Arthur stopped in front of the door to his room, tugged down his shirt and then smoothed it out again. He was already dressed as nicely as he could be, but when faced with the prospect of a private meeting with the leaders, he felt it wasn’t enough.
Lastly before he stepped in, he activated his Charming Gentle-Person card.
Valentina and Whitaker stood near the balcony. They faced each other and looked like they were in the middle of an intense, angry conversation. They broke off whatever they were talking about when Arthur arrived. However, a dark mist looking like an angry rain cloud floated over Valentina’s head.
Carley stood off to the side, looking more than a little intimidated. When Arthur nodded for her to go, she didn’t hesitate to scuttle out the door.
Should he bow or something?
Arthur settled for standing at attention until Carley closed the door behind him.
“Leader Valentina, Leader Whitaker,” he said with a nod to both. “I understand you wanted to speak to me.”
Whitaker strode forward and made a point of looking Arthur up and down. “I can’t decide if you are the cause of all this recent chaos, or our savior from it.”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
His eyebrows lifted. “You don’t? You just happen to be one of the two to find the blasted egg in the first place. And don’t think I’ve forgotten about the scholar’s guild or that business with our new Rare hatchling. And now it’s come out you’re the one who had a hand in saving most of the Legendary recruits. The real hero of the day—”
Valentina cut in. “You think that a mere baron’s son arranged all that, Whitaker?”
“I think once is fine, twice is a coincidence. Three or four times…” Whitaker trailed off with a glower at Arthur. “Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”
“That I’ve been lucky,” Arthur said, “And…” He wasn’t sure if he should say what was on his mind.
Whitaker jumped on it at once. “And?”
Taking a breath, he decided to plunge in. “I feel like I’m the one for this egg. Everything I’ve done isn’t for the rank or to impress the king. I want to link with that dragon. Perhaps it’s made me more willing to take chances that others wouldn’t.”
His words sounded corny to his ears, but the two leaders exchanged a look.
Whitaker snorted and some of the tension seemed to fade from the air.
“Keep that attitude, kid. You’ll need it when the egg tests you to decide whether to eat you alive or not.”
“You are too old to be this dramatic,” Valentina said, then added. “But you’re not wrong. Now, Ernest… oh, you wish to be called Arthur, isn’t that right?”
“Yes, please.”
“Then sit. We three should have a chat.” She gestured to the sitting table outside on the balcony. It was a pleasant temperature outside with a warm sun beaming down. As Arthur gazed out, he saw a sort of shell made of wind in the air. Valentina’s doing, likely enough. He didn’t doubt it would be hard to be observed out here.
Valentina folded age-stiffened hands together.
“You may have heard that the egg is no longer in Wolf Moon Hive’s possession.”
“It’s to be hatched here,” Arthur confirmed, “But no one mentioned where the new hatchling would go afterward.”
“That is still to be determined.”
Whitaker snorted. “The other hives have used this catastrophe to take the egg out from under us on the pretense it’s easier to move the egg here than all the recruits back to Wolf Moon hive where ‘it may not be safe’. It’s transparent, ugly politics if you ask me.”
“No one did,” Valentina snipped, but then sighed. “Though you’re not wrong.”
“We need that egg,” Whitaker growled. “It was laid at our hive, and we need another Legendary rider. We’re understaffed — dangerously so.”
Arthur was a little shocked they’d speak so bluntly — they were almost treating him as if he were one of them.
“I’ve heard there has been an increase in scourge eruptions. Is it that bad?” he asked.
“It could be,” Whitaker said.
Valentina hastened to add, “There have been increases before. These things come in waves and the scholars have dozens of theories why. But you may have noticed that our local scholar’s guild is quite… decimated.”
Arthur winced, remembering the remains of the building.
“The short of it is the quorum of hive leaders has come to the conclusion that it will be up to the new rider and hatchling which hive they want to go to. To be blunt, Arthur, if it’s you we want you at Wolf Moon.”
“It is your home,” Valentina added.
Deep in his heart, Arthur still thought of his old border-town village as his home. But he kept silent, waiting for the leaders to get to the punchline.
He was a little annoyed when Whitaker went the complimentary route.
“I hear you’re number three on the recruit list. That’s good standing.”
He couldn’t let that pass. “It isn’t. I’ve been thrown to the wolves.”
Whitaker cocked his head. "Explain."
Arthur hesitated but decided it wouldn’t hurt. “Yes, I acquitted myself well during the eruption, but I’m just a baron’s son with no real backing of my own. Now people will make a point of eliminating me to climb the list.”
Valentina and Whitaker exchanged a look.
“It’s not that dramatic,” Whitaker said. “The quorum of hive leaders made such a stink about a few deaths that Buck Moon will make a point to ensure there won’t be any more. They’ll have healers on hand during the duels.”
Relief must have shown on Arthur’s face because Valentina smiled.
“You should be aware that other hive leaders will be backing their favorites to entice them to their hive, should they link that dragon.”
Whitaker rolled his eyes. “Oh, just tell the boy straight out: Other leaders will be bribing their favorites, and we are too.” He looked at Arthur directly. “So, what we’re asking is what you want to come back home to Wolf Hive… and what you feel you need to succeed.”
Arthur sat back. There was every chance he would be visited by other hive leaders, but he’d been here for quite some time. No one had approached him.
And the fact of the matter is if he did have a choice, he would choose Wolf Moon. He had roots there.
“A combat card,” he said. “My Legendary is Utility-focused and I need something, so I don’t embarrass myself in duels.”
Again, the two exchanged a look and Arthur’s stomach sank. He knew it wouldn’t be good news before Whitaker opened his mouth.
“It’s not like we have extra Legendary cards floating around. The best we can do is load you up with a Rare — maybe two — and unless you played it smart or got lucky it wouldn’t be enough power to overcome a Legendary card. Plus, you still have to practice with the damn thing to learn how to best use it. All cards have a learning curve. You got your mana unlocked, at least?”
“I do,” he said sourly. He should have expected that answer. One of the first things his father told him about cards was that it often took practice to master them. Especially if he was going to go in underpowered in a duel.
“Let’s come back to that,” Valentina said impatiently. “What else do you need?”
What else?
Arthur didn’t want much in life except for good shelter, semi-regular meals and the time to grow his skills.
The things he truly wanted weren’t for himself.
“My original recruiter, Kenzie,” he said and saw Valentina nod, “I want her to get the full reward if I link the dragon here.” Some of the hive systems could be bureaucratic enough to deny her due if he went somewhere else.
“That can be done,” Valentina said, confirming his fears.
“If I link the dragon, will I become one of the hive leaders?” Arthur asked.
Whitaker’s eyes narrowed. “In training, yes.”
“Then as a leader I want a say in how the hive gives out funds to the city’s orphanages. They have several programs that do a good job getting kids their first cards, but I think we can do better.” Arthur continued, on a roll now. “I want a regular stipend and I want — I need — time in addition to my regular dragon rider training to level up my cards. They’re skill based and I’ve only scratched the surface of what they can do.”
“They?” Whitaker asked.
Arthur realized his mistake at once. He shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “I’m building my deck around a utility specialty. It makes sense with my Legendary.”
Valentina made a sound deep in her throat he couldn’t tell was disbelief or agreement. But then she said, “What else?”
He couldn’t for the life of him think of anything. Thanks to Marion’s coin bag, he could buy what he needed. “That’s it.”
“Nothing for your family?” Valentina pressed.
Arthur barked a surprised laugh. “No, I don’t want any compensation going back to Baron Kane.”
Whitaker opened his mouth and looked almost offended on the Baron’s behalf. Valentina cut him off.
“Well, those are reasonable… demands. Let’s talk about cards.”
Whitaker sat back, annoyed. “Utility deck,” he muttered. “You got nothing at least elemental, boy? Valentina, don’t you have one of those Rare elemental enhancements?”
“As much as I appreciate Arthur, I am not giving him something from my heart,” she said waspishly.
“We can’t… go to a card shop and buy one?” Arthur asked. “I understand if the hive won’t sell us something here, but you have dragons and surely one of the cities…” he trailed off as he caught the hive leader’s expressions. Whitaker looked chagrined. Valentina quietly furious, though the anger wasn’t at him.
“We have dragons, yes,” she said, “But portal use is approved through the hive leaders.”
“If I know Ismael, he’ll let us go through to one of the kingdom’s center cities and then shut the thing behind us again,” Whitaker said bluntly. “He’s a snake.”
“It will take us days to fly back here the long way,” Valentina admitted. “By which point the egg would have hatched.”
Tess had flown Arthur from the borderland town back up to Wolf Moon in one arduous day. But Tess was a purple dragon with speed and stamina and likely some quickening cards. Valentina’s dragon was elderly, and Whitaker’s wasn’t built for speed either.
Interesting that in this case a Common out showed a Legendary.
“We'll have to make do from our personal decks.” She pulled out a delicate coin purse from her pocket. He realized it was a card anchor when she pulled a card out of it.
Whitaker beat her to it. He reached for a tattoo on his forearm and flicked a card at Arthur.
“Here. I’ve been meaning to upgrade it anyway.”
Moderate Self Repair
Healing
Uncommon
The wielder of this card will be granted the ability to repair minor to moderate wounds and injuries. Severe, crippling, complex, or mortal wounds may be only partially healed. This is an active effect and requires the use of mana.
“Won’t fix losing a limb or mortal wounds,” Whitaker said, “Also you have to concentrate to keep the card active, so you’re out of luck if you pass out. But it might save your hide if the healers take their time getting to you.”
It certainly wasn’t the solution to all his problems, but any healing card was a valuable find.
“Thank you,” he said honestly.
“I have one I think you’ll like,” Valentina said then hesitated to look at Arthur as if studying him for a hidden quality before she drew out a second from her purse-anchor.
“Use these two together.”
Arthur looked and inhaled sharply. He recognized the first.
Phase In, Phase Out
Teleportation
Rare
This card grants the wielder the ability to temporarily make their body incorporeal to pass through objects, or allow objects to pass through them. Limit is ten seconds of incorporeal time per hour, on a rolling basis. This card does not use mana.
The second card was intriguing.
Mana Amendment
Meta
Rare
This card has the ability to amend the abilities of any targeted Rare-tier card to enable it to use mana. This may change the fine details of the card, though it will not alter the target card’s rank.
He wanted to find out what effect the Mana Amendment card would have right now, but one blaring fact held him back.
“I’m grateful for the use of these cards,” he said carefully. Cards from the personal decks of Hive Leaders was no small thing. “But I don’t think I can win duels with these.”
They were hive leaders. Didn’t they have anything more powerful?
Then again, why would they have powerful secondary cards? Their own Legendary cards and their linked dragons were more than enough power.
“I don’t expect you to win with these,” Valentina said. “You said you want that little egg? Well, if it wants you, it doesn’t matter how many royal brats are put before it first. Don’t fight to win, Arthur. Fight to survive.”
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