"Ronan... Cursimian is great and all, but you need to know how to actually fight," Phantom muttered, backing up alongside Ronan with every step. "You can just use—""I know," Ronan growled, focusing on Red as he muttered insanctious under his breath.Red immediately seized, the familiar spell ripping a growl from his throat. "What did you—""It's called Insanctious," Ronan chimed. "Watch. Drop the stick."Red dropped the baton, shooting Ronan a death glare and straining to move."Sit."Red dropped to his knees, while Ronan looked on in pure amusement."Ronan, I think that's enough," Phantom cut in. "We should really run back to Cobalt now."Ronan ignored Phantom, wincing in pain as he sheathed Cursimian and picked up the crackling stick instead. "So, what's it like to have a taste of your own medicine?"Red stared at the tip of the baton, inches from nipping his face with a painful bite. "I'm trying to help you.""Help me." Ronan laughed under his breath. "Okay, how about you help me

The basement of Luren's shop was almost bigger than the shop itself, dusty and packed with papers and forgotten furniture. Ronan doubted there was anything of value in the bundles of worn parchment and crates of emptied vials and blunted weapons, but they definitely looked like the worthy mansion of an eight legged army.A stinging pain was poking at Ronan's arm, but he found that squeezing his eyes shut numbed the pain of Luren's stitchwork. Ronan was hoping he'd get over the pain after a couple pricks, but it delivered the same bite without relent every time."I'd hate to repeat myself," Luren muttered, eyes trained on stitching up the last of the clotted slit. "But couldn't this have waited until morning?""No, I'm under investigation." Ronan grimaced when he caught Veronica's scowl as she prepped some bedding. "Or, I was..."Luren sighed. "Great, last thing I need is the Council breathing down my neck, what'd you do? Get caught doing your ancient lumience crap?" He raised a finger

Every passing hour was more brutal than the next. The endless trail dragged time through its mess of leaves and searing heat like a shriveling snail. Ronan was almost hoping one of the circling griffins would spot them hugging the side of the trail, but the thick canopies overhanging the path kept to Veronica's plan.They weren't getting caught with Veronica in the game.The only thing that had even remotely kept Ronan awake was his grumbling stomach, and the strange games they played to pass the day. Even with the energising berries Veronica had on her, time still crawled to nightfall, and the new game was on him, so he went with one of the only ones you could play stuck on a freaky reptile horse."Never have I ever been on a worse road trip," Truvius muttered, watching Veronica's nose scrunch as she grabbed a single leaf of grass she had bundled in her palm and stuffed it in her mouth.Ronan caught Truvius' gaze, silently shaking his head. This was the worst one, by far. But Truvius

One of the hunter's voices ripped across the trail, raw with fear and urgency as Locke stepped forwards. "Song Bird! Scatter!"A sharp whistle sounded, the yipping dogs rounding up behind the dragon hunters as they all booked it in the opposite direction of Luki, all but the one hunter still wriggling in Talli's hold.Luki let out a sharp whistle of his own, one beast heeding the call as a spiky black dragon swooped overhead, creating a gale of wind with its massive wings as it dived at the trail to stop the hunters in their tracks.At first, Ronan thought it was a Nomad dragon, until it's amber eyes sparked with familiarity. She was the dragon Luki called Nel, now with a wingspan wider than the trail, and a row of glistening white fangs big enough to bite the hunters in half.Ronan felt Truvius tug at his elbow, slowly allowing his friend to inch him closer to Talli and Veronica at the edge of the path. The dogs had taken to barking at Nel, their yips pitched an octave higher as they

Ronan awoke to the gentle beams of dawnbreak, nestled into the wine red cushions of a polished oak carriage. He felt strange in the rocking wagon, the birds that sang upon Cobalt's roof at this hour nowhere to be heard with their lulling notes. It was a sound he'd found comfort in all these months, now replaced by a creaking grind as the strange parrot-ostriches pulling the cart kept to their pace. Truvius stirred as Ronan moved his arm, lifting his cheek off his shoulder with a bleary eyed squint and yawn. "Still early." Ronan shifted his gaze to Veronica and Talli, still passed out with an array of candied fruits and chocolates littering their cushions. She hadn't spoken to him since hopping in the carriage. Not even a grunt when he offered to pay her back for the carriage ride. With another twist of slithering guilt rocking his road-sickness, Ronan shifted his gaze to Luki. He'd taken the only seat facing the wagon's front, sat upright on the maroon cushion with his eyes gently