“What’s that?” The sentry noticed his friend bundling up something reddish in the torchlight.

“Fresh strawberries, just picked them in the afternoon.” The second sentry was gently tying up the bundle. “Lorraine said she liked them.”

“Celestials be damned, Nolan, you’re still thinking about that girl?” The first sentry stamped the butt of his spear into the flagstone. “I thought I told you it’s not happening since the rabbit incident.”

“First of all, she gave the bunny a name.” Nolan sighed defensively, flicking his black hair over his head as he stared at Luke. “And it’s not Lorraine’s fault that the bunny disappeared from a locked cage. How can you blame her for that, Luke?”

“How about you accept that she might have, you know, lied? She tells you the rabbit disappeared from the cage, you asked her if the cage was locked, she said yes, and you don’t consider it for a moment?” Luke stamped his spear again, looking upwards. “Celestials help me, Nolan you may be simple but she’s got you gullible.”

A shadow leapt overhead.

“I’m not being gullible, Lorraine’s just not the type to—”

“Hush!” Luke pivoted around, spear at the ready. “Battle positions! Someone’s reached the wall!”

Nolan leapt up with his spear as well, looking upwards. The others on the wall had heard Luke’s shout and all around them, torches were being lit.

“The Duke has arrived!”

Nolan looked up to the skies to see the Duke’s dimly lit form floating in the air, his white cloak billowing in the night’s wind. The Duke had his wand pointed to the skies and streaks of light were called up from the grounds surrounding Castle Veretha to converge towards the pointed direction. In mere moments, a dome of glimmering light covered the entire Castle’s grounds.

And then the Duke’s voice rang out.

“Come out, Khmi. You’re trapped.” Even from far away, the wand’s glow mesmerized all who beheld it as the Duke flourished it throughout the air, writing runes onto space and dictating the laws of his domain. “It was foolish of you to do the Prince’s bidding.“

The runes, a scar on reality, sank angrily into nothingness and the very air hissed as the domain was claimed and all was revealed.

“Shall I kill you from here or will you show yourself from your little shadow?” the Duke turned and pointed his luminous wand at the shadow of the ramparts.

The woman stepped out from the rampart’s shadows, her short hair billowing in the wind as she pulled a staff back into existence. Its tip began to glow an ethereal yellow.

“I’ll have you know, it’s not ‘to do his bidding.’ More of a,” she planted her staff into the ground as she used her left hand to draw runes of her own onto space, “temporary alliance.”

“Nolan, run!” Luke shouted at his stunned friend, “Their magic is clashing!”

“You think you can establish your own domain here?” The Duke seemed amused as he approached Khmi through the air. “Castle Veretha has been part of my family’s inheritance for centuries. How could you ever hope to wrestle control over a place you have no bond with?”

“Bond?” Khmi flicked the last stroke into place and the runes pulsed into place. “Sometimes I forget how short-lived you humans can be. Did you forget your ancestors only found Castle Veretha?”

The dome of glimmering light shattered into innumerable particles of light that floated downwards, replaced by another dome of rose-pink.

The Duke pointed his wand at Khmi. “Impossible!“

The jet of light bent around Khmi’s form.

“You’ve taken the time to write quite the interesting laws for this domain, little Jayseth.” Khmi’s eyes glowed a soft golden color as she looked about at the space that was now hers. “Varian taught you well.”

“How?!“

“You cannot be blamed for your ignorance, Little Jayseth.” Khmi picked up her staff and floated towards Duke Jayseth as the air around her exploded in a flurry of projectiles and flame. But through it all, Khmi floated unscathed, the magic unable to overcome the laws that had been written. “I understand the confusion. Your bloodline does hold claim to have the lengthiest bond with Castle Veretha. Even a Celestial would have difficulty wresting control from you.”

Duke Jayseth turned to flee, and Khmi knocked the tip of her knuckle against the air. The space around the Duke compressed and he struggled to move through the space. A second bang against space caused the Duke to be knocked back towards Khmi. A third knock with the staff against the air caused the Duke to be held immobile in the air in front of her as the wand slipped from his grasp and into Khmi’s open hand.

“You see, even Varian never knew that it was I and my master that built Castle Veretha. A different bond, when I had a part in its creation.” She held the Duke’s wand to his throat, and its glow also became a soft yellow. “Where is the dragon girl?”