Chapter 14

A/N - Small Onyx Storm spoilers in this chapter (a name). 

Allani (2 months before the apostasy) -

I lunged, catching the back of Lance's shirt, dragging him back to me, laughing. Imogen and her older sister jogged down the hill after me, catching up quickly. 

"How are you going to get out of this now?" Katrina asked, smiling. 

I shoved my brother towards her, and she moved, tackling him and pinning him to the ground underneath her. Lance looked up at her, smirking. 

"How do you know this isn't exactly where I want to be?" my brother asked. 

I looked at Imogen. It wasn't a secret that our siblings kept dancing on the edge of something more, but didn't risk falling. Everyone just wanted them to take that final step, since the tension between them was unbearable. 

"And yet they say that there is nothing between them." Imogen mouthed. 

I laughed,  and waved her over. 

"Come on. Let's leave these two here and find the other boys!" I called. 

They shot a glance towards us, before continuing to trade words like knives. I rolled my eyes, turning to follow Imogen deeper into the forest. 

"I'll look for Garrick, you look for Xaden." I said. "We can leave Bodhi for last, or just use the first two for bait." 

Imogen nodded, and we split off, heading in separate directions. Knowing Xaden, he would probably be thinking strategically, using tactics that Fen and Mom taught us.  Find cover, get high or low, blend in. Those were the basics of hiding. 

He wasn't good at camouflage, so that ruled out blending in. There was plenty of cover in these woods, but most of it was provided by the vegetation, so I needed to be on the lookout for rustling leaves and ferns. There wasn't anywhere low that he could hide, unless he spent the hour of time we had given them to dig a hole in the ground and hide, but that would bury him, so that only let finding cover and getting somewhere high as the two options that he had for hiding. 

I kept a dagger palmed and ready, as I had been since we entered these woods. It wasn't for Xaden. Maybe. I was mostly for any of the creatures that were known to be living in these woods. All kinds of animals that would just love a snack. 

Something shifted to the right of me, catching my eyes, and I stilled, whipping around, my dagger already poised to flick at whatever was moving in the underbrush. The shifting continued, proving that it wasn't just the wind blowing through the leaves, but something. Or someone. 

"If someone's there, you've got three seconds to come out before I launch this dagger." I warned. 

Silence. Before Xaden jumped out, tackling me to the ground and we rolled around, wrestling for the dagger in my hand. I elbowed him the ribs, making him dislodge himself from the tangle of limbs that we had become. 

"What the hell, Xaden!" I snapped at him, slipping the dagger into an empty sheath on my ribs. 

"You threatened to throw it at me." he argued. 

"I thought you were something else. If you had just come out-" I cut myself off, releasing a frustrated breath. 

"And lose the game? Nice try, Nightrain." he said. 

I threw my arms up in an exasperated motion. 

"You lost anyways, or did you not realize that this was a game of hide and seek, not wrestle the seeker for a knife." I said. 

"You have to catch me first." he called, already sprinting away. 

"I swear to the gods, I'm going to kill you." I snapped, breaking into a run and chasing after him. 

On the way, he ran in Garrick and Bodhi, who were running from Imogen, and the three joined up together, as thought it would help them get away from us if we wanted to catch them.

"You found both Garrick and Bodhi?" I asked Imogen, raising a brow and we ran after them.

"The two idiots decided that hiding in the same exact __cpLocation would be a wonderful idea." Imogen responded, amusement lacing her tone. 

"They aren't the only stupid ones in the game. Riorson decided that when I held a knife because I didn't know who was there, the best idea would be to tackle me and try to take that said knife." I told her. 

She looked sideways at me, clearly amused by the idiocy of the boys that were somehow born to some of the greatest tacticians and leaders in Aretia. 

"It's weird sometimes." Imogen said. "How boys so dumb were born from parents so smart. I wonder if it's just impossible for males to get brains, no matter how much of a genius their parents were." 

"I think you might be right." I answered, looking forwards at the boys retreating backs. 

I put on a burst of speed, Imogen automatically matching the new pace that I set, and I leaped, jumping onto Bodhi's back and pinning him to the ground, and Imogen copied my actions with Garrick, leaving Xaden to run away again. I watched him disappear into the thick undergrowth, the rustling of the leaves soon stopping as he slowed down, likely to hide his trail. 

"Can you handle them both?" I asked Imogen. 

She looked at the two boys lying on the ground, still momentarily stunned from when we took them down.

"I think so. I can always just knock them out." Imogen said, her tone making the teasing words sound serious and Bodhi came to, giving her a death glare. 

"Ok. You should take them and join up with Katrina and Lance again." I suggested. 

Imogen scoffed. "And get in the way of whatever they were doing when we left? No way. I'm too young to be traumatized that way." 

She dramatically flipped her hair over her shoulder in a way like I had seen some of the rich and the royals do when they came to Aretia. 

I laughed, and left her alone with the two boys, jogging to where I had seen Xaden take off, following a trail that he left through crushed and shifted plants. I followed that trail for a few more minutes, when it abruptly ended, as though he had disappeared... or climbed. 

I looked up, trying to spot him through the leaves of the trees, and a faint rustling sound came from behind me, muffled footsteps quickly following, heading in the opposite direction, and I whipped around, catching sight of Xaden as he ran back the way he came. I sprinted after him immediately. Imogen might be able to to help me, but she already had to handle two of the boys and might not be able to keep them all down if she were to get up and help with Xaden. 

I didn't let him out of my sight, not willing to risk losing him or his trail again, but I was still too far away from him to be able to make an effective takedown. I could always throw a dagger, but I was pretty sure that Fen would kill me for stabbing his son in the name of winning a game. 

Then again, he might also not. He was the one always pushing us to keep training and get better, and I could always use the excuse that he hadn't dodged fast enough. No, I was pretty sure that Fen would still kill me. I don't think that Mom would be all too happy either that I had nearly killed the heir to the Aretian throne.

Xaden shot a glance over his shoulder, the golden specks in his onyx eyes glittering for a moment as the sunlight hit them, but they disappeared just as quickly when he turned again, breaking into a full sprint now that he realized I was so close behind him. I added more speed to my run, and leaped, unwilling to let the chase get out of hand again. 

...

Later, back at the Riorson House, I sat on the couch, my sketchbook in my hands as I drew out a dragon. It wasn't a real one. Both the color and the tail of this majestic creature didn't exist, but the idea came to me once in a dream. A giant dragon with dark amethyst scales. The tail had spikes lining it until the tip, which ended in a spike similar to daggertails'. It was thinner towards the end as well, giving it more mobility and speed as it whipped something, eviscerating it just as well and throwing it across an area. 

Lance sat next to me, peering over my shoulder to see what I was drawing. Where I preferred to sketch and draw, he was a painter. He liked all kinds of paint, but his preferred ones were watercolor and acrylic paints.  He generally painted landscapes, and would often add my sketched out things somewhere in the paintings. For instance, he was currently adding my dragon to a painting of mountains and a night sky, my dragon breathing fire, adding a touch of color to the otherwise dark painting. 

Katrina, Imogen, Bodhi, and Garrick were nearby, all looking at us as we were busy at work. Xaden, however, had left our group the moment we set foot into the foyer of the house. Not that I was complaining. I had never gotten along with him, no matter how much our friends tried to make us. Hell, even Lance had tried, fed up with the constant challenges and arguing. The only problem that I could see was that Xaden was currently at the same level as me, quickly prompting me to get better. I wouldn't be stuck at a level with someone who was the equivalent of a wild born animal in my eyes. 

Bodhi broke the comfortable silence first, startling me, making me mess up when I was adjusting my dragon's shadows. I erased the pencil mark, glaring at him. He held up hands up in defense, starting to talk. 

"Sorry. But, do you want to play a game?" he asked. 

I raised a brow. "Depends on the game and the stakes." 

"Let's play truth or dare." Garrick cut in. 

I nodded slowly. That was a game I could easily play half focused. "Sure. Stakes?" 

"Anyone who refuses to answer a question or do a dare has to pay... let's say 20 gold marks." Garrick answers after a pause.

I nod, and Imogen stands up, coming back in a couple of minutes with Xaden in tow, before sitting back down again next to her sister. 

"I filled him in. He has to join, he's the richest of all of us here." Imogen said. 

"Does he though?" I asked, glaring. 

He matched my glare with one of his own, until Bodhi cut in the middle of us. 

"Ok... so, let's not do that." Bodhi said. "Let's start. Allani, truth or dare." 

I pause for a moment, thinking. "Dare." 

He smiles, as though I've played right into his trap. "I dare you to try and touch your mom's dragon." 

There's a moment of tense silence, where no one speaks. I only smile. "Krit? No problem." 

Krit was my mom's green swordtail. He didn't have much of a temper, thankfully, and also liked me, so the dare likely wouldn't have been a suicide mission.

"Let's go then." I said, standing up and walking out of the room. 

As we walked, I spoke again. "Is there a specific spot you want me to touch?" 

Bodhi pauses. "Try to stroke his snout like riders do."

Well, Bodhi just made my life a whole lot easier. It was something that I had done numerous times. Albeit, not during mating season, when their tempers were high, but he was already mated to my dad's blue clubtail, Seph, so it shouldn't be a problem in itself. 

We walked out of the house, climbing up the hill towards where the dragons liked to rest when their riders were here. I spotted Krit's emerald green scales curled in a ball, a nearby sapphire scaled dragon lying in the same position, their tails barely touching as they slept. 

"Wait. They're sleeping. We need to wait for them to wake up, or they will torch us. Complete, full on, firestorm type torch." I said, sitting down on a flat rock outcropping, putting one leg straight out in front of me, and the other propping up my arm. 

Soon, we quickly forgot about the game, getting lost as we talked and laugh until the bright blue sky faded away and gave in to the dark, silver dotted sky of night. 

Little did I know that this would be one of the last carefree times that we would have. 

Violet - 

I walked, well more like limped, into the hallway, my mind still thinking of that blast of power I felt yesterday. 

 Rhiannon's door, which was across the small hall from mine, opens, and I see Sawyer's tall, lean frame come out. He runs his fingers through his hair, and when he sees me, hs eyebrows rise and he freezes - his cheeks almost as red as his freckles. 

I didn't focus on that, urgent to find out whatever the fuck that blast of magic was yesterday. "Good morning." I started. "Did you guys feel that blast of magic?" 

Rhiannon walks out of her room a second later, and answers. "Yeah. I think it might have been coming from one of the third year rooms, because it was way too powerful for a second year, and first years haven't even started channeling yet, so it can't have been coming from any of us. Also, no more breakfast duty?" 

We started walking, talking about it at the same time. "I was told last night that all the less desirable duties were being handed off to the unbonded, so our energy can all be redirected for flight lessons. And that energy blast was powerful for even third years. I only know two people that I think would be capable of making a blast that large, and neither of them are good options if something happened to upset them." 

"One more reason for the unbonded to hate us, I guess. And who are those two people?" Rhiannon asked. 

"Allani. And Xaden. If something happened to upset them, they'll probably be operating on a trigger hair temper, and that'll end up with someone, or multiple someones, getting killed." I said. 

"So, Sawyer, huh?" I teased, trying to redirect the conversation and lighten the mood after a second. 

"I felt like celebrating. And why haven't I heard of you celebrating?" Rhi teased back, noticing my subject change but didn't comment on it, probably also not wanting to linger on the fact that one of our wingleaders were probably very, very pissed today. 

"Haven't found anyone I want to celebrate with yet." I answered as we melted into the crowd. 

"Really now? Because I heard that you and a certain squad leader had a moment last night." Rhiannon comments. 

My gaze whips toward her, and I stumble, nearly tripping over my feet. She catches my look with a skeptical gaze. 

"Come on, Vi. The entire quadrant was out there, and you don't think someone saw you?" she pauses, rolling her eyes. "You're not going to get a lecture from me. Who gives a shit if it's frowned upon to be in a relationship with a superior officer? There's no regulation, and it's no like any of us is guaranteed to live through the day." 

"Solid points." I agree, thinking back. "But... I don't know. It was weird. It wasn't how I had imagined it, but I think there could be something if we built it up. But Dain's too much of a rule follower, and he wouldn't do anything to compromise his potential position as a wingleader." 

"Well, that's shitty to hear." She hooks her arm through mine. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." I sighed. 

A door further down the hall opened, and Liam Mairi stepped out, his arm wrapped around the waist of a girl who bonded with a Brown Clubtail. 

"Good morning, ladies." Ridoc forces his way through the crowd and slings an arm around our shoulders. "Or should I say riders?" 

"I like the sound of riders," Rhiannon replies, shooting a smile in his direction. 

"it has a certain ring to it," Ridoc agrees. 

"It's definitely better than dead. Where's your relic?" I asked. 

"Right here." His arm fell off my shoulders as he pushedAS the sleeve of his tunic up to reveal the brown mark of a dragon silhouette on his upper arm. "You?"

"Can't see it. It's on my back." I replied. 

"That will keep you safer if you're ever separated from that massive dragon of yours." His eyes danced. "I swear I was going to shit himself when I saw him on the field. Only Allani's dragon was larger than him, other than Codagh. But Athana is so large, did you see her? She literally was gigantic. What about you, Rhi?" 

"Somewhere you'll never see," she responded. 

"You wound me." He slaps his hand over his heart in mock offense, but I couldn't focus on that, since the moment I entered the line for breakfast, I knew who had released that blast of power. 

Allani sat in her usual seat on the leadership table, but something was different. Her violet eyes were hard and cold, constantly scanning the mess hall, an uncanny impression of the way dragons looked around. The silver rings around her pupils were shining like a silver flame, and the golden specks glowing.

"Athana said that she's ready to kill." Tairn said. 

Shit. This was just about the worst possible thing that could happen. 

Ok. There's a little flashback with Lance and their relationship before the apostasy. And Allani's just going to get more unhinged. And by that I mean absolutely brutal. How did you guys like this chapter? I can try to get the next update up in less than a week, because I've been working on the book in school, but my teachers have been having us do a lot of preparation for our finals, and my coach isn't helping my schedule.