“Well,” Nyrak said, “are we ready?”

The guardians agreed. They all climbed onto their dragonkin saddles and ascended into the sky.

Upon arriving, they hid in the bushes and trees outside the dilapidated town; Ivis stayed behind and surveyed from the air.

“Well,” Zella said, “we made great time. It’s just barely sundown.”

Nyrak then asked Ivis over the radio, “What can you see from up there?”

“Looks like an abandoned town,” responded Ivis. “Let me see from a higher altitude for a bit.”

Thornfire soared higher in the sky, utilizing the sun behind them to their advantage. They surveyed the town from high in the sky for a while and saw no activity on the surface.

Ivis radioed to the others, “I haven’t seen anything for a while. We could try some ground recon and see if there’s another way in.”

“Yeah, I’ll agree to that,” said Nyrak, “One of you others should also come with, get the other side of town.”

“Vailstrym and I can,” Azier volunteered.

The three slowly crept into the ghostly town, looking into the run-down buildings. Most structures were so damaged and rotten that they were unsafe to enter.

“Hey, I found a grate in the ground,” Azier said. “Looks like an air vent or something for whatever’s underground. Can’t really see into it, but it definitely doesn’t seem like a storm drain.”

“God damn!” A low voice came over their headsets. “You’ve nearly scared me half to death.”

“Airigold, is that you?”

“Nyrak, how’d you find me?” Airigold inquired.

“I tailed some shifty humans in Drakeridge, and when I got here, I saw them taking you inside. I’ve got the Dragonguard team from Rayhaven with me.” Nyrak responded

“I don’t know where I am exactly,” Responded Airigold, “but I feel it’s rather deep within here. I can’t talk much more; they’ll know something’s up and likely find the earpiece.”

“We’ll get you out; if not, we’re all screwed.” Asked Azier.

“I wouldn’t recommend breaking into this place. They’ve got enforcers everywhere. All I know is that Vexx captured me, and I was brought here.” Airigold stated.

“That little bitch; working with the Black Clutch gang and now the Dragonbane Order?” Ivis exclaimed, still sky-high.

“I overheard the Dragonguard declare him an enemy of mankind,” Nyrak said.

“Good, I get to return him as a corpse now,” Airigold paused momentarily, then said, “Do they need to identify the body for that?”

Nyrak chuckled and said, “We’ll try to find a way in that isn’t the front door. Do this as quietly as we can.”

“Heads up,” Ivis came over the radio, “There a few guys coming into town. No dragonkin, just humans.”

“Sounds like the Scalebreakers of the Order.” Stated Airigold.

“Scalebrakers are still around?” Sören paused briefly, thought for a moment, then continued, “Well, it would make sense that it would be them; they don’t use any dragonkin themselves.”

“Looks like they’re going through that secret entrance Nyrak mentioned,” Ivis relayed. “You should be good where you’re at.”

“They’ve got to have some kind of backdoor or something; they can’t all go through their main entrance if there’s an emergency. This air vent is too small for even me,” Azier stated as she looked around.

“There might be something by the nearby creek. It’s got some overhanging areas and some little cliff walls; maybe there’s something there. Plus, I could go for a drink,” Nyrak suggested.

“I’ll meet you down there,” Azier said. “I don’t think there’s anything in town.”

The two quietly made their way through the rest of the dusty town and down to a little creek. Nyrak took a drink as Azier looked around. After he was done, they walked along the creek briefly before coming to a concrete pipe.

“Hey, look!” Azier pointed out. “Looks like a drainage pipe. It should be big enough for you Ancients to fit through.”

Azier shined a flashlight down the dark tunnel. The light illuminated the pipe's inner walls only so far, but the darkness seemed endless.

“I guess this will have to do,” Nyrak said. “Let’s hope it goes to where we want it to.”

“And that it doesn’t get smaller,” Azier added. “If this is an actual storm drain, then it’ll just go under the streets.”

She thought for a moment, then continued, “Although this seems like a rather large drain, much bigger than what would be needed for this town, I feel like. But there is a bit of water here, so it seems legit.”

“Perhaps there’s a hidden entrance inside,” Sören suggested over their radios.

“If this is it,” Nyrak said, “we probably need another human. Any dragonkin inside won’t be useful for the agile and nimble things. We can get the shackles off of Airigold.”

“I’ll stay as a lookout on the ground. I think Sabretail’s prosthetics would be too noisy.” Zella said.

“Well,” Sören said, “that leaves us Ari. I’ll bring Vailstrym with me, too.”

Sören led the two dragonkin through the city to the creek in the forest.

They all stood briefly looking into the large concrete pipe, and then the guardians turned on their flashlights and headed in, their dragonkin following behind.

“I really hope this doesn’t get smaller; I barely fit in here,” The Ancient drake said, almost rubbing against the pipe walls. A tiny frog jumped past his foot.

“I think I’ve unlocked a new fear; I do not like walking through drainage pipes,” Sören stated.

They came upon the bottom of a large vertical shaft. A few small crawfish darted away as the group stepped into the shallow water. An embedded rebar ladder lined one of the walls and led to a portion of the shaft that was cut out.

I might not know much about storm drains, but I don’t feel like that’s a standard thing,” Sören said, pointing to the top of the ladder and the cutout.

“Looks like they just cut through the concrete. Hopefully, that tunnel will lead inside.” Azier said as she climbed the rusty rebar rungs poorly embedded into the concrete walls.

She peeked over the edge, her flashlight barely lighting the expanse of the tunnel.

“It certainly goes on,” She said. “This seems like it’s it to me.”

“I don’t think there’s any other way to go,” Sören said.

Azier clambered the rest of the way up and stood in the tunnel. She turned around and motioned for the others to climb up. They walked for what felt like an eternity, their steps echoing throughout the endless tunnel.

Eventually, they saw light spilling into the tunnel, and when they reached it, they peered through the grate embedded in the wall. The tunnel ran near the ceiling, and looking down into the room, they saw Airigold shackled and chained down.

“We need to find a vent that’s big enough for him to fit through. If we can get him in here, it’ll be easy getting out,” Sören said quietly. They continued to walk down the tunnel until it eventually split.

“Oh, great,” Sören said disgruntingly.

“We could split up and see where each way goes,” Suggested Azier. “Just put some tape on the wall so we know the way back.”

Azier pulled out a roll of orange tape, tore a small piece off, and placed it on the wall. “There,” she said, “always put it on the right so that when we go the opposite way, it’ll be on the left. Then we’ll know we’re going the right way.”

Sören and Ari headed down the right tunnel while Azier, Vailstrym, and Nyrak went to the left. Azier came upon a large grate, almost at ground level.

“I think this would work,” she said, “now we just have to figure out how to get it off.”

“I could bust it open,” Nyrak suggested.

“We’re trying not to be caught. And we need to put it back on when we leave.” Azier said. “I don’t think the radios work in this tunnel, so we’ll need to go back and meet up with Sören.”

They returned to the point where the tunnel split and turned the corner.

“Hey,” Sören said as he walked up to the fork in the tunnel, “I found a vent that should be big enough for our dragons to get through. It’s quite a ways down there, though.”

“Yeah, we did, too,” Azier responded. “Ours might be closer to the room he’s in, but we’ll need to find a way to get it off.”

“I’m sure the drake can bust it off,” Sören said sarcastically.

Azier facepalmed and said, “Yeah, that’s what he suggested.”

Sören chuckled lightly, then said, “Well, there was one part where it went straight down. I don’t know where it goes. The flashlight didn’t help, but it didn’t seem too deep. We might be able to climb down.”

“Worth a shot, I guess,” Azier said.

The group then walked down the right tunnel, eventually coming across the hole in the ground. Azier shined her flashlight into the hole and peered down.

“It almost looks like they dug this hole; that looks like a whole different system. Maybe an old sewer or drainage system.” Azier said.

“That’s probably what that little pipe was halfway up that vertical shaft we climbed up,” Sören mentioned.

“If it’s a drainage thing for the lower floors of this underground base, there might be a floor grate we can just lift up and get through. Don’t have to deal with any bolts.” Azier said.

“Well, let’s take a look!” Sören said with excitement.

Azier and Sören clambered down the hole and peered down the tapered floor tunnel. In the distance, a few rays of light streamed through the ceiling into the small corridor.

“I can barely stand up in here,” Sören said.

“Hopefully, our dragons will fit,” Azier said, “Come on, this way.”

They walked to the first light streaming in, and above them was a small metal grate. An enforcer walked over them, unaware of what was below his feet. The two then walked back to the hole.

“Well,” Azier said quietly, “it’s looking promising. All we need to do is find one big enough for you guys to fit through. Nyrak, can you even fit down here?”

Nyrak studied the hole briefly, then climbed down. “It’s a tight fit, but I think it’ll work,” He said.

“Alright, cool. Let’s move on then,” Sören said as he squeezed past the Ancient drake.

“Let’s leave our dragonkin at the hole,” Azier suggested. ”We don’t need all of us trying to hide and sneak around once we’re out of this tunnel.”

Azier popped back up the hole and stopped Ari from trying to follow them down it. She told Ari and Vailstrym to stay, and after a few attempts and whimpers, they listened.

She dropped back down and said, “Alright, let’s go.”

The three walked through the tunnel, checking each floor grate in the ceiling to see if it was big enough. Eventually, they finally came across a large two-sectioned grate.

“Ok, this one should definitely be big enough,” Sören said as he pressed against the metal bars. “It’s really heavy, though.”

“Let me try,” Nyrak said. He pressed his head against the metal grate and lifted it up, grunting under its weight. When it was high enough, Sören peaked out and looked around the room. No one was in sight, so Nyrak gently put the heavy metal grate on the concrete floor.

“Ok,” Sören whispered as he clambered out of the hole, “Judging by how far we walked underground, I feel like Airigold should roughly be off in that distance. Let’s just hope the walkways aren’t a maze like the pipes and tunnels were.”

The rest climbed out of the opening, and Nyrak put the metal grate back over the drain. They snuck around for a while, peering into various rooms to see if anyone was inside, finding something to hide behind whenever an Order member walked by.

“This is taking longer than I’d like,” Azier mentioned, “Airigold, if you can still hear us over the radio, make some noise with the chains or something; maybe we can hear it.”

After a second, they heard a faint metal rattling in the distance. They all turned their heads toward the direction the sound came from.

“Alright, this way,” Azier said.

After a few more attempts to locate the direction and walking down several more hallways, the three finally found the large room Airigold was chained down in. They ran over to him and tried to figure out how to get the shackles off as quietly as possible. A few minutes later, they were interrupted by someone walking in, and they all turned around in unison.

“Leaving so soon?” Vexx said, standing menacingly in the doorway.

“Ah, shit,” Sören quietly mumbled to himself.

Azier stepped forward, aiming a pistol at Vexx. Her voice had an irritated tone when she spoke, “You. I should have known you’re ass was working with some kind of secret cult. Can you be an even bigger piece of shit, than this?”

“If you want to get out alive, you’ll need my help.” He stated, staring down Azier’s handgun. The others looked at each other, confused at Vexx’s words.

“I may be old, but did I hear that right?” Nyrak said.

“Ah, another Ancient. Yes, you heard me right,” Vexx responded, taking a few steps forward.

Azier stopped him. raised her handgun again, and said, “And why should we trust you?”

“Look,” He said as he waved the pistol aside and continued to approach Airigold. “I’m sorry about Rayhaven, but this Order has now become absolutely unhinged, even for me. That’s why I persuaded the Order to let me use the Black Clutch to attack the city. I could botch the job and leave them there to be captured by you guys. I gave you some high-ranking gang members.”

Vexx pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the shackles. He handed one of them to the drake and said, “Here, bend this backward to break the hinge. We need to make this look like an escape, and they won’t suspect me for anything.”

Nyrak followed his instructions and snapped the shackle in half. He did the same for the others once Vexx took the rest of them off.

“What about the other shit for all those years? And when you attacked Rayhaven and almost killed Vailstrym?” Azier angrily questioned.

Vexx hushed her and said, “We don’t have the time for this. Do you not want to get out of here?” He gently placed down the broken shackle.

“I never meant to do that to your dragon; Ignistra was protecting me. Besides, you actually killed mine with the bladed-tailed one.” Vexx peeked around the corner of the doorway to see if anyone was in the hallway.

“Anyway,” he began, “I don’t know how the hell you even got in here, but we’ll need a vent big enough for you guys, and I know where. Follow me.”

The group followed Vexx down various hallways and to a metal grate in the wall at ground level and took it off with ease.

“Wait, there’s no bolts in this one?” Asked Azier.

“No, not this one. This is the only one that doesn’t; I made it look like it does, in case I ever had to escape. Follow the tunnel this way,” Vexx said, pointing to the direction that leads out.

“God dammit,” Azier said quietly.

“What?” Vexx inquired.

“We found this one,” Azier explained, “but I wasn’t sure how we would deal with the bolts. We found another way that led to the drainage tunnels in the floor with a grate big enough for us.”

“Oh, well, then you know your way out,” Vexx said as he put the register back on the wall.

He then turned around and walked away, running into one of the enforcers who was in a hurry. The enforcer yelled out that the Ancient had escaped as he ran past Vexx.

“We need to get the hell out of here. They’re going to be sending people out to look for you, Goldie.” Sören said.

They walked through the tunnel and finally came upon the split.

“Go ahead and get him out of here; I’ll get our dragons we left down this way,” Sören said.

Azier led Airigold onwards while Sören walked down the right branch of the tunnel. He eventually reached Ari and Vailstrym, who were lying down, still waiting for them to pop up through the hole. When Sören approached them, they perked their heads up. He beckoned for them to follow him.

“Where does this lead?” Airigold asked, his booming voice echoing off the tunnel walls.

“It eventually goes to an extensive drainage pipe system for the city. That then goes to a creek just outside of it.” Azier responded.

They reached the cutout of the vertical shaft, and one by one, they climbed down.

Airigold studied the wall as he waited and said, “They really made this to be an escape route. Looks like they just blasted the wall and dug a tunnel.”

He stepped up to the ledge to climb down and continued, “Even if it was for air, this wouldn’t make sense.”

“Seems like that’s why they had the entrance this deep in the sewers,” Nyrak commented. “It gets a little tighter up ahead. Can’t imagine it will feel good on your wing arms.”

Airigold landed at the bottom of the shaft, splashing in the stagnant pool of water. They walked through the pipe, and Airigold pressed his wings as much as possible.

“I swear I’m scraping every spider web and slime off the walls of this pipe,” Airgold said as he pushed through.

They finally reached the outside and took a relieving breath of fresh air. Airigold looked at his wings in disgust.

“Oh, thank ‘kin, there’s a creek here,” He said, rolling around in the water to wash the sludge off his back.

“Hey, guys,” Azier radioed the others, “The Order knows Airigold is missing, so they will probably send some of their enforcers out to search for him.” Zella and Ivis acknowledged Azier’s message over the radio.

They waited a few minutes for Sören to return, but with each passing second was the possibility of the Dragonbane Order to find them.

“I don’t like how long this is taking,” Nyrak said.

“We might have to leave him,” Azier suggested. “He’s got Ari and Vailstrym, so he can get out of here. We can’t wait out in the open here.”

“How are you getting out of here without your dragon?” Airigold asked. Azier thought for a moment, then stared at Airigold.

“Oh, no. You’re not riding on my back. I don’t give rides.” He said.

“I think it’s the only way,” Azier responded.

“I’m not even equipped for it; there’s no saddle!” Airigold retorted.

“It’ll be fine; I’ll just lie down and hold on to your horns or something.”

Airigold thought briefly, then lowered his head, “Fine. But don’t pull on them.”

They then heard noises off in the distance and turned their heads.

Ivis came over the radio, “Heads up, they’re mobilizing. It’s a small group, but they’re searching the abandoned town.”

Azier jumped onto Airigold's back; Nyrak let out a chuckle.

“Oh, shut it. Run off into the forest already,” Airigold retorted. Nyrak then sprinted away, disappearing quickly into the forest underbrush.

With a few powerful strokes of Airigold’s wings, he ascended into the air. Azier held onto his horns for dear life, trying not to fall off. Airigold then darted away so fast just above the tree line that Azier almost lost her grip.

“Holy shit! So much faster than Vailstrym,” She said to herself. Airigold heard her and chortled.

Ivis came over their radios again, “Get out there, Sören! They’re looking for us!”

“They’ve already sent units out?” Sören responded, climbing into Ari.

“Just fly, dude!” Ivis yelled out.

Sören, Ari, and Vailstrym took to the skies, staying as close to the top of the tree line as possible.

“Where’s Azier?” Sören asked.

“On the back of Airigold,” Ivis responded.

“Lucky,” He said.

“We should head back to Eldrya, but first, let’s meet up at [TOWN],” Zella suggested. The others agreed and started to make their way to the town.

Eventually, they all landed at a courtyard in the town, and Nyrak came trotting in.

“Oh, you’re here, too,” Azier said.

“Yeah, I heard. I’ve still got the radio in my ear,” Nyrak said. “We should take a minute to rest here.”

“I don’t know about that,” Ivis interrupted, “those guys over there look shifty; I think they’re Dragonbane.”

“Fuckin’ great. Let’s just head to Eldrya,” Sören said.

The rest of the group agreed. Azier clambered off of Airigold and onto Vailstrym’s saddle.

“Thanks for the ride, Airigold, but this is much better,” She said.

Airigold chuckled as they ascended into the sky, stirring the leaves and dust. The flight to Eldrya stretched long into the night, the stars twinkling sharply against the inky black sky. Exhaustion weighed heavily on their eyelids, but the rush of adrenaline coursing through their veins kept them alert and focused.

They finally reached the city just before sunrise, each landing with a heavy thud. Airigold was clearly out of breath and barely had the energy to stand.

“I thought you’d be able to fly long distances,” Ivis commented.

“I’m old! Hell, you call us “ancients” for ‘kin sake.” Airigold responded as he dragged himself to a fountain. The guardians laughed at his remark as the Archon then came out into the courtyard.

“Well, we got him back!” Ivis said cheerfully, holding his arms out as if presenting him to the Archon.

Hallard spoke, “Well done, have—”

“Vexx was there,” Airigold interrupted.

“He was there? Inside?” Hallard inquired with a firm tone.

Airigold continued, “He initially was the one who captured me and was ordered to bring me to that underground base.”

“You guys saw him in there and didn’t capture him?” Hallard questioned harshly.

“He actually helped us escape,” Azier added.

“He’s an enemy of mankind; I don’t care if you even bring him back alive,” Hallard stated.

“We were not in a position to do so,” Airigold retaliated with irritation. “We’ve already got the Order on our tail just from them finding out I was missing. Couldn’t risk fighting with Vexx at that time.”

Sören explained, “He put the vent register back on after we got into a tunnel, and shortly after that, one of the Dragonbane enforcers discovered Airigold was missing.”

“And by the time we got out of there, they had already mobilized enforcers,” Azier added.

“Alright,” Hallard said, “since you’re here now, just stay low and out of their sight. In the meantime, I’ve got something else for the rest of you to do.”