The barricades blocking the left hand door leaped as something slammed into it from the far side. There was a pause, and another thump rang out.

“Release our deity! He has finally returned. Such louts as yourself have no right to him!”

On the right hand side, water seeped through the bottom of the door. A low chuckle rang out. “If we can’t have our deity, no one can.”

Jet backed away. He looked at the door to the trials. We can’t go back that way. The ceiling is blocked off. Which means the only way out is… He looked up, at the sky above them. “Leo, can you carry us out?”

Leo pointed at himself and tilted his head.

“Carry us and fly away,” Jet explained, pointing up.

“Actually, why didn’t you do that with your girl?” Gideon asked, a hand on his chin. “Right? What was it that blocked you from just flying away?”

Leo scowled and jabbed a finger at Gideon.

“I… did? I don’t remember anything like that,” Gideon muttered, frowning at the floor.

Rolling his eyes, Leo pointed downward a little, at Gideon’s tome.

Elly nodded thoughtfully. “Oh… let me guess. When the townsfolk saw you fly overhead, they called dragon exterminators, who brought lightning mages? And as a water dragon, you’re even weaker to lightning mages than ordinary dragons. Is that it?”

Leo nodded.

Jet scoffed. “As if you would’ve been around when Leo ran away from the cult. There’s been a town near this point for nearly fifty years. If I had to guess, Leo probably ran away about forty years ago—I remember hearing about the dramatic takedown of a dragon cult near the capital from my father, who was a newly fledged soldier when it happened. If you were around back then, you’d be an old man, like the cult leader.”

“Yeah, yeah. Look, it’s the kid’s fault, for being all confusing with who he’s pointing at,” Gideon muttered, waving his hand.

Wood splintered on the left side. Water began to rush faster on the right, pooling around their boots. Jet looked at Leo. “So? Are we fighting our way out, or flying?”

Elly stepped forward, nodding at Jet. “Although the cultists must be subjugated, we will not do well caught in a pincer maneuver. Counting Leo, we only have two frontliners. If Angel, Kat, or I are directly attacked, we have very little we can do to defend ourselves. And Gideon, likewise, I suspect you fare poorly when casting spells in a melee.”

Gideon hesitated, then sighed. “I want to kill the cultists, but… ah, it’s a pity. Sometimes, you have to retreat in order to kill another day.”

“It’s up to Leo,” Jet reminded both of them, looking at the boy.

Leo hesitated. He glanced left and right, then shook himself like a dog. His body blurred into a yellow-and-blue shape, then settled into his much larger dragon form. He looked at them, then reached out his claws toward them and held them open, questioning. Though he stood taller and longer than a horse, he still could only pick up one person in both his foreclaws. Ultimately, he remained a lesser dragon, not a horrifyingly large True Dragon. Carrying four people at once remained difficult for him. He gestured at them, then shrugged.

“Let me on your back,” Gideon demanded.

Leo narrowed his eyes. Steam rose up from his nostrils.

“If you don’t want to, you can shuttle us out of here instead,” Elly said gently.

The left door leaped in its frame. Kat jumped, shivering.

Jet’s eyes flashed. He ran over and grabbed Kat. “Alright, enough of this!”

She struggled. “No! Let me go! I don’t wanna! Dragons are scary, I don’t wanna! He’s gonna eat me!”

“See? That’s what I’m talking about. People instinctively want to kill dragons,” Gideon said smugly, nodding at Kat.

Jet rolled his eyes. Want to kill? More like, she’s terrified of him. I think she’d rather run away than fight him.

Handing Kat to Leo, he pushed Elly into Leo’s arms as well. “Elly, hold on. Leo, go.”

Leo nodded. He leaped into the air, carrying Elly and Kat away.

The left door slammed open. A monstrously large man burst through, charging at the three of them. A half-dozen men charged after him, shouting, black robes flying as they ran.

“Angel, get ready!” Gideon shouted, lifting his tome.

“Ready!” Angel replied, already dancing.

Jet slashed at the air, throwing blocks of ice at the rushing men. They slammed into the men, who fell backward, weighed down by the ice. The monstrously large man roared, slapped the ice out of the air, and sped up.

Gideon drew a deep breath. He threw his hand out, but it trembled. His voice shook, on the verge of exhaustion. “Critical-cast, Lightning! Die, dragon, die!”

A bolt of lightning slammed into the man. He fell like a puppet with its strings cut and rolled wildly over the floor, bouncing toward them on the weight of his own momentum.

Behind them, the second door bulged, then flew open, a wave of water rushing out from behind it. Jet and Angel jumped aside, but Gideon was too slow. The wave struck Gideon in the back and carried him forward, toward the black-robed men.

“Gideon!” Angel shouted, reaching for him.

“Angel, help!” he shouted, reaching out for her. Their fingertips touched, but then the wave yanked Gideon apart.

The black robed men closed in on Gideon, swords raised. Gideon threw his hands out over his head, the tome held between himself and the men as a makeshift shield.

Leo landed behind them with a heavy thump, his wings spreading over the sky. Jet glanced back, then threw his hand forward. “Leo, save Gideon!”

Growling, Leo leaped forward, charging toward Gideon.

The black-robed men fell back, eyes wide. “Deific Dragon!”

Leo darted his head out, mouth wide.

Gideon screamed as two jaws closed in around him. “He’s going to eat me!”

Leo gingerly gripped Gideon and whirled about, slapping the black-robed men with his heavy tail. The men toppled over like bowling pins. He galloped toward Angel and Jet, then lunged, holding his arms out, wings already spread. Angel and Jet each leaped for one of his arms. They latched on.

“Leo, go!” Jet shouted.

Gideon screamed in pure terror.

Bunching his powerful rear legs behind him, Leo leaped into the air. His wings snapped, catching the current, and propelled him into the sky. He flapped once, twice, reaching the edge of the ground, then rising over it. Without flying a single wingbeat higher, he glided to the earth and set his human compatriots down.

Gideon flopped weakly to the ground and rolled, wet with dragon saliva, trembling. “The… the sheer indignity…”

“Says the guy who stripped on Main Street,” Jet replied, stepping to the ground.

“That’s different. That was for a noble purpose. This is just… indignity,” Gideon said, shameless.

Setting Angel down, Leo shook himself and resumed human form. He glanced back at the cavern and took a deep breath, then turned to the others. He gave them a shy look, almost sheepish, and knitted his hands together.

“Come on, Leo! If we stick around here, the cultists will catch us,” Elly said, gesturing him on.

“Yeah, you don’t want to get stuck in that cave again, do you?” Angel asked, laughing.

Jet extended his hand. “I’ll need a stable boy when Bluebell comes back to me. What do you say?”

Leo glanced at Gideon, still shy.

Gideon pulled his robes away from himself and sighed. “Look at my robes! They’re in tatters. Leo, I need that gold coin back. These robes aren’t cheap.”

“That’s my gold coin, you know, technically,” Jet replied.

“Technically, you haven’t paid me for my very expensive services yet, so you’re deep in debt to me, actually,” Gideon replied.

“Deep in debt to you? How do you figure?” Jet asked.

“Well, I’ve proven dragons can turn into humans, haven’t I?” Gideon asked, gesturing at Leo. “That’s wrongful imprisonment, right there. That alone translates directly into my weight in gold. On top of wrongful imprisonment, now you’ve dragged me across half the kingdom without an ounce of compensation. Forcing me to work without compensation? If you aren’t directly arrested, you’ll be out every ounce of gold you’ve seen in your life. Any lawyer in the country would have your entire fiefdom at my feet for that.”

“You’d have to get the charges overturned, first,” Jet grumbled. But he is right. I probably shouldn’t keep him collared anymore. After all, if dragons can turn into people, then… he really… might have, perhaps, actually saved that town from certain destruction.

“Oh? You want to take this to court, not settle it out of court? What a gamble, Jet. I’ll take you for all you’re worth. Any lawyer worth his salt would be slavering over the chance to take this one to court,” Gideon replied.

“I never said that,” Jet replied.

“Then, how about we start talking about the interest on my back-wages? I’m owed quite a bit, you know. I think you’ll find that a mage like myself doesn’t hire for cheap…”

Jet groaned. Is he going to keep this up all the way to the capital?

He turned over his shoulder and gestured to Leo. “Come on. We have to hurry to the capital and tell them about this nest of cultists. If we don’t move fast enough, all the cultists will clear out before the army can get back here to wipe them out.”

Leo smiled. He laughed soundlessly and ran over to the others. Kat flinched away, but everyone else smiled back. Together, they walked on, into the woods.