A few minutes later, we were riding a particularly feisty dragon through the air outside the arena. Alicia had strapped a large saddle to its back, which was big enough to fit her up front steering and both Alverd and myself in back. The creature allowed Alicia to affix the harness and saddle with no difficulty, and it regarded her the way a puppy would look at a small child. It was already stretching its wings and hopping in place as she pulled the last harness strap tight, ready to fly off with its rider.

However, Alverd and I were seated behind the dragon’s wings, making our perch precarious and unsafe. Alicia had no problem guiding the dragon we’d stolen from the kennel through the air currents, but I was too busy regretting my poor life choices to congratulate her on her stellar technique. We hurtled through the sky outside the arena, heading for the barracks on the sixth floor.

She peered over her shoulder. “There’s a small landing outside the barracks on the outside. If we land there, it’ll only be a few feet from where my brothers and sisters will be preparing for battle.” Her head swiveled back just in time to navigate a particularly nasty draft. “If Marcus and Eliza are there, we can expose their treachery in front of my family, and we can take them together!”

Alverd and I had no real way to reply, since we were both gritting our teeth and hanging on for dear life. The dragon went for a few, what I thought to be, unnecessary rolls and turns before the landing area came into view. It was a very small outcropping, a balcony capable of holding maybe ten people, but certainly not a dragon. Yet Alicia goaded the dragon into a dive, zooming toward the balcony at breakneck speed. As we began our rapid descent, the choice to commandeer said dragon to bypass the trip up to the top of the Arena bumped itself to the top of my “bad life choices” list that was still going on in my head.

Mere seconds before we would have smacked into the black stone of the wall above the balcony, the dragon leveled out and spread its leathery wings wide, slowing its suicidal descent. The dragon hovered over the balcony, and the three of us dismounted. Free of its riders, the dragon flew off, roaring contentedly. While Alicia and Alverd landed on their feet, I stumbled out of the harness and hit the ground on my side. “Oh ground, I’ll never leave you again. I take back all the terrible things I ever said about you being dirty and hard and bad for my back,” I whimpered.

Alicia rolled her eyes and grabbed hold of my robe’s collar, yanking me to my feet. “Stop being dramatic, Kuro. You act like you’ve never flown before.” I wriggled out of her grip and stuck my tongue out at her. “I have, and every time I’ve done it since I’ve only confirmed that I hate doing it.” And without any further argument, I rushed through the doors into the barracks beyond.

Alicia led us to a section that went from the armory to the arena where the siblings would present themselves to the crowd before mounting their dragons and doing combat. A balcony with just enough room for the siblings to stand side by side upon small pedestals was visible at the corridor’s end. We hurried past confused guards and flabbergasted servants towards the bright light at the end of the corridor. We could see a few of her siblings dressed in full regalia for battle. She called out to them.

Two girls, whom I recognized as Leila and Deanna, turned around at the sound of their sister’s voice. They had exchanged the gaudy and daring dresses they had worn during the ball with form-fitting leather armor similar to Alicia’s. Leather plates covered their shoulders and hips, and they wore golden breastplates that shone brilliantly with polish, the crimson emblem of two intertwined dragons emblazoned on the front. The two princesses had yet to don their decorated helms, and their long blonde hair swayed in the draft from the opening at the end of the hall.

Leila, the older one, spoke first. Her voice mirrored the confusion in her facial expression. “Alicia? How did you get here? We were told you had perished in the Nest. How could you possibly be still alive?”

Alicia waved away her elder sister’s concern. “There’s no time. Who told you I was dead? Was it Marcus? Where is he now?” I had to admire her drive. She was really taking command of the situation despite her smaller stature.

Leila was obviously put off by Alicia’s tone. “Alicia… what’s wrong-” Deanna and Leila exchanged glances. Stamping her foot, Alicia cut her off.

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“Our brother is to blame for everything. He was the one who killed Father and who knows how many others! Where is Marcus now? Or Eliza? Do you know where she is?”

Deanna and Leila exchanged glances. Then they looked at Alicia with disbelief. “What are you talking about? Father isn’t dead. He’s seated in his private box down in the arena. See for yourself.” Deanna moved aside to gesture to the open door that led to the arena.

We shielded our eyes against the wind, and looked down at row upon row of people on their feet cheering. We looked several floors down and saw the king’s private viewing box, a resplendent affair decorated with banners and a throne. From where we were, we could just make out a figure on the throne waving his hand, as if to return the sentiment of his subjects.

That’s impossible, I thought. The real King is busy being very much dead in the throne room of the Castle of Brimstone. Who is this impostor? It mattered little. We were running out of time. Soon, the siblings would mount their dragons and do battle in the air above the arena. If they did so and the dragons went feral, they would be either torn apart by the wild beasts or thrown from their saddles to plummet to their deaths. Either way, it wouldn’t be pretty.

A fanfare sounded. With it, the crowd cheered loudly. Deanna and Leila looked out toward the crowd and put on their golden helms. Deanna turned to Alicia. “Whatever you need to say, spit it out. If this is some trick to gain the upper hand, I warn you, we will not fall for such a thing.”

Alicia blurted out the truth. “Marcus killed Father. He tried to kill Edgar years ago in violation of our traditions and forced him into exile. Marcus also poisoned your dragons with some vile concoction that makes them go wild. He’s already fed it to all of your dragons though the water system, and he’s waiting for the opportune moment to profit from the ensuing chaos. Eliza is helping him in exchange for a position of power after his coup. They plan to use this mage as a scapegoat to justify reigniting open war against Algrustos.” She pointed at me, and I nodded as emphatically as I could.

Her sisters shared a look between each other again. They seemed to be considering Alicia’s words, weighing their truth against that of their brother. Finally, after much deliberation, they lowered their heads.

“Since Marcus lied about your death, there’s a good chance everything you’re saying is true. And if he was indeed holding you prisoner to blame at a later date after our… untimely deaths, then what you say makes a fair deal of sense. Very well. You have our attention. Sister, go tell the others. See if we can find Marcus and ascertain the truth,” Leila said. Deanna hurried away down a small side passage toward where her other siblings were waiting.

The large metal doors leading down to the dragon pens loomed ominously, and I could see several figures standing in front of them. Every moment we wasted out here talking was another moment closer to the dragons going feral, and we were already a step behind Marcus’ timetable. Deanna made her way over to the loitering figures, and began conversing with them. Marcus was nowhere to be seen. I would have recognized his armor and the smug look of satisfaction on his face otherwise.

I did, however, see Eliza among the royals out on the balcony. It took every ounce of my willpower to not conjure a blast of air and throw her over the side. Right now she was our best bet at exposing Marcus, so we needed her alive, sadly. As Deanna explained things to Deacon and Shannon, Eliza’s expression darkened. Deacon and Shannon turned to face Eliza and started yelling at her, but it was impossible for me to determine what was being said. I watched Eliza’s hand slide down her hip to the rapier at her side. She took a step back, most likely to give herself space to react, but then a piercing cry shook the air.

The reinforced metal door that led from the stable into the open air of the Arena creaked as some massive impact slammed into it from the inside. The impacts increased, and the door began to buckle under the weight of the blows. I ran out onto the balcony and looked at the door that separated the kennel from the arena. This door wasn’t as reinforced as the interior door leading to the barracks and it certainly wasn’t designed to be fortified from the inside. Something big smashed against the door once, twice, three times. Finally, with a groan, the door was wrenched off its hinges, and all hell broke loose.

A horde of dragons, each one easily taller than four or five men and packing wingspans that were probably that length across, burst through the opening, clawing, screaming, and breathing fire. Each dragon, foaming at the mouth, tore at the others with reckless abandon, as wild as the berserker rage I had seen in Alicia.

I turned to Alverd, whose mouth had fallen open. Alicia had nothing better to offer and followed suit. All of us, even Alicia’s siblings, stood transfixed as everything went straight to hell in the space of seconds. As the dragons flew into the sky above the Arena, screeching like banshees, I finally managed to muster up something to say.

“So… anybody got a Plan B?”