2

Even now I was hesitant to be away from her. I loved my frail little bird. Hearing Frigga treat this outing so casually angered me beyond words. I even went as far as to track them back to the road. At least I attempted to track them back to the road.

Whatever time artifact they had hidden was more troublesome then I cared to deal with. I was more then certain that the time artifact was on the fox. The fox had the spatial element that was another thing I was certain of now that I viewed the battlefield as a whole a second time. His movements only made sense if he was capable of creating portals, and no artifact would recharge that quickly. He had a powerful spatial ability, and the way his image became blurred toward the end of the fight was enough to make me certain he was becoming more proficient at using whatever time artifact he had.

We needed to seal his magic as soon as we caught him. He would be trouble if we didn't. I climbed back up on my wyvern.

"Let's get out of here," I snarled, "This fucker knows that we're watching. He even took the time to mock us."

"Really?" Frigga looked genuinely concerned, "Are you certain he can't use the time element?"

"Have you ever seen a human use the time element?" I settled in place calmly, "I'd rather report that he has great physical ability then be wrong about him having the time element. You know what the Queen would do if she found out such a tremendous blunder."

"You should at least let her know that there might be a possibility," Frigga finally turned serious, "If she finds out that he has the time element, and you didn't inform her then you might just get your little head lopped off."

I spurred my wyvern on as I thought about what she said. She was right about the Queen Sevatorious being unbelievably battle oriented to the point that she would kill anyone that brought her incorrect information. The King was more a political figure while the Queen was the iron hammer behind his power. He was the one that arranged my engagement, and eventual marriage. Frigga was right I needed to report all of his little oddities.

I didn't need to do much. Gar knew how to get to the palace without instruction. This fox was proving to be more troublesome then we'd originally though. Who cared about one idiot stealing slaves? That was what we thought in the beginning when the first heard of the fox stealing slaves.

Then he killed one of the lower lords. Bastard even dared to carry around his head for a little while. It was obvious that he had complete faith in his power, and ability to dodge us. I frowned to myself before looking toward the capital. That's when I noticed the unusual coloration of the strongest, and oldest wyvern in the area.

She rarely left her alcove near the palace. Whenever she did she usually went south to the harbor. This time she'd headed our direction. Toward the road into the capital. Did she sense someone who could be her master?

She done that before, but she almost always killed them. There were a few rare occasions when she decided against it, but that was highly unlikely. We dropped down to the road calmly to get word of what had brought her out. It was near impossible for them to not have seen the alpha female. Wyverns that came in any other color besides red was rare.

Her coloration would make her stand out. There would be multiple witnesses. Whoever she approached if they were still alive would need to be questioned thoroughly.

*****

Wyatt

I felt a bit of amusement after my encounter on the road. I wondered how the elves would react to the wyvern they kept safe flying down to greet a human. I moved in close to Sekka.

"We should expect some problems from this last bit of fun," I suppressed a smirk.

"You call it fun," Sekka snorted, "I call it one hell of a pain in the ass."

He didn't bother lowering his voice with the second statement. He was clearly irritated with me, and the other merchants nearby, but since he'd been within inches of getting killed himself I understood. I'd be irritated too if I were in his position. Luckily all I had to do was pretend not to be able to use magic, and keep my face blank most of the time. Sekka had to project the air of confidence constantly.

The only people he could drop his confidence around was the high ranking nobles. He knew exactly how to behave around them with or without his little act. They really liked having their egos fanned. I mentally scoffed at the thought. My senses perked up, and my eyes were drawn skyward.

"We're being followed," I spoke loudly.

I didn't mind if anyone got angry at me for speaking this time. Two wyverns landed near the road on a stone platform. Their riders jumped off with ease. Heading toward us with no hesitation. It seemed they were looking for us specifically.

Sekka noticed as well, and dismounted his bird quickly. Stepping in front of me to stop me from doing anything partially out of habit.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of the esteemed presence of wyvern riders?" Sekka bowed slightly.

I lowered myself to one knee. Placing both hands on the knee that was raised. My fingers laced together on my knee.

"We heard one of the great wyverns took an interest in the two of you," the man's attention snapped to me.

Did he perhaps sense something about me? He wasn't the only one examining his potential opponent. The woman noticed me next. The fact that my eyes weren't glued to the ground interested them both. They noticed my weapons a second later.