a key turning in a lock.
“Mister Ro-Ani?” Falka’s voice filtered from below.
“You didn’t tell me he has a key!” Tauran whispered tensely.
“I didn’t know!”
“Hide Arrow, I’ll distract Falka.”
Kalai gestured frantically to the bare room. “Hide him where?”
“Just do it!” Tauran whispered, and headed for the stairs, just as the bottom step creaked.
General Falka stopped at the sight of Tauran at the top of the stairs. He looked surprised, then smiled. “Mister Darrica. Didn’t think I’d find you here.”
“Uh.” Tauran descended the stairs until he was right in front of Falka, holding onto the handrail to block his ascent. “I came by to check on the egg. Kalai is taking a nap. He’s been hard at work with it. You know how needy eggs can be.” He placed his right foot between Falka’s on the bottom step, forcing the general to retreat.
“I sure do,” Falka said. He moved back into the main room. “I’m happy to see you so invested in the egg’s progress.”
A low thump sounded from upstairs, reminding Tauran very much of the slap of a dragon tail against wood.
“Of course,” Tauran said, a little too loudly. He followed Falka, guiding him into the kitchen with a hand on his back. Tauran found a tin of ginger tea in the cabinet and placed a kettle on the stove, anything to distract Falka from going upstairs. Hopefully, Falka didn’t take it as a sign that Tauran was finding himself a little too at home with the new archivist. “A titan egg is something special, after all.”
Falka leaned against the counter and studied Tauran closely. “Am I to understand that you’ve changed your mind?”
Tauran paused with a hand on a mug. “No,” he said, slowly. Another sound from upstairs made him continue hastily, “I’ll help Mister Ro-Ani look after the egg.” He poured spoonfuls of dried ginger root into each mug until he lost count. “But I’m not rejoining the Sky Guard, and when it hatches, I’m out.” He pressed the mug against Falka’s chest.
Falka smiled, holding the mug out for Tauran to fill when the kettle whistled. “I’ll take it. Aside from myself, you and Mister Ro-Ani are the only ones in this city with any knowledge on titans. Knowing you’re here helps me sleep at night.”
Tauran nodded. “Roric and Catria filled me in on what’s been going on. It must be a lot to deal with.”
“It is. On top of everything else, members of the city council have been turning up dead. As if we don’t have enough to deal with.” Falka blew on his tea and took a sip, and for the first time, Tauran noticed the dark circles under his eyes. It gave Tauran a sting of guilt for showing up in Valreus acting like such a child. His problems were hardly the biggest around, even if he was currently hiding an illegal wild dragon twenty feet above the head of the Sky Guard general. He wondered if their friendship was strong enough to keep both Tauran and Kalai out of trouble if Falka found out about Arrow.
“Dead, as in murdered?” Tauran asked.
Falka winced at the strength of the tea. “Unfortunately. Andreus and the riders that joined the mutiny may be dead, but we have reason to believe he had supporters in the city. That he still does.”
Tauran scowled. “They’ve martyred him. You think they’re killing council members?”
Falka stroked his jaw, lined with a few days worth of gray stubble. “I think so, yes.”
Tauran took a sip of his tea, the overwhelming taste of ginger making him put the mug back down. “But why? Andreus wanted control of the guard, but he’s dead. What cause is so important that these followers will commit murder?”
“I don’t know, Tauran.” Falka sounded tired. He gazed into his teacup, but didn’t drink again. “I tried to keep Andreus in check before the battle. He had dangerous ideas out of touch with reality. If he had greater plans than to the guard, I never found out what they were before he died.
Tauran rubbed his brow. Four years on, and Andreus’ actions still haunted Valreus as much as they did Tauran.
Footsteps on the stairs made them both look up, and a moment later, Kalai appeared in the doorway, arms wrapped around the egg.
“Ah!” Falka put down the mug and went to Kalai. “Mister Ro-Ani. I had hoped I might see the egg before I left.”
“It’s doing just fine, General,” Kalai assured him. When Falka placed a hand against the shell, Kalai winked at