clan with you," she gently ran a claw down his tattooed jaw and neck.

Yielding, Caedmon craned his head away, reveling in the touch of his love.

Finally, he righted, focused on her, and smiled.

"I will miss you, but carry you with me. It will be good to be back amongst my people for a time, and the threat we've found is real. Once handled, it is unlikely I will be taken from this place again."

"And if reassigned?" Terrox challenged.

"We've been banking my bounties for years. Wherever you go, I will follow. Wherever I go, you will follow. This is our way," Caedmon set his hand over her heart again, gazing up into her large reptilian eyes.

"I wish I could still cry!" Riley blubbered through the mental projection before covering her nose with her paws and sucking in a deep torrent of air through it, "It's just so beautiful."

"Steady, dear," Tobias said, kneeling to stroke down her back.

Riley launched into his arms as if rocket assisted, "I love you, too."

"By the dead Gods; all these emotions flying around!" Tobias protested just as the sky darkened.

"It is time, my love. I will come home, have faith in that," Caedmon assured.

Terrox patted his shoulder before leaning to nuzzle once more, "I will pray to my ancestors for your return. Farewell."

As if her emotions were on a spigot, she turned and left.

Riley's ears swiveled, and eyes brightened as the realization of her coming thrill ride hit her full force.

"Dragon!" she cried, switching gears as the feeling of beating wings came down.

This beast was larger, with silver scales, and the cabin, this time, was enclosed. Save for a bench with belts out front. Servants raced out from a small building attached to the Embassy and wheeled stairs up to the strange chamber tethered to the dragon.

A moment later, people emerged, heading down the stairs, including three black cloaked Rangers.

Spying Tobias and Caedmon, they gave a covert nod, before continuing about their business.

Finally, two guard emerged, one cried out. "Make way for the Viceroy of the Commons!"

In a near instinctual reaction, Riley pulled a veil as Tobias reached for the very same power over their bond, vanishing in place just in time as the sniveling face of Tobias' old bully emerged on the gangway, with Mavora perched on his shoulder.

For a moment, he looked towards Caedmon like he was regarding a bug before pounding down the stairs, storming furiously towards the main chamber of the Embassy.

"Tobias?" Caedmon whispered.

"Still here, but it wouldn't do to be recognized," he called out from the ether.

"You know the viceroy? He's gone, by the way." Caedmon mentioned.

Hedging his bets, Tobias let the veil stay a few more moments before letting it drop. "We went to school together, and he keeps popping up in this case."

"And they won't let us shake any answers out of him." Riley grumbled.

"Politics," Caedmon spat, his face a snarl.