by Sarah Noffke
“Then how was Wilder in your seat?” Ainsley strode into the dining hall and entered the conversation like she’d been there all along. She took the seat next to Hiker, which was still open and right next to Evan, as usual. Mahkah sat next to him. Mama Jamba and Quiet hadn’t yet joined them for breakfast.
“This is my Castle, and these are my Dragon Elite,” Hiker argued, still not having taken a seat but now his furious gaze pinned on Ainsley. “I’m the head of this place, and I sit at the head of the table.”
“What if I start sitting at the opposite end?” Evan proposed. “At the other head? Does that diminish your role?”
Hiker shot him a murderous look, his fists clenched.
Evan quickly added, “I’m asking for a friend, sir. I’d never do anything that would diminish your role.” He indicated Wilder with a subtle nod. “Someone wanted to know.”
“Why are you still talking?” Hiker asked him quite seriously.
“It’s a good question and one I find myself asking Evan all the time,” Wilder stated, taking a bite of his bagel.
“Where are Mama Jamba and Quiet?” Ainsley peered down the table.
Hiker sighed. “Mama was on the phone with a travel agent when I left my office and who knows about Quiet. Probably tending to the herd.”
“Probably coming up with a diabolical plan to try and ruin me.” Evan took two pastries from the tray.
“Why that woman needs a travel agent stumps me.” Wilder shook his head.
“That and simple math,” Evan stated. “Those two things stump you.”
Trin strode out of the kitchen, carrying another plate of pastries. When she went to put them on the table, Evan stopped her. “I think we’re good on pastries, my darling.”
The cyborg raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you saying you don’t want me to provide you with extra pastries when you’re usually complaining that there aren’t enough?”
He held up the two glazed pastries in his hands and smiled. “I’m good, but thanks for thinking of me. I wouldn’t want any of those to go to waste.”
She gave him a skeptical glare before turning and striding off for the kitchen.
Evan whipped around and leaned forward in the direction of the three new dragonriders. “You want to get on Quiet’s good side, right?”
They all nodded.
“Well, he can’t stand the sight of pastries, so if you don’t want to see him mad and therefore have a chance of getting into his good graces, then you better make all those disappear.” Evan pointed at the silver platter with three remaining flaky dough pastries.
The three new dragonriders didn’t hesitate before taking one each and stuffing it in their mouth like they were doing a charitable act.
Evan sat back, taking a bite of one of the pastries in his hand and looking satisfied. The others simply shook their head at him, knowing that it was too late to say anything. This would play out how it always did between the groundskeeper and Evan—with one of them madder than hell and the other laughing.
“I agree,” Mama Jamba sang as she entered the dining hall beside Quiet. “Travel by boat is my favorite.”
The old woman found her usual spot, smiling around at the table. “Good morning, y’all.”
Everyone greeted her. Well, not the new dragonriders. They didn’t look capable of speech as Mother Nature slid the short stack of pancakes in her direction.
“Why is it that you need a travel agent?” Wilder asked, curious.
“Because,” Mama Jamba said simply, pouring the maple syrup onto her pancakes.
Quiet hadn’t taken his seat. Instead his eyes slid to the empty platter of crumbs and then to the two pastries in Evan’s hands.
Taking note of this, Evan took a bite out of the other pastry he hadn’t yet sunk his teeth into and smiled. “Something got you down, little guy? Is it the sheep again? Are the lambs taller than you already?”
The gnome mumbled something inaudible, his hands on his hips.
The three newbies all looked between Evan and Quiet, nervousness in their eyes.
Wilder leaned over and whispered to them, “You see, they have a long-running feud. Evan has been stealing all the pastries before Quiet can get to breakfast for the better part of a century. Then Soph showed up, and he almost got a knife to the face. Now that you three are here, it seems he’s playing the game again.” He clapped Cooper, the closest dragonrider to him, on the shoulder. “Now I think you’re all caught up.”
Evan threw both the partially uneaten pastries on his plate, wiping his hands. “Man, I’m stuffed.”
Quiet narrowed his eyes, and Evan’s chair disappeared, sending him straight down on his tailbone on the floor. He yelped from surprise and probably also pain.
“Trin,” Ainsley called over her shoulder. “We’ll take those pastries after all.”
The cyborg housekeeper strode back from the kitchen carrying the tray piled high with pastries. She glanced down at Evan, who was rubbing his backside and looking quite offended. At once, she laughed at the sight.
Evan jumped to his feet and pointed at Quiet, who helped himself to the pastries that Trin had set down. “That little runt did this to me, and you’re laughing?”
Trin shrugged. “You seem to be okay, and if you weren’t, I’d be questioning your strength. This ongoing feud is between you and Quiet. I’m not getting involved.”
“Why not?” Evan crossed his arms over his chest.
Trin pursed her lips at him, then smiled. “Because there’s no way to win there. Picking sides between you is certain death.”
“If you’re quite done with your drama, Evan,” Hiker began. “I’d like to discuss actual business.”
Evan yanked another chair out and dragged it around to his spot. “Business, yes. Let us discuss. What life-saving mission would you like me to go on?”
“None,” Hiker answered. “Continue to train the new guys.” He turned his attention to Sophia. “What do you have going on since the others are training?”
Sophia thought for a moment. “Not a whole lot. I’m still inquiring with the Brownies about a list of criminals so I can track down Versalee and the Rogue Riders. I’m waiting on results to find out if my sister is having a demon baby and if so, we need to uncover a genie’s lamp. In my spare time, I’m running Heals Pills. Oh, and I have a dentist appointment.”
“Seems like you could be taking on more,” Evan quipped.
Sophia narrowed her eyes at the other rider.
“I agree,” Hiker added, to her surprise.
“You what?” Sophia asked.
“Well, none of that is immediate, and I’m sure you can slide in another task or two,” Hiker explained, but Sophia’s phone ringing in her pocket cut him off.
Since it was supposed to be silenced, she knew it was urgent. Realized it was from someone important.
Hiker tilted his head and gave her a stern expression that said, “Don’t you dare take that call.”
He had a strict policy of no phones at the dinner table. Normally, she’d listen, but something told Sophia that she shouldn’t ignore this. It could be Mae Ling or Father Time or—
Sophia’s eyes widened as she looked at the caller ID.
“Put your phone away,” Hiker ordered.
She didn’t listen and answered it, putting it straight to her ear. “Yes, Liv? Have you heard about the baby?”
“Oh, man, sir,” Evan stated. “That was bold and rude, and I think you need to punish her.”
“I might,” Hiker seethed, glaring at Sophia as Liv spoke on the other side of the line.
She spoke fast, and within a minute she’d heard everything Liv had to say and turned off the phone.
“Well, that better have been important, or you’ve lost your phone for good,” Hiker threatened.
“Sir, really there isn’t a good enough reason for total insubordination,” Evan urged. “Just fire her. She’ll never learn, and she’s teaching the new guys bad behavior.”
&
nbsp; Sophia ignored him and looked straight at Hiker. “It appears I do have something more immediate to add to my schedule. The Rogue Riders have abducted one of the Warriors for the House of Fourteen.”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
On the one hand, Sophia was grateful that Liv and the baby were okay. Or that at least there was no bad news—yet. Really, no news yet…
On the other, to know that the Rogue Riders had abducted Trudy DeVries, a Warrior for the House of Fourteen that Sophia had known all her life, felt personal. First, it had been Wilder, and that was incredibly difficult for Sophia. Now Trudy was suffering under the demon dragonriders’ cruelty.
Few knew that Trudy DeVries was a seer and there was no way that Sophia would volunteer that information. Hiker and the others didn’t need to know. In the magical world, most didn’t respect or tolerate seers. It was probably because they were too powerful or the certainty of a future coming to pass was scary. Still, seers’ visions weren’t one hundred percent reliable. Some of their prophecies had come to pass, and others hadn’t.
Moreover, they were limited in what they could see, which was why Trudy wouldn’t have known to avoid the abduction. A common misconception was that because someone could see the future, they could see all of it. Even Papa Creola and Mama Jamba were limited in what they knew and saw because there were too many variables that changed things second by second. The future was never fixed.
After learning about Trudy’s abduction, Hiker thundered straight for his office. Sophia hadn’t finished her sausage roll but knew that didn’t matter. Without him saying it, Hiker wanted her to follow him so they could start planning how they’d get the Warrior for the House of Fourteen back.
Scooping up the sausage roll, Sophia hurried after Hiker.
“We eat at the table, young lady!” Evan called after her, a teasing quality in his voice. At her back, Sophia heard him continue mouthing off for the newbie dragonriders’ entertainment or more likely to cause them even more confusion about how things ran at the Castle. “You’ll discover that the Pink Princess pretty much does whatever she likes, whenever she likes. Hiker can hardly stand her, so don’t get attached. It’s only a matter of time before she’d booted out of here yet again.”
For as large as Hiker was, he moved relatively fast and gracefully. He was already to his office by the time Sophia made it to the stairs. When she found him in his office, he was regarding the Elite globe with sincere frustration.
“It won’t tell me a damn thing that I need to know,” Hiker grumbled as Sophia entered the office. To her surprise, Mama Jamba was already seated in her usual place on the chesterfield sofa although she’d been at the dining table when Sophia left.
The old woman sifted through the contents of a box sitting on her lap. She sighed and looked up at Hiker. “That’s because it’s to tell you about your riders, the Dragon Elite. Not the Rogue Riders. They aren’t yours, remember?”
“You know I can’t stand rhetorical questions,” he muttered and gripped his beard with annoyance.
“Yet, I still ask them,” Mama Jamba sang with a smile. “How do you like that?”
“Tell me everything your sister told you about this,” Hiker ordered, putting his back to the two women and looking out the bank of windows that faced the Pond. The morning sunlight shimmered off the placid body of water.
Sophia eyed her sausage roll that she was seconds away from taking a bite of moments prior. Her stomach was growling something awful all of sudden as if it knew that if it didn’t get food now, it might lose its opportunity. “She didn’t have much information. The Council sent Trudy to Las Vegas to look into the skirmishes between magicians and the Rogue Riders. She hasn’t returned and isn’t responding to messages, so they assume she’s been caught. Her light in the Chamber of the Tree is still on, so they don’t believe she’s dead.”
Hiker punched his thigh, obviously having trouble quelling his temper, which was known to have a short fuse anyway. “Damn it! Why would they do that when they know that taking care of the Rogue Riders is our responsibility? That falls under our domain since they’re one of us.”
“Possibly because they don’t think you’re doing a good enough job,” Mama Jamba matter-of-factly stated while tossing a passport onto the coffee table and continuing to sort through the box’s contents.
“That’s not appreciated,” Hiker snapped.
Mother Nature shrugged. “I didn’t say that was my opinion. I think you’re doing a fine job, son. I simply said that could be what the Council thinks.”
“Well, it’s a fragile matter, and I’ve had to act conservatively,” Hiker explained, strangely sounding like he was defending himself. “I hoped to give Versalee and the Rogue Riders enough rope to hang themselves. Then they’d come groveling to us, realizing that as new dragonriders, they don’t know a damn thing.”
“I think that was an excellent plan, son.” Mama Jamba tossed another passport on the table.
“But…” Hiker’s voice trailed off.
“It sounds like it’s time for a different approach,” Mama Jamba continued and tossed another passport onto the coffee table.
Sophia eyed them and took a bite of her sausage roll.
Hiker spun to face them. “Sophia, you should have destroyed the Rogue Riders in Las Vegas.”
She furiously chewed, covering her mouth. “Sir, you told me to send a strong message. A warning, and not to cause any unnecessary damage and avoid violence if possible.”
He threw up his hands. “You see where that got us. I learned this the hard way with Thad. I thought I was giving him a chance to change his ways, but we can’t expect demon dragonriders to act in a civilized way.”
“I don’t know,” Mama Jamba said in a sing-song voice.
He whipped around to face her, his eyes connecting with the stack of passports and her. “What’s that mean?”
“Well, in my experience—”
“Which is as vast as the history of this planet,” Hiker interrupted.
Mama Jamba batted her eyes at him. “Well, I don’t like to brag, but yes. Anyway, in my experience, it all comes down to leadership. Think of a naughty child. Under the direction of a neglectful parent, they act out even more and cause all sorts of mischief. Under the guidance of a thoughtful and caring parental figure, they learn to curb their urges.”
“Although the lecture on parenting is fascinating, I’m dealing with real problems here,” Hiker complained.
“Under Versalee’s leadership,” Mama Jamba continued subtly, “the Rogue Riders are indulging everyone’s whims. They’re untrained, unwilling to learn, boastful, and downright bullies.”
“Of course,” Hiker said, as though all of this suddenly made sense to him. “It always comes down to leadership. Cut off the head of the monster. Versalee is an obvious problem, but so is that demon dragonrider you met in Las Vegas. What was his name?” Hiker glanced at Sophia, who had attempted to take another bite.
Through a mouthful, she said, “Nathaniel.”
He nodded. “Yes, he’s obviously running the show there, and it sounds like he didn’t heed your warnings if there were still issues happening with magicians. I can’t say I blame the Council for being concerned, but they really should have consulted with us first. Sending one of their Warriors in there only complicates matters more.”
“Or maybe it’s exactly what you needed to happen,” Mama Jamba offered and put another passport from the box on the stack on the table.
Hiker arched a curious eyebrow at her. “Go on, then.”
“Well, things sometimes have to accelerate before they can come to a swift halt,” Mama Jamba explained while opening one of the passports and looking through it. “Sophia and the others intervened in Las Vegas, but it appears that the Rogue Riders didn’t listen. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have taken a Warrior. Who knows what else they’re up to?”
“I’ve been trying to track them down,” Sophia interrupted.
Mama Jamba nodded
. “Now you have more motivation. Before, you suspected they were up to something. Now you know. Plus, they’ve given you a reason to take more decisive action. A villain who simply looks at you wrong is tempting you. One who throws a punch is asking for you to put them down.”
Hiker blinked at Mama Jamba with surprise. “I’ve never heard you talk like this. Are you encouraging us to kill other dragonriders? I thought we were trying to stop history from repeating itself.”
Mama Jamba thumbed through another passport casually. “I’m telling you that you might have to cut off the head of this monster so that a new one can grow. Sometimes evolution requires a death or two. Your job will be to create that evolution while also not repeating history. Take out the leadership. That’s my advice. Try not to take out their army, or I’m certain they’ll take out yours too.”
Hiker glanced at Sophia, a solemn look on his face. Mama Jamba hardly ever gave advice, and they both knew it. Her words had been pretty clear. If they took out the demon dragonriders, they’d lose the new ones they’d acquired. Their mission had to be to get rid of the leadership and restart the Rogue Riders. That was the only way to keep the peace between the dragonriders and therefore the world.
“Do you think you can track down this Warrior and rescue her?” Hiker asked Sophia.
She eyed her last bite of the sausage roll and nodded. “Yes. Then we can work on reorganizing the structure of the Rogue Riders. I’ll find out what I can about what’s happening in Las Vegas.”
“If you find yourself in that city again, don’t drink the water,” Mama Jamba offered out of the blue. “It isn’t right there.”
Hiker glanced sideways at the old woman. “What’s with all the passports? Are those all yours?”
“Who else would they belong to?” Mama Jamba asked him.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Sophia began. “Why do you need those? You’re…well, Mother Nature.”
She laughed good-naturally. “You try telling a TSA agent that. I’ve spent more than a few nights detained by the authorities, foolishly thinking that my children would simply recognize me and grant me access.”