Chapter 19

Arthur calmly pulled Thena's hand away from his mouth. Byron loosened his grip.

"so... Why have you ambushed me on this fine night?" Arthur was smooth. He didn't seem surprised to see Thena and I were alive.

Thena spoke first, "before we answer your questions, we need you to prove you're on our side."

Arthur looked surprised, "on your side?" His eye patch shifted with his eyebrows.

I handed Arthur a rag, "there is a traitor in the dawn brigade. But we also need your help." I decided to keep our next mission secret.

Arthur wiped his face dry with the rag, "don't you think a traitor would have already called for the crew by now?" He smiled warmly, "surely I am not your enemy, Torin."

His words soothed my anxiousness, "I know you are a friend of my father's, but we can never be certain without proof."

Agnir broke her long silence, "I can tell you if he is lying, but you'll need to shake hands with him. It only works once though." Agnir was serious but also excited.

I held out my hand, "so tell me without guile, who do you serve?" My outstretched hand started to become warm, flames started swirling around it.

Arthur looked amazed and extremely pleased, "so you've learned a bit more about your powers I see... I won't burn if I shake hands with you will I?" His face became concerned suddenly.

Agnir laughed sinisterly, "only if you lie! Hahahahahaha" I decided to omit the evil tone.

"Not if you tell the truth" my arm was getting really hot and I was anxious to finish using the flame before I got burned again. I stretched my arm further towards him.

Arthur hesitated at first, then took my arm and gripped my wrist, "I serve the same king I served 10 years ago." The fire dissipated. Arthur smiled, "so I assume that means I'm telling the truth." He folded his arms and chuckled, "so what do you need my help with then?"

I relaxed from my stiff posture. "My sister was taken by the Drezir. We need your help in infiltrating the castle. Then we will rescue her."

Arthur immediately responded, "because she is the true heir to the throne, right?" He was sharp. "Yeah I'll help you. After all that's what the dawn brigade is for right?" I wondered how much he already knew about me and Agnir.

Byron raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Thena shushed Arthur, "shh, Byron didn't even know that!" She turned towards byron who coughed lightly. "Sorry man" she patted him on the shoulder. Suddenly thena was treating Byron like a buddy instead of a rival.

Thena led us back to the deck of the ship. We had Thena get on rapnir and got on a tender with Byron and Arthur.

Thena shushed me as I got in the boat clumsily, "you have to stay quiet while floating down, remember that!"

We lowered the boat with ropes and we're just about to leave when we heard Claire's voice above us, "oh, no fair! I want to come too!" Suddenly her shadowy figure was descending quickly towards us. Then water appeared and Claire splashed into the tender. "I can't believe you were about to leave without me!" She looked genuinely hurt.

Byron sighed.

I felt my anxiety rising back up. "Well did anyone follow you?"

Claire shook her head, "nah, everyone's pretty much asleep right now except us. I was on patrol so it worked out."

Wait so was she the only person on patrol and now she's leaving? I blinked in disbelief. Then I dropped the boat into the sky with the last tug of the rope, all the while pretending like I hadn't just caused a major security problem in the dawn brigade.

The small boat floated gently down towards the ground. Rapnir and Thena were riding circles around us.

I guess this adventure should be quite enjoyable with friends coming along.