Arthur sat on the lip of his balcony, legs dangling off the side. There was no safety railing, but he wasn’t worried. As high up as he was, he’d have a very long time to fall. Plenty of time for Brixaby to arrange for another dragon to catch him.
A dozen feet beyond, Brixaby was flying a quick whirlwind twirl that made him look like a spinning top. He claimed it was to level up his Trick flying, but Arthur couldn’t see the utility in it. He suspected Brixaby was just having fun.
He couldn’t wait until they could fly together.
What form it would take — whether Brixaby would ever grow large enough to carry him or if Arthur had to find an extreme body enhancement card, he wasn’t sure.
But one way or another, it was going to happen.
It was an almost perfect evening and unusually warm for Wolf Moon Hive, especially this high up where the wind could be cutting.
Arthur had a whole host of new cards to learn about and explore, and nothing planned for the foreseeable future except for leveling his skills and helping Brixaby grow up.
He had wealth in the form of a generous hive stipend and friends who would be soon close at hand as soon as Brixaby was old enough to officially form a retinue — until then it was a more informal arrangement — and power in the form of rank… even though the Hive Leaders weren’t happy with him.
That was okay. Arthur wasn’t happy with them right now, either. They would learn to work together.
Life was good.
The only thing that darkened Arthur’s thoughts was, of course, the tiny matter of his betrayal to all of humanity.
The Mind Singer had not yet come for him. He suspected he and Brixaby had left it behind during his quick exit from the palace. Lung Bei had probably delayed it further.
He had many thoughts on the subject. None of them were pleasant.
The fact that the king had ordered the scholar’s guilds to create a way to contact the scourgelings made him wonder if the uptick in scourge-eruptions was truly part of a cycle… or a more worrying trend.
Were the scourgelings building up for a massive attack now that there were five Mythic dragons to seven Scourge-Gods?
And what exactly would Arthur do when the Mind Singer came to collect her card? Could he in good conscience help his enemy in any small way?
“What are you stewing about?” Brixaby asked, hovering up just beyond his nose.
Arthur blinked and jerked back, having been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn’t seen him approach.
“I’m worried about the Mind Singer,” he admitted.
Brixaby made a disgusted sound. “I don’t see why you believe you owe the thing.”
“She got me out of the palace.”
“Lung Bei did that.”
“She provided the opening for Duke Rowantree and Penn to leave,” he said. “If they were still there… I’m not sure what Lung Bei could have done.”
“From what you told me, you and Joy’s rider were the ones to release the scourgeling from the scholar’s guild in the first place,” Brixaby said. “So, your scales are balanced.”
Arthur paused. He… hadn’t thought of it that way.
“I gave the thing my word,” he said.
“Well, my word is that I don’t like you helping out the scourge.”
“Neither do I,” he replied with irritation. “I don’t want to! I know it’s wrong, but I’m also someone of importance now. And when you’re powerful it’s too easy to go back on your word because it’s convenient or you changed your mind. I don’t want to start down that path.”
Brixaby heaved a sigh. “Well…” he grumbled. “I suppose it’s only a Rare card. Not important like a Legendary. Since you want to be ‘a good man’,” this last part was said with the utmost sarcasm.
Arthur ignored his tone. “I haven’t decided what I’m going to do. I’m just telling you that it’s not an easy decision. It’s the sort of thing that defines a man’s character going forward.”
“Yes, yes, you are so very conflicted and virtuous. What’s so special about this card anyway? Show it to me so that I at least know the details when it inevitably comes back to bite us.”
Arthur sighed and withdrew the card from his Personal Space. He flipped it around so Brixaby could read it. The dragon was leveling up his Reading skill quickly and—
Brixaby darted forward, snatched the card, and shoved it in his own chest.
That was quite the feat considering the card was bigger than himself.
“Brix! What are you doing?”
“Taking a card out of circulation,” Brixaby said, smugly buzzing backwards when Arthur reached for him.
Arthur, however, was terrified for his dragon. “That might link you with the Mind Singer. You’ll be a part of its trio!”
“Oh please. There’s nothing like that in the card’s description. Besides, I’m a dragon: The antithesis of scourge. My dung revitalizes scourge-touched land. Their powers have no hold on me.”
He calmed down somewhat. “Are you certain? You didn’t add it to your core, did you?”
“Of course not,” Brixaby snapped, offended. Then he rubbed his stomach. “I’m absorbing it. Soon I’ll have some nice new Rare power to add to my list.”
Slowly, Arthur relaxed. Brixaby was right. And he could destroy cards without them going to rot because he was a dragon.
Arthur smiled. “The Mind Singer isn’t going to be happy. You’re amazing, you know that?”
“I’m a Legendary dragon. Of course I am. Ohh… Um. Something’s happening. Something… big.” He sounded unsure. “Arthur? I…”
He burped sparkles that looked like mana made real.
Then, in a blink, Brixaby became notably larger. He was now the size of a large parrot.
He let out a short sound of surprise, dipping in air until he regained his altitude. His limbs were longer, head that much more defined. There were larger purple-black bumps up and down his spine to indicate future ridges.
Brixaby had grown.
Some.
“Brix!” Arthur gasped. “Are you okay?”
“I… I grew!” Brixaby flew in a happy loop. The buzz of his wings had taken a deeper tone now that he displaced more air. “That was what Joy’s stupid quest was about. Quick, we must find her again so I can require it. Then you will feed me more cards.”
“We’ll start with shards, first.” Arthur was amazed and happy for him. Really. But he was still concerned. “What about the mind-card?”
“I’m still absorbing its shards,” Brixaby admitted. “I can feel it now: that was the initial burst of magic after the card’s magical structure splintered. I’ll be adding its power to my own over the next few hours.”
This was his first time absorbing a card since hatching. That first time had given him trouble because he hadn’t had a fully formed card in his core and had been trying to absorb Legendaries. Now he had matured a little, had a full card, and this Mind-card was of a lower tier: It was a perfect test case.
Arthur let out a soft chuckle and leaned back to rest on his arms. “I wonder how much of its power you’ll be able to absorb?”
Brixaby rubbed his now larger and more wicked looking claws together. “I can’t wait to find out.”
He couldn’t wait to see for himself.
The End.
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