Chapter 2

"What time d'you call this?" Jack yelled as Yusei flew into his view. Stardust approached the top of the tower where Jack and Archie stood waiting. Yusei spotted Jack's white tunic and deep purple cape. "You were supposed to be here an hour ago! The future king of Domin does not like to be kept waiting, Yusei!" Stardust landed on the tower's flat, circular roof that doubled as a training arena. Yusei jumped off Stardust's back and he and Jack clasped arms. Archie and Stardust gave each other a friendly grunt.

"Sorry, Jack," Yusei replied. "Goodwin had me fly all the way to Rosland today."

"Rosland?" Jack said inquisitively. "That's a bit out of your way, isn't it?"

"Well, I had to talk the princess of Rosland into joining the order."

"You met the princess? And she has a dragon?"

"Yup."

"And?"

"And what?"

"How was she?"

"She's a great flier. She needs some training but she'll make an excellent addition to the team."

"Yusei, you know that isn't what I meant. Is she pretty?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose..."

Come on, Yusei, Stardust said. Did you see her face when you caught her out of the air? She stared right at your eyes for a good minute before snapping out of it.

"Are you serious, Yusei?" Jack exclaimed. "You meet a pretty girl, a princess no less, and you save her life two minutes later?"

Archie let out a loud bark of laughter. Yusei's good at attracting pretty faces, but royalty? Nice going. It was true. Many of the girls studying to be Handmaidens of the Order, women who served as teachers and healers, would swoon at the sight of Yusei. It got on his nerves and made Jack just laugh. Jack was much more of a ladies-man and had his share of women swoon over him as well but typically rejected them all so he could focus on becoming the most powerful rider in the order.

Jack was the son of the King of Domin, the biggest country on the continent. Archie was a gift from Jack's parents when he was still an egg. When he hatched, they bonded and dragon wings appeared on Jack's arm. One day, Jack would be king of Domin and his desire to be a strong ruler drove him and Archie to join the Order. Jack had once told Yusei that he would only try to find the right woman after he became king and needed to have a queen.

"Hey! What are you two doing up here?" shouted a voice from up above. Yusei, Jack, Archie, and Stardust lifted their heads upward and saw silver feathers lowering toward them. The Black-Winged Dragon settled on the rooftop and a young man with spiky red hair and a dragon-tail mark on his arm jumped off it. "You're not gonna leave us out of this little training session, are you?" Crow asked.

Yeah! Zephyr said. We can't let you guys have all the fun.

Where have the two of you been? Stardust asked. We haven't seen you in two days!

"We retreated to the forest a while ago, so Zephyr could visit his feathered friends." Zephyr grew up in the Dread Forest, not far from the tower, and home to hundreds of black birds and ravens.

Unlike Jack, Crow was not royalty. He was the foster-son of the famous falconer Robert Pearson and found Zephyr's egg in the Dread Forest when he wandered too far one day. Crow's bond with Zephyr formed a dragon tail mark on his arm. Crow was wearing his brown leather armor and carried a black and gold double-headed axe on his back. "I heard you had a mission from the Dragonmaster himself, Yusei," Crow said. "How did you get on such good terms with him?"

"I don't know why Goodwin focuses so much attention on me," Yusei said. "I'm a fair flier and and hold my own in a fight, but I'm no one special." Stardust nudged Yusei.

Come on, Yusei. You're more than that. You're my best friend and partner and I'm proud to be yours. That mark on your arm is proof of that. Yusei pulled off his glove and looked at the dragon head printed into his skin. He could feel his dragon's friendship through it and smiled.

"Thanks, Stardust."

"All right! All right! That's enough!" Jack yelled. "Yusei, you said we would train and dammit, we're going to." Jack drew his large sword from the sheath on his back. Yusei drew his longsword from his belt and readied himself. "Crow, would you please act as referee?" Jack asked.

"Okay," Crow said, "but I already know what my call is going to be."

"What do you mean?" Jack demanded.

"What do you think I mean? Yusei always beats you."

"Only because these are practice bouts, Crow! I think that if Yusei and I ever had to fight to the death, spirits forbid, I'd win."

"I'd prefer not to think about that prospect, Jack," Yusei said.

Sayer and his men rode on horseback from the Arcadia capitol to go on their weekly hunt. Sayer enjoyed these hunts, as they allowed him to get one step closer to ridding the world of the one thing he truly hated. Dragons.

Sayer was not a hunter nor a tracker, but a very powerful diviner who used his psychic powers to hone in on a dragon's location. He then used his powers to subdue the dragon and then ordered his hunters to go in for the kill with their weapons. "Toby!" Sayer called to his apprentice.

A young man with eager eyes and long brown hair rode up next to Sayer. "Yes, sir?" he asked, waiting for a command. This was the first hunt that Toby had been invited along on. He, however, had nothing against dragons. In fact, he thought they were incredible creatures, but as long as Sayer was his superior, he could never say that. Sayer hated all dragons with a passion.

"Hand me my spyglass."

Toby reached in his bag and pulled a golden spyglass and handed it to his master.

Sayer looked through it. "Ah," he said, still clutching the spyglass, "just as I thought."

"What is it, sir?" Toby asked.

"I can sense a dragon close by. And I use this magic spyglass to see through the trees. I can see it now." Sayer passed the spyglass back to Toby, who looked through it himself. All he could see was the leaves on the trees he was looking at.

"Sir, I can't see a dragon through this thing," Toby said.

"That's because it's a device that amplifies my psychic powers to see an image I can't see with my eyes. Your powers are not developed enough for the spyglass to amplify them any," Sayer said coldly.

"Oh," muttered a disappointed Toby.

"Watch closely, boy," Sayer commanded, motioning his hunters to ready their spears. He gave one more hand gesture and the hunters lobbed their spears right into the woods. Toby heard a roar and a relatively small blue dragon jumped out of the woods, its mouth foaming with fire. It launched a fireball right at Sayer, who held up his hand and with a flick of his wrist, redirected the projectile back at the dragon. It collapsed on the ground and Sayer gave the order for his men to finish it off. Toby immediately realized that Sayer didn't bring him alog to teach him anything, but to show him what his powers can really do and to make him that much more fearful.