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, and I didn't make any efforts to join, feeling too much like a rat tossed into 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," he said. "If I got anything else, I may as well turn in my jacket."

"Steward's not bad."

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

Curly 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, the same one who had chided the other pledges for chanting. 

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," she said.

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 mused. "What an accomplishment, that is. Like being the tallest gnome."

"Or the sexiest troll," Curly jeered.

"Cassian is turning Tudor around," Bianca protested.

"Cassian Evans is a has-been that never was," the blond said. "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 out laughing so hard they shook the boat. "Who are you to speak like that?" Bianca cried, raising her voice to be heard over the laughter.

"Edmond Balthasar," the blond declared. "First heir of House Balthasar, noble marquess to the East."

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

Bianca folded her arms over her chest. "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 to get closer. In seconds, Bianca was shuffled to the back of the boat, where only I remained seated.

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

A girl shoved him aside to get a better view of Edmond. "I went to see your family's portrait ten times this summer!"

"What was it like when the raiders visited your manor?" another asked.

"Visit?" Edmond said, finally bothering to answer a question. "Does visit mean loot our valuables, attack our guards, destroy our stables, and burn our servant's quarters to the ground?"

Oops. I suppose we had visited, then, visited in spectacular fashion. Sucking in my teeth, I slouched in my seat and tugged my collar a little higher.

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

"No," Edmond replied. "I was told he was put to 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 by now," 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 the fine halls of Skydescent won't be polluted for long." 

He paused, narrowing his eyes around the boat, as if considering for the first time that despite the large pool of contestants, the raider could be lurking among them. I tensed, ready for a fight, but his eyes skipped right past me to linger on the physically-domineering males. 

"If the knights 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 a – 

Suddenly, I realized that the rowboat had fallen silent, and all eyes were on 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 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, but his large frame was the least intimidating thing about him. 

My time in the raiders gave me a good sense of who made good on their word and who blew nothing but hot smoke. And despite his coddled appearance, Edmond had an edge to his eyes – his category was obvious. Divine twitched to my fingers. He must have known who I was all along. 

I bet he had a good laugh as I sat there listening to his taunts like a –

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

I stared at him like he spoke a foreign language. Then I glanced over my shoulder, but no one stood behind me.

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

With a start, I realized he was being sincere. While I grew up poor, the money I earned with the raiders let me live well beyond my status. Under the dim light, he must have mistook me for someone from Court.

"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?" he shouted. "Welcome to Skydescent, pledges!"

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