Wings and flames

Chapter 21

Viri and Sam were in their combat clothes. Sam couldn't believe they had broken into the palace. It was impossible. But somehow the guard were looking elsewhere, all three times, when they entered the gates. Viri had clearly done this type of thing before. He was so proud of his friend.

They were not on the way to king or the queen. Instead there were standing at what looked like a passage that ran along the dungeons of the castle. Viri had broken in through the backgates, walked softly into a combination of passage ways that led to what looked like a huge fire pit. Sam followed softly.

"So... I'm assuming we're sneaking up on the Black's?"

"Yep. We need to know when they'll attack the Belltower next."

"And how do you suggest we do that?"

The Black's stayed on the palace. They were a tight security group of full dragons that mostly consisted of fire dragons. They were easy to agitate and mostly kept fighting with one another. In a war, they were master weapons.

"General Black's meeting with the king for the monthly report as we speak. I don't know how long the meeting is but we should have sometime to sneak around his room, we get the info we need and then we leave."

Viri sounded way too optimistic. "And how do we do that without crossing their weird fireplace orgy?" The firedragons felt powerful around fire. They kept the huge fireplace burning at all times. Sometimes things got erotic around it.

"Oh, you're gonna put out the fire and cause the distraction." Sam opened his mouth in horror and Viri winked at him. Her friend was easy to rattle.

They approached the dining hall. Sam was right, there were some Black's getting in strange positions on one side, some others were sitting around. Sam exchanged a glance at Viri and then closed his eyes. As a full dragon, Sam could do things half dragons couldn't. Like control the water in the air, bring them together and force them in a direction. He could further control the steam and make it spread out in the air leaving no trace of what just happened.

Sam couldn't tell if Viri was impressed. But she grabbed his hand and walked calmly right through the centre of the hall into the rooms. The fire dragons took a minute to react. Such a thing was not possible. And then they started blaming each other. Sometimes it was hard to believe these guys were the highest level of security.

Viri led Sam to a door. She used her feet to open the door, it wasn't locked.

"How do you know this is his room?" Sam asked.

Viri started looking around. "Because this isn't the first time I've come here."

When Sam's eyebrows raised in a question she continued, "General black was close with my father. I don't know but when I came to Athoms, the first thing I did was do a check on him. To find his intentions."

"You broke into the chief of Athom's most lethal line of defence. When you came into Athoms. At 15? I should really wear more weapon on me."

Viri carefully went through the papers on the general's desk. Nothing. She heard the dining hall fall silent. The general was here. Sam was signaling violently now, almost on cue, she found the note. It was kept on the general's window. Left there in the morning given the stain at the end of it. 'Aeck has fallen ill. We'll need to give it time again. We're sorry to fail you general.'

Viri had found what she needed. She grabbed Sam's hand and took a careful glance at the room. Everything was exactly where it had been. She slowly pulled Sam Infront of the general's dresser.

"Do you really want to look at your own reflection right now?" Sam asked Viri. They heard footsteps. And then all Sam felt was a shift under his feet, Viri's hand over his mouth and a free fall.

Viri smiled as she got them out of the palace smoothly. Sam took a minute to ensure they were out of danger and then screamed, "what the hell was that" and started laughing.

"That, my friend, is how you escape the room of Athom's chief."

"Does he know of it?"

"Nope. He doesn't have access to the floorplan. I read it at the Belltower. The stones move when you press the right combination and then shut silently. It's for when enemies attack unexpectedly, the king knows but his general? Not that smart."

"That was so much fun! I thought I was gonna die but woohoo"

"That wasn't the scary bit of the plan." When Sam gulped, Viri continued.

"I went to the Belltower. I met Steven and he showed me these sketches.' Viri handed them to Sam.

"This is a panther. A panther did this? Wait, we met a panther last night." Sam tried to understand. And then he saw the next picture and almost dropped it. Viri willed herself to continue.

"Steven saw the panther around Belltower after both the attacks. We saw it near the old shrine. I'm no earth dragon but I know that panthers don't lurk that far off from their part of the forest. Whatever attacked us and the kids, something tells me it's connected to the panther."

"There's only one panther in a forest. This has to be the one we saw. But if it was connected, doesn't it seem shady that it just showed itself to us?"

"Not if it wanted to be found. I felt it approach us. It wasn't hungry Sam. And it wasn't wild. It was strangely calm and nervous. I know that whatever the Aeck is, the panther could lead us to it."

"These eyes. Where did Steven draw them from?"

Viri was careful with her words, "He said they kept flashing in his mind. The poor kid was scared. But he remembers it from that night. Why?"

"I dearly hope it's a figment of his imagination. Because if it isn't, gods help us."

"What do you mean? Have you seen these eyes before?" Viri asked.

"No. But they seem demonic. Viri these are dark and nobody, not even dragons eyes flush out a single colour. Our Irises stand out because of the white of our eyes and the dark of our pupils. We're a balance. But this...this looks a lot like the opposite of the gods we know."

Viri chose silence.

"We go find this 'Aeck' thing. We'll have to get an earth dragon to tell us about the panther. Either way, we need a cover. We need to position ourselves in a way that allows us to go on this hunt without making anyone at the academy suspicious. What's the plan?"

"No plans yet. But I'm open to ideas."

Sam had a wide grin in response to that.  "How do you feel about a suspension?"