The Dragon Games

Boat Ride

I squeezed into the last available seat on a rowboat, sitting thigh to thigh with the other pledges, wedged against the back wall. They were too caught up in their own conversations to notice my arrival.

I kept to myself, feeling like a rat tossed in a pit of vipers.

"What bids are you hoping for?" a curly-haired boy in the front row asked.

The boy next to him smirked. He was the sort I would rob blind on the street – a pearl dangling from one ear, carefree posture, shiny blond hair that had never missed a day's wash.

"Balthasar, obviously," the blond said. "If I got anything else, I may as well turn in my jacket."

"Windsor's not bad."

"But it's not Balthasar, is it?"

The boy flashed a shit-eating grin. "You could get Tudor."

"I would go home if I got Tudor," the blond announced. "Better yet, I'd jump off a cliff."

"Enough of that," a girl jumped in. She had a lean, muscular frame and wore her hair in a razor-sharp bob, clipped just above her jaw. With her rigid posture, she carried herself like she was running Skydescent before anyone had even set foot in the castle. "The way you talk, you don't deserve any bids."

The blond smirked. "Who are you? Second in Command of squad Tudor?"

"My name is Bianca," the girl said cooly.

"Second in Command of squad Tudor," the blond said. "What an accomplishment, that is. Like being the tallest gnome."

"Or the sexiest oaf," Curly jeered.

"Cassian is turning Tudor around," Bianca protested.

"Cassian Evans is a has-been that never was," the blond declared. "A glass-gazing, brown-nosed bawd. What honorable man gives a raider a parlay? Even a common whore would blush at his antics."

There was a second of stunned silence, and then the pledges burst into uproarious laughter, shaking the walls of the boat.

I tried not to roll my eyes at the overblown reaction. What pearl clutchers. I've heard six year olds with a fouler tongue.

"Who are you to speak like that?" Bianca cried, raising her voice to be heard over the laughter.

My eyes dimming, I stared out into the lake. Here we go with the petty posturing of the upper class. At this rate, I'd welcome a brawl with the dragons.

"I'm Edmond Balthasar, darling," the blond replied. "First heir of House Balthasar, noble marquess to the East."

My head jerked back to the boat, my eyes wide. Edmond Balthasar? As in, the Balthasar I had stolen from?

Bianca lifted her chin. "So? Is this the part where I swoon?"

It might have been impressive, had her words not been swallowed up by the other pledges shouting Edmond's name, stumbling over each other in an attempt to get closer. In seconds, Bianca was shuffled to the back of the boat, where only I had remained seated.

"Did you truly party in the king's private chambers?" a boy asked Edmond.

A girl shoved another pledge aside to get a better view of Edmond. "I heard the famous artist Gonolio begged to sculpt you."

"Is it true that the raiders visited your manor?" another asked.

"Visit?" Edmond said, finally deigning to answer someones' question. "If visit means 'looted our valuables, attacked our guards, destroyed our stables, and burnt our servant's quarters to the ground', then yes, I suppose they visited, visited in spectacular fashion."

As conspicuously as I could, I tugged my collar a little higher. What would they do if they recognized me? Toss me off the boat?

Or perhaps Edmond didn't want the tides to kill me off.

Perhaps he wanted to save the pleasure of killing me for himself. The other pledges listened to his voice like gospel. No doubt it would take one word from him to rile them up into an angry mob.

"Wasn't Crenshaw's Pet involved?" a pledge said. "Are they the raider that got a parlay?"

"No," Edmond replied. "I was informed he was put to a death in a sufficiently brutal fashion."

I glanced at Edmond, my brows high. He?

"If there was any justice in the world, all of them would have been hanged and quartered," a pledge said.

Edmond nodded. "Well said, my friend. And yet a goblin wears our jacket, the darkest shade of filth lurking under our noses. But I don't intend to see the fine halls of Skydescent polluted with it for long. If the courts won't do their job, then I will take justice into my own hands. First the goblin, then Drax, then Samuel Crenshaw."

I snorted. He would take justice on Sammy? As if pearl boy could land so much as as a – Suddenly, I realized the rowboat had fallen silent, and all eyes had turned to me. My face dropped. I thumped my chest, feigning a coughing fit.

"I mean, what a noble quest of honor!" I thrust my fist in the air. "To the death of the raiders!"

"Hurrah!" the rowboat chanted with me, thrusting their fists in the air.

Soon, a castle came into view. Its silver towers rose above the treetops, followed by the rest of the vast property. A hideous amount of wealth must have been poured into its construction.

It looked like a painting, the symbol of power and fortune sprawled across the forest floor.

The boats docked, and another knight awaited us on the shore, lit dimly by torchlight. I was the first one off the boat, and couldn't be happier to leave it behind.

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm surrounded by women or cows. It's such a shame what the female pledges must turn themselves into to succeed in the arena."

I turned away from the knight, to find Edmond Balthasar's stare pinned on me. He towered over me, far bigger than he first appeared sprawled across the boat. Suddenly, I was very grateful that Cassian warned against revealing my identity.

My time in the raiders gave me a keen sense on knowing who made good on their word and who blew nothing but hot smoke. Despite his manicured appearance, the blond had an edge to his eyes.

His category was obvious.

My fingers twitched for my dagger.

He must have known who I was all along, must have relished in my discomfort as I sat there like a fool as he prattled off threats –

"It's quite refreshing, seeing you," Edmond said. "I pray you'll receive a bid for Balthasar, so I have something I enjoy looking at."

I stared at him like he spoke a foreign language. He must be talking to someone else. I glanced over my shoulder, but no one stood behind me.

Edmond took a step forward, his eyes glittering in the moonlight. "Where are you from?"

With a start, I realized he was being sincere. While I came from the burrow — born poor, even for my district's standards — the money I earned with the raiders allowed me to live beyond my means. Under the dim light, he mistook me for someone from the capital.

"Bit of everywhere," I said. "I never stuck to the same place for long."

"You must be from a naval bloodline, then. The Foresters? The Elberts?"

"No..."

"Then which? What's your name?"

I tensed. But before I could reply, the knight spoke.

"All accounted for?" the knight shouted. "Welcome to Skydescent, pledges!"

While Edmond leered at me, the surrounding pledges burst into cheers.