Book 5: Into Blood Moon (3)

    Ascending three levels using stairs differed greatly from climbing the thing.

    Yes, he had 24 levels in Rock Climbing — and every inch up, he felt like he was gaining valuable experience. But he had underestimated how hard this was going to be.

    For one thing, he had already climbed today, and those muscles were fatigued. For another, it was dark. No one put lights on the outside walls to keep dragons from blundering into it.

    Arthur climbed upward, bit by bit.

    New Skill Level: Rock Climbing (Adrenaline Activities Class)

    Level 25

    New Skill Level: Rock Climbing (Adrenaline Activities Class)

    Level 26

    Each new skill level provided a slight boost, and a bit of hard earned wisdom. But the wind grew fiercer the higher he went, and it chilled him right through. By the time he neared the fifth level, he could barely feel the tips of his fingers.

    Finally, with the last of his strength, he made one final push to a window on the fifth floor. It was small and round, barely large enough to fit his shoulders.

    It didn’t matter, anyway.

    He nearly yelled aloud in frustration when he found no latch or anything. Didn’t these people open their windows to let in air? Apparently not, as this window seemed to be glued in place.

    The next moment he realized he was being an idiot. Accessing his Phase In, Phase Out card, he simply moved through the wall.

    He landed on his back in a dimly lit room. Arthur lay like that for a moment, catching his breath and listening carefully in the gloom.

    There were no sounds of breathing or snoring. Thankfully, no outcries to his sudden appearance either. The only light came from around a badly fitted door about two arm-spans away. Slowly, as his eyes became adjusted, he picked out signs of another empty bedroom. He wondered if the person who lived here was sleeping it off a few levels below.

    Most importantly, there were no alarms, no sounds of people urgently rushing through the corridors looking for a rogue Legendary. All was quiet.

    Sitting up, Arthur checked the Call of the Heart to get directions. The closer he was, the more details he would receive.

    He stared at the map in disbelief.

    The card now showed itself on the bottom level — actually, one level below the ground. Apparently, this hive had sub-levels. Was it in someone’s heart deck after all? Was he going to have to kill to allow Brixaby to become a Mythic along with him?

    But... the little red dot that designated the card was completely unmoving. It seemed to him that if it were in someone’s heart deck that there would be some movement, even if it was shifting back and forth in the same room. There was nothing.

    But now that he was looking closely, he saw that the dragons were unusual in their own way. They had a strange, predatory look about them. Several weaved their heads back and forth in a snake-like fashion, flared their wings, and bit at one another when they thought their neighbor stood too close.

    From the rider’s body language, no one thought this was strange.

    Back in the free hives, dragons were more or less treated like people. Many had even picked up crafts and had respectable careers.

    Arthur had let himself forget that in his kingdom, the dragons were taken care of, coddled, but treated more like intelligent animals and not people. He had never seen so many be vicious and animalistic to one another.

    The ringing alarm bells suddenly cut off, but in its place, Arthur heard the slamming of doors back in the corridor.

    Arthur went to the door to peek out. Guards decked out in the scarlet of Blood Moon Hive were on this level.

    As Arthur watched through his cracked door, one opened up a bedroom entryway that was at the end of the tunnel, and a Common rider was pulled out. It looked like the man could barely stand. He just stood there, swaying, as he was berated for dereliction of duty.

    He was pushed down the hall, even though he wore only a simple shirt and sleeping shorts and was in no way ready for battle. Then the cluster of guards headed to the next door down the tunnel.

    They weren’t far away. There was nowhere to hide in this small room. Arthur had little choice.

    He went back to the window, and, activating his Phase In, Phase Out, slid through the wall. He tried to judge carefully to make sure he did not appear back out in open air, but the wall of blackness on the other side startled him. He misjudged slightly. The moment he phased back into existence, he started to fall. Twisting around, he blindly caught himself on the window ledge.

    He wasn’t prepared for the absolute blackness all around him. He couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. It was as if all light—moonlight, starlight, maybe even torchlights from outside—had been collected and brought to the ground. That must have been how they lit everything up.

    The only thing he could see was the ground. How was he to climb up or down?

    Arthur was washed over by sudden vertigo. He closed his eyes, teeth chattering from the wind. He would have to climb by feel, but his cooling fingers already felt numbed... if he fell, would he even know it until he reached the lit up ground?

    Ah, there you are.

    That was Brixaby’s voice, right in his head.

    “Brix?” His voice came out as a squeak. He looked around wildly, more freaked out than he wanted to let on. But he couldn’t see anything. Not even a shape in the night. Brixaby had to be within line of sight or know exactly where someone was in order to speak into their mind. But how could he see?

    The buzz of dragon wings was briefly above him, passing over, then arcing down.

    “Drop,” Brixaby commanded.

    Arthur shut his eyes and let go of the windowsill.