Richard and the others arrived at Frostfall, and the first sight they came across which terrified them were two dragons, one red and the other light blue. They didn't growl or roar at them, but they could tell that the creatures went comfortable with them around. Still seeing the town ahead of them, they just couldn't stand idly out of fear, and as one, they put all their fears behind them and walked forward. Besides, for all they knew the creatures might just turn out to be figments of their imagination, illusions brought about by the last few days of endless walking without food and water. They walked past the two dragons and headed for the barricade, and at the gates three watchmen stood, having seen the way the trio had handled seeing the dragons from afar. “Hold it right there”, one of the men said. “Who are you? Where is your permit?” “Permit?”, asked Felix. “All tourists and visitors must come with a permit, especially when c

After returning to the present reality, Cyrus looked at James. “How long is my training going to last?” asked Cyrus. “As long as it takes” James answered. “It won't take more than a month, right?” asked Cyrus, and all the other riders burst into laughter. “Are you serious?” asked Wayne as he wiped off a laughing tear. “We aren't just teaching you how to sit on a dragon while it flies in the direction you tell it telepathically. You want us to teach you the complicated stuff, like improving balance and synchronization during battle, improving the speed of telepathy, and so on. Also, your dragon hasn't been ridden by a human before, so it's her first time following directions from a human. She hardly gets along with other dragons except Nebula on a few occasions, so don't think playing well with a human would be any better.” “So how long would all that take?” asked Cyrus. “You would be lucky if it takes

Cyrus left the Midlands with Felix and his wife, heading back to the cave to mount their dragon. They found it there about to sleep late at night and decide to spend the night at the cave with her. Kamala kept them all warm, even though the climate was generally warmer than it was at Frostfall, where it snowed all the time. The next day, they would all be headed for the Kingdom Pass, a natural landform that formed a natural boundary between Griffindale and the other territories. The Kingdom Pass was a semi-round valley that formed a large deep perimeter outside the Kingdom's territory, acting as a natural border to the kingdom, even though nobody went through the routes that maneuvered the deep valley. Nobody ever took those routes as the road went too deep, forming a large dry canyon that wasn't ideal for travel and was crawling with bandits at night. People would usually go through the route where the canyon could not reach, as was the

It was about two days later when the reinforcements arrived, numbering 3,000 just as the Emperor had promised. Cyrus wondered why the Emperor would send only 3,000 men when he knew that a city as large as Griffindale could easily afford 10,000 without stress. Perhaps this was his way of making sure there was enough chance for the young Prince to lose so that the few surviving men in the aftermath of the battle would turn against him in the last second and report the battle as a failure to the Emperor, making Cyrus his eternal puppet King when he sends to required reinforcements to take down the now weakened Griffindale in his place. When Cyrus thought about it, he silently berated himself for not thinking about it earlier. It was a brilliant plan the Emperor had played him into, and he never saw it until the time came to draw out a battle plan. Cyrus could see that even the best battle plans that the Emperor's tacticians proposed were eithe

In a few minutes, the loud bell of the city's basilica began reverberating around the kingdom, jolting everyone out of their homes. There was a lot of fear and panic, as there should have been. Within moments, the archers had all assembled at the parapets of the City's walls. Then one soldier came from behind the Queen, it was one of the Knights of the King's Diamond, Cletus Cassius. He was the knight who had trained Cyrus in the ways of the sword, the one who vouched for him along with the other knights, all hoping he would become the next King. Now, however, his main concern was on getting the Queen to safety. “My Queen,” he said. “I need to get you out of here. It's not safe. Where is your son?” “He is with Vanessa, most likely at my quarters,” she said. “Let's go.” So the two of them went back into the palace, where a few other Knights of the King's Diamond were present. “Take care of her” instru