Chapter 44: Dragon Linked Card

Chapter 44: Dragon Linked Card

Instantly, Arthur was suspicious.

“Why do you want me to visit the hatchlings? Is there a Rare available or something?”

Not that it would do him a lick of good. From what he had gleaned from casual conversations with Horatio, a dragon would not link to someone who had a higher tier card in their heart. Even if a Common hatchling found someone with a card in the same set, the presence of an Uncommon or Rare card would disrupt the bonding.

This had a dark side, Horatio had revealed. Ambitious riders could break a card link with a dragon they felt they had outgrown. He remembered two instances in his old hive of Common riders doing just that to move up to an Uncommon quality dragon, instead.

This was something that was looked down upon and was relegated to nobles who cared more about family honor than the feelings of their dragons.

Those unlinked dragons still could relink onto someone else, but the whole experience was traumatic to them.

Arthur remembered the red dragon that had given him his Master of Skills card. He had been riderless. Had something like that happened to him? Someone who had been associated with Baron Kane?

In any case, all this meant that unless there was a Legendary hatchling within the hive nest, he had little to worry about.

Kenzie snorted at his question. “What, do you think I’m hiding a Rare up my sleeve?”

This was clearly supposed to be a joke — one that Arthur didn’t get. He stayed silent.

Her eyes narrowed. “How long have you lived here?”

“A little under six months.”

“Oh, that explains it.” She nodded once. “Well, having a Rare egg laid is a big deal. The hive throws a whole festival for it. Then another one when the dragon links up to a new rider.” She grinned down at him. “It’s a big hullabaloo. You’ll see all sorts of snooty noble's kids — not the heirs, all the spares — suddenly find a reason to transfer into the hive. Some of them practically make a career of hopping from hive to hive, chasing the next Rare egg.”

“What about Legendary eggs?” Arthur asked with what he hoped was the right amount of casualness. “Or Mythic?”

She snorted. “Half of those noble kids are willing to tear out each other’s throat with a smile for a Rare. Could you imagine it if a Legendary was laid? I don’t even think this hive has ever produced a Mythic.”

Arthur knew he shouldn’t push, but he couldn’t help it. “When was the last time a Legendary was laid here?”

“Oh, that’s Whitaker.” She waved a hand vaguely upward, indicating the high levels. “Thirty or forty years ago? He’s one of the hive Admins with Valentina, the other Legendary. She’s ancient.”

Arthur had other questions, but Kenzie grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the door, calling over her shoulder to Marteen. “I’ll be back soon!”

Marteen sleepily lifted a wing in reply, more interested in dozing in the sunlight spilling in from her new window than visiting the hatchlings.

* * *

Kenzie led Arthur down a new tunnel with marble walls colored like golden sand. This one led deep into the hive with few junctions leading off in other directions.

Unlike other tunnels, it was narrow enough for two people to pass through, but not large dragons.

When Arthur asked about this, Kenzie nodded. “It’s best to keep the little unlinked dragons from the adults.”

For once, she didn’t explain further which left the ‘why’ up to the imagination.

“But how do the female dragons go in to lay their eggs?” Arthur asked.

“There’s a whole different area where they do that. It’s kind of an open-air arena. Once they’re laid, and the dragon knows the eggs are in good hands, she leaves. The egg security teams take over the rest. Egg security is a good job if you can get it,” she added as an aside. “It’s mostly just waiting around since the eggs take care of themselves. But the hive pays well for the trouble. Those dragons are the future kingdom’s protection, after all.”

A tan dragon in the third group looked on anxiously.

Arthur and Kenzie hadn’t yet gone past the third group, but he could see they were the shimmer-quality dragons. The one that stared at the boy was tan with an overly blocky head and feet. It would have looked completely ordinary if not for the fact its scales caught the torchlight and glimmered as if flaked by chips of diamonds.

The boy hesitantly approached the squeaking blues.

The tan gave an outraged bellow. With a flap of uncoordinated wings, it leaped over the wood-plank fence... only to land flat on its face.

It righted itself at once and charged straight at the group to sand in front of the blues. With a gesture of its paw, an image of its card popped up in front of it.

The two blues squeaked in outrage and did the same.

From where he stood, Arthur couldn’t see the faces of the cards. Blues usually had powers dealing with water and browns the element of earth. A shimmering tan would be an off-version of that.

He made to move to get a closer look. Kenzie caught his arm.

“Don’t. This is supposed to be private.”

In fact, more of the nest attendants were circling as if trying to block the view from outsiders.

“What happens now?” Arthur asked.

“That’s up to the boy.”

The farmer’s boy studied the three offered cards in front of him. His father opened his mouth as if to offer his opinion, but one of the nest attendants shushed him.

It was clear that this was to be the boy’s choice alone.

Arthur wondered if anyone had ever rejected the dragon’s cards completely.

That wasn’t to be the farmer’s boy’s fate today. He said something to the tan and then, with a grimace, pulled down the collar of his shirt and pulled out his card from his heart.

The tan did the same and they pressed the cards together.

There was a flash of light. A new card was born, made from the joining from the boy and dragon. For a moment all three cards flashed between them, visible as day but as hard to look at. Like staring at the sun. They twisted and turned in the air, the fronts briefly facing Arthur.

Only Arthur’s advanced reading skills let him skim over the cards at a glance.

The boy had a Common Well-Seeker card, used to find fresh underground water sources.

The tan had a Common Earth element manipulation card, with a few caveats Arthur didn’t have time to read. Doubtless they were advantages brought by the tan’s shimmering qualities.

The new card was a spell with the ability to use groundwater to create cutting water jets under an enemy.

The bright light was too much. Arthur blinked and impressions of the cards had already faded from the air.

The boy tucked his card back into his heart along with his half of the new card. Then he bent and hugged his new dragon — a friend for life and partner who had helped turn his Common card into a potentially powerful tool against the scourge.

Now Arthur understood why Kenzie had brought him here.

He wanted that, too.