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Chapter 9

“Captain Faier!” the main desk clerk at Dragon city Central hospital said, seeing the officer walk in. “What can I do for you today?”

“Is there a man named Ronn Saddler here? I need to ask him a few questions, and it’s urgent.” Faier said, walking up. His dragon was waiting outside, keeping out of the way of dragons pulling ambulance trailers around.

“Excuse me a moment.” She said, immediately opening up an intercom.

“Doctor Havvas to the front desk please.” She said, then closed the connection and looked back up at Faier. “He’ll be just a moment Captain.” She said, then went back to what she’d been doing, some amount of paperwork.

Faier raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

A minute later the doctor himself showed up, Older, grey haired, and a bit portly. “Well, captain Faier, what can I do for you?” he asked.

“I need to speak to a patient of yours, he was involved in an incident last night and might have some answers I could use.” Faier said.

“The name of this patient?” the doctor asked.

“Ronn Saddler.” Faier said, putting his hands together behind his back.

“Ah, yes, the head of the security firm. Them and their dragons all came in last night suffering from claw and bite wounds, and a few of them had concussions. I believe Mr. Saddler is awake now though. Mr. Tavis!” The doctor said, gaining the attention of an orderly. “Show the officer here to Mr. Saddler’s room… uh, where was he put again?” The doctor asked the desk worker.

“B wing, level 14, room 037.” She rattled off in a rather bored sounding tone.

“Right, take him there, I’ve got ten more patients to see to.” He said to the orderly in a gruff tone. “And good to see you again Captain!” he added in a much more upbeat tone before he turned and left in a hurry.

Faier shortly found himself in an elevator, rising quickly. At least it was one with a view, so it made the trip a little less boring than being stuck inside a moving metal coffin.

Once the elevator stopped the orderly led him down the hallway. This was one of the joint levels. If both the human and dragon of a pair were in for injuries, the proximity of each other seemed to help in the healing process, and at the very least calmed the dragon to be near its master.

“Mr. Saddler, you have a visitor.” The orderly said at the door to the room, briefly, before leaving Faier on his own.

“Captain Faier!” the man said in surprise, trying to sit more upright in his hospital bed. He was bandaged across his torso and his right arm was in a sling. The bull class green dragon laying on the circular cushioned pad that dominated the rest of the room looked even worse off, but raised it’s head to look at him as he entered.

“Please, don’t trouble yourself.” Faier said, sitting down on a chair put there for visitors. “You probably know why I’m here.”

“Yeah. We screwed up.” Ronn said, looking at the bull class dragon, who averted his eyes guiltily.

“I need some more details. Did you see anyone shady about before it happened, and what exactly did happen?” Faier asked.

“We didn’t see anyone sir.” Ronn replied. “All of a sudden the power blacks out all around us, and then there’s this huge pack of dragons coming out of the dark at us, and none of them had a single piece of gear, saddle, or rider.”

“Not one had a rider?” Faier asked, incredulous.

“No sir. If they had… well, they probably wouldn’t have used their claws and teeth on us nearly as much.” He said, looking at the bull class dragon, who just whimpered. “Rokkur there usually isn’t one to freeze up… but there were a lot of them sir… he’s strong, and he knows it, but when you face numbers like that…”

“I understand.” Faier said. “Were you able to make out what class they were?” HE continued.

“Blue energy and Purple Pack class, sir.” Ronn answered.

“Wait… there was more than one kind?” Faier said, suddenly looking surprised.

“Yes sir. They looked to be about half purple bipeds, half blue quadrupeds.” Ronn said, seeing the confusion on the security chief’s face. “Is something wrong?”

“When I went to investigate the building, I nearly got trampled by a stampede of Blue energy, Purple pack, Black Psi, and White Sky class dragons. I thought that someone’d just let all of them loose.” Faier said.

“Well, after they thrashed us, the energy and pack dragons ran into the building… that’s when I called you and the medics.”

“So… a pack of riderless dragons attacked you, then, without a human guiding them, they ran into the building… and came out with the dragons that were inside?” Faier said, his mind turning.

“I can’t say that much sir, I was on route here with Rokkur by then… sorry to say.” Ronn said.

“Uh… thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Saddler.” Faier said, then immediately stood and left without another word.

<<>>

Wydgett had been waiting back at the stockyard when Compashun and the now very large group arrived back. His escorts, two pack females, along with the few dragonesses that had been knocked around during the initial attack looked on with him as the pack and energy dragonesses came in, followed by black psi and white sky class females.

“Hmm… not very pretty… or clean.” One of the black females snorted, looking around the abandoned warehouse.

“Hey, at least the door isn’t locked on us here.” One of the whites chirred.

“You bring many big dragons back, yes!” Wydgett said, coming up to Compashun as she entered.

“Yes, thanks to you.” She trilled, before nuzzling the little green. Wydgett blushed.

“Oh, and who is this?” one of the black psi class females rumbled, coming over.

“Empathya, Affecshun, meet Wydgett, our little light green guide. We wouldn’t have found you if he hadn’t shown up.” Compashun trilled.

“Oh really?” Affecshun chirred. “Well, thanks little guy!” she purred at him, which made the little light green smile and blush.

“Indeed.” Empathya purred, looking the little light green over. “Thank you for helping them take us out of there, I guess.” She rumbled, then looked at Compashun. “However, you still owe us an explanation.”

“I do at that, don’t I.” Compashun sighed.

<<>>

Down in the wastelands on the planet’s surface, deep below Dragon city, a diminutive figure, absolutely covered in knickknacks and protruding tools and accessories, cobbled together from junked parts was riding a rather lanky looking pale green dragon, very similar to Wydgett. The pair was making slow progress amongst the crumbling ancient rock walls and piles of dumped garbage strewn all about. Over a rise ahead of them was a large, red stone temple in the rough shape of an ankh, though parts of it had collapsed from many years of weathering.

“Be calm Gunny, Prophets are friends now, yes.” the rider said, stroking his dragon’s cheek reassuringly from his position on the saddle, the mature light green still whimpered at the imposing structure, long before the dragon had ever been hatched the prophets had been seen as very dangerous. The recent turn of goodwill with the imprisonment of their despotic former leader, the orange dragon Prophesi alone still hadn’t changed the mindset of the very, very skittish light green scavenger dragons.

“Come, we go, we ask, and maybe they have found Wydgett, yes?” Stewardd continued, making the dragon look up at him with a hopeful expression.

“Yes, we go, yes?” Stewardd said, pressing forward on the controls on his saddle, and this time the dragon underneath him didn’t resist and went jogging forward.

Despite the brave face that Stewardd had put on, he couldn’t help but glance around nervously as they crossed the threshold into the darkness of the prophet’s temple. Nor did Gunny’s courage last very long either, and he was glancing around all over skittishly, and they only progressed a dozen meters after several minutes.

“Who dares enter the temple of the prophets?” a voice called out, and several orange dragons came tromping out of the shadows, one of them with a rider, though he didn’t wear the forcing gear.

“YIEE!” Steward yelped, Gunny shrieked and went flat on his face, covering his head with his arms as he quaked in fear.

Suddenly, the dragon with rider stopped. “Wait a second… Stewardd? Stewardd of the Keepers?” the rider said, lifting up a mask revealing a thin, pale face with disorderly pink hair. “Stewardd, it is you!” he said, then looked at the other dragons. “Be at peace, this is an ally, the leader of the keepers clan.”

“Reepyr?” Stewardd said, looking at the tall man. “Reepyr! Oh, Stewardd and Gunny were very scared, yes.” Steward said, sounding very relieved. Gunny parted the digits on one of his paws and peeked out. The once menacing orange dragons were now sitting on their haunches looking at him curiously, which slowly convinced the light green that he wasn’t in any immediate danger, and picked himself up off the floor.

“Stewardd, we haven’t seen you since you left with the Dragon booster. What brings you to our temple?” Reepyr asked, the dragon he was on mag lifting him off and depositing him on the ground next to the keeper and his dragon. Reepyr was almost surprised to find himself just about tall enough to look Gunny in the eye.

“We look for Wydgett, yes, Wydgett go missing.”

“You lost a… tool?” Reepyr asked, sounding slightly confused.

“No, Wydgett is not tool, Wydgett is young keeper scavenger dragon.” Stewardd said, patting Gunny. “Gunny worried, Gunny like Wydgett, Wydgett son of Gyzzmo and Appyratyss, they cousins to Gunny. Wydgett go out, look for things to work on days ago and not come back, parents worry, yes? Wydgett only six years old.”

“A young scavenger class dragon? Hmm…” Reepyr said, while the orange control class dragons looked at each other and started murmuring amongst themselves. “I take it he’s never been away for very long before?”

“No, always back before night, Appyratyss always tell him, he listen. Keepers worry, he just young dragon, too young for rider.” Stewardd said, the concern evident in his voice. The orange dragons started nodding to each other.

“I’m sorry to tell you we haven’t seen any young light green draconium dragons, Stewardd, or any at all, infact, till you and Gunny showed up.” Reepyr said, sighing. “We’ll keep our eyes open when we patrol our borders, but as for now, we can’t help you.”

Gunny whimpered, and Stewardd sighed. “Stewardd understands, yes. Many thanks, we go now.” He said, then turned Gunny and the pair trotted off together.

Reepyr’s dragon partner looked at him and gave a worried whine.

“I know, I know.” He said, not needing forcing gear to know what the dragon had said. “I’d feel just as bad if it was one of our own young gone missing, but there’s nothing we can do.”

<<>>

“So… they were just taking young from us… so they could benefit from our kinds powers.” Empathya moaned in a very low, quiet tone. “It’s hard to comprehend, even for me.”

“I feel awful.” Affecshun whined. “Thinking of all the little dragons I must’ve put out… I remember what it was like as a little one, there was nobody to protect me, I had to fight against all the others because they were bigger than me and pushed me around. Now you tell me its part of a ‘mother’s’ job to protect her young.” She looked at the ground. “I feel horrible, thinking about what my own must have gone through… and my last group especially.”

Compashun nodded silently. She knew exactly what Affecshun felt like. All those emotions and more had ran through her after seeing that recording. That, more than anything, was what was driving her now. If she was being brutally honest with herself, she just wanted to run, and scour every inch of this city, looking for any dragon that smelled of her, who might be one of hers. But before she could think about the young, she had to make sure the humans couldn’t continue to take any new eggs. She couldn’t bear to think of this situation continuing.

“So…” Empathya sighed, looking at Compashun. “What do we do now?”

“There are still more dragonesses that are trapped in those pens, with eggs being taken from them as fast as they can put them out.” She growled. “I for one refuse to leave them there.”

“I agree. Bad enough they steal your… uh…” Affecshun rumbled, then ground to a halt as she forgot the name of what came out of them. “Well, your young, anyway, but I can’t stand the thought of any dragon locked up in a pen like that. I’m with you, and I’m sure the rest of us sky class agree.”

“Empathya?” Compashun trilled, looking at the psi class dragon.

Empathya snorted and shook her blue and black colored head as if to clear it. “Well, I can’t say no, now can I?” she said, standing and stretching, showing off her black lower limbs and her blue dorsal color, and the weaving, almost flame shaped pattern that separated the two along her sides. “But first things first, we all need to eat, then rest, and I don’t exactly see any feeding troughs here.”

“Feed factory not far, no.” Wydgett chirred in his high tone, breaking into the conversation. “We go there, get food, yes?”

“Wydgett, I swear, we wouldn’t get anything done without you.” Compashun crooned, giving the little light green male a caressing nuzzle, making the male blush.

“Ok then. Why don’t we get dinner, then discuss what our next move is once our bellies are full?” Affecshun said.

“That’s the most sensible thing I’ve heard come out of your mouth since I’ve met you.” Empathya said, raising an eye ridge as she smirked at the sky class.

Affecshun just grinned at the other female.

<<>>

The next morning, Slyder rode through Squire’s end, glancing over his shoulder every so often. He’d been given directions to the Inner order crew’s stables by one of the local punks, as he’d had no other way to find the place. Skreet’s paw was doing a lot better, and he figured rather than simply go out on the track again and get trounced, he might at least cash in on Khata’s offer. Even if it was only one trial run, they might point out something that could help him. This was the logic that made him ride Skreet out that morning, despite the reports of dragon oriented disturbances throughout the city.

An audio only entertainment channel was playing through his saddle vidlink, detailing the two attacks. The reporter’s voice, a woman’s repeated the story for only the third time since he’d mounted Skreet that morning.

“Scalesheen suffered another hit as a second raid claimed their breeding stock of Black Psi and White sky class dragons here in dragon city. A spokesman for security did not give any details as to the methodology or potential suspects in the case yet, but an eyewitness on the second attack says they seemed to be using the dragons they stole from the first location to overwhelm security at the second facility. When asked, Security chief Faier declined to comment.”

“Scary stuff, isn’t it boy?” Slyder said to his dragon. The blue energy class male looked up at him and nodded his head slightly.

At length, they came to the training center for the inner order crew. IT was rather impressive for a down city crew’s headquarters. The structure had that far eastern look that was popular in certain parts of the city, but on a far grander scale, as it housed living quarters for the humans, stalls for the dragons, gear storage and a workshop, and last but most definitely not least, an enclosed training ‘field’, some 200 meters long, 40 meters wide, and almost 5 stories high to the ceiling. Plus they could configure obstacles into any sort of challenge they could imagine.

Slyder had read all this on the crew roster listings the night before, while looking for directions, but he still needed a local’s advice on how to reach there, considering how nervous he was.

Walking up to the entrance, he found the door locked. A small camera port opened and a voice that shared a similar accent to Khata’s came through a small speaker. “Who’s there?”

“Uh, hi… my name’s Slyder… Khata invited me to swing by the other day after a race… if he remembers, you can ask him, maybe?” Slyder said, smiling nervously the whole time.

The comlink went silent for a minute, then crackled back to life. “Our leader has verified you, enter.” The voice said, before the door infront of him unlocked and slid open.

Slyder swallowed, looking into the entry hall… it was rather blank and empty looking, but he urged Skreet in anyway, the young dragon going somewhat slower than he’d asked him to, but Slyder didn’t reprimand him for it.

As they progressed down the hall, Skreet became aware of sounds of mag bursts and dragon grunts and human voices yelling. A moment later, as skreet hunkered down and almost began to crawl fearfully through the hall Slyder became aware of it too.

A large door opened at the other end of the hallway, directly onto the indoor training ring. A pair of dragons were, at the same time, running a circuit around the periphery of the room, while their riders were attacking each other. Neither rider seemed to be able to get a hit through the other’s defences, as every moves was deftly blocked or parried, and then the defender immediately retaliated, and this continued.

“Do not be worried, they merely practice.” came a voice from behind Slyder and Skreet, which made the both rider and mount jump. Behind them stood a very old man, his hair almost completely white, but peppered with darker grey hairs, and a short bit of a beard with the same color. He wore a blue outfit like most of the inner order, but his was very old, and faded.

“You are the young rider that Khata took pity on, then?” the old man said, looking the pair over.

“Uh… yeah, I guess that’s us. I’m Slyder… Slyder Ronus. And this is Skreet.” Slyder said, nervous at the entire situation, though the look the old man was giving him was unnerving, as though he was being appraised.

“Hi…” Skreet whimpered pathetically.

The old man nodded, then turned and cupped one hand around his mouth and called out across the huge training ring, his voice carrying in the harmonics of the enclosed, metal chamber as he yelled, “SARJO, SHURYKYN, COME HERE!”

The two riders stopped even as their blocking staves were still grinding against each other, then pulled back, and turned their dragons and rode over to the edge of the ring. The two older dragons extended their heads to sniff at Skreet, who looked rather intimidated by the other, obviously well trained, and well geared dragons.

“Sarjo, Shurykyn, this is the boy Khata met the other day. Please show him through one of our easier obstacle courses.” The old man said. The two young members of the crew nodded, and one of them, Sarjo, went to the control panel for the track, to set up a course.

“If you’ll excuse my asking, sir… where’s Khata?” Slyder asked.

“Khata is… disciplining his dragon.” The old man said, evasively.

Slyder, wisely, held his tongue, and simply followed Sarjo out onto the track.

<<>>

Sentrus received a call somewhere around noon that day, an unusual one as she hadn’t been expecting one, she usually didn’t get random people trying to contact her, anyone who did was usually on her schedule, and she typically went to speak to them personally, face to face, unless it was an emergency.

Nonplussed, she activated the comlink and found herself looking at the strong features of captain Faier of dragon city security.

“Captain Faier, to what do I owe this call?” she asked, trying to sound at least somewhat pleasant.

“I’m sorry to have to bother you, Sentrus, but we have a… situation brewing, and we need help.” Faier said, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Sentrus sighed. “Dragon city security needs to focus on doing its job, Captain Faier. The academy is not a peacekeeping force. If you’re having trouble with the wraith dragons-”

“This is not about the wraith dragons, Sentrus. The dragons I’m worried about show no sign of any human controlling them.” Faier said, which gave sentrus pause.

“I want details.” Sentrus said.

“Over a comlink? This is hardly secure…” Faier said.

“You’re right… where are you now?” she asked.

“In my office down at central.” Faier answered.

“Stay there.” Sentrus said, then immediately closed the connection, and headed to the academy staff stables.

Description
Chapter 9

“Captain Faier!” the main desk clerk at Dragon city Central hospital said, seeing the officer walk in. “What can I do for you today?”

“Is there a man named Ronn Saddler here? I need to ask him a few questions, and it’s urgent.” Faier said, walking up. His dragon was waiting outside, keeping out of the way of dragons pulling ambulance trailers around.

“Excuse me a moment.” She said, immediately opening up an intercom.

“Doctor Havvas to the front desk please.” She said, then closed the connection and looked back up at Faier. “He’ll be just a moment Captain.” She said, then went back to what she’d been doing, some amount of paperwork.

Faier raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

A minute later the doctor himself showed up, Older, grey haired, and a bit portly. “Well, captain Faier, what can I do for you?” he asked.

“I need to speak to a patient of yours, he was involved in an incident last night and might have some answers I could use.” Faier said.

“The name of this patient?” the doctor asked.

“Ronn Saddler.” Faier said, putting his hands together behind his back.

“Ah, yes, the head of the security firm. Them and their dragons all came in last night suffering from claw and bite wounds, and a few of them had concussions. I believe Mr. Saddler is awake now though. Mr. Tavis!” The doctor said, gaining the attention of an orderly. “Show the officer here to Mr. Saddler’s room… uh, where was he put again?” The doctor asked the desk worker.

“B wing, level 14, room 037.” She rattled off in a rather bored sounding tone.

“Right, take him there, I’ve got ten more patients to see to.” He said to the orderly in a gruff tone. “And good to see you again Captain!” he added in a much more upbeat tone before he turned and left in a hurry.

Faier shortly found himself in an elevator, rising quickly. At least it was one with a view, so it made the trip a little less boring than being stuck inside a moving metal coffin.

Once the elevator stopped the orderly led him down the hallway. This was one of the joint levels. If both the human and dragon of a pair were in for injuries, the proximity of each other seemed to help in the healing process, and at the very least calmed the dragon to be near its master.

“Mr. Saddler, you have a visitor.” The orderly said at the door to the room, briefly, before leaving Faier on his own.

“Captain Faier!” the man said in surprise, trying to sit more upright in his hospital bed. He was bandaged across his torso and his right arm was in a sling. The bull class green dragon laying on the circular cushioned pad that dominated the rest of the room looked even worse off, but raised it’s head to look at him as he entered.

“Please, don’t trouble yourself.” Faier said, sitting down on a chair put there for visitors. “You probably know why I’m here.”

“Yeah. We screwed up.” Ronn said, looking at the bull class dragon, who averted his eyes guiltily.

“I need some more details. Did you see anyone shady about before it happened, and what exactly did happen?” Faier asked.

“We didn’t see anyone sir.” Ronn replied. “All of a sudden the power blacks out all around us, and then there’s this huge pack of dragons coming out of the dark at us, and none of them had a single piece of gear, saddle, or rider.”

“Not one had a rider?” Faier asked, incredulous.

“No sir. If they had… well, they probably wouldn’t have used their claws and teeth on us nearly as much.” He said, looking at the bull class dragon, who just whimpered. “Rokkur there usually isn’t one to freeze up… but there were a lot of them sir… he’s strong, and he knows it, but when you face numbers like that…”

“I understand.” Faier said. “Were you able to make out what class they were?” HE continued.

“Blue energy and Purple Pack class, sir.” Ronn answered.

“Wait… there was more than one kind?” Faier said, suddenly looking surprised.

“Yes sir. They looked to be about half purple bipeds, half blue quadrupeds.” Ronn said, seeing the confusion on the security chief’s face. “Is something wrong?”

“When I went to investigate the building, I nearly got trampled by a stampede of Blue energy, Purple pack, Black Psi, and White Sky class dragons. I thought that someone’d just let all of them loose.” Faier said.

“Well, after they thrashed us, the energy and pack dragons ran into the building… that’s when I called you and the medics.”

“So… a pack of riderless dragons attacked you, then, without a human guiding them, they ran into the building… and came out with the dragons that were inside?” Faier said, his mind turning.

“I can’t say that much sir, I was on route here with Rokkur by then… sorry to say.” Ronn said.

“Uh… thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Saddler.” Faier said, then immediately stood and left without another word.

<<>>

Wydgett had been waiting back at the stockyard when Compashun and the now very large group arrived back. His escorts, two pack females, along with the few dragonesses that had been knocked around during the initial attack looked on with him as the pack and energy dragonesses came in, followed by black psi and white sky class females.

“Hmm… not very pretty… or clean.” One of the black females snorted, looking around the abandoned warehouse.

“Hey, at least the door isn’t locked on us here.” One of the whites chirred.

“You bring many big dragons back, yes!” Wydgett said, coming up to Compashun as she entered.

“Yes, thanks to you.” She trilled, before nuzzling the little green. Wydgett blushed.

“Oh, and who is this?” one of the black psi class females rumbled, coming over.

“Empathya, Affecshun, meet Wydgett, our little light green guide. We wouldn’t have found you if he hadn’t shown up.” Compashun trilled.

“Oh really?” Affecshun chirred. “Well, thanks little guy!” she purred at him, which made the little light green smile and blush.

“Indeed.” Empathya purred, looking the little light green over. “Thank you for helping them take us out of there, I guess.” She rumbled, then looked at Compashun. “However, you still owe us an explanation.”

“I do at that, don’t I.” Compashun sighed.

<<>>

Down in the wastelands on the planet’s surface, deep below Dragon city, a diminutive figure, absolutely covered in knickknacks and protruding tools and accessories, cobbled together from junked parts was riding a rather lanky looking pale green dragon, very similar to Wydgett. The pair was making slow progress amongst the crumbling ancient rock walls and piles of dumped garbage strewn all about. Over a rise ahead of them was a large, red stone temple in the rough shape of an ankh, though parts of it had collapsed from many years of weathering.

“Be calm Gunny, Prophets are friends now, yes.” the rider said, stroking his dragon’s cheek reassuringly from his position on the saddle, the mature light green still whimpered at the imposing structure, long before the dragon had ever been hatched the prophets had been seen as very dangerous. The recent turn of goodwill with the imprisonment of their despotic former leader, the orange dragon Prophesi alone still hadn’t changed the mindset of the very, very skittish light green scavenger dragons.

“Come, we go, we ask, and maybe they have found Wydgett, yes?” Stewardd continued, making the dragon look up at him with a hopeful expression.

“Yes, we go, yes?” Stewardd said, pressing forward on the controls on his saddle, and this time the dragon underneath him didn’t resist and went jogging forward.

Despite the brave face that Stewardd had put on, he couldn’t help but glance around nervously as they crossed the threshold into the darkness of the prophet’s temple. Nor did Gunny’s courage last very long either, and he was glancing around all over skittishly, and they only progressed a dozen meters after several minutes.

“Who dares enter the temple of the prophets?” a voice called out, and several orange dragons came tromping out of the shadows, one of them with a rider, though he didn’t wear the forcing gear.

“YIEE!” Steward yelped, Gunny shrieked and went flat on his face, covering his head with his arms as he quaked in fear.

Suddenly, the dragon with rider stopped. “Wait a second… Stewardd? Stewardd of the Keepers?” the rider said, lifting up a mask revealing a thin, pale face with disorderly pink hair. “Stewardd, it is you!” he said, then looked at the other dragons. “Be at peace, this is an ally, the leader of the keepers clan.”

“Reepyr?” Stewardd said, looking at the tall man. “Reepyr! Oh, Stewardd and Gunny were very scared, yes.” Steward said, sounding very relieved. Gunny parted the digits on one of his paws and peeked out. The once menacing orange dragons were now sitting on their haunches looking at him curiously, which slowly convinced the light green that he wasn’t in any immediate danger, and picked himself up off the floor.

“Stewardd, we haven’t seen you since you left with the Dragon booster. What brings you to our temple?” Reepyr asked, the dragon he was on mag lifting him off and depositing him on the ground next to the keeper and his dragon. Reepyr was almost surprised to find himself just about tall enough to look Gunny in the eye.

“We look for Wydgett, yes, Wydgett go missing.”

“You lost a… tool?” Reepyr asked, sounding slightly confused.

“No, Wydgett is not tool, Wydgett is young keeper scavenger dragon.” Stewardd said, patting Gunny. “Gunny worried, Gunny like Wydgett, Wydgett son of Gyzzmo and Appyratyss, they cousins to Gunny. Wydgett go out, look for things to work on days ago and not come back, parents worry, yes? Wydgett only six years old.”

“A young scavenger class dragon? Hmm…” Reepyr said, while the orange control class dragons looked at each other and started murmuring amongst themselves. “I take it he’s never been away for very long before?”

“No, always back before night, Appyratyss always tell him, he listen. Keepers worry, he just young dragon, too young for rider.” Stewardd said, the concern evident in his voice. The orange dragons started nodding to each other.

“I’m sorry to tell you we haven’t seen any young light green draconium dragons, Stewardd, or any at all, infact, till you and Gunny showed up.” Reepyr said, sighing. “We’ll keep our eyes open when we patrol our borders, but as for now, we can’t help you.”

Gunny whimpered, and Stewardd sighed. “Stewardd understands, yes. Many thanks, we go now.” He said, then turned Gunny and the pair trotted off together.

Reepyr’s dragon partner looked at him and gave a worried whine.

“I know, I know.” He said, not needing forcing gear to know what the dragon had said. “I’d feel just as bad if it was one of our own young gone missing, but there’s nothing we can do.”

<<>>

“So… they were just taking young from us… so they could benefit from our kinds powers.” Empathya moaned in a very low, quiet tone. “It’s hard to comprehend, even for me.”

“I feel awful.” Affecshun whined. “Thinking of all the little dragons I must’ve put out… I remember what it was like as a little one, there was nobody to protect me, I had to fight against all the others because they were bigger than me and pushed me around. Now you tell me its part of a ‘mother’s’ job to protect her young.” She looked at the ground. “I feel horrible, thinking about what my own must have gone through… and my last group especially.”

Compashun nodded silently. She knew exactly what Affecshun felt like. All those emotions and more had ran through her after seeing that recording. That, more than anything, was what was driving her now. If she was being brutally honest with herself, she just wanted to run, and scour every inch of this city, looking for any dragon that smelled of her, who might be one of hers. But before she could think about the young, she had to make sure the humans couldn’t continue to take any new eggs. She couldn’t bear to think of this situation continuing.

“So…” Empathya sighed, looking at Compashun. “What do we do now?”

“There are still more dragonesses that are trapped in those pens, with eggs being taken from them as fast as they can put them out.” She growled. “I for one refuse to leave them there.”

“I agree. Bad enough they steal your… uh…” Affecshun rumbled, then ground to a halt as she forgot the name of what came out of them. “Well, your young, anyway, but I can’t stand the thought of any dragon locked up in a pen like that. I’m with you, and I’m sure the rest of us sky class agree.”

“Empathya?” Compashun trilled, looking at the psi class dragon.

Empathya snorted and shook her blue and black colored head as if to clear it. “Well, I can’t say no, now can I?” she said, standing and stretching, showing off her black lower limbs and her blue dorsal color, and the weaving, almost flame shaped pattern that separated the two along her sides. “But first things first, we all need to eat, then rest, and I don’t exactly see any feeding troughs here.”

“Feed factory not far, no.” Wydgett chirred in his high tone, breaking into the conversation. “We go there, get food, yes?”

“Wydgett, I swear, we wouldn’t get anything done without you.” Compashun crooned, giving the little light green male a caressing nuzzle, making the male blush.

“Ok then. Why don’t we get dinner, then discuss what our next move is once our bellies are full?” Affecshun said.

“That’s the most sensible thing I’ve heard come out of your mouth since I’ve met you.” Empathya said, raising an eye ridge as she smirked at the sky class.

Affecshun just grinned at the other female.

<<>>

The next morning, Slyder rode through Squire’s end, glancing over his shoulder every so often. He’d been given directions to the Inner order crew’s stables by one of the local punks, as he’d had no other way to find the place. Skreet’s paw was doing a lot better, and he figured rather than simply go out on the track again and get trounced, he might at least cash in on Khata’s offer. Even if it was only one trial run, they might point out something that could help him. This was the logic that made him ride Skreet out that morning, despite the reports of dragon oriented disturbances throughout the city.

An audio only entertainment channel was playing through his saddle vidlink, detailing the two attacks. The reporter’s voice, a woman’s repeated the story for only the third time since he’d mounted Skreet that morning.

“Scalesheen suffered another hit as a second raid claimed their breeding stock of Black Psi and White sky class dragons here in dragon city. A spokesman for security did not give any details as to the methodology or potential suspects in the case yet, but an eyewitness on the second attack says they seemed to be using the dragons they stole from the first location to overwhelm security at the second facility. When asked, Security chief Faier declined to comment.”

“Scary stuff, isn’t it boy?” Slyder said to his dragon. The blue energy class male looked up at him and nodded his head slightly.

At length, they came to the training center for the inner order crew. IT was rather impressive for a down city crew’s headquarters. The structure had that far eastern look that was popular in certain parts of the city, but on a far grander scale, as it housed living quarters for the humans, stalls for the dragons, gear storage and a workshop, and last but most definitely not least, an enclosed training ‘field’, some 200 meters long, 40 meters wide, and almost 5 stories high to the ceiling. Plus they could configure obstacles into any sort of challenge they could imagine.

Slyder had read all this on the crew roster listings the night before, while looking for directions, but he still needed a local’s advice on how to reach there, considering how nervous he was.

Walking up to the entrance, he found the door locked. A small camera port opened and a voice that shared a similar accent to Khata’s came through a small speaker. “Who’s there?”

“Uh, hi… my name’s Slyder… Khata invited me to swing by the other day after a race… if he remembers, you can ask him, maybe?” Slyder said, smiling nervously the whole time.

The comlink went silent for a minute, then crackled back to life. “Our leader has verified you, enter.” The voice said, before the door infront of him unlocked and slid open.

Slyder swallowed, looking into the entry hall… it was rather blank and empty looking, but he urged Skreet in anyway, the young dragon going somewhat slower than he’d asked him to, but Slyder didn’t reprimand him for it.

As they progressed down the hall, Skreet became aware of sounds of mag bursts and dragon grunts and human voices yelling. A moment later, as skreet hunkered down and almost began to crawl fearfully through the hall Slyder became aware of it too.

A large door opened at the other end of the hallway, directly onto the indoor training ring. A pair of dragons were, at the same time, running a circuit around the periphery of the room, while their riders were attacking each other. Neither rider seemed to be able to get a hit through the other’s defences, as every moves was deftly blocked or parried, and then the defender immediately retaliated, and this continued.

“Do not be worried, they merely practice.” came a voice from behind Slyder and Skreet, which made the both rider and mount jump. Behind them stood a very old man, his hair almost completely white, but peppered with darker grey hairs, and a short bit of a beard with the same color. He wore a blue outfit like most of the inner order, but his was very old, and faded.

“You are the young rider that Khata took pity on, then?” the old man said, looking the pair over.

“Uh… yeah, I guess that’s us. I’m Slyder… Slyder Ronus. And this is Skreet.” Slyder said, nervous at the entire situation, though the look the old man was giving him was unnerving, as though he was being appraised.

“Hi…” Skreet whimpered pathetically.

The old man nodded, then turned and cupped one hand around his mouth and called out across the huge training ring, his voice carrying in the harmonics of the enclosed, metal chamber as he yelled, “SARJO, SHURYKYN, COME HERE!”

The two riders stopped even as their blocking staves were still grinding against each other, then pulled back, and turned their dragons and rode over to the edge of the ring. The two older dragons extended their heads to sniff at Skreet, who looked rather intimidated by the other, obviously well trained, and well geared dragons.

“Sarjo, Shurykyn, this is the boy Khata met the other day. Please show him through one of our easier obstacle courses.” The old man said. The two young members of the crew nodded, and one of them, Sarjo, went to the control panel for the track, to set up a course.

“If you’ll excuse my asking, sir… where’s Khata?” Slyder asked.

“Khata is… disciplining his dragon.” The old man said, evasively.

Slyder, wisely, held his tongue, and simply followed Sarjo out onto the track.

<<>>

Sentrus received a call somewhere around noon that day, an unusual one as she hadn’t been expecting one, she usually didn’t get random people trying to contact her, anyone who did was usually on her schedule, and she typically went to speak to them personally, face to face, unless it was an emergency.

Nonplussed, she activated the comlink and found herself looking at the strong features of captain Faier of dragon city security.

“Captain Faier, to what do I owe this call?” she asked, trying to sound at least somewhat pleasant.

“I’m sorry to have to bother you, Sentrus, but we have a… situation brewing, and we need help.” Faier said, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Sentrus sighed. “Dragon city security needs to focus on doing its job, Captain Faier. The academy is not a peacekeeping force. If you’re having trouble with the wraith dragons-”

“This is not about the wraith dragons, Sentrus. The dragons I’m worried about show no sign of any human controlling them.” Faier said, which gave sentrus pause.

“I want details.” Sentrus said.

“Over a comlink? This is hardly secure…” Faier said.

“You’re right… where are you now?” she asked.

“In my office down at central.” Faier answered.

“Stay there.” Sentrus said, then immediately closed the connection, and headed to the academy staff stables.