They clashed, with Dominique ducking to avoid the Quilus' blades before skillfully swinging his pole around, aiming for Quilus' chest. Yet Quilus was faster and easily jumped out of the way, a grin on his face as he stared mockingly at Dominique, twirling a blade in each hand.  

"Come on Dominique," he mocked, "Is that all you've got?"  

In reply Dominique lunged forward, anger driving him on. He swung at Quilus' head yet Quilus ducked and when Dominique swung for his feet he just jumped over the pole before stepping backwards out of reach.  

"You know," Quilus spoke, "No matter what happens here, you've lost."  

Dominique glared at him yet this seemed to only prompt Quilus on. "You see, the Resistance has been disbanded. They're either all facing a bright future in the quarries or are too scared to ever show their faces here again. As for your girlfriend..." he trailed off grinning, "She's got the best thing coming out of all of them."  

"Akira," Dominique whispered as fear for her filled him. What was going to happen to her?  

"You see," Quilus continued, seeming happy enough to tell Dominique, "The council was really looking forward to see her hang, but since her little escape they decided that perhaps hanging wasn't the best thing for her. They found something better, something much more...entertaining," he lunged at Dominique who raised his pole just in time to stop Quilus' blades from finding their mark.  

"What are they going to do to her?" Dominique growled as he glared at Quilus.  

"My my," Quilus chuckled, "You really want to know? Like it would do you any good, there's no way in the lands that you can save her now, not any of them."  

Growling Dominique whipped his pole around, managing to just graze Quilus' arm. Looking somewhat surprised Quilus shot a glance at his arm, as though checking for damage, but then he turned back to Dominique with a smile.  

"Blunt weapon," he chuckled as he saw no damage done.  

In reply Dominique pressed a small knob on his pole and suddenly two sharp spikes slipped out, one at each end. Quilus stared in surprise.  

"What are they going to do to her?" Dominique repeated, his eyes flashing dangerously.  

"Well if you want to know that badly," Quilus sighed as he twirled one of his blades again. A smile spread across his face, "Ever heard of the arena?"  

Dominique's heart dropped as he stood, frozen. "No," he whispered, "It's a rumor, it doesn't exist."  

"Oh really?" Quilus' smile widened, "Then how come your little friend is going to be tomorrow mornings entertainment in this arena?"  

"No," Dominique shook his head. Not the arena. He had always suspected that it existed, but he had never thought the council would go as far. It was a place where the council watched dragons battle each other, where they welcomed death as entertainment. He had always thought it was just a story. There was no way the council would go that far.  

"They've even pitted her against a dragon, just to make it more interesting," Quilus chuckled, "I'd wish her good luck but it wouldn't do her any good. She'll probably be dead before she even knows what hits her."  

Letting out a yell of rage Dominique lunged, seeing no more a friend before him but a vile enemy, an enemy responsible for it all. It was as though he were back to the moment when he had killed the Watcher, when rescuing the prisoners on their way the quarries. He lost control of what he was doing and it was as though he were standing by and watching as his body move, reigning blow upon blow down on Quilus, not giving him a chance to retaliate. He was dimly aware of how he drove one of the spikes in his pole into Quilus' shoulder before driving him to his knees. And then, when he suddenly came to himself once again, Quilus was kneeling before him, staring with wide eyes as Dominique held one of his own blades to his throat.  

"I never knew you had it in you," Quilus murmured, and then a smile spread across his face, "Or maybe you don't. Could you seriously kill me Dominique? Your own friend?" he chuckled.  

"You're not my friend," Dominique replied, his voice emotionless.  

Quilus' eyes widened ad he opened his mouth, yet he never got to utter a word as Dominique slid the blade across his throat, turning around, not bothering to watch, as Quilus' lifeless body dropped to the ground. He walked a few paces before his gaze moved down to his pole taking in the bloody spike at one end, and then over to the blade in his other hand, wet with fresh and sticky blood. Feeling shock and disgust at what he had done Dominique dropped the blade as though it had burnt him.  

"Dominique," Breeze spoke gently.  

Slowly Dominique turned, his eyes refusing to look down to where he knew Quilus' body lay, but up to where his dragon stood in front of the yellow female, ready to block her in case she made a move. Yet the yellow dragon stood absolutely still, her yellow eyes watching Dominique with only a hint of sadness in them making Dominique frown. When a rider was killed their dragon would usually go mad with rage until they had avenged his death, and yet here Quilus' dragon was, not making a move. Perhaps it was because sold dragons were forced to choose their riders making something lack in the bond between dragon or rider. Dominique didn't know the answer, but whatever it was, it was still odd that this dragon did nothing but watch.  

Slowly Dominique walked towards her.  

"Dominique!" Breeze warned.  

"Step aside," was Dominique's reply.  

"But...!"  

"She won't harm me, I'm sure of it," Dominique thought yet even as he spoke he knew that he was lying. He didn't know what this dragon would do to him, yet still he walked up to her, her yellow eyes watching his every move.  

Upon reaching her Dominique slowly reached for the saddle that was on her back. The dragon tensed but made no move to stop him. He took a hold of the saddle strap and slowly undid it, letting the saddle slip off and fall to the ground. Surprised the dragon froze, watching Dominique's every move as he took a step back and stared solemnly, meeting the dragon's gaze.  

"Go," he told her.  

She stared at Dominique, disbelief, and almost what looked like a sliver of hope, in her eyes.  

"You're free," Dominique told her wearily.  

At first the dragon did not react, but then, ever so slowly, she spread her wings, seeming to hesitate, watching to see if Dominique was telling her the truth or just teasing her. Yet when he did nothing to stop her she spread her wings completely and hovered a few feet above the ground. When Dominique still didn't do anything she rose higher up and then suddenly flew away at an extremely fast pace, as though scared that Dominique might change his mind.  

Dominique watched her go and then turned around, feeling a new weariness settling over him. Unwillingly he caught sight of Quilus' body and he stared down at his hands in disbelief, wondering if he had really just taken the life of the man he had called friend for all those years. He still held the pole in one hand, the spike at the end of it covered in blood that was already beginning to dry.  

"It had to be done," Breeze told him as he came to stand beside his rider, showing that he did not disagree with a thing he had done.  

Dominique looked back at Quilus' limp body when he suddenly became aware of a burning sensation on his arm. Confused he let his eyes wonder down, trailing along his arm until they came to his wrist, the source of the pain. Without emotion he took in the shallow cut where Quilus had cut him. It was still bleeding and Dominique watched, fascinated, as a drop of blood moved down his hand, dropping off the end of one of his fingers and splashing silently onto the ground. And as that drop hit the ground he was suddenly reminded of something he had forgotten.  

His eyes widened with the realization. "Of course!" he whispered, his eyes snapping towards the caves. Could it really be that simple? He cocked his head to the side. He had forgotten about cutting his finger the day Akira had appeared, it was the one thing he had not done when he had tried to call Redemption. Yet was it really possible that by leaving out that one small thing they had failed to bring forth the dragon of legend? Had Akira really been telling the truth after all or was this just another false lead?  

Dominique stared at his cut wrist once more, watching the blood that was already taking longer than usual to clot. His grip tightened on his pole as he remembered Akira's confidence that once they got Redemptions piece of armor everything would be fine. He remembered her distraught face when nothing happened, when no dragon came.  

"Bring back Redemption!" he remembered how Akira had yelled that. Even when she had been struggling against her captors, how confident she had looked. Lowering his hands Dominique stared at the armored piece. Was she telling the truth? Had she been right all along? Was the reason they had failed all because a drop of blood was missing. HIS blood?  

"It's up to you Dominique. I won't be able to help you anymore. It's all up to you," his brother's dying words suddenly echoed in his head.  

Dominique looked up, new hope filling him. Maybe Ray was wrong on this one. Maybe it wasn't up to Dominique after all, maybe it was up to someone else, a dragon to be exact. Dropping his pole he whirled around and began to run for the caves. He needed to find the armor he had tossed aside so carelessly.  

"You're not serious," Breeze thought as he read his riders mind. And yet the dragon knew that Dominique was. He was dead serious. He was going to give it one more try, and if Akira really had been telling the truth and she truly was the rider of legend then he might have a chance to save all those left he loved, and if she hadn't, all would be lost.