As usual, I didn't have much stuff to pack. Once I had a couple changes of ordinary clothes—which I wasn't even sure would fit anymore—away in my saddle-backpack and got Juniper up and moving to wait by the door of the keep, I didn't have much to do apart from wait for the others. While I was eager to get out of this castle after long weeks cooped up, there was still something that I figured I should do before we left.

"Stay here, girl," I whispered to Juni, getting her to slowly lower herself to the ground before I set my pack down beside her and walked off down the hall.

«I'm going to see Linus before we leave,» I notified Grace.

«Is it about the…the face?» she asked.

I self-consciously put my hand up to cover my mouth, even though no one was even around. «Yes,» I answered curtly.

Thankfully, Linus wasn't busy by the time I made it to the medical wing. He glanced up at me as I entered, setting a vial of blood tonic he was inspecting aside. "Welcome back, Sir Belfry," he said. "It is good to see that you made it back alive and…hmm." His tone changed when I removed my hand and gave a slow sheepish smile and shrug.

"It has advanced," he observed.

"Yeah," I confirmed. "It has." I scratched my scales. "This is probably a long shot, but has there been any progress on a cure? Or at least something to…slow it down?"

"Not as of yet," Linus said with a sigh, turning his attention to a messy alchemical table at the back, which was splattered with all manner of coloured stains from past experiments. "Your blood has been changing. Even after it was taken from your body. All of the material we have left has transformed to be entirely indistinguishable from true dragon's blood, which as I told you before, makes it rather difficult to work with."

I rubbed my arm. "Do you need more?"

"No. I doubt we could uncover anything new, especially as your transformation has continued. While it's evident that you have accelerated symptoms, I believe that the transformative effects of the stone you ingested are still ongoing, rather than being an instantaneous effect. There's a magical signature it has left behind, but I can't decipher it. It's nothing like any signature I've seen before belonging to the five schools of magic, which at least gives some credence to the idea that we are on the verge of uncovering this 'somatics' school that I have theorised.

"I have a theory," he continued, holding up a vial of muddy blue liquid. "Should this 'somatics' school be indeed what these gemstones operate with, we may be able to use alchemical conversion to change the operative school of a healing solution from restoration to somatics. A panacea—solution of unicorn horn dust, manywort leaf, and quickblood—converted thusly may reverse or halt the gradual transformation."

I nodded, piecing the issue together with what alchemical knowledge I had. "Right, but alchemical conversion would mean we would need…."

"A catalyst of the same school, indeed," confirmed Linus. "Specifically, we would almost certainly require another of those gemstones. We have set as many dragoons as could reasonably be spared to the task of finding them ever since they were first introduced to us, but so far the only four that have been turned up are the ones that transformed you and your comrades."

"So we're kind of stuck until then?" I asked, a little dejected.

"Unfortunately, it seems so. The details of somatics will be difficult to harness without another example to learn from."

I pulled my hands down my face. So close and yet so far from the cure. "I guess we'll keep an eye out in Yorving."

Linus stopped, turning his head with a raise of an eyebrow. "Yorving? Is that where you are being sent?"

I nodded.

"Hmm. If you can, you might want to consider tracking down a young woman by the name of Harper Thrane. She is the fourth ersatz we know of, the only one that didn't stay with us. It didn't seem that her transformation was unique compared to the rest of you, but learning where she found her stone could be useful in establishing some sort of pattern, therefore helping us find another."

"I'll see what I can do," I said. "No promises."

"I wouldn't expect them." Linus made a dismissive gesture. "I wish I could help you immediately, but I can not. I have nothing else for you. You should return to the courtyard; I assume you will want to get to your new home before dusk."

Your new home. That's what it was, wasn't it? The academy had been housing us, but this was going to be a real home, from now until…whenever we got relocated. Or quit the corps. I wondered what it would be like.

"Right," I said. "Thanks anyway."

With a mixture of disappointment and excitement at the possibilities of uncovering a cure, I gave Linus a wave and headed back down the halls to the door where I had left Juniper. By now, everyone else had gathered as well, Yura arriving at almost exactly the same time I did.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked. "This is going to be a straight shot to Yorving, no stops. I want to be able to sleep in a real bed tonight."

"Ready, indeed!" another voice said from the hallway behind me. I glanced back to see Prince Emrys, now in wear for warmer weather. He wore dark grey trousers with what were clearly high-quality suspenders, and a pale ash-grey linen shirt with its sleeves tied back behind his elbows, stitched with darker grey-brown stripes in a square pattern. He even had a hat, an ashy-grey one similar to his shirt with a high, round crown and wide brim.

Rosalie snorted, forgetting decorum for just a moment as her mouth pulled up into the tiniest smirk. "Your Highness, I believe they are sending only us. Ninth Flight. You are to remain here, I presume."

"Oh, no, I was told by the honourable commander that I am coming with," said the prince. "I'm to be your 'liaison', with the corps."

"I see," I said. I wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that. Emrys seemed nice enough, despite his rank and his…eccentricities. But we were already travelling with Rosalie Lecerf, who doubtless hadn't told her family much about where she was going and what she was doing. Now we would have two noble families' eyes to watch for, should anything untoward happen to their scions. One of them was a royal, too! The last thing I wanted to be responsible for was a diplomatic incident.

«That's great!» said Griffin. «I'm happy to work with someone like you. Someone studied, I mean. Who knows a lot.»

"Yes, I do hope my research and magical skills can be of use to the team!" said Emrys. He clasped his hands together, almost beating the enthusiasm Grace had back when we first arrived here.

"Alright, then," I said. "Just give me a minute to change, and we can go."

I stepped into another room for the few minutes it took, as did Arthur. Once again, I was a little nervous about shifting in case last night had done something to me, but it was just like normal. Oddly, it was Arthur who seemed to have issue transforming, stepping out of the side room a little woozy, leaning hard to his right side. Rosalie put her hand on his shoulder, and he straightened up as we walked out onto the courtyard.

All the officers but Cynthia had gone, and her formal bearing had gone with them. "Ninth Flight!" she called. "Are you ready to head to your new home?"

"Yes, sir!" said Grace.

"Excellent! Show me your map." Grace held it up, and Cynthia cross an X over a point a few miles southeast of the large blotch that outlined the city of Yorving. "Here is where your bastion will be. At the moment, it is known as the Old Elderstone Castle by the people of Yorvingshire, but once you take up residence, it will be yours to call what you wish. It's an ancient fortress, almost as old as the city itself, and it's been abandoned for some time, so it might require some renovation. But it should be serviceable until you can afford such things."

Grace nodded, pulling the map back and showing it to Griffin for them to memorise.

«You said we had another mission there already?» I asked.

"Yes, though not one we have much knowledge of, nor which is immediately urgent," said Cynthia. "There have been a string of murders in Yorving, by what folks are calling the 'Pillory Butcher', apparently for their habit of leaving the dead in pillories. I would normally advise that you speak to the burgomaster once you've settled in, but I've been informed that Yorving's leadership is more so commanded by its archvicar. You certainly won't miss the cathedral, so it should be easy to find him."

Cynthia stepped back, looking us over with a confident smile on her face. "You've done well in proving that you're up to the task of knighthood. From this moment forward, you command yourselves, and represent the corps. May your lights shine bright in these dark times."

As she headed back inside, I knelt down. «Well, what are we waiting for?» I said, nudging Grace and Emrys to climb on. Emrys jumped up, while Grace lingered, looking down at Juniper, who was sitting at my side. «…Oh, right. How are we going to get her to this castle?»

"Well, she should only be going on one flight with us," said Grace. Gently, she picked up Juniper and carefully manoeuvred her into one of the bags that hung from my saddle. It's spacious enough that she isn't crushed, and deep enough that I'm confident she won't fall out—more so than I was with the mattress, anyway.

«Guess that's good enough,» I said. «Sorry, Juni. You'll be back on solid ground by tonight.»

With affirmatives of readiness from the rest of the flight, I let Griffin take the lead as we took off. I glanced back at the fort one last time as we flew south over the mountains, watching the high aerie disappear over the horizon. I knew Grace was watching too.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

«So, what's been on your mind?» I asked her. «You've been a little gloomy, ever since we finished the trial.»

Grace gave a sombre look at the prince, and elected to answer mentally, to keep him out of the conversation. «Yeah,» she confirmed. «I've just been thinking. Killing that gryphon…didn't sit right with me. Or, that they expected us to, even if it wasn't causing real problems, or we could solve those problems another way. I'm not a child, I know that some monsters need to die to keep us safe, but sometimes they don't need to. And it was weird that Cynthia didn't seem to know that. It kind of reminds me of…»

«Of?»

«Of Gordon's story.»

I let a long puff of air from my nose. «I don't think this is that bad,» I said.

«No, of course not,» said Grace. «It's just…sobering. It sounds like we're being given more or less free reign in Yorving, but we've still got to be vigilant. Make sure we don't turn into what the cuirassiers were.»

I nodded. I could agree with that much. It was odd, how our approaches to the corps had reversed once they offered me a cure and told Grace about their true expectations. I ruminated on that thought as we passed over the forests where the western Witchweald met with an ancient swath of conifers that covered everything to the west of us.

Once we passed over a wide, sighing river that Rosalie identified as the "Saryonne", apparently an important artery in the lands we were now entering, we crossed into a region that I had only ever heard descriptions of. Most people who talked about the Juniper Hills did so in poetic terms, speaking eloquently of its rolling hills of farmland and esteemed vineyards, its low forests and glades that dotted the valleys in between, the tranquil ponds where priests of Saint Cèlis led pilgrimages to ritually cleanse themselves, and the fiery volcanic fields where hot steam and caustic pools foretold the forging of new land in the volcanoes to the south.

None of those terms could do it justice.

Though Yorving was on the north edge of the hills, we still came close enough to see the fields turned the golden-brown of late summer before harvest shine in the matching gold light that arrived just before sunset. Small brownstone cottages dotted the distant hills, each wreathed in ivy and flowering vines that gave a splash of vibrancy to the scene. In the distance, we could see hamlets that cared for the vineyards and juniper gardens around them, and even a large manorial estate crowning a hill to the west, where the parapets of the fortified home reached up towards the sky, glowing in the light like the tendrils of a great, warming bonfire.

Ahead of us laid the city. Until then, my reference point for a "city" was Vandermaine, a decent-sized settlement clinging where it could to the shelf of a mountain. Yorving was far larger than I could have imagined, sprawling out for miles over the cliffs that hugged the edge of the vast Lake Amarclere. Ornate buildings were perched atop two high ridges right next to each other, cut through the middle by a wide gorge where a tributary of the Saryonne poured from the lake heading west. Lifts and buildings driven into the steep cliff sides provided passage between the upper city and the lower, while two huge bridges crossed the gorge to connect the northern half of the upper city to the southern half.

The buildings were tightly packed, choking the relatively narrow roads that proceeded through most of the districts. Too many buildings stood out to count, but among them I saw a tall and weathered castle overlooking the lake, a much more stripped-down fortress on the north side, a grand cathedral to the south that was so immense, I could imagine it having its own distinct district entirely housed within, and a massive spire that rose what had to be half a mile, maybe more into the sky in one of the southern wards.

There was certainly more, but a large part of the city was obscured by smoke coming from a district that shrouded a low peak on its northwestern end, which I supposed was probably where much of the industry had been located. But the city was far from out of sight before we spotted our own destination.

When Cynthia had mentioned the place we were going was called a "castle", I had expected something as impressive as the academy. But it was clear once the castle in question came into view that it had been a long while since it was cared for. The whole grounds were about the same size as the academy's, but the only buildings that appeared to be "intact" still were the keep and a large hall, which I assumed was a residence building, attached to the southern wall. And even those were clearly falling apart—it was just that everything else was rubble and, at best, a loose frame. The whole thing was surrounded by a ditch that was probably once a moat, but had been converted to dry earthworks, then abandoned to be filled in by erosion. The remains of guard towers rose from all along the walls, but the only one standing by any measure was the largest adjacent to the residence, though its upper floors.

I angled down, aiming for the courtyards. They were divided in two by a trench spanned by a bridge, with the east half dominated by the broad tower of the keep and the more ornate ruins clasped onto its southern side, and the west by the living quarters. Both clearly once had gardens that might have been decorative or functional, but they had been reduced to fields of weeds and clinging vines.

"Careful," said Grace. "Ruins like these make for great monster nests."

«I'm being careful,» I assured her. «I don't smell anything. I'll let you know the second that changes.»

I touched down in the grass of the east yard, bending down to let the others off. The others landed around me, looking around at our new home. I could see the disdain on Brand's face, but the others seemed at least cautiously optimistic. Ingo and Grace both walked around with a hand on their weapons, but I still couldn't detect any signs of monsters.

"Well," said Yura, rubbing his chin in thought, "it certainly seems to have potential."

«"Potential" is a good word for it,» said Arthur. «I just hope that hall's intact enough that we'll have a place to sleep until we can get it fixed up.»

"Oh, this is exciting!" said Emrys. "A project! There's so much here to improve on, I can't wait to start!"

I snorted. «Unless you're willing to empty the royal coffers of Laimnâch for us, Your Highness, I don't think we'll be starting any time soon.»

«Yeah,» agreed Arthur. «This is going to be a…massive expense.» Smoke leaked from his nostril for a moment, and he coughed. «I'm going to go explore the grounds, I'll find my way to wherever we're sleeping later.»

He backed away awkwardly. I could tell the turmoil in his mind from the smoke. Saints, was it bad enough for him that just talking about having to spend money set him off? There was no way I could leave him alone like that. Just in case.

«I'll come with,» I said. I carefully reached up to undo the bag Juni was in and let her slowly crawl her way out, bleary-eyed and panting. «Grace, make sure she gets somewhere comfortable for the night.»

Grace nodded and slowly led Juniper into the hall, while the rest of the group hesitantly followed behind. Rosalie gave Arthur a worried look, but hurried to catch up with Grace.

Arthur led the way towards the dividing trench. «Come on,» he said. «I saw gates under here. I want to know what's underneath this place.»

«Probably a wine cellar, given where we are.» I gave him a pointed look. «Want to shift back?»

«Oh! Yeah. I should.» Once we reached the trench, he hopped down, and I sat at the top waiting for the noises to stop before jumping down and doing the same. Now that my "human" form was getting more like my dragon one, the process was getting faster, though no less uncomfortable.

The trench was little more than an overgrown pit. Stone channels were set at either side that led to grates in the castle walls, where presumably rain or waste water would be drained. Apart from the channels, two heavy-looking iron doors were set into the sides.

"Right or left?" said Arthur.

"I don't know, right?" I said, unsure.

Arthur nodded and started walking towards it. When he passed the left door, however, he stopped in his tracks. His head snapped to the side and he slowly approached, breathing deeply. I narrowed my eyes and followed, and once I got close I could smell it too. Something precious was inside. It was like the silver, but so, so much stronger. Sweeter. More intoxicating. It hit my head like a hammer blow, and I immediately felt like I'd drained a half a bottle of liquor.

"Whoa," I muttered, steadying myself against the wall. "Arthur…."

"I know," he said. His voice was monotonous. Trance-like. "I want to see."

"Stop," I commanded. He pressed his fist against the door and glared at me. "Let me go."

His breaths grew longer and he rubbed his fist against his head. "Right," he mumbled. "Right. Go. I'll look in the other door."

He backed away, one step at a time, his eyes on the beckoning door until he tore himself away and broke into a run. He was forcing himself out of the area of that alluring scent. It was a good sign, better than what he had done the other night.

I sighed and let my fingers rest on the handle for a moment while I prepared myself. Now I had to ignore that temptation.

I heard tens of rusty, squeaky clicks from inside the door as I turned the handle. Locks, I realised. Given how old this place was, that many sounds meant this door must have had the absolute best locks its time could offer. And when I opened it, I could see why. A small tunnel sloped gently downwards for about a hundred feet before opening up into a huge chamber.

There was barely any light, but my draconic vision let me see the contours of the place. Multiple sets of shelves lined the walls, while the floor space was simply a flat layer of stone brick, with intricate grooves carving artistic patterns into its surface. This was a vault. Or a hoard. There was certainly room enough for a pile of treasure in here, but all that remained after years of disuse was the scent, coming from behind one of the rotted wooden shelves. My footsteps echoed in the empty chamber as I approached and slapped the shelf a few times, shaking it a little looser from the wall.

Metallic clinks resounded off the walls as a handful of coins spilled out. Not silver coins. Gold. Ten castles, a whole year's wages for a labourer. My breath caught in my throat.

I reached down and picked the coins up, marvelling at them in my hand. Even in darkness, they seemed to shine. And the scent was pervasive. Just holding them made me feel good. And this is only a handful, my thoughts told me. Imagine what a whole pile would feel like.

I did. The picture was dizzying. It was worryingly easy to see myself nesting on a giant pile of gold in this very room, lost to desire. I shut my eyes, trying to shake the image free from my head. All we had right now were ten coins. Not much of a hoard. But, maybe I could still…I mean, I was a thief after all…and no one else even knew about them….

"No!" I shouted out loud, hurling the coins away. They clattered against the ground across the room. I was breathing hard, adrenaline running through me from the brief battle I'd just fought. I regained control of my thoughts. They were still mine, they were just…also everyone else's. And we should leave them here. Taking money out of the vault would be dangerous until I and especially Arthur could get a handle on our instincts. If we could.

I gingerly picked the coins back up and put them on the farthest shelf in a small stack. I afforded them only one last glance before I copied Arthur's strategy and forced myself to run away, out the door.

Arthur was waiting for me, standing far from the threshold. He hand his hands clasped behind his back, but his antennae were swivelled forwards. "What was in there?" he asked.

I slammed the door shut, hearing the ineffectual locks click back into place. "A vault," I said. "There's a few gold coins in there. I don't need to tell you this, but we should stay out. It was kind of…overpowering." I swiftly walked away from the door until the scent faded behind me. "What did you find?"

Arthur's antennae flicked back. "Bones," he said. "I think it's a dungeon or something. It's partly collapsed, so I only saw a few cells, but one of them had a human skeleton in it. Which is…not great." He shuddered. "Probably something we should look at sooner rather than later, too. If the tunnels go, the courtyard above them might collapse too."

"Add it on the list of things to fix, then. At least it gives us something to do." I gave him a friendly clap on the shoulder. "Come on. Curiosity's sated, and we should see if we're going to be getting a good rest tonight. We've got an investigation starting tomorrow, remember?"

"Oh, I remember," Arthur grumbled, putting on a more jovial face as we climbed out of the trench and headed back to the living quarters.

As it happened, while almost all the rooms in the living quarters had damage to what furniture remained and some odd holes in the walls and ceilings, the bedrooms were one of the few things still furnished and ready to be used. There were four of them, each with only a single bed each, but they were room enough for the humans, while the dragons had room to nest in the damaged solar. We split up into groups of two for the night. Grace and I elected to strip the mouldering mattress and toss it out the window to get rid of later, while we laid blankets on the frame and the floor for the night. Juniper thought it was comfortable enough to snuggle up next to me, and I was able to get surprisingly good sleep with a roof over my head again. I thanked the saints that no dreams, draconic or otherwise, plagued me until morning.

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