John Davis
Stories
4
Chapters
1,426
Words
411.5 K
Comments
0
Reading
1 d, 10 h
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"How could you let this happen?" Valentina groused. Not for the first time in his life, Whitaker thought about turning his card’s considerable power on the other hive leader. One good push out to do it. The slopes were steep. Valentina's birdlike bones would snap like dry twigs on the sharp rocks. As for the dragons… Crag was younger, stronger, and heavier than Valentina’s dragon, Elissa. He could win handily in a bloody match. Then Whitaker could rule the hive as he saw fit without Valentina's…-
71 •
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“Leader Whittaker says he’s seen cracks in the Rare’s shell,” Kenzie reported, in between puffs of breath. She and Arthur were hiking the more remote northern slopes, exploring the dips and valleys. “Says it’ll be hatching any day now.” “It took its time.” Arthur stopped at the edge of a rocky spur and looked out. It was a clear, cold day. The land seemed to stretch out forever, broken by winding rivers edged with early frost. Kenzie stopped as well to take in the view. “Rares hatch…
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71 •
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As dawn broke, Arthur went out to the woods. At his insistence, his father didn’t follow. Arthur didn’t want to risk anyone seeing him with a stranger. He was determined to someday learn the full truth of how Calvan had come to be sentenced here. However, tonight wasn’t the right time for that story. Not with his father’s loyalty to the duchy. One thing was for certain: Arthur was far from done with his old home. Pausing, Arthur turned back to look at his cabin one last time. It was smaller than…
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71 •
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It took every ounce of Arthur’s hard-forged determination and self-control not to shove the card in his heart right then and there. Instead, feeling every mote of him protest the action, held it out to his father. Calvan, however, had turned his head away. “I can’t.” “Why not?” Arthur demanded, all but pushing the card at him. “Do you know what this is?” “Of course I do,” he said sharply. “Arthur, I made a promise to my king not to take any cards, and a binding oath not to leave.…
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71 •
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“But I thought you were..." Calvan didn't finish the sentence, dropping the knife and running forward to grab his son in a tight hug. Arthur hugged him back and was shocked at how thin he felt. While Arthur had grown, it seemed Calvan had shrunk. Calvan pulled back to look at him, eyes wide. "You shouldn't be here. How are you here?!" In answer, Arthur shifted aside. The remains of a thin package lay under his butt. In it sat a tiny pebble. One on which he had keyed his Return To Start card. He held…
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71 •
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A half-hour later, Arthur lay crouched under thick brush on the side of a road while he waited for a cart to arrive. This felt familiar. Now he was a well-grown sixteen years old, not a scrawny, underfed little boy. He had the tools, skills, and allies to help him out. This time, he wouldn't be at the mercy of a dragon to give him a card. He would take the prizes himself. Traffic on the forested road was sparse. A light merchant cart pulled by a donkey and a single rider passed by. Though Arthur was…
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71 •
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The next day, Arthur went to visit Kenzie. He, Horatio, and Sams had stayed up until the night’s bell discussing logistics for the plan. Sams could only be at Wolf Moon for a few days, which put a hard time limit on their schedule. All agreed they would need Kenzie's help to pull it off. Thankfully, Kenzie had always been morally flexible. The next day, Arthur visited her alone. Kenzie gave him a searching look as she let him into her and Marteen's apartment. "I've heard you've been at the egg…
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71 •
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The next day, he and Horatio waited on a bare, rocky outcropping on the north slopes of the hive. Due to a constant, chilly wind from the northern snowy mountains, this side of the hive wasn't well populated. The bits of vegetation that dotted the slopes were stunted and twisted by the wind. But being here gave Horatio and Sams privacy to speak. Arthur wasn't entirely sure how dragons visited between hives – or why Sams wasn’t allowed to stay. The more he learned about dragons, the more glimpses he…
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71 •
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Arthur felt the eyes of the nobles around turn his way. Those who didn't know "Ernest Kane" — and most of them shouldn’t considering he didn't exist – figured out who he was through context clues. Declining now would mark him as a coward. Not that he cared what nobles thought of him, but he assumed Penn would not want to associate with the cowardly. Not only did Arthur have to accept the duel, but he also had to put on a good show. Unfortunately, all of his skills were utility based. He learned…
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71 •
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“Are you we take the right-hand tunnel?” Penn asked with a tone in his voice that implied he wasn’t asking at all. “I’m fairly certain the dueling grounds are to the left.” Arthur knew for a fact they needed to go the right. The left was a shortcut to the hatchling nests. But it didn’t take a genius to know that acting too knowledgeable about the layout of the hive would lead to suspicion. As much as he wanted to tell Penn off on principal alone, Arthur knew he had to be smart. He was…
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