A sewer rat scampered into a crack in the stone wall as Elisa and Quinn trudged deeper into the musty tunnels underneath Lost Dawns. Cool in the summer, humid in the winter, Elisa had not set foot back into any form of underground since she was arrested some time ago. Long she’d yearned for her old kingdom in the complex underearth of Blight, however she served a new royal figure now. Koda Dawnedge.

Quinn Silvertail whiffed a nose-full of the grimy and sour scent of the sewer water, doing his best not to gag on the smell of rotting filth. “A beautiful place, darling, I see why you shadow elves call it home.”

Elisa rolled her eyes. “I don’t live down here, nor do I want to.”

The harkin gingerly stepped over the bloated corpse of a dead rat floating down the trickling stream of water. “Ah, yes, this must be ribbing you Anti-Rogue lads like to play on the new recruits. I’m honored, really, but perhaps a drinking contest instead, next time?”

“We’re here to get supplies.” Elisa rounded the corner, coming to a stop to where the remains of a small door to a familiar dwelling resided. She hovered one hand on a dagger as she stepped inside, ready to deal with any street urchin or unruly squatter.

“Doesn’t look like much of a shop,” complained Quinn. He popped his head inside the stone chamber as Elise entered before him.

The room once served as a base of operation in the past, however it was always a cluttered mess. Elisa nudged wood scraps that littered the ground. She lifted an overturned bookshelf and pushed back in place against the wall. The shadow elf rubbed her fingers together, doing her best to remember the layout of the room and any secret stashes it might still have.

Quinn knelt down to uncrumple a letter. To the untrained eye it read as a gibberish mess of words, but the harekin quickly recognized it as a code. He looked back to Elisa. “This isn’t some beggar’s home. Scrambled codes, broken chairs, up-ended shelves. No, I don’t think so; soldiers were here, looking for something.” Quinn inspected a red stain splattered across the floor. “Blood.”

Elisa said nothing. She scanned the wall in front of her. “One of these stones…” she pondered outloud, hoping it would jog her memory. Has it been so long?

“I’ve heard rumors of your little running crew. Former thieves, murderers, and army washouts. You are the black sheep of the Long Whisper military.” Quinn paced around Elisa.

“Some of us have a checkered past,” said Elisa, trying to ignore the hare.

“Lost Dawns went through a lot of trouble being built… Black Rabbit trouble.”

“Spit it out, Quinn.”

The harekin halted in front of the shadow elf, staring deep into her dark violet eyes. “I think you were a Black Rabbit too. I think you were the Black Rabbit. The one the soldiers came looking for, the one who terrorized the contruction of this city!”

Elisa smiled and lifted her chin. “Well done, master detective. Want to solve another puzzle? Help me look for the discolored stone in this wall.” She pointed behind him. “Behind it is my old poison kit.”

Quinn frowned. “How is Elucard going to pair me up with some scheming elf responsible for the deaths of countless White Cloaks and Long Whisper citizens?”

“You do know who Elucard is, don’t you?” she chuckled.

“The Kingslayer, but he turned his life around…”

“And what do you think I’ve been doing?”

Quinn paused.

“Who better to cripple a country than an elf that was trained to cripple countries? We can’t all be straight laced angels.”

“I-I’m-” stammered Quinn. He gave a sheepish shrug and hid his embarrassed face. The harekin twisted on his heel to help his partner look for the false stone.

“Here it is!” Elisa slid out a rough dark grey rock once placed over a decade ago and pulled out a medium sized wooden box. She wiped a layer of dust off the top of it and smiled fondly. “We’ve had some good days, you and I.”

The box was well preserved and safe from rats, termites, and worms while hidden within the wall. Elisa checked the contents. Inside she found several pouches of odorless powders of assorted colors, vials of tasteless liquids, syringes with different style needle tips, a set of still-sharpened scalpels, and various anatomical notes for elven and human bodies. She also found a wooden mortar and pestle stuffed further in the compartment behind where the box was.

Quinn shook his head, his ears flopped back and forth. “You can have your sneaky toxins, nothing replaces the effectiveness of a good explosive.”

Elisa packed the poison kit within her leather snapsack. “Yes, but sometimes it pays to be subtle.”

Quinn leaned on a wobbly table. “To each their own.” He gripped his belly and smacked his lips. “How ‘bout a proper place to socialize? I saw my sister heading to a quaint outdoor cafe.”

“How about a bath instead?” Elisa laughed with a grin.

***

“Wow!” A childlike wonder washed over Kyzo as he reverted back to a young lad listening to stories of legendary dragons consuming the very stars for sustenance and ruling over Draak’Teraa with their sheer god-like might. “And you ride these?”

Essie jerked Kyzo back as he tried to rub the sharp, emerald scales of the Skyborne drake. It eyed the boy with a menacing stare.

Bruce Brawnwood gave a deep chortle. “Of course, young elf, and you and your medic will be riding them too!” Bruce patted the giant beast. “But maybe you shouldn’t touch Nigel until he’s grown accustomed to you.”

If Kyzo could widen his eyes anymore, his eyelids would peel back over his scalp. “When are we riding them?”

“Hopefully never,” Essie muttered with a dry tone.

Bruce gave Essie a roguish wink, “Word on the wind says you two start training on the way to Blight. Nothing quite like a flight over the ocean.

Wind picks up pretty heavily, but it’s very relaxing.”

Kyzo squeezed his eyes shut and danced in place. “You hear that, Es? We’re going to be dragon riders!”

“Hooray,” Essie said sarcastically. She twirled her finger in a circle. “I’m overcome with joy.”

Bruce slapped Essie on the back so hard she stumbled forward. “That’s the spirit, Essie!”

“I do my best work firmly on the ground. If elves were meant to fly, Father would have given us wings.”

“Or dragons!” Kyzo exclaimed. He still couldn’t contain his excitement.

“Exactly, me bucko!” Bruce flexed his bulging muscles. He chuckled as Kyzo did the same. “There you go lad! Show off those cannons! Flex what Sythellis gave you!”

Essie giggled as she watched the harekin and elf make fools of themselves.

“Come on lass, show us those army muscles that you Longers are known for!”

Essie folded her arms while shaking her head. “Look at you; you’re too much, Brawnwood.”

“Come on, Es, have some fun with us!” said Kyzo. His face turned red from holding his pose for so long.

Essie laughed and struck a stunning pose, her stiff arms bulked up as she raised her lip and growled. Years of carrying the wounded on her shoulders had given her quite the chiseled physique.

The three grunted and giggled as they tried to impress the onlooking harekin soldiers that patrolled the parade grounds where the Skyborne Drakes rested.

Kyzo, Bruce, and Essie collapsed on the ground, worn out from a good ten minutes of ‘Showing what Sythellis gave them’, laughing beside one of the large winged serpents that they would soon be flying.