The Golden Rider Book 1: The Golden Traitor

Chapter 3.3

Chapter 3.3

Cheering.  Cheering everywhere.  People lined the streets as they came out from hiding to congratulate the victorious party.  It had been an overwhelming victory today, and the sun was not even at its fullest height in the sky.  No one was badly injured or killed in the fighting, and no one got away.  My target, Sandra, ended up surrendering after a bout of intense fighting.  She wore down quickly, and in the end she decided her and her Dragon's lives were more important than whatever she was fighting for.  We had four of the Riders and Dragons surrender before the fighting even really started.  They were taken to meet up with Bates.  The rest who did not surrender were either captured and taken to a makeshift base on the opposite side of the mountains near Heathen or were killed in combat.

Once the fighting was done, we had more Riders and Dragon come and relieve those who had just fought.  They also brought over supplies to help rebuild the town and set up camp.  Things were going to be really rushed over the next day or two.  It would be immediately obvious that we had capture Landile, so we had to make our move on the Academy as soon as possible.  We had been planning out the attack for almost two weeks, so once everyone was rested as much as possible we would be making our move.  By the tomorrow afternoon our fates would be decided.

All of the Generals except for Michael stood just outside the town.  Michael was busy tending to injured fighters and townspeople.  The four of us stood in a small clearing with our Dragons gathered around us.  We quickly went through the plans for tomorrow that were deeply etched into our brains.  We had it all memorized by heart, but we knew that once the time came, the plan could fall to dust and we would have to improvise.

"So, what are your plans for after tomorrow?" Bates asked randomly. Everyone stopped talking and just looked at him.  He just shrugged.  "I plan on taking the most beautiful girl at the Academy on a date."

"Pig," Petra muttered.  I just laughed.

"Well, I plan on taking a nice long nap on an actual bed," Liam said.

"Yes!  And a nice long bath in one of the spring lakes fed from the mountain snow.  I'll use an entire bar of soap and not have to worry about pervy boys like General Richard Baten peeking on me!" Petra glared at Bates who just chuckled.

"I've never peeked on you."

"Oh, so you admit that you have peeked on other girls?" Bates quickly blushed.

"So, what about you Val?  What are your plans?"

"I'm not really sure.  There's a lot of people who would know me there, so it's probably not best for me to be so out in the open."

"You know, I think given the current situation, the Lands will allow you to live.  After all, without you, the New Order is going to take over and kill anyone who opposes," Liam said.

"Just like they killed the Warriors," Petra mumbled.

"Exactly.  Without them, who is going to stand up and fight?  The Fourth Academy is still holding on, but their backs are against the wall.  They can't go forward and they can't go backward."

"Let's get through tomorrow, then we can discuss it."

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"Your majesty, urgent news!"

"What is it?  Can't you see that I am busy?" I snapped.

"I am sorry to bother you, but we have urgent new to report.  While on patrol, one of our guards saw a large amount of foreign Dragons riding around the valley's exit.  Dragons were flying to and from the mountains, and they were guarding the exit of the valley as well."