All The Skills

Arthur and Brixaby waited at the border between the living land and the dead lands.

Pacing back and forth, Arthur absently shuffled a deck of playing cards in his hands. Over the last few days, he had increased his Shuffling level to 19. His most recent trick he’d mastered meant he could now effortlessly bridge out cards from one hand to another without dropping one, and while keeping track of where the most important face cards were placed. He was still working on the numbered cards.

That shuffling technique had become part of his muscle memory. Since he hadn't received a new level in the last few hours, he suspected that he'd have to start working on some tricks.

It didn’t help that this particular deck of playing cards was brand new with a waxy slipperiness under his fingers.

Brixaby watched him with undisguised curiosity, likely since Arthur had caught him sneaking away his last deck of playing cards and trying to shuffle them himself. Unfortunately, his claws got in the way, and he had bent or punctured a good deal of them. That was why Arthur’s playing cards were brand new.

Brixaby’s claws could be worked around with enough skill levels, but he didn’t seem interested. Instead, he had grumpily gone back to his smithing.

"Shouldn't you be meditating?" Brixaby asked.

"Can't," Arthur grunted. There was no way that he would be able to calm down enough to try to get into a meditative state. He glanced to the sky for some sign of Cressida and Horatio and their dragons… but there was nothing.

He didn't say as much, but Brixaby could easily read him anyway. "I believe that's exactly what Meditation is supposed to solve, was it not?”

“I don't see you doing Meditation," Arthur shot back. “Don't you want to increase the size of your secondary core?"

Brixaby snorted. "My secondary core will grow naturally as I mature. Already, I believe that I am nearly ready for a third card." He paused and cocked his head at Arthur, the toes of his front paw tapping against the ground in thought. “Do you believe Meditation would increase my cores further?”

Arthur shrugged. "The Dark Heart bends rules, who knows what would happen?"

Brixaby let out a pensive growl, then shook his head and sent his own long, lingering look out to the sky. It was a stark blue color, without a hint of any dots among the horizon. "Perhaps you should check your Call of the Heart again.”

He had asked Arthur this about ten minutes before, and ten minutes before that.

Three days ago, Arthur had sent a message back to Cressida saying that they would go out to meet them once she and Horatio were in view of the city, but once the day had arrived, neither one of them had wanted to wait.

It was worse for Brixaby because Horatio and Cressida were using his map of the Call of the Heart to find their way here. He did not want to drop that query and try another one, which could possibly leave Cressida and Horatio stranded.

So, it was up to Arthur. Nodding, he stilled his fingers, placed his playing cards back into his Personal Space, and closed his eyes to check again. Casting his heart out towards the two was much easier than finding any of the scourgling nests. Probably because a part of Arthur was still disgusted at the thought of scourglings and didn't really want to focus any part of his heart on them.

But Cressida and Horatio? He wanted to see his friends… and especially wanted to see Cressida.

He hoped that deep down inside, Cressida wanted to see him just as badly. I should've put them in my Personal Space, he thought, and taken them with me. Between me and Brixaby, we could've fit Sams and Joy, too.

But he hadn't known what he would be facing at Wolf Moon Hive when he had returned.

There had been every possibility Whitaker and his entire retinue would be waiting on the other side of the portal to arrest Arthur. Or Whitaker himself might have tried to challenge them to a fight. Arthur had full confidence in Brixaby's abilities, but Crags, Whitaker's Orange dragon, was wily, and Whitaker had years to accumulate powerful cards.

Or in the worst-case scenario, Whitaker could have easily contacted the king for back up. After all, if he suspected that Arthur had gone rogue, then reaching out to the king would be the next step.

It was that last possibility that had frightened Arthur the most.

He had no chance at all against the king's Mythic level dragon, and the king was notoriously… uh, changeable.

The last time, Arthur had barely scraped by the skin of his teeth. If the king had come, he’d very likely die. And with Cressida and Horatio locked in his Personal Space… They would never come out again.

He couldn't risk it. And at the time, it seemed better that they travel separately.

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Granted, none of his fears had been validated. Whitaker was either lazy or an idiot and had assumed that Arthur would come to his call. Or perhaps he was wary of the dying Valentina.

Either way, it was over and done with. Arthur had escaped, he was nearly reunited with Cressida and Horatio, and he didn't want to dwell on the what if’s.

Pushing regrets aside, Arthur focused his Call of the Heart on his two friends.

Instantly, a map appeared. Arthur frowned at it. It looked like they were still in the same spot, about three hours out or so, by a normal dragon’s flight time.

But they’d been there the last two times Arthur had checked, too.

At first, Arthur thought maybe they had taken a midday break.

The sun was high in the sky, and it was not only hot but incredibly humid around New Houston.

But they’d be in the Dead Lands. Unless they found one of the oases, there was nowhere to rest.

“So?” Brixaby asked.

Arthur shook his head. “According to the map, they haven’t moved.”

Instantly, the dragon became more alert. "Are they in trouble?"

"I don't think so," Arthur said. "They know how close they are to us, and I think if they were in real trouble, Cressida would send a message."

Why hadn't she sent back a message in the last two days? Hadn't she missed him as much as he missed her? Was she mad at him for sending her on a long journey? Maybe she and Horatio had come to some kind of understanding?

Again, he pushed those thoughts away. They would only drive him crazy.

"This is unacceptable," Brixaby said. "I could be crafting right now.” But that didn't seem to be what was really bothering him. He broke off and paced back and forth, tail whipping the air behind himself with irritation. “Joy is not a dragon to dally. Neither is Sams, though, with the heat…" He shook his head again.

Abruptly, Arthur was tired of waiting.

“I’m tired of waiting. Let's fly out to meet them."

Brixaby perked up, and they spent the next couple of minutes collecting items and storing them in their Personal Space. After all, Arthur wasn't going to wait around without a nice chair if he could help it. Brixaby had, for some reason, packed his entire furnace and some smithing tools. Though, like Arthur, had been fretting and hadn’t used it.

It didn't take long before they were ready to go. Arthur cast the Call of the Heart one more time just to double-check. The dots that designated Cressida and Horatio still had not moved.

"Let's get there fast," he told Brixaby as he climbed on and took hold of the neck ridges. He still hadn't gotten a proper dragon saddle for Brixaby. But with his Dragon Riding skill almost to 20, he wasn't sure there was much of a point.

Though, he did pull out goggles for his eyes that were on a stretchy strap that fit snugly around his head. It was amazing how fast one's eyes dried out when on the back of a dragon.

Brixaby immediately leapt into the air, and Arthur clung on, keeping as low as possible to present less wind resistance.

For the most part, Brixaby saved his breath while he flew and only used a mental thought to ask if Joy and Sams had moved.

Each time, Arthur reported that they still hadn't.

And every time, Brixaby put on even more speed in the way only a Purple dragon could.

Arthur's estimation of three hours had been a little on the conservative side. At almost two hours on the mark, they started to see dots in the distance. But not just two dots. There was more — large blubs that resolved into clusters. Considering they were still over the dead lands, Arthur knew that these were not birds.

"Flying scourglings."

Brixaby had been flying quickly before, but now Arthur felt him activate his Quick Flying Sprint skill. Arthur was rocked back, but managed to cling on as they shot through the air faster than an arrow leaving a bowstring.

Soon, the dots resolved themselves to more detail. Joy and Sams were easy to pick out, especially Sams with his larger shape. They were both surrounded by a cloud of scourglings. Bright light glittered off of Cressida as she activated it and deactivated her mana shield to keep the worst of the flock from her.

And Sams intermittently glowed like a shining star as he activated some of his light-based powers.

Though Arthur knew that their real devastating card he shared with Horatio was some kind of invisible light that couldn't be seen with the eye.

Scourglings fell, broken from the sky, but there were many more were where they came from.

Despite the fact that they had to have been fighting for hours, the two dragons didn't seem to be faltering. From a distance, it appeared they were keeping their heads above water. The problem was, for every enemy that was knocked down, another was quick to take his place. There was a long line of scourglings stretching back into the distance.

Arthur guessed they had tried to get away, but the scourglings were nimble with thin, razor wings that lent them speed. Perhaps they had chased the dragon pair until they were finally forced to make a stand.

Arthur felt Brixaby swelling underneath him — not with anticipation, but with a stunning shout.

Arthur touched his neck. "Be careful, you don't want to hit our friends."

"I know what I'm doing," Brixaby grumbled. "This is a skill, and I have been leveling it."

However, he deflated again and held back for a few minutes, until they got so close that Arthur could see the details of the scourglings. They looked like fleshy, grotesque cranes with webbing instead of wings, and a hammer-shaped head instead of a normal elegant form. Of course, when they opened their terrible beaks, they were filled with teeth.

That was when Brixaby opened up his terrible jaws and let out his stunning shout.

With Brixaby’s head pointed forward, Arthur wasn't subject to the force of the shout, and he didn't hear it either. Instead, he saw as it rippled through the air: A distortion that looked like a upside down crescent heading straight for the messy flock of scourglings with Cressida and Joy in the middle.

Arthur's hands tightened into fists, but there was nothing he could do. He had no ability to call the shout back. All he could do was watch and trust in his dragon's judgment and skill.

Brixaby had aimed rather well because that crescent of force hit the bottom of the flock of scourglings that surrounded the dragon, sheering them off quite neatly before rolling outward.

The crescent expanded as it rolled outward and struck Sams’ part of the flock that was encircling Sams and Horatio, cutting off a neat third of the scourgling's before they could react.

It seemed like time stopped as all the scourglings plus the dragons that they had been attacking, turned to look at the newcomers.

Joy gave a glad cry. "Brixaby!" and, without further ado, she folded her wings and dived using the hole in the flock that Brixaby had created.

The scourglings whistled in outrage and immediately flew after her, but Joy had already gotten a good head start on them. She flew straight toward Arthur and Brixaby… And had she gotten bigger over the last couple weeks?

And was Cressida wearing plate armor?

The next moment, an enthusiastic Pink dragon reach them and enfolded her wings around Brixaby in mid-air.

"Brixaby!" she cried again, "I missed you so much!”