Chapter Five

Adan Liepsnojantis 

Adan stared up at the castle. Its windows, as always, were glowing cheerily, with silhouettes of passing dragons fracturing the bright light. He wondered briefly why his father had been invited up to the castle. Abiz Liepsnojantis was just barely allowed into the castle, not since he’d been framed as Shadowwalker’s top spy. For a moment, he let himself stare at the castle. He wondered what was going on now. Even though his father had been banned from the castle, Adan could work as a servant for Princess Vesper. In reality, the dragon's name was Eridanus Réalta, and to his original surprise, she was an EclipseWing. But that didn’t stop her from being a kind dragon.

Adan liked Eridanus, and extremely enjoyed his job serving her. She was quiet, nice, and overall a good dragon. She was also headstrong, annoying, and perseverent, meaning once she started something she wouldn't stop until she finished it. Adan knew that from experiencing it twice. The first time was when they first met. She had accidentally scratched his foreleg and made it up by sneaking into the kitchens, to steal a dragefrukt cake for him. The second time was when Eridanus spared him and a motherly, quiet EarthWing dragon named Tara from being thrown out of Mt. Naga for accidentally eavesdropping on a private council. 

Shaking himself off, he continued up to the gates. 

When he arrived, he cursed his luck. Of course, the guard on duty tonight would be Bylur.

“Well, what have we got here?” Bylur snorted, his FreezeWing spikes clinking together menacingly. “It’s the spy’s son!”

Adan hated Bylur. He was a snotty suck-up who’d bullied Adan for years, before and after his father had been banished, and took pride in his giant white wings and poisonous fangs that assigned him to guard duty almost all the time.

“And he’s also the Princess's lover?” One of Bylur’s followers, Glace, chortled. Adan, wishing he could singe Bylur’s pristine ears off, shook his head mutely. “Get in there, ‘fore I decide to snap off your horns,' ' Bylur snarled, jabbing the butt of his pike into Adan’s wing. Adan weaved around the stick and darted inside, seething with anger.

He was greeted, rather rudely, by a shadowy dragon smacking headfirst into his folded wing, which still stung from Bylur’s pokes. “Ow, Eridanus! You’re bony!” he snarked, rubbing his shoulder blade. “Who’re you running from now?”

He had been joking, but she looked over her shoulder, muttered, “One of the Nerokouvalitís’. Oh no!” and fled again.

“Hey!” he yelped. “I like the Nerokouvalitíses! They give me free barbecued eel!” 

“Who, us?” a voice asked behind Adan, and he jumped back so he hit his head on a pillar. (To be fair, he’d been standing next to the wall.)

“I hate it when you girls sneak up on me,” he choked out at the new dragon, probably Aquarii. Yes, her choker had the Nerokouvalitís crest on it.

“Did that Eridanus dragon go that way?” Aquarii asked, pointing down the hall. Adan rolled his eyes. “I’ll tell you if you tell me why you’re chasing her,” he said testily. Aquarii shrugged. “She ran from me,” she said as if that cleared everything up. Which it did not. 

Adan mumbled, “Follow me,” and bolted after his mistress, hoping that she wouldn’t fire him.

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Adan rushed through the halls, following Eridanus’s footsteps. He could feel Aquarii’s breath hot on his tail, and he thought she was slowing down for him. Adan had never been a fast flier, let alone a runner, but his lungs were already screaming in protest as he bounded along. It was bound to happen with her so close, but that fact didn’t stop him from yowling like a hurt cat when she stomped hard on his tail. He stumbled, almost falling snout over tail, then really did fall as Aquarii, who did not seem to be familiar with the concept of stopping, ran straight over him and tumbled to the shiny, previously scuff-free marble floor.

Quite a lot of incensed yelps followed this spectacle, and although they did, after all, resolve which way Eridanus had gone, they couldn’t manage to find her anywhere.

 They scoured the hallways, leaving Adan feeling extremely awkward as he pawed through the curtains in Eridanus’s room. Technically, this was snooping on private property, but he wanted to find Eridanus too.

Mainly because she owed him some kind of food involving sugar from the kitchen over the running-into-your-face incident before the mad chase.

“All guests, please return to the ballroom, as Lady Sundancer has an important announcement,” an ethereal voice murmured, twining through the halls and into Eridanus’s shadowy bedroom.

“ Got to go!” was the only goodbye that Adan received from an apologetic Aquarii. Adan chased after her, not wanting to be alone while Bylur was still roaming the corridors.