The guard was giving Truth a funny look, mocking him for being behind bars. He stuck his tongue out at her. The dragon sighed and slipped a piece of paper through the cell bars. Her wings splayed to make him jealous that he was the dragon behind bars and she was the one in power.

“Here. Don’t foul it up,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Truth took the paper, unrolled it in his claws, and frowned. This assignment is different. Why does she want me to do so? he thought. Yes, the coup needs to get going but starting with kidnapping while another murders? Well, I suppose it may be better for the prince not to know his father had been murdered. He looked up to see that the guard was gone. That was what she did. All the time. Truth sometimes thought that she didn't like him. But she was not his boss. She could not fire him. She was only the messenger. Another piece on the–

A noise came from the door that led to the castle. A bright orange dragon, bleeding everywhere, was dragged to the cell next to Truth’s, and thrown in, screaming curses all the way. He flopped down and curled up in a ball.

The cell walls that held them were a bleached orange color and the cell bars were almost midnight black. This gave the prison quite a level of disdain for the miscreants it held. As it should. Truth was a criminal and was forced to steal and pickpocket.

As far as Truth could tell, this orange dragon had been recruited from the urchins on the street. He was likely promised money, but the dragon did not seem to be much older than Truth.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Truth asked.

The orange dragon just lay there. Silent.

Perhaps he is another recruit in the coup… I hope they didn’t force him to join…

Tap. Tap. Tap-tap. Truth tapped the ground. Waiting for a response. None came.

“Not a talker, I take it,” said Pine, the green dragon in the cell across from him.

“That may be. But he did just come in. Getting imprisoned can be very… distressing.”

“I remember when you first came six months ago.”

Truth shuddered. When he had come, his life went pear-shaped. He remembered the burning building, his civilians running, and the burning sensation of his far-left claw. That claw was now gone.

It was a few days after King Dlaerious came to give a speech for the opening of a government building. It was so that, instead of a jarl in charge of each city, there would be a small council representative of the citizens. The griffins were not a part of it. But they were protesting for rights.

It was believed that the griffins orchestrated the explosion of the building were Truth worked. It was next to the new government building so there had to be some connection, some thought

Now, this was all fine and dandy. But the explosion did haunt him for quite some time and likely still will. It is how he ended up here. His parents had been scared of what had happened and sent him to the capital of Phyrries.

Tapping the ground again Truth avoided the conversation. The orange dragon turned his head to look at him. Probably because Truth was shuddering so hard. The orange dragon tapped the ground too. The ground did not mind. Why should it?

Tap. Tap. Tap-tap. Tap. Tap. Tap-tap. Tap.

Truth smiled. A reaction. Just what he wanted. He knew that one would come, but not when.

The orange dragon pointed to his left talon and mouthed “what happened”. Truth just stayed silent. So the orange dragon started tending his wounds.

Great job socializing, Truth.

“What’s your name?” Truth asked after a moment of silence.

“Courage,” he responded.

“Courage?” Pine asked.

“Yeah. Courage. Where I’m from, it's commonplace for a parent to name their child a virtue.” His orange scales moved up and down with his own heavy breath.

Courage continued tending his wounds, abruptly ending the conversation. Truth saw him wince as he got to one on his back leg. That must be painful, he thought.

Looking again at the piece of paper the guard had slipped him, the rest to read.“Your assignment starts tomorrow morning,” it read. “Someone will come to meet with you tonight. More details to come.”

What could all this mean? What is the assignment?

This was only the third order he had been given. When first arrested, he’d been discovered for his skill with distraction and persuasion, but he was also caught stealing so the authorities had a good excuse to use him. That Soveriegn made sure he was put to good use. And worst yet, he was going unpunished, this underground organization leader. If it even was underground.

“What is it?” Courage said.

Truth did not know what to say. “Ummm… uh…”

“What is it?” Courage said again. “You have a strange look on your face.”

“It’s… uh… something,” Truth looked for a lie, “I… I miss being able to fly. The wing-clamps are painful.”

Truth yelled at himself internally. He didn’t thing it was a good lie. He did not want to reveal information and fail again. Well, he wasn’t supposed to show any information, actually. He had to keep his mouth shut, lest he sow the seeds of suspicion and get a knife at his neck. He did not want to have a knife at his neck again. It was not a pleasant experience.

Courage only gave him a funny look as a dragon came to bring Truth away to prep him for his next assignment.

He knows something, Truth thought. I will likely see him again.

***

Truth and his escort traveled through the winding passages of the castle sewers. It was where all the unpleasant things were done to criminals—or where they were trained. Where the public would not see it happening. Off to the left were a series of doors that lead to rooms that few knew even existed. It was where he first met with the Sovereign’s representative.

The dark hid the truth, keeping it from the eyes of those seekers of truth. Here, the pawns’ souls that were sacrificed in the game lurked. Some had been in training for years and lost their livelihood in the process. Some others just straight-up died. This ‘training’ was quite the burden and one Truth would never forget.

They made a turn and Truth saw something rotten. A rotten dragon corpse. He stared.

“I know,” said his escort. “I don’t like to imagine what happens down here.”

Truth knew that the guard had been involved in some of what happened down here. He was one of the nicer guards and had garnered more respect from the trainees than some of the others. He tried to hide some of his knowledge for another’s comfort.

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They continued walking for what seemed like hours until they went up a staircase and opened a secret door that lead into someone's quarters. It was lined with bookshelves and had a desk with a yellow and black spotted dragon sitting in it in the middle.

“Here he is,” said the escort, as he bowed and promptly left.

The guard seemed to be frightened. Rightly so. This dragon in front of Truth had great power and sway.

The yellow dragon with black specks on his scales walked toward him. Truth bowed and kept his head low. He had to. It was courtesy. Well, courtesy if you wanted to keep your head.

The dragon walked (stalking, more of) around, examining him.

It's only my new boss. Jaguar, I think. She probably won’t murder me.

“Your assignment is different this time,” said Jaguar, voice gruff, getting straight to business. “You need not gather information. The prince needs to be kidnapped. Take him tomorrow morning, before the sun rises. Make him think you’re trustworthy. Don’t let him know what is going on. Craft a lie. Persuade him. Do it. And be sure he does not know that his father is going to die. If he knows, the reform plan is ruined,” said Jaguar. “Now go.”

Truth rubbed his forehead, overwhelmed. He wanted to protest. If he did though, it would not be pretty.

“Go,” said Jaguar. “Now.”

***

Truth was hiding in the room next to the prince. He was thankful that his wing clamps were finally off but still very surprised at what this assignment was. Kidnapping was not his strong suit. And it was strange how brief the meeting was. If you could call it a meeting.

The order did not clear up any questions of what he was supposed to do. Well, he know he was supposed to take the prince far away and keep him from… what, exactly?

But he followed orders and crafted a lie. And a fake-ish claw to hide that he lacked one. He normally would’ve had someone else to help him. That’s what happened in his last assignment.

He felt like a pawn. A pawn in the ice-cold talons of a chess expert. Moving him bit by bit. An expendable piece. He wasn’t worth much in most’s eyes. Perhaps that is what the ‘god’ of this realm called him to do. If there was one… Maybe the ‘god’ saw him as little to nothing. But what else was he supposed to do? What end would he have to work to and for what cause?

He rubbed his forehead again. It was time to go.

Truth walked out of the chamber where he was hiding, and into the prince's room, which was next door to his. Impersonating the prince’s cousin, for the past hour he studied and learned Nightfall’s habits. He needed to make the prince believe this ruse. The prince’s room was blue, like the ocean. A little lighter than Truth’s scales.

He shook the prince awake.

“What is it?” the prince asked groggily.”

“Hey, my mom– your aunt– would like it if we would go camping in the park today.”

“You’re Nightfall. Right?” asked the prince.

“Yes. But I forgot your name,” Truth asked, his talons still on the prince’s shoulder.

“Tiger. My name is Tiger. Ready to go?”

“Yes,” Truth said, releasing his grip on Tiger. “Let’s go then.”

“I need to wash up and such before we go, though.”

As Tiger washed up Truth sat in the corner. Hearing the sounds of the toothbrush reminded him of his older brother. Tiger walked out of the bathroom and grabbed his satchel.

This was not quite right. Tiger seemed to be too trusting of this relative. Then again, Truth did not know how close Tiger was to said relatives.

They walked into the hall. It was dark. It was the wee hours of the morn’. Who in their right mind would be up at this hour? Well, Truth nor Tiger were in their right mind. The few candles lit flickered as they walked past.

Tiger was young. About thirteen is what Truth had been told. Only three years younger than Truth. But Truth was just about the right age to be Tiger’s cousin.

Being a dragon in the kingdom of Phyrries almost gave you more privilege. The Griffins of the area were sometimes given menial tasks because they were recognized as less than dragons. But, to be fair, in the giffin kingdom, the opposite was true. Dragons were seen as less and griffins more.

It was weird walking next to the prince. This prince seemed to be very friendly, but his dad was very much prejudiced against the griffins. He called them barbaric and even yewlts ( a derogatory term for griffins) Truth had an older cousin who walked by him in the wee hours of the morn’, but had a father much less speciesist. He had taken up that mantel of being the level-headed cousin. Hopefully, it would ease after a while.

As they walked down the hall, Truth watched the dark stripes on Tiger's back–for which he was named– move. They were hypnotic, in a way. They were also kinda pretty.

Truth felt sad. Tiger’s dad was maybe going to die in a few hours and he had no clue. And there was nothing Truth could do. He had to follow orders to keep his head. He really did not want anyone to die. Stealing was fine, but murder? Especially in cold blood? Never.

“May we could go to town and buy something?” Tiger asked.

“What?” Truth said, shaken out of enthrallment.

“Can we go shopping?” Tiger asked again, rephrasing the question. “There is this small shop run by a griffin. My dad doesn’t want me talking to them… but they seem just fine. Don’t tell my dad.

“I wasn’t planning on going shopping. And I don’t have any money with me. But if you have some, you can buy something,” Truth said. “Cross my heart and hope to die. I will never tell your father what you said.” He winked.

“You don’t have any money with you? Here take five bluescales.” Tiger reached into his satchel and handed five bluescales to Truth. “Also, I’m glad to see that you have not become a brainwashed bigot. You still had a conscious akin to mine.”

He put the money in his purse, which he wore around his neck. It was a small gift. One anyone would give, so Truth told himself. “Thank you, Tiger. This means a lot.”

This was quite strange. Truth was never given any kind of gift (let alone a compliment) in the past several years… not since his parents were declared dead after some mission. Things like his parents ‘death’ was something that made Truth wonder if anything was planned, and if so, why was it causing so much pain?

“ You're welcome,” Tiger said. “But shouldn’t we be moving a little faster? To keep what is going on a secret? It’s probably my friends planning something for me. Did they put you up to this?”

“Nope.”

“Then why are we going?”

“There is going to be a lot of last-minute official business happening today, stuff that fewer people should know,” Truth lied. “Also, older-cousin-younger-cousin bonding time is nice. Don’t you think?”

“Hmm.”

They made a few turns and walked down several hallways and came out into the courtyard. Outside the courtyard gates was the trading square where bartering, scamming, bribing, friendly conversation, and other things happened. They walked under the gate, over the bridge, and into the square.

Although it was only dawn, the square was busy. But Tiger seemed to know where to go.

Truth walked faster until he was next to Tiger. “You know where we are going?” Truth asked.

“No, I was going to ask you.”

“OK.”

“Hike?”

“What?” Truth said, confused.

“We should go on a hike!”

“I… guess. But don’t you want to go buy something?”

“I changed my mind.”

Truth did not know what to think of Tiger. He was very energetic. Too energetic for Truth’s taste. But he was his “chaperone”. He had to keep an eye on him. No matter what happened.

Besides, Tiger seemed to be nice and compassionate. He was allowed to live after his father’s (the king’s) assassination. He still had a life to live and worries to work out. He needed to make new friends.

But there was not enough information to say. Jaguar was acting strange. But then, so was Pine, Truth’s inmate. She was weird on and off for the last month. But there was a problem. How to get out of the city. The portal, obviously. But how to get Tiger in there? The gate was not an option due to the woods around the kingdom. And the woods had a very bad attitude.

In the woods, there was the “Fog.” The” Fog” was a great fell mist that extended and cover half of the world. It was dangerous to most and those who did live there were scarce and rarely communicated with the kingdoms, let alone the kingdom of Phyrreis.

What should I do? Truth thought. Shall we sneak through one of the portals? Or risk the Fog and perhaps die. But Tiger would be a useful bargaining chip. So, even if I die, the Sovereign would still make me miserable somehow.

“What do you think?” asked Tiger.

“What?”

“What do you think of my idea about the economy of forests and hikes?”

“Umm… could you relay it to me again?”

“Sure,” said Tiger.

Tiger relayed his idea to Truth and asked the question again. “So what do you think, Nightfall?”

“I may consider it a good idea. To make a forest a currency, that is.” Truth replied. “To fair, some other kingdoms have pieces of paper they use as money.”

“So my idea was a good one then!”

“Do you smell smoke?” Truth asked.

Truth saw smoke rising from the direction of the park. Someone had committed arson. Perhaps that was the case. Perhaps not. But at that moment, a fact came to Truth’s attention. It was all tied together. It had to be. Everything that happened was someone or something moving a piece on the board. There was a plan…

Truth hated these thoughts. They threatened his free will. He did not like the idea that he had none. Uncomfortable, Truth turned his attention back to the issue at hand: the fire.