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The morning of Halloween Eve did not begin with a majestic, awe-inspiring silence. It began with the distinct, wet sound of a toddler trying to swallow a wooden bat.
Xaden stood over the velvet couch in his lounge trousers, his dark hair a complete bird’s nest and his eyes barely open as he held out his palm. "Aine. Drop it. Drop the bat right now."
Two-year-old Aine, dressed in a golden velvet jumpsuit that was supposed to make her look like the legendary feather-tail dragon Andarna, stared back at her father with unblinking onyx eyes. She gave the bat another wet, stubborn chew, completely ignoring the commanding look on his face.
"Violet!" Xaden called out, keeping his hand perfectly steady beneath the toddler's chin. "Your daughter is eating the decorations again. I need backup before she swallows a wing."
"She’s your daughter when she’s being destructive, Xaden!" Violet’s voice echoed loudly from the adjacent dressing room, accompanied by the frantic tearing sound of Velcro. She stepped out into the hall, holding a pair of small fabric wings. "And she’s not eating it, she’s teething. Look at her gums. Give her the rubber dagger from the chest instead."
Xaden let out a long sigh, flicking his fingers as his shadows stretched out lazily across the floorboards to fetch the small, safe chew-toy. "I am swapping a weapon for a weapon, Vi. This feels counterproductive to basic parenting." He traded the plastic bat for the rubber toy with the swift dexterity of a thief, wiping his hand on his trousers as Aine happily went to town on the fake pommel. "There. Disaster averted. For now."
"Don't get too comfortable," Violet teased, walking over to press a quick kiss to his cheek while she fastened the tiny wings to the back of Aine's golden jumpsuit. "We still have to get the boys dressed, and you know how Caelum gets when his costume doesn't feel 'lethal' enough."
Before Xaden could reply, the heavy oak doors of the Great Hall creaked open, admitting a gust of chilly mountain air and a very stressed-looking Bodhi. He was dragging a wooden crate filled with pumpkins so large they looked like they had been grown in a haunted swamp, dumping them onto the long stone table with a deafening thud.
"If anyone asks," Bodhi said, leaning against the table and wiping his brow, "I practically stole these from the lower valleys. The farmer chased me with a pitchfork, and I had to throw a pumpkin at his head just to get away. If I get court-martialed for squash theft, Xaden, I’m telling the assembly it was your personal order."
Xaden rumbled a laugh, walking over to inspect a particularly lumpy, green-spotted pumpkin that looked remarkably like a bruised elbow. "You won't get court-martialed, Bodhi. You’ll just be known as the Pumpkin Bandit of Tyrrendor from now on. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think, Vi?"
"Don't encourage him," Violet snorted, sorting through the crate to find a smaller one for Aine. "But seriously, Bodhi, these are massive. Where are Sloane and Dain? They were supposed to help you bring in the smaller ones."
"Sloane is upstairs trying to keep Caelum from destroying his room, and Dain is currently in the kitchens sorting the candy baskets," Bodhi explained, propping his hands on his hips. "Where are the little monsters anyway? I was promised they would help clean the slime out of these things before the carving starts."
Right on cue, a loud, piercing shriek echoed down the grand staircase, interrupting their conversation.
"I am the dark storm!" eight-year-old Caelum yelled, tumbling into the hall. He was completely trapped inside a massive contraption of black canvas and wire that Sloane had spent three days sewing. The wings stuck out two feet on either side, completely wedging him in the doorway. "Mom! Dad! I’m stuck! The entrance is too small for my greatness!"
Sloane hurried down the stairs behind him, holding a tape measure like a dead snake and looking completely frazzled. "Caelum, stop moving! You're going to bend the wire frame!" She looked over at Violet with an apologetic wince. "Violet, I tried to tell him, but he insisted on the maximum wingspan. He said if he couldn't knock things off the tables with his tail, he wasn't a real dragon."
"Your greatness needs to learn to walk sideways, Cael," Violet said, walking over to the doorway. She and Sloane each took a side of the wire frame, gently guiding the boy through the door until he popped through like a cork. "There. But Sloane is right, if you take out the pillars of this castle, you're the one cleaning it up."
"I am a real dragon!" Caelum protested, trying to flap his arms to prove his point. The stiff canvas swung outward, hitting Bodhi squarely in the stomach and making the older rider wheeze. "See? Look at my morningstar tail! It has real sweeping power!"
"You have a morningstar hazard license," Bodhi muttered, catching the edge of the canvas wing and pushing it firmly aside. "Go sit by the table and look at the pumpkins before you break my ribs, kid."
While Caelum scrambled toward the pumpkins, Xaden turned his attention to the corner of the hall by the massive stone hearth, where a completely different crisis was unfolding. Six-year-old Nyxra sat cross-legged on a deep blue rug, surrounded by Dain and a mountain of candy jars. She was dressed in deep, midnight-blue velvet scales, her face set in a look of such intense ferocity that she looked like a miniature version of a dragon ready to protect her hoard. She flatly slapped Dain’s hand away from a bowl of honey-drops.
"No," Nyxra said, her voice absolute. "Mine."
"Nyxra, we’ve talked about this," Dain explained, showing immense patience despite the fact that his face was currently covered in a faint dusting of powdered sugar. He looked over at Xaden and Violet for assistance. "We have to share them with the town children who come to the gates tonight. That’s the whole tradition of the holiday. We put them in the distribution baskets."
"The strangers can have the peppermint sticks instead," Nyxra decreed, grabbing the entire bowl of honey-drops and burying them completely beneath her velvet tail. "Sgaeyl does not give her treasures away to people she doesn't know. Sgaeyl burns the strangers."
"Sgaeyl is currently six years old and needs to listen to her uncle," Violet chimed in, walking over to the rug. She knelt down, smoothly extracting the bowl from under Nyxra’s tail despite the girl’s best attempt at a terrifying growl. "Nice try, blue bird. Half go in the town baskets, and half stay here for you and your brother. Dain, did you get the chocolate chunks sorted yet?"
"Working on it," Dain said, brushing the sugar off his tunic with a faint smirk. "Though I had to defend the chocolate from Ridoc three times already. He was always terrible at stealth."
"Hey!" Ridoc’s voice instantly boomed from the upper balcony. He leaned over the stone railing. "I heard that, Dain!"
Xaden looked up from the pumpkin crate, his eyes narrowing. "Get down here and clean a pumpkin, Ridoc, or I’ll show you what real stealth looks like.”
"On my way, boss man!" Ridoc called back. He didn't use the stairs; instead, he leaped over the balcony railing, dropping the remaining ten feet to the floor with a theatrical flourish that made his dark cape billow dramatically behind him. He offered a quick, unrepentant salute to Xaden and Violet before sliding into an empty chair at the long mahogany table. "Alright, let's see what the Pumpkin Bandit brought us."
By midday, the Great Hall had devolved into a full-scale agricultural war zone. The long mahogany table was completely covered in sheets of old parchment, upon which lay piles of orange stringy pulp and slippery white seeds. Caelum had been stripped of his massive wings for safety reasons, sitting right next to Ridoc in his black leathers, his hands covered in orange slime up to his elbows.
"It feels like brains," Caelum whispered with immense satisfaction, squishing a handful of pumpkin guts between his fingers and showing it to Sloane, who winced slightly. "Mom, if I eat this, do I get the memories of the pumpkin?"
"No, Cael," Violet said, using a heavy silver spoon to scrape the interior of her own squash. "You just get a massive stomachache and a very long lecture from the healers. Keep scooping and stop trying to eat the artwork."
"Look at mine, Uncle Dain," Nyxra commanded, tapping the side of her pumpkin. She had refused to use a spoon entirely, using her small, blunt fingers to systematically rip the interior of her pumpkin apart with a frightening level of focus. "It’s a cave. For my treasures. No honey-drops allowed for strangers inside."
Dain leaned over, inspecting the messy hollow. "It’s very sturdy, Nyx. A perfect fortress. Much better than whatever Ridoc is attempting over there."
"Hey, watch it!" Ridoc protested, sitting next to Nyxra and attempting to carve what he claimed was a terrifying venin face, though it looked remarkably like a lopsided turnip with buck teeth. "I’m giving mine three eyes, Nyx. What do you think? Three eyes are way scarier than two."
"That’s not how math works, Ridoc," Bodhi muttered from the end of the table, where he was meticulously tracing a beautifully detailed dragon silhouette onto his pumpkin with a piece of charcoal. "And your Venin looks like it survived a bad fall down the western cliffs."
"It’s abstract art, Bodhi! You and Xaden have absolutely no culture," Ridoc huffed, wiping his brow with his sleeve and leaving a fresh streak of orange pulp right next to the pink glitter on his face. "Tell him, Violet. Back me up here."
"I am staying out of this," Violet shook her head, shifting her seat closer to Xaden.
Xaden worked in total silence, his movements fluid and efficient compared to the chaotic mess around him. While the others struggled with spoons and blunt tools, he used his shadows to gently reach inside the pumpkin, lifting the entire web of pulp and seeds out in one neat, dark bundle and dropping it into the waste bucket without spilling a single drop on the table.
Violet nudged his knee under the table with her boot, casting a mock look at his perfectly clean hands. "Cheater. Use a spoon like the rest of us normal humans."
"It’s called resourcefulness, Vi," Xaden murmured, a slow, dangerous smile touching his lips as he looked down at her. "Why waste manual labor when the darkness is perfectly willing to clean a squash for me?"
"Daddy, make my pumpkin have sharp teeth!" Caelum begged, shoving his hollowed-out orange shell away from Ridoc and toward Xaden. "Like big daggers! Real ones so it can fight Uncle Bodhi's dragon!"
"Only if you promise not to use it as a helmet this time," Xaden replied, taking the short blade from his belt. With a few swift, practiced strokes, he carved a row of jagged, menacing teeth that made the pumpkin look like it was about to swallow the room.
"Yes!" Caelum cheered, completely ignoring his promise as he immediately picked up the heavy orange ball and tried to stuff his entire head inside it.
"Caelum, take that off your head this instant!" Violet scolded, reaching across the table while Sloane and Dain burst out laughing. "It’s wet, sticky, and you’re going to get stuck in there!"
"I am the Pumpkin King!" a muffled, echoing voice shouted from inside the orange shell, the pumpkin bobbing up and down.
Sloane managed to pry the pumpkin off the boy's head with a loud, wet schloop sound, leaving his dark, unruly curls completely plastered to his forehead with orange slime. He offered a sheepish, wide grin that was so identical to Xaden’s look of pure cute drunkenness that Violet just shook her head in defeat, wiping his face with a towel.
"Alright, team," Violet announced, looking out the high windows. "The decorations inside are done, but the sun is starting to go down. We need to carry these masterpieces out to the courtyard and the front walls before it gets completely dark. Grab your pumpkins."
The outer courtyard of Riorson Castle was a crisp, windy expanse of grey stone surrounded by towering walls that overlooked the jagged peaks of Tyrrendor. The autumn winds had been brutal over the last week, tearing the brilliant red and gold leaves from the mountain oaks and scattering them across the stones. Near the western wall, a solitary figure in a plain white tunic was working with a heavy wooden rake, looking thoroughly miserable.
Senior Aetos—once a powerful commander, now a bitter servant paying for his past mistakes through manual labor—was completely healed from the previous bobsled catastrophe, though a slight green bruise remained around his left eye. He had spent the last three hours meticulously gathering the dead leaves into one massive, mountain-like pile near the archery targets, creating the only neat, orderly thing in the entire fortress.
"Move it to the left, Bodhi!" Ridoc’s voice echoed loudly across the stones as the procession of riders and children emerged from the keep carrying the glowing lanterns. "No, your other left! You’re totally blocking the view of my three-eyed masterpiece from the main gate!"
"Your masterpiece looks like a rabid bunny, Ridoc, it doesn't need center stage," Bodhi called back, carefully setting his intricately carved dragon pumpkin on a stone ledge.
Aetos didn't look up at any of them, gripping his rake tighter as he dragged the wooden tines through the gravel with a harsh scraping sound. He froze entirely when Caelum spotted the massive pile of leaves and let out a gasp.
"Look! A mountain!" Caelum yelled, pointing his wooden sword toward the wall.
Aetos slowly turned his head, his bad eye twitching with an ominous warning. "Boy, don't you dare come near this pile. I am warning you."
"Incoming!" Caelum screamed, ignoring him completely.
With a tremendous leap, the boy launched himself into the air, his boots clearing the stone ledge. He crashed directly into the center of the pristine leaf pile, causing a spectacular explosion of red and gold leaves to erupt into the chilly air and scatter across forty feet of freshly swept courtyard.
Aetos stood completely motionless with his rake held mid-air, his face turning a dark, dangerous crimson as he trembled with a rage that had been building for days. "You... you little wretch! I spent three hours on that! Three hours!"
Caelum popped his head out of the debris with a large oak leaf stuck directly to his nose, blinking up at him cheerfully. "You missed a spot over by the stairs anyway, Mr. Aetos," he said brightly, shaking himself like a wet puppy and sending another shower of leaves onto Aetos's clean white tunic. He squinted at the servant's plain clothes. "Hey, why aren't you wearing a costume? Everyone has to wear a costume today. It’s the official law of Halloween, right, Mom?"
Nyxra marched up beside her brother, crossing her arms over her blue velvet scales. "Even Uncle Dain is wearing a funny hat. You just look like an old flour sack, Mr. Aetos. It's boring."
”hey!” Dain complained, adjusting his straw hat.
"Get away from me, both of you," Aetos grumbled, turning his back on them and striking his rake against the stones in a useless, furious attempt to gather the scattered leaves. "Go bother your father. He’s the one who lets you run wild like savages in this courtyard."
”we can make a scary costume! Do you like dragons Mr Aetos?” Caelum shouted, throwing more leaves into the man’s face.
Xaden and Violet walked up together, carrying the final two pumpkins. Though Xaden gave his son a deceptively stern look, a faint, unrepentant smirk played on the King’s lips. "Caelum, out of the leaves. You’re making more work for the staff."
"Gravity is a natural force, Daddy!" Caelum argued, scrambling out of the pile with a grin. "I just fell!"
"Sure you did," Violet let out a soft huff, putting down the final pumpkin on the stone. Behind her a band of shadow caught Caelum by the shoulder before he could jump back in. She looked over at the stiff back of the former general. "The wind is picking up and darkness is falling, kids. It's time to head inside to get your actual costumes secured. And Aetos, Dain left a pot of hot stew in the lower kitchen for you. When you’re done here, go get some food."
Aetos didn't answer her, just keeping his back turned as he raked with silent, stubborn grumpiness, his movements tense and angry against the stone.
Night fell over Aretia with a sudden, freezing weight, turning the sky a deep, bruised purple as the orange pumpkins along the battlements flickered to life, casting long, dancing shadows across the courtyard. Inside the Great Hall, the excitement had reached a fever pitch. Sloane was busy hoisting Caelum’s massive black wings back onto his shoulders, tightening the leather straps until the boy was nearly tip-toeing from the weight.
"Stand still, Caelum!" Sloane laughed, trying to pin a stray strap. "If you keep flapping, you're going to lose a wing before we even reach the gates."
"I have to test the aerodynamics, Auntie Sloane!" Caelum insisted, knocking a small decorative bowl off a side table with his tail.
Across the room, Nyxra paced the floor, practicing her fierce Sgaeyl stare in the reflection of a polished shield, her blue velvet cape billowing behind her. Dain watched her from the hearth, holding a basket of treats. "That's a very terrifying look, Nyx. I think the bakers will give you extra chocolate just to make you leave."
In the center of the rug, Aine wobbled around in her golden velvet suit, occasionally letting out a tiny, high-pitched screech that she clearly thought was a terrifying dragon roar, making Xaden smile as he adjusted his boots.
Ridoc leaned against the main table in a dark, high-collared cape and a pair of fake fangs, looking over the group impatiently. "Are we ready yet? The town kids are already gathering at the lower gates. If we don't get down there soon, Bodhi and I are going to eat all these honey-drops ourselves."
Violet adjusted the leather straps of her flight jacket, shooting him a sharp, sarcastic look. "You touch those drops, Ridoc, and I’ll let Nyxra use your cape as a chew toy. They're meant for the town children, not the riders who tried to steal chocolate and failed."
"I was hungry" Ridoc grumbled through his plastic fangs.
”Auntie Sloane, where are all the leftover costume materials?” Nyxra asked, tugging her sleeve and blinking up at her with too innocent eyes.
”Upstairs…..why?” Sloane asked, hands on her hips. “What are you up to?”
”Nothing,” Caelum and Nyxra both chirped.
”I bet they are just trying to upgrade their spike,” Dain kissed Sloane on the forehead, tucking a strand of loose hair away from her face. “Just be back quick, okay?” He yelled at the two blurs already disappearing into the narrow stairway.
Sloane shook her head, a fond but wary smile on her face as she looked at Dain. "If they come back down with actual daggers taped to their shoulders, I'm telling Violet it was your fault for giving them permission."
"They wouldn't," Dain said, though he looked toward the stairs with a sudden twinge of doubt. "Caelum knows the rules about real blades. Mostly."
"Clearly you haven't seen the size of the cardboard spikes they tried to add to the pumpkin patch earlier," Bodhi joked, leaning back against the mahogany table and tossing a loose pumpkin seed into the air. "They have a very loose definition of what counts as a safe decoration."
The minutes began to tick by in the Great Hall, stretching out far longer than a simple upgrade should have taken. Violet and Xaden finished securing Aine’s golden jumpsuit, setting the toddler down onto the baby sling Xaden had made for Violet. Aine kicked his little legs, drumming them against Violet’s stomach. Ten minutes turned into twenty, and soon, over thirty minutes had passed with nothing but the occasional muffled thud and frantic whispering echoing down from the upper floors.
"What are they doing up there?" Violet asked, glancing up at the ceiling while Aine babbled. "It shouldn't take half an hour to adjust a velvet cape."
"Maybe they're staging a miniature coup against the toy chest," Xaden murmured dryly, his shadows rippling slightly around his boots as if they were tempted to go up and investigate on their own. "Or they've discovered the extra glue."
Before anyone could volunteer to go up and break up the secret meeting, a bizarre noise echoed from the lower corridor, cutting through the quiet hum of the hall.
Suddenly, the heavy doors of the hall were pushed open with a strange, dragging, scraping sound that caught everyone's attention.
"Move! Move your heavy boots, Mr. Aetos!" Caelum’s voice commanded loudly from the corridor.
"He’s being very stubborn, Cael! Pull harder on his left sleeve!" Nyxra shouted from the doorway.
Xaden’s eyebrows shot up as he stood by the hearth, swapping a look of pure disbelief with Violet. They watched as their two oldest children literally dragged Senior Aetos into the room by his arms. The children had spent the last hours in secret, utilizing every scrap of fabric, glue, and discarded costume piece they could find in the castle to completely transform the servant.
Aetos was currently wearing a massive, shaggy brown fur cloak that braced his frame like a wild animal, which had been crudely pinned to his shoulders to look like a werewolf’s coat. Attached to the back of the fur were two small, slightly crumpled black dragon wings made of cardboard and painted with left-over black lacquer, while a long tail made of an stretched old grey wool sock stuffed with cotton dragged miserably behind him on the floorboards. To complete the look, the kids had forced a set of incredibly realistic, sharp vampire fangs into his mouth, brushed his hair to slightly stand up on end, put war paint and smeared a thick circle of dark charcoal around his eyes, making him look like a crazed, mythological creature.
Xaden stepped forward, his voice dropping into a low, sarcastic rumble. "What on earth is that supposed to be, children?"
"He’s a Were-Dragon!" Caelum proudly announced, letting go of the servant's sleeve and raising his hands in victory. "The scariest monster in Tyrrendor! He has fur and wings! And he bites!"
Aetos hissed through his realistic teeth, his voice full of pure venom, though the teeth gave him a slight, ridiculous lisp that ruined the intimidation. "I was entirely forced into this ridiculous garb, your Majesty." he growled. "The children... they cornered me in the lower corridor near the kitchens. They had a bucket of glue, and they threatened to put the itching powder back in my bed sheets if I did not comply with their demands."
Dain covered his face with both hands to hide his uncontrollable laughter, his shoulders shaking as he leaned against the mantelpiece. "Father... it's a very creative look."
"Silence, Dain," Aetos snapped, his cardboard wings shaking with his anger.
"It looks... very authentic, Senior," Bodhi choked out, turning entirely away from the group and staring at the wall so no one could see his face turning bright red from holding back a roar of laughter.
Sloane offered a small, hesitant compliment from the stairs. "The cardboard wings really bring out the natural fury in your eyes, Mr. Aetos. Excellent craftsmanship, kids."
Aetos glared at her with his charcoaled eye, his jaw clamped shut so hard the fake fangs clicked together loudly.
"Alright, everyone, calm down," Violet stepped in, walking over with a wide smile she couldn't hide. She gently adjusted one of the crooked cardboard wings so it didn't poke him in the side of the neck. "Now, let’s all head out before the children explode from excitement."
The lower town of Aretia was a vibrant, noisy celebration with lanterns hanging from every wooden porch and the cobblestone streets filled with the laughter of families dressed up for the holiday. Violet and Xaden walked slightly behind the main group, Aine riding securely on Violet's chest with her golden wings flapping softly against his dark hair whenever she giggled. Up ahead, Caelum and Nyxra marched down the street, their wooden buckets already half-filled with sweets from the local bakers, blacksmiths, and weavers who smiled at the young Riorsons.
While Caelum greeted everyone with a mighty "Roar!" Nyxra stared them down until the adults finally grew a bit uneasy and gave her a generous dose of candies and chocolates.
Aetos walked a few paces behind the kids, his shaggy werewolf fur catching the cold mountain wind and his lumpy grey sock-tail thumping rhythmically against the stones. He looked thoroughly miserable, keeping his arms crossed tightly over his chest. However, every time a town child walked past and whimpered or jumped back at the sight of his terrifying charcoal eye and realistic fangs, a tiny, dark spark of grim satisfaction seemed to flicker across his face.
Near the old stone fountain at the center of the square, Ridoc and Bodhi were loitering by a dark, unlit alleyway, having separated from the main group earlier. Their eyes were locked onto the premium chocolate chunks inside Caelum’s bucket as the kids approached.
Ridoc leaned over, whispering to Bodhi through his own fake fangs. "Look at him, Bodhi. He’s got the premium honey-fudge from the west valley bakers. He’s eight years old. He doesn't appreciate the complex flavor profile of that high-quality fudge. It’s completely wasted on a child. I say we step out and impose a mandatory sugar tax."
"We shouldn't rob the King’s son, Ridoc," Bodhi said, though he adjusted his cape and eyed Nyxra’s impressive haul of sugar-plums with a grin. "It sets a pretty terrible precedent for the guard."
"It’s not robbery, it’s a holiday tax!" Ridoc argued, nudging his shoulder. "Watch this. Just play along."
As Caelum and Nyxra paused by the stone fountain to inspect a glowing jack-o'-lantern carved like a griffon, Ridoc and Bodhi stepped out of the dark alleyway, their capes billowing dramatically in the wind.
"Halt, little hatchlings!" Ridoc boomed, trying to project his best commanding voice. "The Candy Office demands an official toll! Hand over twenty percent of the west valley fudge immediately, or face the terrifying consequences!"
Caelum narrowed his eyes, stepping in front of his sister and holding his wooden bucket tight against his leather chest. "No way, Uncle Ridoc! Go get your own candy! You have a whole basket over there by the wall!"
"Ours is peppermint, Caelum! Peppermint is for old retired riders!" Ridoc protested, stepping closer and reaching a hand out toward the bucket anyway. "Just a small piece of the fudge—"
He didn't get to finish the movement or the sentence.
From the deep, unlit shadow of the alleyway right behind them, a massive, towering figure stepped forward into the dim light of the lanterns. The mountain wind caught the shaggy brown werewolf fur, making it puff out, crooked dragon wings flexing dramatically as it leaned directly over the back of Ridoc’s neck. He unhinged his jaw, showing the sharp, glistening vampire fangs, and let out a deep, guttural, chest-vibrating roar that echoed off the stone walls of the square.
"ROOOOOAAARGH!"
Ridoc let out a high-pitched, curdled shriek that sounded like a stepped-on mouse, jumping three feet straight into the air as his cape twisted violently around his legs. His fake plastic fangs flew right out of his mouth from the sheer shock, landing directly into the fountain water with a tiny, pathetic splash.
"THE WERE-DRAGON!" Ridoc screamed, completely losing his mind and clutching Bodhi's arm. "IT’S REAL! IT’S ALIVE AND IT'S BEHIND US!"
Bodhi didn't even try to stand his ground or defend his friend. The sheer, unexpected volume of the roar combined with the terrifying sight of Aetos’s blackened, furious face broke his composure completely. He turned on his heel, his own candy basket dropping to the cobblestones as he and Ridoc sprinted down the street in absolute terror, their capes flying behind them.
"Run! Don't look back, Bodhi!" Ridoc yelled, his panicked voice fading into the distance as they vanished around the corner of the military barracks.
Caelum and Nyxra stared at the empty street in stunned silence for a few seconds, before they turned slowly to look up at the towering figure of Aetos. The former general stood panting under the heavy fur rug, adjusting his crooked cardboard wings with one hand, his jaw still tight.
"They were annoying me," Aetos grumbled, his tone as stubborn and grumpy as ever as he looked down at the kids. "They talk far too much for grown riders."
Caelum’s eyes were wide with a level of total worship usually reserved for elite squad leaders, declaring it the coolest thing he had ever seen in his entire life. Nyxra smiled, a rare, genuine expression breaking across her fierce little face as she reached into her bucket and pulled out a large, wrapped sugar-plum. She held it out toward him. "Here. For the Were-Dragon. Because you saved our hoard."
Aetos stared at the small piece of candy in her hand, his jaw tightening before he let out a heavy, dramatic sigh. He reached down, took the treat, and dropped it safely into his tunic pocket. "Don't expect me to do it again," he muttered, turning his back on them to walk slowly toward the castle gates, his grey sock-tail dragging behind him in the dust.
Xaden walked up beside Violet, gently lifting a sleepy Aine down from his shoulders and cradling her against his chest as she let out a long yawn. He murmured with a low rumble, "You know, Vi... I think that’s the first time in three years the old general has actually done something useful around here intentionally."
Violet smiled, leaning her head against Xaden’s solid shoulder as they watched Caelum and Nyxra happily skip ahead into the mountain night, their wooden buckets clinking under the bright, clear stars of Tyrrendor. "Happy Halloween, Xaden."
"Happy Halloween, Vi," he replied, his shadows gently wrapping around them against the autumn chill.