“Are you sure you saw what you saw?” Ralem asked, trying to keep his breathing normal.

                              “Yes,” Jaydon said, swinging his legs over the bed and rubbing his eyes. “I promise you I did. Both him and his spineless frost dragon, not more than ten feet away from the archers. And I heard him say ‘Kill it before it kills us’. He told them to kill me!”

                              “He wouldn’t… he wouldn’t dare,” Ralem swore. “I don’t believe you.”

                              “Here, I’ll show you myself,” Jaydon said and suddenly Ralem’s vision became spotted with white. The infirmary, beds, and ceiling above seemed to melt into a blinding white. He found himself bounding into this white as before him, a castle rose out of the ground, dark from the gloomy clouds. It was tremendously tall and breathtakingly beautiful, with huge glass windows and astounding architecture. It was the largest castle Ralem had ever seen, with parapets that seemed to be made of ice. Before it rose a wall, enclosing in the castle from one mountain range to the other.

                               The only way Ralem realized how cold it was was by his breath, which was coming out in hot puffs. “Arianna!” he yelled, “Arianna! I’ve come to take you back!” His eyes searched for her on the walls, which were teeming in blue-armored Grundian soldiers, murmuring among themselves and stringing their bows. Where is she? He thought. Then his ears pinpointed a familiar voice say, “No, no I don’t know the creature.”  Daemon? “Now kill it before it kills us.”  Twenty arrows whistled out of the air to meet him. Most of them broke on his hard scales but a few of them dug into the undersides of his wings. Ralem roared in pain as he felt the poison begin to eat away at his skin. “Again!” a deeper voice called and more arrows rained from the sky. Ralem felt his heart beat like a frenzied drum as an arrow punctured his eye and another one whistled to his gum. The pain.. the pain… white everywhere. “I come in peace!” he screamed, “I’m not going to hurt you!” They didn’t seem to hear. He tried to yell again but the words died in his throat. He had to get Arianna… his mighty back legs powered him through a massive drift. Oh, but it hurt. It hurt so bad. He needed to rest for just a minute before he got Arianna. He collapsed on a snow drift as his vision started to get blurry. Right as he was about to go to sleep another arrow stung on his wing muscle. Ralem screamed in panic, and spreading his wings, he took off with incredible speed. But he was sure of one thing.

                   The last thing he had seen was Daemon’s cold face.

                   The terror, the wind, and the terrific pain melted and Ralem took a deep breath as his eyes were greeted by the benign background of the infirmary. He hadn’t even moved. Jaydon’s hand shot out to steady him as he took a step backwards. For a minute he couldn’t speak and Jaydon waited expectantly for his response.

                  Anger, bright hot anger flared in Ralem’s chest. “Daemon-” he couldn’t think of any words bad enough for the other Rider. His fists clenched up until his knuckles shone white. I told you, the dragon part in him took him by surprise. I told you that you should have killed him. You should have let me take over. If I had then none of this would have happened. Arianna would still be here, Jaydon would not have been hurt. Ralem growled and interlaced his fingers behind his neck, pacing furiously in front of poor Jaydon. I still can’t believe he would do that, Ralem echoed.

                   I had an itching feeling about him from the start. His dragon side said, And now he has officially crossed the line. You can’t deny it. It’s either kill or be killed.

                  It doesn’t work like that, Ralem’s human side said.

              That’s a weak argument. This is how it works in real life. He made the first move; he almost killed both Jaydon and us. We need to fight back or he’ll get us when our back is turned.

                  Ralem couldn’t deny it. He was mad- ticked in fact- that Daemon had tried to kill his dragon. And he had almost done it too. Ralem thought of how Jaydon’s back had been torn open, the pain, the sheer number of the arrows imbedded in his back. It sickened him. Jaydon had almost died. Heck, he did die!

                  Jaydon watched him pace faster and faster, his eyebrows furrowed in a tight line, and he got the sense that he was in an intense fight with himself. He shifted uneasily on the bed, waiting for orders, a sign, anything.

                      Finally Ralem stopped, his eyes burning an intense green. If there’s one thing that Daemon creep is going to find out, he thought, You NEVER mess with a Rider’s dragon. “That was the last straw, Jaydon. We are leaving. Now. Daemon’s going to get what was coming to him.”

                       Jaydon hopped up, his smile turning draconic, “Finally.” His claws shot out, “They won’t get the chance to fire a single arrow.”

                      “Where do you two think you’re going?”

                       They both froze.

                        The huge water dragon seemed to glide out of nowhere. How she got in was a mystery, how she managed to be as quiet as a church mouse was another. Her aqua eyes landed on Jaydon, then slid over to Ralem.

                         “None of your business,” Ralem grunted. He motioned to Jaydon, “Let’s get out of here.”

                          A webbed talon shot in front of him, “You’re not going anywhere unless you tell me where and why.”

                          Ralem actually hissed at her. “Why do you have to always get in my way? Can’t I take a flight with my dragon?”

                         “Well of course you can. But that’s not exactly what you’re doing, is it?” Vali said evenly, her words rolling through the air.

                         “And is it your business as to whether it is or not? Let me pass,” Ralem said, trying to dodge her talons.

                         “Ralem Blake!” Vali roared, snatching him up as easily as if he were a kitten. He struggled in her grasp but she did not let him go. “Jaydon!” Ralem summoned, but Jaydon was held at bay at a sharp word in the draconic language. His eyes darted from Ralem to Vali like a puppy not sure which master to obey. Frustrated, he sat down on an empty bed, but promised himself that he would intervene if Vali dared to harm Ralem.

                        Vali reared back to her hind legs so that her head almost brushed the ceiling. Her smooth beard was brushing Ralem in the face as she peered down at him. “Lauri told me that you were struggling, but I did not realize it was this bad,” she said, mostly to herself. Then she hissed as he tried to bite her. “Ralem, get a hold on yourself!”

                        He stopped struggling for a minute to glare at her with pupil-less eyes, “I do have a hold of myself,” he spat, “Let go of me! Jaydon! What are you doing? Get her off me!”

                         Vali roared in his face, “RALEM! LISTEN TO ME!” She gave him one massive jerk and he gasped as his head snapped back with a shot of pain. This shook him painfully to the realization that he was completely at the water dragon’s mercy. On the ground, Jaydon growled but did nothing, his claws extended but it was obvious that he was hesitant to make a move. Vali ignored him and glared at the Rider, her upper lip pulled back to reveal her shark-like array of dagger teeth and black gums. She looked terrifying.

                         She paused for a moment, her huge rib cage heaving and her cold breath huffing in Ralem’s face. Then her upper lip slowly relaxed and her eyes didn’t seem quite so fierce. “Ralem, you need to control yourself. Settle down. Think. Is this the best choice to make? To lead both you and your dragon back to Grunde, where you will undoubtedly be met with more Zeffna arrows? Are you not acting like the dog that returns to its own vomit? Listen to yourself. Are you sure you are making the wise decision for both you and Jaydon?”

                         Even the dragon side of him could see the truth in her words. “But… I’m sure we could…” he started out weakly.

                         “Ralem. Even with your training, you are still not ready for war, much less a war with just you two against a whole formidable army. Come to your senses.”

                         Ralem shook his head, trying to clear his mind. “Yes, yes,” he said blearily, “I have no idea what was running through my mind. I… I beg your forgiveness, Vali, ma’am.” He was extremely embarrassed. Had he really just tried to chew out the Commander-in-Chief? He even managed a quick bow when she set him down.

                       I forgive you,” Vali said smoothly. Was that pity shimmering behind her glassy eyes? Ralem broke eye contact as pink crept up his cheeks. She turned her great head to Jaydon, “Jaydon, you do realize that this is, in part, your fault, right?”

                        Jaydon nodded glumly, “Yes ma’am.”

                       “I expect you, as his dragon, to be able to know him better than you know yourself. You need to know when his dragon side is getting the best of him and be able to stop it, no matter how much you want to agree with him. There’s a reason there is Rider and dragon and not dragon and dragon. You two need each other to even each other out. When he is more like you… that would be bad all around as is vice versa. Does that make sense?” Vali asked.

                         Jaydon nodded even though he didn’t understand.

                         “Either way you two need to be a better team. That means you telling each other when you’re wrong even when it’s hard. Or when you look up to them,” she looked hard at Jaydon.

                       “Yes ma’am,” they both said, chastised.

                      “Good.” She said. She looked out the window at the flame ridden sky before turning back to them with an imposing glare, “I came here to tell you two that there is no need to meet by the fountain today. You need a break. Ralem, you are working yourself farther than a human should. So for today, relax. That’s an order.” She nodded to them and started padding for the door.

                       Halfway there she abruptly stopped, her head low, “And I just wanted to let you know Daemon is going to be back in three weeks.” -Ralem straightened- “And if you two hurt each other or otherwise you will be punished severely.”

                     “But- Daemon-”

                     “You need to leave that to the authorities. Which are, as you very well know, Lauri and I. We will decide what to do with him, not you. And even though Lauri may have let it slide for you once or twice I will not.” Her voice was as hard as stone and Ralem looked down even though she wasn’t looking at him. “Yes ma’am,” he mumbled.

                    “I trust you to keep your word.” And she was gone without another word.

                   It took Ralem a minute before he could let out a breath. “Oh my- I can’t believe that just happened. I’m so embarrassed,” he lamented, digging his head in his hands. “I can’t believe I just blew my top on.. on Vali like that! What was I thinking?” He looked down and realized something else, “And all the while in my underwear. Could this get any worse?”

                    “Yes. It could.  I really don’t understand why being in your underclothes is embarrassing in the first place! What’s embarrassing is you trying to bite her,” Jaydon cringed, “With your tiny little teeth. Now that was embarrassing. And at least she didn’t kill you or eat you. I was getting worried for a moment.”

                    “I suppose you’re right,” Ralem moaned, “Now let’s get out of here. I hate infirmaries. And… you know what? I am tired. I want to retire in my own, comfy bed.”

                    “But- you slept most of yesterday,” Jaydon yawned. Healing from the poison had drained him too and he didn’t argue too much when they made a dash for the bedroom. “I wish Lauri could have at least provided clothes,” Ralem swore and he barreled through the hallway with a his sheets flying around him like he was wearing a robe. He heard Jaydon laugh mentally, even though he had melded into the wind. Not funny, Ralem said when he flung open his door. Then he let out a harsh breath as he was shoved aside by a pampered dragon. “I call the bed!” Jaydon hollered, jumping on the bed possessively.

                    “You get the floor,” Ralem replied, “You’re the dragon. That’s the rules. Human on bed and dragon on floor.”

 “True. But still. Beds are so comfy,” Jaydon started to get under the sheets.

 “Get out,” Ralem sighed as his makeshift cloak fell to the ground.

“But... but I’m the wounded baby dragon, remember?” Jaydon said, and then his eyes got crazy big and watery, and the sheets climbing up to his trembling chin.

 “Ach! Don’t do that to me!” Ralem said, blinded by the green eyes. “Okay, okay, but you stay on your side and no.. kicking,” he yawned. “Don’t get used to this because this is my bed.”

Jaydon said “Yes!” and burrowed under the covers like a hedgehog, where he curled up in the center of the massive bed.

            When he was received by the cool covers, Ralem felt his exhaustion fall upon him like a brick wall. A couple minutes of wild thinking and he was out, but not before he felt Jaydon’s arms curl around him and hold him possessively to his chest.