by Sarah Noffke
“I believe we’ve gotten off-topic here,” Haro Takahashi interjected.
“Yes, we were discussing registering magicians,” Bianca stated.
“I must insist on giving my update, or I’ll have to leave without doing so,” Sophia insisted with confidence.
“Then you’ll have to leave, Ms. Beaufont,” Bianca snapped at Clark beside her. “What new information do you have on the negotiations?”
He narrowed his eyes at the other councilor. “That discussion can wait, and you will refer to our guest by formal title, Dragonrider Beaufont. Please show her the respect she deserves.”
Sophia wanted to jump up and down but was certain that would detract from the whole “mature and respected” thing she was going for. Clark was sticking up for her! She was thrilled.
“Really, this is not a meeting run by the Beaufont clan,” Bianca maintained.
“No, it certainly isn’t,” Raina Ludwig said. “And I quite agree that you Councilor Mantovani must show the delegate from the Dragon Elite the respect she deserves.”
Bianca’s face flushed pink. She opened her mouth, no doubt to say something oozing with condescension but was cut off before she could reply.
“Dragonrider Beaufont, you have an update from the Elite?” Hester DeVries asked from the bench of the Council.
“I absolutely do,” Sophia declared, finding her voice hard to come by. It was scratchy and felt unused. She cleared her throat and continued. “I’m here to report the Dragon Elite have ended one of the worst evils, making things safer for the mortal world again.”
The Council, as it was prone to doing, stirred.
“Please explain, Sophia Beaufont,” Bianca Mantovani demanded.
Wishing she felt stronger, Sophia stood straighter. “Well, the Dragon Elite took down Thad Reinhart, ending what could have been a brutal reign. Then we went on to—”
“Can you please elaborate on the Thad part,” Hester asked.
“I can’t,” Sophia answered. “It’s not worth my time or attention. Instead, we will talk about what’s coming.”
Jude flicked his long white tail, his green eyes shining with curiosity. She wasn’t lying. She simply was glossing over the facts. Plato was right. If she had gone into details about Thad Reinhart and his cyborg dragon, it would have just come back to haunt the Dragon Elite’s reputation. It was a good thing the only places to document Thad Reinhart as a dragonrider was in The Complete History of Dragonriders and the Forgotten Archives, and there was no way anyone in the House of Fourteen was getting their hands on those. Sophia was also quite confident Trinity wouldn’t disclose the secret.
Over the next several minutes, Sophia explained to the Council about the new crop of dragon eggs and the future of the Elite as world adjudicators.
“Well.” Hester leaned back. “It certainly seems the Dragon Elite have recovered and will reign once more.”
Sophia nodded proudly. “Yes, although the timeline is unclear, I’m confident our numbers will recover fully.”
Bianca and Lorenzo’s faces had grown with anger as Sophia explained how mortals were accepting the Dragon Elite, and governments worldwide were making requests of them. This wouldn’t work for their master plan to turn mortals against the dragonriders.
Lorenzo sighed and sounded bored. “I don’t see how having a bunch of dragon eggs will change much. It could be centuries before they hatch.”
“Or it could be an hour,” Sophia argued. “It isn’t like a basket full of Easter eggs. We have a sizable crop.”
“And what caused this new spawn of dragon eggs?” Raina inquired.
“I did,” Sophia said simply.
“You?” Hester questioned, her interest piqued.
“Yes, the first batch was spawned by the first male dragonrider,” Sophia explained.
“And this is the second, sparked by the first female dragonrider,” Haro speculated, appearing impressed.
“Gives a whole new take to which came first, the dragon or the egg,” Liv joked.
Sophia resisted the urge to laugh. “Yes, apparently there was a set of dragons before the first batch of eggs. Who knows how they came about? I’d guess Mother Nature knows. Anyway, a rider magnetized to one of the dragons and caused the first batch.”
“And now we have a second,” Clark declared with pride.
“And with it, a chance for the Dragon Elite to preside over justice as we have done for centuries,” Sophia explained.
“With all due respect,” Bianca began.
“Don’t use that phrase unless you mean it,” Liv interrupted.
The councilor flashed Liv a repugnant stare before turning her gaze back on Sophia. “I don’t see how you can know this will change the political climate. We are in a time of great conflict with the mortal world. They can see magic now, and they distrust the various magical races. Problems with them are increasing.”
“That is to be expected,” chimed John Carraway, one of the Mortal Seven. “I think the return of the Dragon Elite is exactly what we need to win the mortal world’s trust again. They need an impartial authority to turn to since the House of Fourteen has a reputation for deception.”
“I agree,” Sophia said, grateful to have his support as he smiled down at her subtly. “This is our rightful role as given to us by Mother Nature.”
“Really.” Bianca sighed. “There is no way for us to know that is the truth. You all simply have dragons and therefore appear entitled to declare you’re judge and jury for the world, but to me, it seems like a self-elected position.”
“That’s true,” Lorenzo agreed. “Since the history was lost and rewritten, much of the dragonrider’s past is murky at best.”
Bianca nodded, a smile forming on her flat mouth. “Really, without testimony from Mother Nature, it is just Hiker Wallace’s word the Dragon Elite are the ruling authority over mortal affairs.”
“I’m not going to parade Mother Nature in front of you to make my case,” Sophia said, her eyes fluttering with annoyance.
“Well, then without any proof, how are we to know what you say is the truth?” Bianca fired back.
Sophia shrugged. “True authorities don’t have to prove anything. You can watch as we rule the world.”
Bianca’s bottom jaw moved to the side as she narrowed her eyes. “This is really ridiculous. Just because you say something doesn’t make it true.”
“Oh, but it does,” Sophia disagreed casually. “For instance, if I said you had a cavity in your back right molar, that would become true.”
“What?” Bianca questioned. “What are you talking about?”
“You,” Sophia stated boldly. “You have a cavity in your back right molar. You know that, right? You should get it checked out.”
Bianca’s hand flew to her cheek. “No, I don’t.”
Hester pointed to the white tiger. “I’m afraid you do, Councilor Mantovani. Dragonrider Beaufont isn’t lying, or Jude would have flagged it.”
Sophia smiled, grateful for the strange information Plato had given her. It was silly to her something so trivial had proven her point, yet things often happened that way.
“Well, it appears the Dragon Elite are back,” Raina began. “A supreme source of power and information. The House of Fourteen will look forward to seeing you all manage the incredible responsibility you’ve been given.”
Clark smiled at his sister. “I think I can confidently say it’s good to have the Dragon Elite back with a promising future to do good for centuries to come.”
Chapter Seventeen
Feeling rather satisfied with how things turned out at the House of Fourteen, Sophia stepped back through the portal and into the Castle to find a startling surprise. The place she’d left only an hour before was starkly different from how it had been.
The walls of the Castle were crumbling.
Sophia wondered if she’d messed up the portal somehow and came through to a different time like when she opened a portal using the save po
int.
The tapestry lining the wall opposite the portal door wasn’t in pristine condition as she remembered. It was stained and fraying. The suit of armor beside it was rusted and looked ready to fall over from a gentle breeze. The floors were all broken, and none of the flames were burning in the torches on the wall.
Twice Sophia stepped into the portal and then back out, but each time was the same. Something was majorly wrong with the Castle.
A high-pitched scream from the downstairs stole Sophia’s attention and sent her sprinting. Further investigation using the portal would have to wait.
As she progressed toward the stairs, Sophia found more evidence of problems in the Castle. Half of the staircase was missing, and Sophia had to leap over a giant hole to make it down to the landing.
She nearly ran into Wilder, who sped out of the weapon’s room, his face grief-stricken.
“The Castle,” she told him.
He nodded.
Another scream made their gazes jerk in the direction of the kitchen.
“Ainsley,” Sophia said and ran toward the sound of the scream, Wilder on her heels.
She rushed past the dining room table, which had caved in, and hopped over broken chairs. Sophia wondered what had happened to the Castle while she was gone. It didn’t seem like a fight had broken out. More like the Castle had suddenly aged a few hundred years.
Sophia busted through the kitchen door to find the housekeeper standing in front of the large center island gawking at a mound of rotten food. Ainsley took no notice of Sophia and Wilder but instead whipped around and pulled a box from the pantry behind her.
“It’s all rotten. All of it!” she yelled, pulling moldy oranges from the box and tossing them on the pile in front of her.
“What’s going on?” Sophia asked, finally earning Ainsley’s attention.
The housekeeper shook her head. “I don’t know. I went to go make dinner and found my pantry full of rotten food.” Holding up a bag of potatoes covered in sprouts, she grimaced. “I can’t do anything with this.”
“But the Castle,” Wilder said as he looked around the kitchen in the same state of disrepair as the other areas.
Ainsley narrowed her green eyes. “The Castle won’t answer me! I’ve been hollering at it since I discovered all this. It’s just silent like the joke is on me.”
“Maybe something is wrong with the Castle,” Sophia argued. “And that’s why it looks like this.” She indicated the cabinet doors that were hanging half off.
Ainsley waved her off. “Oh, no. The Castle is just being a drama queen. But it is responsible for the rotten food. I bet it’s mad because I said the décor could use some modern flare.”
“I don’t understand,” Wilder asked, peering around the kitchen.
“Well, you see, when S. Beaufont sleeps, I steal her phone because our esteemed leader won’t let me have my own,” Ainsley explained. “I’ve been watching Home and Garden TV. There’s this great show where they do complete redesigns on houses over a long weekend. It gave me some ideas for some modern interior design we could do to the Castle. I mentioned it and bam! The cranky old building throws a fit.”
Wilder shook his head. “No, I don’t mean that. I think something is really wrong with the Castle. In the almost two-hundred years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Sophia gulped and looked at the dragonrider next to her. It was hard to believe the guy next to her with his windswept dark brown hair and dazzling blue eyes was two-hundred years old. She felt like a toddler next to him even though they appeared to be the same age, thanks to the chi of the dragons.
The winds howled even more violently through the Castle because many of the windows were now broken. Sophia could only imagine what the rest of the Castle looked like based on what she was seeing.
“Oh, I think the Castle is just trying a new way of getting attention,” Ainsley disputed. She threw her hands up as she glared at the ceiling. “You have my attention, and you’re about to get my wrath.”
Sophia stepped forward to lay a comforting hand on the shapeshifter’s shoulder. “I can only imagine how stressful this is for you. Why don’t I call Uber Eats and order us some dinner?”
Ainsley swallowed as she brought her gaze to meet Sophia’s. “Thank you. That will get us through tonight, and then hopefully, the Castle will fix its attitude because I really don’t want to sleep on the floor.”
Sophia tilted her head to the side. “Why would you have to do that?”
“Oh, you haven’t seen your room,” Ainsley said with a sigh. “It probably looks worse than mine. My canopy bed has crumpled, and there’s zero chance I can sleep on it.”
Sophia blew out a breath. “Okay, well, we’ll make do.” She cast a glance at Wilder, looking for support. “Will you help me fetch food at the Barrier? I’ll order extra in case we need leftovers for breakfast.”
He nodded solemnly. “Yes, but let’s hope things resolve before then.”
Chapter Eighteen
Sophia’s nervous gaze connected with Wilder from across the dining room table. It wasn’t the same table they were used to. Ainsley had managed to stabilize a section and find a few chairs that weren’t broken and arrange them to give people a place to sit.
Hiker hadn’t said a word since coming down from his office to dinner. He was livid, no doubt confused, and definitely frustrated. All evident from his nervous actions, but he wasn’t speaking on the matter of the Castle just yet.
Ainsley had grumbled as they set out the food from Uber Eats, and she lit the torches along the wall by hand. It was something the Castle had always taken care of for the housekeeper, and now she had to do it all on her own.
Wilder and Sophia hadn’t mentioned their biggest concern as they set out the food, but they both knew the time would come. She’d lost the ro sham bo game and had the unfortunate job of delivering the news.
“So my curry is really good,” Sophia began, trying to loosen the mood. Instead, she earned an annoyed expression from Ainsley.
“I make it better when I have unspoiled ingredients,” the elf said, scowling at her food and unwilling to taste it.
“Right,” Sophia agreed. She remembered Ainsley had made the spicy curried dish recently, and she probably should have picked something else for takeout. They had been rushed after learning about the disrepair the Castle was in.
Evan shook his head. “Man, my room is wrecked. I thought it was just after me again until I came downstairs and saw it hadn’t singled me out this time. Does anyone know what the Castle’s deal is?”
Mahkah offered a gentle smile. “My room is quite disorganized too. And I haven’t got a clue what’s going on with the Castle.”
Everyone looked at Hiker. He hadn’t touched his food, only clenched his jaw, his tension obviously elevating with each passing moment.
“I don’t get it,” he said quietly. “At first, I thought the Castle was simply mad at me again, ransacking my office like before. Then I came down to dinner and found what you all did.” He shook his head. “I really don’t understand, but I’ve rarely understood this place we call home. I’m sure it will pass.”
“Sir,” Sophia began, pushing her plate away. “There’s something we discovered when we went to collect the food.”
Her gaze pinned on Wilder, she expected him to offer some encouragement. Strangely, the smile he flashed her helped.
“What is it?” Hiker asked, narrowing his eyes at her.
“Well, I’m sure it’s nothing, but we thought you should know that the winds, well, you remember, have been crazy lately,” Sophia began, her tone careful.
“I do, in fact,” he stated.
“We noticed quite a bit of foreign debris around the Expanse when we hiked to the Barrier,” Sophia went on.
Hiker stood suddenly, knocking his chair out behind him. “Are you certain?”
She swallowed and nodded then took in a breath. “Yes, sir. There was trash and things we
know shouldn’t have been inside the Gullington, blown in by the wind.”
“Why is that a big deal?” Evan asked as he looked between Sophia and Hiker.
“The Barrier should keep out foreign debris,” Wilder explained. “It always has in the past. Nothing, not even objects can pass through it.”
“Oh…” Evan said, his face turning grave. “Which means…”
“The Barrier is down,” Hiker whispered, his eyes wide and his face pale.
“But we don’t have anything to worry about, right?” Evan reasoned. “We are in the middle of Scotland, off a beaten path.”
“But we are visible now,” Hiker clarified. “Anyone can see us. Enter our grounds.”
“And you just got finished telling the world roughly our location,” Wilder reminded him, his voice serious.
“The eggs,” Sophia said, sucking in a breath.
“We will guard them,” Hiker assured her.
“Has that ever happened to the Gullington before?” Sophia asked.
He shook his head. “No, not ever. This means, whatever is happening with the Castle isn’t just a stunt on its part. Something is wrong.”
Chapter Nineteen
Wilder had thought the Castle was having a real problem when they found the trash on the Expanse. Sophia knew he didn’t want to scare her; she’d sensed that instinctively. He’d been unable to hide his stress when they found things that shouldn’t have been inside the Barrier, and now Hiker had confirmed it. Something was wrong with the Castle.
Hiker directed his gaze at Ainsley. “What do you make of this?”
The housekeeper, who always seemed on the verge of joking, shook her head, tears in her eyes. “It makes sense and explains why it won’t answer me.”
“What is with the Castle?” Evan asked.
Ainsley tied her hands in her napkin, real stress surfacing in her every movement. “I don’t know. This has never happened.”
“Quiet, what are your thoughts on the matter?” Hiker looked around the table to find that for once, the gnome wasn’t present. “Where is he?”