Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness

The Warden

Draycos slowly regained consciousness. His eyes remained closed as he became aware of voices speaking around him, and soon recognized the voices of Theravor and Vertex. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, though. A gust of strong wind hit his face, and he half opened his eyes to see Theravor, Damrabe, and Reothad fly out of the grotto.

"Now then, let's get this place cleaned up," he heard Vertex say. There was a soft thump, and then the whole grotto began shaking. Alarmed, Draycos' eyes flew wide open as all presence of the throne, the stadium, and everything else, excluding the restraints on him and the chain attached to his neck, shattered and vanished. Soon after, the support columns on the outer edge of the grotto began to burst. His heart began to race as more pillars shattered. It wasn't until then that Draycos noticed that his feet had stopped touching the ground a few seconds prior. A second, stronger gust of wind slammed into his face as Vertex shot forward like an arrow that had been let loose from its bow and flew out of the cave. A loud crash was heard behind them, and Draycos could only guess that it was the grotto collapsing on itself.

"Whoa?!" Draycos shouted as bright light and strong winds assaulted his eyes, immediately tearing them up and rendering him momentarily blind. Blinking rapidly to clear his eyes, he observed the bright blue sky stretching out before him. They were already surrounded by pearly white clouds.

"Why are we flying?!" Draycos yelled, thrown about by the wind as he dangled by the chain. Vertex turned his head to look at Draycos but said nothing. Instead, he suddenly dipped into a steep dive and dove into a cloud, accompanied by Draycos's unpleasant scream. Vertex pulled out of the dive and ascended to their original altitude, dripping wet from the condensation. Each one of his scales sparkled in the sunlight when he craned his neck to the side to view Draycos hanging limply from the chain in a state of half-consciousness, completely soaked and slightly foaming at the mouth. Vertex let out an amused snort.

Draycos shook his head violently and glared at Vertex. "What did you do that for?"

"No reason in particular," Vertex replied. "I'll admit that it was amusing to hear you scream like that just now, though."

"Shut it. Why are we so high up in the air?"

"Most of the government-associated business that the dragons deal with happens up here," Vertex explained as he turned to look forward, his voice carried back to Draycos by the wind. "We can easily find or create spots to deal with our business in all the floating rocks above the kingdom, and it's easy to guard because only dragons can fly up this high, and anything that does get close is spotted fairly quickly."

"Does that mean the prison we're going to is also in a floating rock?" Draycos questioned.

Vertex glanced back at Draycos, mildly surprised. "You catch on quickly," he observed. "By the way, weren't you extremely angry with the king's verdict before I knocked you unconscious? Where's that anger now?"

Draycos grimaced. "Oh, I'm still angry, all right," he said darkly. "I'm absolutely furious, to be honest. But I realize that nothing I say will change the situation. I might as well wait until something changes the situation."

"Smart man," Vertex commented, looking forward again. They flew in silence for a few moments, then Draycos spoke up again. "You know, you're speaking and acting a lot more relaxed than you were during the trial. Any particular reason for that?"

"Not really," Vertex snorted. "But when your part of a big trial with the King of Dragons involved, you kinda want to be professional about things, right?"

"Solid point." Draycos spotted a large floating island, larger than the one that the trial had taken place in, peeking out of the clouds ahead of them. "Is that what I think it is?"