Dragon Marked

Chapter 9: interruptions are annoying.

Kate turned the corner to exit the stone structure and walked forward taking another right turn. Kate was once again awe struck by the carvings on the outside of the library. There were a bunch of small pools connected to the river with sluice gates. Marked would add water every day, and then they'd collect the minerals left behind by the evaporation every month. Minerals were then used to fill in carvings on important buildings if the carvings were supposed to be easily visible. Kate walked in through welcoming, open doors, dark oak, and into the library. A warmth came from a small fireplace that was watched 24/7 by someone. The library had become Kate's favorite place, the only problem was that she got the most nervous looks from people in the library who had read all the stuff against her, but the general mood didn't change.

"KATE!" Meg waved her over to the

Ohh, goody! Meg gives me delicious treats. Edith poked her head out of Kate's leather backpack. Edith now barley fit in it. Kate rolled her eyes. Edith seemed to only care about food. When Kate reached Meg, Meg was beaming with excitement "what do you think? Did you know that Skylar could write articles?!" Kate looked at the piece of paper that Meg had. It read;

KATE SWORDSTONE IS NOW MARKED!

Fate or fiction?

Skylar smith

I recently got to meet the most infamous slayer, Kate Swordstone. It turns out that she got marked by a descendent of a fallen from the royal line during the Clear generation. The clear generation was the generation about 12,108 years ago. These dragons had no generation mark. Kate didn't only join us because she was marked by a dragon and needed protection. One of Kate's closest friends is Megan Donner, a spy for us who isn't marked. Due to unfortunate events, Megan's cover was leaked. We had a squadron in the air, ready to interrupt before the execution actually happened. Our simple plan normally worked. However, a key part of the extraction was delayed. Due to this, the squadron was preparing to fight. Right as they were about to attack, however, Kate stood up for her friend, and rescued Megan. Before, Kate had not known that we truly were innocent when it comes to starting the war. Kate is truly a marked, and marked are loyal.

Kate had to read the article several times to fully understand that Skylar had written an article about her. She couldn't say anything. At least that explained the sudden trust shift. All Kate could say was, "wow. That's... awesome." Meg smiled.

"I know, right?! I did not know that he could write articles. I wish I could-"

"SLAYERS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT, SLAYERS ARE HEADED THIS WAY!" Edith's head snapped up from the pice of meat Meg had slipped her. Not good. Let's run!

"No. I'm fighting, Edith."

You mean your dying.

"KATE!" Meg shouted over the chaos. "YOU HAVEN'T FOUGHT WITH A DRAGON!"

"THERE'S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING!" Kate ran back to her room and picked up her double-sided sword. "Edith! You can stay, and maybe have a reason for them to protect you, or you can run, and feel Guilty that you didn't fight."

Bye! Edith flew off, and Kate sighed. Of course, Edith would run away from danger. Kate walked out and saw a giant dragon covered in armor. Meg was right! All I had to do was want to be big! Let's go fight! Edith's energetic voice came from the beast in front of Kate.

"Edith?"

Yes! Kate hopped on top of Edith and the duo ran toward the entrance. There, they saw people were escaping through hidden passages. "Lucky we don't use those often. Unlucky, the solders mine and dig fast." It was Meg, holding a bunch of arrows, and a bow. Meg had tuned out to be skilled with the bow and arrow, though she had never shot to kill. Skylar was there, too as was Neil and all the other marked fighters. "Kate! Is Edith here?"

"Look below me, she had a growth sprout. In, like, one minute!"

"Good!" Neil took a deep breath and called out, "THE INNOCENTS ARE OUT! STAY ON GUARD! THY'LL BE HERE AT ANY MOMENT!" With that, mist filled the area and Kate knew it must be Neil's dragon. "HERE THEY COME!" Suddenly, everything quieted as the dragons made a living wall. "Well, young prince, looks like they deserted. Shall we just destroy this place?"

"No. Leave it be. The marked I'm looking for clearly isn't here." Kate froze. She recognized that voice. The voice was River's!