Note: Second ti this chapter has been posted, as the first ti it was posted out of order. The original comnts are gone because I don't want soone a couple weeks from now looking at them and thinking they missed a few chapters.
Brixaby circled around the top of the tower a couple of tis to give himself and Arthur a view of the people waiting for them. As he did, he fanned out his extra set of wings in what anybody who had been used to working with dragons would know was a display of aggression. Judging by the unimpressed look of the authorities and so curt gestures to co on down and land, this seed to shoot right past them.
Brixaby turned his head to glance at Arthur. "Should I give them a stunning shout? Perhaps just to that little one off to the side?" He gestured with one claw towards the only woman out of the three.
Arthur winced. "No, let's see what they want with us first." He hesitated. "But if they try anything, rember what we talked about last night?"
"Oh, yes, the flying lesson." Brixaby bood this out loud enough for the authorities below to hear.
Brixaby ca in for a landing in a way that only a dragon with his specific body type could. That was, straight down while managing to keep his body perfectly level. It was an elegant move, and one that happened to throw a wash of air straight downward, kicking up a satisfying amount of dust into the faces of the authorities.
Wisely, the woman and two n moved off to the side of the rooftop terrace to give the landing dragon so space.
Their uniforms were a slate blue colornow fairly dustyand accented with gold trimming. The smallest of the three, the woman who had her hair up in a severe bun, also had extra gold pieces added to her left shoulder and the side of her arm. By the way the other two unconsciously gave deference to her, Arthur suspected that she was the actual leader out of the three.
Sure enough, as soon as Brixaby had fully landed and snapped his wings shut, she was the first to step forward. The largest, most burly of the two n kept half a step behind her, just to the right at her shoulder. He carried a notebook in his hand.
"I assu you are Arthur and Brixaby?" the woman asked, her voice dry. She stood in a parade stance, her arms folded behind herself, and she didn't look intimidated in the least. "I am told that you've been given an understanding of our language, so please don't play any silly gas."
"We can both understand you," Arthur said pointedly as he dismounted from Brixaby. He didn't extend his hand for a shake, and neither did she. "Yes, I'm Arthur and this is my dragon, Brixaby."
"I am Over-Sheriff Walker," she said, "and I speak on behalf of the mayor in these matters."
Arthur's eyebrows rose, and just before he could speak, Walker continued, "From which kingdom do you hail? And I assu you co from one of their hives, as well?"
Arthur, of course, already had a lie ready on the tip of his tongue. "Ive heard you call it the Faberge kingdom. And we co from Strawberry Moon hive."
This lie wouldn't hold up to scrutiny, especially if sobody had active communications with his old kingdom. He and Brixaby weren't exactly the type to blend in with a crowd. But if he could delay the ti the secret inevitably ca out, he certainly would.
Walker nodded. "We checked the records, Rider Arthur, and we saw that you two have not been formally signed up for the reshuffling."
This wasn't a question, but Arthur treated it like one, anyway. "We just ca in last night. I wasn't aware that we had to sign up at all."
Walker nodded to the man behind her who started writing in his notebook. "Well, we'll get you signed up right now, and of course, you will have to pay your entry fees. You will be given one week from today," she said, and fell silent as the man her assistant? stepped forward to ask basic information, including the spelling of both their nas and their ages.
anwhile, the third man stood slightly off to the side of the other two. From his practiced stance, Arthur suspected that he had so kind of combat card. He was backup in case this went south.
Arthur turned his attention back to the man with the notebook. He had a little bit of trouble with spelling his na, considering that the letters between the two languages were different. But Walker broke in and stated that his na was common enough in their kingdom. Though the way that they said it grated on his nerves. An extra emphasis on the er at the end that made his na sound whiney to his ears.
Brixaby tried to convince the man his na was spelled with two Xs, but Arthur saw he only put down one.
"Now, well, now that we've got that out of the way," Walker said briskly, "we're here to explain the rules around here. New Houston is a free society, mind you, and we don't want any kingdom business interfering with ours."
"I don't intend to bring any part of the kingdom with ," Arthur said. "Brixaby and I ca here to get away from that sort of thing."
She humd under her breath but didn't say anything else. "There is another matter. I spoke of entry fees before."
Arthur nodded, unconcerned. He figured that Dannell would take care of that. He was selling their likenesses, after all, so he wanted them to look good.
Walker continued, "There is a way that you could easily make enough to take care of those fees, and also make complaints about your little adventure this morning go away."
Arthur stiffened. "Complaints?"
She glanced to the side at the man Arthur was starting to think of as her secretary. At her nod, he read off what looked like a prepared list. "Disturbing the peace, using a flying card, power, or skill without proper licenses, and of course, failing to register a dangerous animal."
"I am no more of an animal than you are, Brixaby interjected, "though I certainly am dangerous."
The man continued, "In addition, you have been directly implicated in causing several different accidents throughout the city. There are reports of at least three different cart accidents that could be laid at your feet."
"What do you an? We didnt touch a cart! Arthur asked, annoyed.
Walker answered this one with a snort. "People were watching a dragon fly only a few feet above their heads. And that ant that they weren't watching where they were going. Plus, you startled several animals, and there is one report of a small herd of bison becoming fretful enough to stampede."
He didn't even rember seeing a bison pen. That was the na these people had for those woolly oxen.
Crossing his arms, Arthur gazed at her with a steady look. He wasn't going to allow himself to be intimidated, and he had a feeling that Walker was going sowhere with this. He just wanted her to get to the point.
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Reading his expression, her lips twitched up in a very, very small smile. "As it happens, there is a way that you can pay your fees, make these complaints disappear, regain good favor among the citizens, and also earn extra money on the side."
Now they were coming to the at of it, and Arthur suspected, the real reason why these three were up here. Everybody in the city seed to have their own particular angle.
"And that is?"
"The dark heart is reaching its peak of power, so its spawning more scourgelings than usual. We've had reports from Undersheriff Domingo that you were so help with a ga scourgeling, and that was without the assistance of your beast. What do you say about helping us out again?"
"Of course we will," Brixaby said, before Arthur could get a word in, "I would have done it anyway. Scourgelings should not be allowed to roam free." And, just in case anybody got the idea that he was doing this from the goodness of his heart, he added, "Also, most of those were Rare type scourgelings, yes?" His greed was obvious.
Walker shook her head. "Most will be Commons and Uncommons with so Rare. But you would be deputized on behalf of an Undersheriff, and as such, you would not be allowed to keep any of the harvest. This is law," she said, "and if you're caught keeping cards or shards from a harvested scourgeling, that is a cri punishable by jail ti, dragon rider or not. All harvests go into the city vault, and the resulting cards are then given out to children who have co of age." She gave them a hard look. "You are dragon riders, so you know how important it is that everyone be carded as soon as they can."
Which was admirable and all, but Dannell had ntioned that children and their families had to pay back the cards with steep loans. And the cynical part of Arthur doubted that a Rare-ranked card would go to an orphan or sobody without any connections.
But the other part pointed out that even one Rare ranked card was worth many Uncommon cards, and even more Common ranked. Those would certainly go to children in need. Even a Common card could stop scourge from taking root.
"I understand," Arthur said, "however, Brixaby and I are searching for new cards, too. We intend to prepare for the reshuffling. So, we demand first rightat a fair pricefor any Rare card that we harvest."
Arthur, if we kill a scourgeling, the harvest should be ours, Brixaby muttered in his head.
Arthur glanced at his dragon, nodding his head in what he hoped was an acknowledging look that said, "Trust ."
Brixaby backed down.
"That is reasonable, Walker allowed. But, we won't allow any shenanigans. You will be scanned for your existing cards and shards on your person before and after any battle. And yes," she said, "our particular scans do show cards in extra-planar spaces."
Well, that went Arthur's half-baked idea to shove anything interesting into his Personal Space. But, he still had sothing else in mind. "You ntioned pay?" he asked.
"I think you'll find it more than reasonable. The standard pay is one Rare card shard for every ga scourgeling taken down. The sa rate for lesser ranked scourgelings."
"Then it will be one card shard for myself, and one for Brixaby," Arthur said, "He is a person, even if he has scales and wings.
I do like card shards," Brixaby added, with a toothy smile.
Walker hemd and hawed about this for a few monts, but Arthur sensed she would agree. Mostly, he had put up this front about the pay to keep up appearances. He didn't actually care. He had his own plans.
In the end, she agreed. Fine. Lets get you scanned in.
The man who had been watching silentlythe one that Arthur had thought of as the combat backupca forward with an enchanted stick polished to a dark sheen. Runes glowed up and down its sides, unfamiliar ones. Arthur longed to take it and study it for himself, and he could see Brixaby's sharp attention.
"This is an enchanted scanning wand," the man said, "If you have any cards that are sensitive to magic or mana, you may feel a reaction, but I can assure you it's perfectly safe and won't affect negatively you in any way. Think of it as a seeking tool. It only counts the number of cards and shards in your possession."
Arthur hesitated. Discovering he was a Legendary ranked rider now would lead to awkward questions. What does it tell you about my cards? The type?
The rank? He wondered.
The man shook his head. No one would put up with that. It only reports the number of cards and shards in your possession. Nothing more.
That was interesting, and Arthur's thief class imdiately identified the easy-to-exploit loophole. If he changed out his cards for ones hed just harvested, how would anybody know?
"Okay," Arthur said, " first." He didn't think that this was a trap, but he would rather take the risk than have Brixaby do it.
The man waved the wand at him, which glowed a bright blue as it sensed Arthur's magical potential. He then rattled off a series of numbers to the man with the notebooknone of them made sense.
Judging by the complete non-reaction of Walker and her n, it seed that the enchanted wand didnt recognize the rank or type of cards.
Walker nodded and turned back to Arthur. "It seems that your secondary card anchor is quite full. Its not my place to say, but since you seem to have already found a sponsor here, you may want to consider upgrading it before the reshuffling."
Brixaby's cards were recorded as well. It only took a few monts, and Brixaby did not twitch an eyelid.
Walker nodded again, satisfied. "Now, your current card numbers have been recorded. At the end of every day, you will co to the Sheriff's headquarters to submit yourself to a new scan. It will only take a few monts. Once we confirm you have the sa as before with another scan, and you will receive your pay."
"How do you know how many scourgelings we've killed?" Arthur asked.
"You will collect the chips from the undersheriff that you assist. They will be the one who will verify your kill and perform the harvest." She fixed him with a firm stare. "It is very important that you do not harvest the corpse yourself without the presence of an undersheriff. That is a class III misdeanor, and it goes up to a felony if youre caught stealing the cards."
"Understood," Arthur said, though he had no idea what a misdeanor or felony was. So words, it seed, didnt have direct language equivalents.
Satisfied, Walker and the two others returned back down the trapdoor, but not before leaving him a small, egg-sized object that looked like polished quartz. "This is a card anchor stone, given to most of our ergency services. If you're called to assist, it will activate with a buzz, and there will be an arrow which leads you to the location. After you're done, the undersheriff will clear the card anchor, and you'll be open to take the next call."
Arthur took it, and he was a little impressed despite himself. "You guys seem prepared for this sort of thing. Have you had other dragon rider visitors?"
This actually earned a full smile from the woman. "No, but we do have other combat teams-- adventure teams, as we call them here, who work with us in the sa fashion. Theyre also sharpening their knives for the reshuffling, so be aware of that. You may co across them, and my advice is to give way in case they want to kill the ga scourgelings first. Many of them have been here for years. They've earned their seniority. Do you understand?"
It seed that wherever he went, he was at the bottom of the totem pole, but that was the risk of starting over in a new place. "I understand," Arthur said.
After that, the three officials returned back down the trapdoor.
The mont it closed, Brixaby plunged his hand within his own Personal Space and pulled it back with a woven bit of tal which he fastened over the top of the trapdoor. This would be much harder to break through. The piece of wood that Arthur had used earlier was now in splinters.
The over-Sheriff had acted pleasant enough, but this had been more or less a shakedown. And Arthur suspected that things would not have gone so well if he had said no to the request to help out the city. Luckily, that had fit into his agenda as well.
"You have a plan," Brixaby said.
"Of course I do," Arthur said, "follow ."
At Brixabys nod, Arthur touched him and they both were transported into Arthur's Personal Space.
Normally, ti stopped completely there, but Brixaby had natural nullification magic. It beca a spot where the two could talk in peace.
Within an eyeblink, they returned to the real world with no one the wiser.
Brixaby flicked his wings in a self-satisfied manner. He was happy with the plan that Arthur had outlined.
Then the dragon glanced at the card anchor. "You think that we will have to wait long?"
"No," Arthur said, "I don't."
He was proven right less than an hour later when the card anchor started to buzz.
Arthur tapped the top to activate it, and a ghostly green arrow appeared over the top of the egg-like rock, indicating they were to head east.
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