Breathing hard, Cassidia pushed the center lever on her skybike forward, putting it in its offensive mode. She reached down to grab a charge, but wasn’t sure what would work.

Jake disappeared with no warning, light flashing toward Cassidia. She wasn’t even able to move her foot before something slammed into her bike, and she rolled in the sky, barely managing to keep herself on. A red blade pierced the wing of her bike from the bottom, and she shrieked, pulling into a tight spin. From there, she immediately yanked the bike perpendicular to the ground and shot upward. She pulled out into a spin, narrowly avoiding Ember as it sliced past her neck.

She straightened the bike, flying in a random direction as fast as she could. Then she turned sharply, moving in another direction, and continued to zigzag back toward the castle.

Ember’s blade pierced the wing to her right from the bottom. Cassidia jumped up, leaving the bike entirely, and flicked the switch on her bracelet again. The bike shimmered, a beam forming to the bracelet, and disappeared, dropping Jake down into the darkness. He waved as he plummeted away, lightning still spilling from his eyes and reaching down to the ground.

Cassidia began to fall faster. Quickly, she flipped the switch again, summoning the bike in front of and below where she was quickly approaching. As she flew past, she grabbed the handlebars and hit the pedal with her foot, shooting down to minimize the sudden change in direction. She pulled up in a tight arc just above the ground.

Light flashed to her right again, and then Jake was crouching on top of the wing, cheerfully severing it through. Holy power of the gods! Screaming, Cassidia dove at the ground, then yanked up on the handlebars. Even with one wing, the skybike did an admirable job of slowing, so that Cassidia was able to stumble a few steps when she hit the ground before rolling to a stop. The skybike itself was less lucky, crashing to the ground in a heap of ruined metal.

“Ember!”

A red-hot blade pierced the ground just to the side of her head. Ignoring the bruises springing up all over her, she rolled away, stumbling back to her feet and reaching a hand up to where her skin had been tinged. She turned to see Jake looking at her curiously, his head cocked to the side. The lightning eyes had cut out, as if waiting for a more dramatic moment. He pulled Ember back out of the ground, cutting a long scorched slash in the hard earth as he brought it upright.

Cassidia began to step back, then forced herself to stop. I obviously can’t outrun him, she thought, surprising herself with her level-headedness. What can I do that’ll make him stop?

Jake stepped forward, head still cocked to the side as he advanced.

This kid has such a flare for drama, I could try to manipulate that. But no, that might just encourage him.

He raised the red blade to the side, in a motion that she could have sworn was supposed to imitate spreading a wing.

“Wait!” Cassidia shouted.

To her surprise -- but not really relief -- he paused. “What?”

“I have information on Ember.” She said the first words that came to her mind.

His brow furrowed. “How? You’re not trying to trick me, are you?” The creepy menacing expression changed abruptly into a confused -- but still rather creepy -- one.

She forced out a smile. “Of course not. You took it from-” she cut herself off, trying to think quickly. “You saved it from my sister. But I don’t like her!” She continued in a hurry. “She’s not very nice.”

Jake actually looked proud. “I’m way nicer. I let it kill people.”

Cassidia swallowed her revulsion, holding the smile in place. He really shouldn’t notice that my smile isn’t genuine, not with what his facial expressions look like. “Of course. But here: did you know that you don’t actually have to say its name for it to activate?”

His eyes blazed. “You’re trying to trick me! It needs sound!”

She shook her head vehemently. “Try it. Make noise without saying its name, then concentrate on it.” He thinks it’s sentient, right? “It... can understand. Don’t worry.”

He looked doubtful, but held the blade before him, clearly curious. He raised a hand, then snapped. A bolt of lightning flashed up into the clouds, causing Cassidia to lose her breath at the powerful charge. A powerful blast of thunder accompanied it.

In the next second, Cassidia was burning. She screamed, falling to the ground as heat scorched her skin. Tears escaped her tightly closed eyes.

When it stopped, she stayed there for a second, huddled against the ground, trying to force her eyelids to open. The world around her was alarmingly silent, except for a faint ringing in her ears.

After what felt like an eternity, she managed to push herself up. Her skin screamed everywhere she stretched it, but she didn’t think she’d have any permanent burns. That must not have been its full power. Be strong, idiot. You’re a Falcondar princess! “Um… you can also aim it so it doesn’t blast everything around you.”

“Why? I’m more powerful. It can’t hurt me.”

“Yeah, but...” she looked at him curiously. “Actually, you must be aiming, at least somewhat. Your clothes aren’t burnt at all, see?” She motioned at her dress, which was still whole, but looking worse for wear with scorch marks all across it.

“Oh.” He looked crestfallen for a second. “But I can still be more powerful! Way more powerful. I-”

“I get it,” she snapped, then raised her hands defensively, the movement causing her skin to flare with pain. “You’re way more powerful than everything else.”

He stood there for a second, facial expression unchanging as he regarded Ember with a look of fascination. When she realized he wasn’t going to move, she cleared her throat, causing his eyes to jump back to her. “I’ll leave you to practice using it, okay? I… think it would like that.”

He stayed frozen for a second, then nodded. “Yes, please.”

How is it that he knows how to say “please”, but doesn’t understand that killing people is wrong? “Alright.” Warily, she turned away, then hurried back toward the castle. Almost to her surprise, he didn’t pursue, continuing to stare at his sword.

I need to tell Father, even if he won’t be happy that I was out, she decided as she neared the castle entrance. Her energy dropped like a stone at the thought, the tense alertness given to her by adrenaline evaporating and leaving aching pain in its place, but she had to tell him.

“Your Highness!” the guard at the gate exclaimed. “What happened?”

“That’s not important. I need to talk to my father.”

“Of course, Highness.” He motioned for the gate to be opened. “He’s talking with Princess Lynsa in the courtyard.”

Somehow, she felt a tinge of pride mix with her fear and exhaustion as she entered the castle. I just wish I could’ve done it without making him more powerful in the process. Still, the feeling of accomplishment lingered until she was stepping onto the path in the courtyard.

“Do they have something to do with that prison break-in that happened?” Lynsa’s voice asked from somewhere nearby.

“No one else has the power to do that kind of damage,” the king said. “It had to be the stolen technology, unless they got their hands on one of the swords.”

“You think they could have Ember?” Lynsa’s voice was suddenly anxious.

“I don’t think so. We’d have heard about a heat sword. The two surviving guards talked about a warrior who used some sort of lightning attack -- probably a mimic of an elemental charge weapon. Frightened guards have a tendency to exaggerate.”

I can’t wait any longer, Cassidia thought. “Father!” she called. Without waiting, she stepped around a group of trees to find the King and Princess talking on a bench.

King Briar Falcondar looked up wearily. “Cassidia, now is not the-”

“I was attacked,” she said quickly.

He rose to his feet, taking in her scorched clothing and bruises. “Why were you out?”

“I just- I-” she stuttered, cringing at Lynsa’s smug expression.

“Cassidia, you have to be careful!” her father reprimanded.

She opened her mouth to add that he’d had Ember, but paused. If Lynsa knows I didn’t try to get it back, she’ll hate me even more. “Is something wrong?” she asked instead.

Her father sighed, his battle-scarred face suddenly showing his forty years in age. “We’ll be alright, Cassidia.”

“You don’t know that,” Lynsa said suddenly. “There’s a group plotting against us, and we could all die. They-”

“That’s quite enough!” the king said sharply, rounding on his eldest daughter. “Cassidia doesn’t need to be afraid.”

Lynsa sneered. “I’m sure she’ll be grateful for your protection when she dies at the hands of a rebel.”

King Falcondar turned to Cassidia, looking very tired. “My daughter. As much as I hate to admit it, your sister is right. Please, for your own good, flee the palace. You can come back when all of this is over.”

Cassidia froze. “What? Where will I go?”

“To our safe home in the canyons outside of the Forbidden Peaks.”

Her eyes widened -- she knew of where he was referring, of course, but hadn’t ever expected to really be sent there.

“Will you do this for our family?”

She nodded nervously. “I’ll go. Will you all be safe?”

He smiled. “We’ll be fine. Our family have been fighters since Arken Falcondar imprisoned the Dragon Eternal a thousand years ago. Now, come here.”

She approached, and he reached to his hip, drawing his sword. Cassidia’s eyes widened; it wasn’t Doriander, the Falcondar monarch’s traditional blade. Instead, the blade was of a beautiful silver sheen, the ornately emblazoned metal protruding from a matching silver hilt. As Cassidia looked at the accompanying azure sheath, she wondered why she hadn’t noticed it before. “Silverstone and Azurizt?”

“Our family has kept them for emergencies over the generations. Take them with you.”

Ignoring Lynsa’s look of obvious hurt and shock, she grasped the sword’s hilt, marveling at the cool silver blade. It was heavier than the sword replicas she'd occasionally trained with, but not unmanageably so. She took the sheath as well, fastening it at her hip. She knew it was best to keep the sheaths easily accessible, but if everything went well, she’d need it as a carrying device before she needed its combat functions.

“My… skybike broke,” she said quietly, ashamed to admit such a failure right after being handed such prized weapons.

Her father sighed as Lynsa made a huffing noise, then unfastened the bracelet from his own arm. “You may take mine. But do not reveal it unless you absolutely must -- the fewer people who know of our technology, the safer our family remains.”

She took the bracelet from her father, then turned away to go into the castle and pack her belongings. It wasn’t a long journey -- two weeks at most -- but it would be her first such journey alone.