Winged

Chapter 6: Danger On The Horizon

"Quiet! Concentrate. Just so you don't keep thinking about it, it means 'to fight and protect'. My family motto. Now, focus."

He tried again, but he still noticed something else on the reflection that called his attention.

"Say, who—"

"Silence!"

"But who—"

"Shut it!"

"The man—"

"Shh!"

"He's with Sasuke!"

"What?"

Now, she was interested. Leo pointed to the benches behind him, where Sasuke was sitting next to a man in armour, who was fruitless attempts at starting a conversation. Lucy climbed onto the arena to join them; Hikaru sheathed Yawarakai-te and shouted at the man.

"Heiron! If you have matters to discuss, do it with me, not my baby brother."

The man looked at his commander, not very respectfully. He had a long, triangular chin and wavy hair of a strange, light grey colour, despite his young age. He wore the usual slim, silver armour of an Asaelian warrior, but the man was quite slender and not very imposing. Sasuke jumped off from the bench and ran to Hikaru, who picked him up. Heiron stood up from the bench and answered.

"My apologies, Commander, I didn't want to interrupt your lesson, but I have a message for you and for the king. More accurately, Frederick has a message; he wants to talk to you two."

"Very well. We'll go see him, you're dismissed."

The man left. Hikaru looked at her little brother.

"What was he talking to you about, honey?" she asked.

"Nothing much..."

"Who was that?" asked Leo.

"My second-in-command, Heiron."

"He doesn't seem to like you very much. And what's with his hair?"

"He doesn't, really. He was the second-in-command to the previous commander in charge, so he should have taken over when she left. She chose me as successor instead. I don't think he was too fond of that decision. As for the hair, he's probably from Arkania; people there have the strangest hair colours. If you think grey is strange you should see the ones with blue or green hair. Now, come on, let's see what Frederick wants. Lucy, take my brother to his room, please."

"Sure, Hikki," Lucy said.

Leo and Hikaru headed to the throne room, while Lucy took Sasuke to Hikaru's quarters. Frederick waited for them near the throne, with a worried frown on his face.

"Something wrong, Frederick?" Leo asked.

"Yes, we have a problem."

"What's going on?"

"A messenger from the town of Athalia has arrived today, with very troubling news. Apparently, Athalia was attacked by a dragon."

Leo's heart stopped for a second. A dragon, a real, actual dragon, was attacking an Asaelian town. And it would probably be Leo's job to stop it. He was overcome with excitement and fear, like the first time he took flight. He didn't know if he should fly at that very moment to see the dragon or hide in his room. But a much more troubling thought entered Leo's mind. Was this a realization of the masked man's threats or just a coincidence?

"Very well," Hikaru said. "I'll take a division out to Athalia and we'll take care of it, right, Leo?"

Leo had no idea what to say. How was he going to fight off a dragon? But it was his job, he was the king, he had to be involved with this kind of problem, even if it was just to observe and learn as Hikaru dealt with the actual situation.