Dark Intent

"Moises Melchiori! I'm going to skin your thieving hide and mail it to your mother!"

The other Guards and I doubled over in laughter as Ella, the castle's head cook, shouted obscenities and threats at Moises; better known as Mo. He did his best to dodge the the various kitchen instruments she hurled at him as he scurried away from the kitchens and towards the training field. He turned and ran backward, giving Ella a salute and a grin as he shoved blueberry scones into his mouth. Stolen blueberry scones. Mo was well known for snitching treats from Ella's kitchen, as well as flirting with all the young maids.

"Do you care to explain to me just what that was?" Captain Edric Terzian asked Mo, arching his thick eyebrows over his piercing silver eyes. Captain Terzian was an old man, well into his sixties, and he had been Captain of Kopalnia's Royal Guard for a long time. His gray hair was always pulled back from his wizened, dark face with a leather band. His silvery beard combined with his stern eyes and huge stature could make him intimidating, but at that moment his mustache was twitching, as though he were trying to hold back his amusement at Mo's antics.

"I was demonstrating how to infiltrate enemy territory, grab an imprisoned comrade, and get back out," Mo said, swallowing the last of his scones.

"Or rather, how not to do it," I teased, pushing my ash blond hair out of my face and smirking. Mo had gone into training about the same time that I had, four years before. We had gone through Dragon Rider training together, and graduated together. We were both placed into the Royal Guard to serve under Captain Terzian, protecting King and Queen Villavicencio. I was a Dragon Rider thanks to my husband, Sam, who had permitted me to do the one thing I had always dreamed of, but had not been allowed to persue when I was still Princess Leila of Leenthor. Now I was just Lady Leila Embry of the Royal Guard of Kopalnia, and that suited me fine. Prince Cortez had recently ascended the throne, and his queen was my eldest sister, Judith. It never ceased to amuse me that my hardheaded sister had wanted nothing more than to escape her duties as a princess being groomed as a queen, and then she had gone and fallen for a prince.

Of course, whenever I brought that to her attention, she told me to shut up.

Captain Terzian shook his head. "Sir Melchiori, I sometimes wonder how you survived Rider training."

"He talked his way through, I'm sure." I turned and grinned as I saw Sam walking across the training field, a slew of young soon-to-be-soldiers trailing in his wake. Sam was peasant-born, but he had been a soldier in the King's Fleet and had impeccable skill with making weapons. Kopalnia was a land rich in metal, and metal magic users, for that matter. Some of the best machines and weapons ever made came from Kopalnia. Sam worked at the forgery, as well as acting as second to the master-at-arms who trained the soldiers and guards who patrolled the villages and borders. There were far more of those than there were members of the Royal Guard. It was a very elite group.

"I would also like to point out that your little display of combat tactics was a bit premature, Mo," I said. "The new recruits just arrived."

"Then I was giving all of you a refresher," Mo replied breezily. I punched his arm.

"All right, listen up rookies," the Captain barked at the gangly group of boys; and several girls. One thing I admired about Kopalnia: their women were actually encouraged to learn to fight just as much as the boys were. "Today you're going up on the fighter jets, and the Royal Guard is going up with you on their dragons to keep an eye on you."

The recruits murmured excitedly, and I admit I shared in their anticipation. I had been assigned my dragon, Phaedra, as soon as I finished flight training, and riding on the back of a dragon in flight was even better than I had ever imagined. I jumped at any and every chance to ride her. Captain Terzian led us all to the stables, where the Riders saddled up their mounts before following after the recruits as they made their way to the garage where the jets, pods, cars, and motorbikes were all stored.

Who are the small ones? Phaedra asked me with a sniff. Dragons can speak aloud but they often resort to telepathy when communicating with their Rider.

"Are you sure you should be judging, Phae?" I teased. My dragon was small in stature; still considerably larger than a human, of course, but quite tiny for a dragon. Her scales were a beautiful, deep dusky blue, and moons and stars adorned her sleek wings. Her talons were a gleaming ivory white, and small pale blue horns so delicate they looked more like antennae protruded from her forehead. Scales like sapphires and crystals glinted on her face, and her eyes were liquid violet, and if you looked for more than moment you would see stars twinkling deep in her black pupils.

Phaedra was tiny and elegant, but she flew faster than any other dragon I had ever seen. She snorted and tossed her head daintily at my remark. Phaedra and I had being slight in stature but giants in attitude in common.

Captain Terzian instructed the recruits on proper jet safety, and then the compact vehicles lifted into the air with a loud whirling of their engines. I caught sight of Aaron, the mechanic Judith had brought with her from Leenthor, and waved. We let the recruits maneuver their jets near the ground for a few minutes, letting them get used to the feel of the controls. Then we mounted our dragons and took to the sky, urging the jets slowly up with us.

"Quite a birthday present, huh?" Mo shouted over the roar of the wind and jet engines. I nodded enthusiastically, trying to shove my wild curls out of my face again. Judith and I shared the same birthday; we were exactly ten years apart. I was turning twenty that day; Judith was thirty. The Riders split up then, fanning out to form a protective circle around the jets. I could see a mixture of apprehension and exhilaration on the recruits' faces, and grinned. Nothing beat flying.

"Look! The king and queen are going for their daily drive!" One of the recruits shouted eagerly into his mouthpiece. I slipped my goggles over my eyes, and fiddled with the tiny switches until I found the telescope mode. Sure enough, I could see my sister and her husband far below us, zooming through the forested hills in one of their many ridiculously fast cars.

"Is Judith trying to kill herself so she doesn't have to attend the birthday ball?" Mo joked. I laughed, thinking it was a distinct possibility. Judith was apprehensive about balls of any kind. Aside from maybe Cortez's. But the laughter died in my throat as I saw the car suddenly jerk and spin wildly. It did two complete circles before veering dangerously close to the edge of the road, near the edge of the steep hill that sloped down into the river.

"Captain!" I called urgently.

"I see it!" he shouted back. "Rider,s down, now! Jets, stay up here! Keep an eye on things, but stay out of the way unless we need you." The jets slowed as the dragons all dove down toward the out of control car. My heart thudded in my chest as the car finally came to a stop, with one of the front wheels hanging precariously over the edge of the road.