Happy Friday folks! This chapter, the students meet someone new and get put to work.

44. Torn

Emerald almost made it back to the cabins. She and Ruby and their dragons were all clumped together—and Penny, as promised, was still on Storm's head. The light had turned red, indicating that the device was dormant.

Then, when they were only a few dozen feet away, "Emerald."

She stopped in her tracks, wincing. Emerald knew this conversation had to happen—she'd known it was going to for a long time. But she would have given just about anything to at least wait until morning.

"What is it?" she asked, turning to face Cinder.

"I'd like a word." A polite smile for Ruby. "I won't keep her long." Then Cinder led Emerald away by the wrist. Helplessly, she followed.

They entered the building where Cinder herself was staying. Technically Doctor Watts had a room in here as well, but he'd admitted he usually slept in his lab instead. The door shut behind them. Sweat pricked her palms. This had to be about what Cinder had seen earlier. Did she mind? Did Emerald want her to mind?

"You've taken an interest in one of our new recruits." Cinder's tone was mild, but a shadow stirred in one corner of the room. Emerald stared at Strike and wished she'd thought to bring Jade along. But she hadn't, and she doubted Cinder would have wanted her to, anyway. Not knowing what else to do, she nodded.

"I see." Cinder started to pace. Emerald couldn't see her face, couldn't even begin to guess what she was thinking. She smothered a mad urge to apologize—it would be presumptuous, wouldn't it? "That's good."

Again the words were neutral. Carefully neutral. Emerald knew they were hiding something, but she couldn't tell if it was annoyance at the distraction, relief that her attention would finally be elsewhere... hurt? She shook that thought away. Stupid.

Then Cinder faced her again, and she was all business. "I'm sure you already know that things are delicate right now. Be careful how much you say."

"Of course."

When a hand came down on her shoulder, Emerald almost choked. "And I don't need to tell you how important it is that she stays on our side."

Emerald couldn't help the shiver. She tried not to think about that—it left her feeling clammy and weak. "They'll understand," she promised. Ruby would, at the very least. But if her sister came down on the other side... her teammates... Emerald could only hope she could at least convince her not to fight.

But it wouldn't come to that.

"We'll send them out soon," Cinder promised. "You and Mercury are my most skilled and loyal lieutenants. I'll need you both—and since you've done so well ingratiating yourself with them, I think you should handle the Beacon students. Mercury and Neo will meet with some of the defectors of Shade and Haven for a different task."

"Right." The compliment, the trust, warmed her from her ears to the tips of her toes. "I won't let you down."

"I know. That's why I'm trusting you with an additional matter." Strike prowled around her—blue eyes and gold both shimmered like candle flames, bobbing as they paced through the dim cabin. "One that falls to you, in Mercury's absence."

It was like being plucked from the hearth and plunged into a bucket of ice water. She and Mercury had similar skillsets, but there were some things they specialized in. She could hide in plain sight, slip between people without them noticing, hands dipping feather-light into their pockets. And Mercury...

Mercury had learned a lot from his father.

The next morning Zircon stood with the other dragons, warbling nervously and shifting from paw to paw. Cinder had told them to assemble here at midday. Huo and Nymph thought that must mean she had a job for them. He'd thought they were supposed to be resting.

Their riders had explained about what Blake's friend had told her, and how they had to pay close attention to what Cinder said from now on, so they could decide whether or not she was really trying to help. He'd wanted so badly to sleep and play with the others, and finally spend a few days feeling safe.

A door banged open. Zircon jumped—but it wasn't Cinder. It wasn't Doctor Watts or Torchwick, either. Instead, a man in a long violet coat strode out. There was a dragonet sitting on his head, his tail twined around his rider's long black braid.

He did a double-take at the sight of them. A too-wide grin spread across his face. "Ah," he crooned. "Our vigorous young rebels."

"Um... hi?" Ruby glanced around, as if hoping someone else would talk to him instead. "Who...?"

The man swept a bow. His dragonet, already almost woven into his hair, barely stirred at the motion. He was a strange hatchling, with a stranger smell, and watched them all with enormous blue eyes. A spark jumped between his horns.

"I am Tyrian" The man reached up, letting the dragonet cling to his wrist instead. "And this... is my Goddess."

"Is she a hybrid?" Sun asked, suddenly much more interested.

Zircon blinked a few times. 'She' was part of the set of words their riders usually used for dragons like Nymph or Twiggy... but this one smelled more like Nimbus or Huo. It was a faint difference, so maybe he'd gotten it wrong? He questioned Nymph, who shrugged.

"I thought that's what those little words meant, too," she admitted. "Maybe it's more complicated than that?"

As they talked, Tyrian cooed and stroked the dragonet's head. "Indeed she is. Like the most sublime of storm-fronts, rolling over troubled waters—"

"Tyrian."

The hatchling squeaked and tried to jump back onto her rider's head, but she misjudged the distance and had to cling to his ear, her wings flapping frantically. More sparks jumped from her horns and tail, making Tyrian wince.

"Cinder," he said, scooping his dragonet into his arms and falling into another bow.

"I told you to wait until I introduced you," she snapped. Then, to the assembled students, "There isn't much time—"

"That's a hybrid," Blake said, pointing.

Cinder nodded impatiently. "Yes, she is. Thanks to Emerald's discovery, we were able to hatch a dragonet using both energy and water Dust. Other combinations have proven more difficult to decipher, but Doctor Watts is working on that."

Yang frowned. "She looks big for a week old."

Tyrian flashed a manic grin. "My Ozone is older than she looks. Older than your partners, though it's taking her some time to remember her previous life."

There was a long and deeply uncomfortable silence.

"What does he mean, previous life?" Zircon asked in a hushed whisper.

Huo snorted. "Beats me."

"Okay...?" Yang managed a queasy smile. "That's nice."

Cinder gripped Tyrian's shoulders. "Find Doctor Watts, and tell him I want him to focus on page twenty-five for the day."

The man bowed again, then turned with a flourish that made his coat shift to one side. Underneath it was a long scorpion's tail that curled around one of his legs. He disappeared into the lab, but the tension of his presence did not.

"You'll have to excuse Tyrian," Cinder said with a grimace. "I wanted to introduce you in more controlled circumstances. He can be... eccentric. You've just met his third dragon."

"Third?" Sage sounded sick.

Professor Goodwitch glanced in the direction Tyrian had gone. "Does he know that's a male dragonet?"

"No," Cinder said flatly. "I thought about mentioning it, but I doubt he'd take it well. He's... fixated. He refused to accept any egg that wasn't an energy and water hybrid. I didn't think he'd take things quite this far, but he treats her well and it makes him happy. I'd prefer if you all let it be."

There was a subdued murmur of agreement.

"Now. I asked you to meet me here because I received information this morning that I'd like you to act on."

Zircon tensed. What could possibly follow the battle at Shade? He cringed just thinking about the chaos, the screams and roars and howls in every direction, the fear. Would this be worse? Could this be worse?

"The council are transporting dragons to a nearby facility to be culled." Cinder smirked. "I'm sure they'd hate to run into trouble along the way."

Huo's head jerked up. "Yes!" he barked. "Let's do it!"

"How did you even find out about this?" Sun asked, holding a hand out to encourage Huo to settle.

"I can't name my source... but the information is good, and urgent. It will take most of the day to fly to intercept them. If you go now, that should leave you with a few hours to set up. Emerald will go with you, and any pit dragons that choose to join the mission."

Ruby glanced around. "Um... I can't pick for anyone else, but I'd like to go." There were nods and raised hands. No one wanted to be left out—except for Professor Goodwitch, who decided she could be more useful if she stayed behind to look after the remaining pit dragons. At that, Pyrrha started to look anxious.

As they dispersed to collect their gear—with Freya grumbling under her breath that they were supposed to be resting now—Zircon stuck close by Sage's side. His rider must have sensed his nervousness. "What's wrong?"

"Ffight," Zircon said miserably.

Sage put a hand on his nose. "Do you want to stay behind?" He was trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice, but didn't totally succeed. Zircon shook his head. He couldn't just let the council take those dragons away and kill them!

"Well... how about you and I don't do as much fighting?" Sage suggested. "It's just as important to free the dragons quickly, so that they can help us. We'll bring it up with the others when we start planning how we're going to do this." Zircon purred into his chest. That was good—he could help make the other dragons safe, but there wouldn't be so many council dragons diving at him and Sage.

When they gathered, several of the pit dragons were already following them, their heads tilted curiously. Nymph and Pit explained things. Crucible—to Zircon's secret horror—jumped at the chance to attack the council. To make things even worse, Dusk and Diver wanted to come with them, too. Dusk was almost as scary, and she and Diver liked fighting so much that they dueled each other almost every day.

Tumbleweed, the big three-legged earth dragon, also decided to join. He even consented to let Pyrrha ride on his back until they got there, so that they wouldn't have to leave her behind. As they headed out, he ambled along beside Zircon and gave him a friendly sniff.

"Hi," Zircon squeaked.

"Don't worry, little one." The older dragon bumped him with his nose. "Many will be with you."

Zircon nodded gratefully. He just wished they didn't have to do so much fighting.

"I wish we didn't have to do so much waiting," Fang groaned, later that evening as the sun dipped towards the horizon. His tail flicked back and forth, and he was sorely tempted to spit fire at the stupid bush he was hiding behind.

Diver, the toothless water dragon that was hidden to his left, snorted. "Hothead."

"Hey!"

"The impatient ones are easy," Dusk told Diver. "Bait them and wait. They'll jump right into your claws."

"Says the dragon that picked a fight with Crucible," Fang grumbled.

She bristled. "You back down from a fight in the pits and you die."

"You're not in the pits anymore."

Dusk let out a low, amused hiss. "Shows what you know, pup."

Fang growled at her, then cut off with a yelp when Pit's tail flicked his side. "What?"

"Shut up!" Pit's voice was low. "They're coming."

Minutes later, Fang smelled them too. He tensed, crouching even lower in his hiding place. Yang noticed. She whispered to the others, and then the only sound was distant birdsong. The trail was a simple dirt track, cut through the forest about fifty feet away from where they crouched. His whole body thrummed with excitement as he caught sight of a flash of color moving towards them. Then he got a better look, and all of it vanished—replaced by pure rage.

The dragon at the head of the procession was one of the council's, a bulky earth dragon whose head drooped until his nose almost touched the ground. He was flanked by six soldiers on foot, with long rifles slung over their shoulders. There was a harness wrapped around his middle, connected by a chain to a massive wheeled cage. Inside was a reddish-brown fire dragon—and even though she was already locked up, there were more chains binding her legs, her wings, even her tail.

More council dragons followed, with more cages. There were eight of them in all, and at least a dozen humans with guns. Most of the imprisoned dragons had riders walking beside them, wearing handcuffs and flanked by more soldiers. Two were alone—the fire dragon in the front, and a milky white water dragon near the back.

Fang itched to pounce on them, but he held back. Yang laid a palm flat on his shoulder, tense and ready. Diver's tail twitched back and forth. One of the caged dragons perked up her ears and sniffed the air.

Somewhere in the trees, Emerald must have given the signal. Fang saw Sun raise his hand, and an instant later Yang did the same. He counted in his head. One... Two... Three!

The caravan of prisoners was almost directly in front of them when they exploded out of the forest, roaring a challenge. Fang knocked into a group of three gunmen and scattered them like bowling pins. Dusk snatched another in her jaws and tossed him into a tree. He landed in a heap at its base, groaned once, and didn't get up.

Jade, Storm, and most of team JNPR swept down from the trees. They dove at the council riders, snatching at their whips and rifles. Twiggy even managed to knock one of them right out of her saddle.

Zircon and Nimbus went for the cages instead. They were easy to open from the outside, and before long almost all of them were free—but they all moved slowly and sluggishly. Like Pepper had.

Fang roared again. The heat in his belly bubbled up, and he spat a massive glob of flame at a nearby council dragon just as her rider untethered her. She reared in alarm and swept her wings forward. Fang had to dig in his claws against the gust of wind. The second it died down he launched himself at the other dragon and they went rolling over one another, hissing and snapping.

"No!" The wind dragon howled. "No! I don't want to!"

Fang never found out what exactly she didn't want to do. She slashed at him with her claws, catching the tip of his nose and making him bellow in pain. She was bigger than he was, and faster, and her rider kept lashing out with his whip. She flared her wings and launched herself forward, and caught Fang's shoulder in her teeth.

Something slammed into Fang's side. He whined in pain as the teeth were ripped away, then struggled to get up. Dusk had wrestled the other dragon to the ground, and as he watched she caught the rider's whip arm in her mouth. She shook once, contemptuously. The rider dropped the weapon.

"Don't just run at them," she said, as the other dragon beat frantically at her with her tail. Dusk's head snapped toward her throat, and when the council dragon twisted to one side to avoid it, she clawed at her side instead. "Feint, or wait until they're distracted, or something. Especially if they're bigger than you."

Fang blinked. "Okay?"

Dusk finally caught the other dragon's throat in her teeth and held it there for a moment, until she rolled onto her belly in submission. The pit dragon scoffed and backed away. "This is just pathetic."

When Fang looked around, he realized there were only four council dragons still standing. Tumbleweed and Diver were each engaged with one of them, and a third was being dogpiled by both Nymph and Huo. There was a long gash across Sun's chest. Fang's tail twitched.

"Go for it, dude," Yang murmured, patting his neck. "Just be careful, okay?"

He circled behind the water dragon, then jumped on her back. She howled and tried to shake him off, but with Nymph hanging off her left side and Huo pinning her right wing, it didn't take long before she slumped to the ground.

The last council dragon had perched on top of one of the cages. Storm flew at him, knocking him to the ground, and they rolled into a clump of bushes. Fang tensed, ready to jump in and help, but one of the soldiers had managed to get her rifle up. He darted towards her.

The council dragon's tail slammed into Storm's back, only to bounce off a metal plate. Storm's wings flapped, buffeting him with wind. His rider's whip hit more metal. Then the soldier fired her rifle—a miss.

"Gunfire detected," Penny's voice said cheerfully. "Engaging full armor protection." More metal plating rolled over Storm's spine, covering her sides and chest. There was a shower of sparks, where the soldier's second shot hit the armor. Then Fang finally reached her, and pushed her facedown into the dirt with one paw.

With every attack by dragon or rider caught by Penny's armor, Storm could ignore them while she chewed through the council rider's straps. Once that was done, she lifted him from the saddle. His partner went limp in her jaws.

"Did we win?" she asked, her voice slightly muffled through her grip on the man's jacket.

"Easy," Ruby murmured. The pale water dragon groaned, butting its head against her chest.

"Rroy," it mumbled. "Rroy..." Its tail jerked and slammed into one of the cages, rattling the bars.

"Potentially hostile action detected. Shall I engage combat mode?"

"No thank you, Penny." Ruby patted the metal plate on Storm's head. "We're all good now."

There were hardly any injuries. Fang, Huo, and Nymph all had some scratches, and a bullet had clipped Tumbleweed's shoulder, but none of their wounds were life-threatening. Penny had scanned them and said that they would probably heal within a week. Sun's cut was the worst, but as long as it was, it was shallow.

Blake suggested stuffing the council riders and soldiers into the cages they'd brought with them, which seemed like the best way to deal with them. A few were hurt badly enough to need immediate medical attention—mostly the ones that had tangled with the pit dragons—so they decided to let the council dragons carry those back to Vale.

"Somebody will probably come pick you up in a few hours," Yang told them, as she handcuffed the cage doors shut. "So just sit tight until then, 'kay?"

The six riders they'd freed were all students from Haven or Shade. As soon as they were told where their classmates were, they wanted to head out. The dragons were sluggish from being drugged, but they could still walk.

That left them with the two riderless dragons, a cage full of council soldiers and riders, and a job well done. Ruby looked around, doing a last head-count, and froze. "Hey, where's—"

"Where is Sargent Maise?" one of the soldiers demanded. "What have you damned monsters done with her?"

"Wait, are we missing one?" Sun looked around. "Did anybody count them at the beginning?"

"I think there were like fifteen?" Neptune squinted, one index finger extended as he mouthed, twelve, thirteen... "There's only fourteen! We are missing one!"

"Three of them left, remember?" Weiss said. "You must have counted wrong, unless we managed to pick up two extras."

"Guys!" Ruby broke in, stopping the argument before it started. "Where's Emerald?"

Yang pointed at something behind her. She whirled around. Emerald rode out of the woods, looking alarmed by how many people were staring at her.

"Where is Maise?" The soldier slammed her hands against the cage bars.

Emerald stiffened. Then she jerked her thumb at the forest behind her. "I saw somebody run off that way, but by the time I followed they were gone."

Yang shrugged. "We already sent a few back to Vale, anyway. It's not like this is gonna be a secret."

"Yeah, I figured—" Emerald cut off mid-sentence, staring at the red-brown fire dragon they had just rescued. "Paprika?"

"Do you know her?" Ruby asked as they left the clearing, moving slowly while the sedatives wore off the two riderless dragons.

It turned out that Paprika had been the rallying point for the students at Haven—a fire dragon who couldn't use her powers without burning herself. Emerald was quiet and subdued, mumbling her way through the story and staring at the back of Jade's head instead of making eye contact. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was bothering her.

"It's not your fault," she said.

Emerald jumped. "What—?"

"Paprika. If you hadn't done anything, she would've been culled."

"Oh." Emerald's shoulders slumped. "Yeah, well. She lived and he died. I don't think she'd thank me."

Somewhere behind them, there was a low growl. Ruby twisted in the saddle and saw that Paprika herself was watching them. "Nnno." The word came out slurred by sedatives. "Emm... trrry. Gud."

Emerald didn't look up. "Thanks," she said, her voice thick. "That helps."