John Davis
Stories
4
Chapters
1,426
Words
411.5 K
Comments
0
Reading
1 d, 10 h
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Arthur barely had time to collect his wits before he heard the distinctive snap of dragon wings at the balcony. Now he was looking closer, he realized there weren't any doors leading to the outside. It was open air, shielded by gauzy curtains. He pushed his covers back and stepped out, pausing when he saw he was clad in a white linen shirt and loose tan pants. Someone had changed his clothing? How long had he been out? It was full night outside, but the moon was three-quarters full and cast enough of a…-
71 •
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Arthur woke up. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, other than something was terribly wrong. Notifications from his Heart Deck flashed in front of his face. Though he saw the words and recognized them to some degree, he was unable to piece them together. It was as if someone was screaming gibberish in his head. A constant noise he was unable to block out, and he was much too scatterbrained to understand. But he wasn't frightened. Not even particularly upset. Perhaps this should have been the most…
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71 •
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Arthur walked. His awareness came and went in vivid flashes. One moment he was crossing through the canal, soaked from the chest down. The next he was on the other side, halfway through the next churned field. Another blink of an eye and he stood with others his age all together at the foot of the scourge cone. This close, he had to crane his head to look up and up and he still couldn't see the top. Wait... why was he here? Why was…? The song invaded his head and Arthur drifted. Each moment of dim…
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71 •
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Arthur almost wanted to ask, "Are you sure?" but he didn't want to give Penn the chance to take it back. So he moved to stick it in his card anchor. Quick as a striking snake, Penn caught his wrist before he could complete the movement. Their eyes locked. Penn's gaze was hard. "Tell me you're not crossing us." "If I was," Arthur said evenly, not looking away. Not even daring to blink. "I wouldn't have told you about my escape card." Penn held him there for another moment, clearly at war with himself.…
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71 •
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Arthur's stomach felt like it turned to ice. "Why would he do that?" he said but his words were lost over Penn and Echo's exclamations of horror. "The king?" "He's coming?" Echo's face paled. "No... no, he wouldn't. Not for this!" Penn turned to her. "What do you mean?" Arthur was just glad that Penn seemed out of the loop for once, and it wasn't just him. Marion didn't answer. His eyes were still unfocused -- still nearly an hour into the future. Hopefully, he was seeing some better ones. Echo…
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71 •
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After a moment of consideration, Arthur placed the Wind Release card in his card anchor. "That's not going to do you any good," Echo said and for good measure added, "Dummy." "Uh, it needs to go in your heart to unlock the mana," Marion added, slightly kinder. "Not unless you want that spell to eat away at your life force every time you use it," Penn added, smirking. Arthur looked at him. "What does that mean, exactly? My life force." "What do you mean?" Echo asked. "It's your life. Duh." Arthur…
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71 •
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Once again, Arthur was torn by a choice. Marion knew – or at least strongly suspected – Arthur had stolen his card. And it was a very good card. He didn’t have to stand back. He just had to be a few steps too slow. Then the mother weasel would have access to a Legendary time card. More importantly, Arthur thought Marion could be a friend. He missed Horatio. Cressida was great, but he missed having a guy-friend, and he thought Marion could be that… if he didn’t blow up at Arthur for stealing…
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71 •
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It was clear the scourge-weasels could sense the presence of humans nearby. Thanks to Echo’s arcane camouflage spell, they couldn’t pinpoint them. More small packs had joined the others. Together, they ranged across the mud-churned field. With a relieved breath, Echo dropped her hold on the camouflage spell. As one, the scourge-weasels looked their way. Some stood up on hind legs, long teeth clacking. Penn placed himself between the royals and the bulk of the weasels. Arthur took the other…
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71 •
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They couldn’t stay here. More scourgelings were breaking off with the aerial fights with the dragons and flying on a B-line towards the city. They’d be spotted soon. Those were the ones Arthur could see. There may be others in the brush waiting in ambush he couldn’t. If they stayed in place, their luck would soon run out. Arthur’s own mental shield protected him, but… what if he could expand it? Extend it around others? He had no idea if this would work or not, but he had to try. Arthur…
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71 •
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It took a few seconds that felt like years for Arthur to realize he hadn’t hit the bottom of this endless fall. This wasn’t an endless bad dream. He was trapped in an illusion. Which meant he was likely standing in the middle of the fog, surrounded by scourgelings, assassins, or both. “This isn’t real!” he yelled out loud, voice shaking. It didn’t seem to help. “This isn’t real. I’m not falling…” Why hadn’t the dragon riders done anything yet? Surely, they would have come to…
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